admin – timhjrogers

Strategy can be simplified into two key components WHAT and HOW. By ensuring accurate measures, you can effectively measure your project’s progress towards its ultimate goal.

STRATEGY

Consider aiming to participate in the triathlon at the Commonwealth Games in 2006. If this is your strategic focus, everything else takes a backseat. Your entire focus shifts to swim, run, bike – and all that supports your performance in these areas.

The main performance indicator here is the qualifying time for the Commonwealth Games. To achieve this, you need to strategically improve your swimming, cycling, and running performances. This encapsulates the essence of strategy.

MEASURES

Example KPI:

KPI: Qualifying Time for the Commonwealth Games

Example OKRs:

Objective 1: Improve Swimming Performance

Key Result 1: Achieve a 100-meter swim time of under 1 minute.
Key Result 2: Decrease 400-meter swim time by 10 seconds.
Key Result 3: Increase endurance to swim continuously for 1,000 meters without a break.

Objective 2: Enhance Cycling Ability

Key Result 1: Maintain an average wattage of 300 watts during cycling training sessions.
Key Result 2: Complete a 40-kilometer cycling time trial in under 1 hour.
Key Result 3: Improve hill climbing capability by decreasing the time taken to ascend a 5-kilometer hill by 20%.

Objective 3: Boost Running Speed and Endurance

Key Result 1: Achieve a 5-kilometer run time of under 20 minutes.
Key Result 2: Complete a 10-kilometer run with negative splits (each subsequent 5 kilometers faster than the previous) in under 45 minutes.
Key Result 3: Increase weekly mileage by 10% each month to build endurance.

These KPIs and OKRs provide clear, measurable targets for each aspect of training required to qualify for the Commonwealth Games triathlon, ensuring focused efforts and progress tracking towards the overarching goal.

IMPLEMENTATION

However, the implementation phase delves deeper into the details. This is where you break down all the subcomponents of your strategy: power, strength, flexibility, technique. You then identify metrics for each and determine how to enhance your abilities in swimming, cycling, and running. While the primary focus may be meeting the qualifying criteria, you’ll also need to track various subcriteria such as swim times, bike wattage, and run distances to gauge progress effectively.

TASKS

Beneath the strategic and implementation layers lie the daily, weekly, and monthly tasks: your training regimen, dietary habits, sleep patterns, hydration levels, and training schedules. Structuring your 20 hours of weekly training into manageable blocks allows for improvement without risking burnout, especially when balancing other commitments like work and family.

IN THE BUSINESS WORLD

In the business realm, complexity often reigns supreme. Unlike focusing solely on a single goal, businesses typically juggle multiple objectives. Yet, it’s essential to remember: you can excel at a few things or spread yourself too thin across many. While athletes commit wholeheartedly to one primary objective, businesses may need to prioritize five critical areas for sustained success.

This highlights the crucial difference between athletic pursuits and business endeavors. While a triathlete must master three sports, businesses must excel in various aspects like product quality, customer service, and operational efficiency. The key lies in identifying what matters most to your specific business and allocating resources accordingly. Just as a triathlete differs from a decathlete, each business has its unique strengths and focuses.

Tim HJ Rogers
Consult | CoCreate | Deliver

I support people and teams to grow, perform and succeed unlocking potential as a partner Consultant, Coach, Project and Change Manager. Together we can deliver projects and change, and improve the confidence, capacity, drive and desire of the people we work with.

Adapt Consulting Company

#people #products #productivity #processes #projects #change

Website Consulting https://www.adaptconsultingcompany.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/adapt-consulting-company/
Join our Community
https://mailchi.mp/9fee22102e71/signup

Thinking Feeling Being

#teams #coaching #mentoring #change

Website Coaching https://thinkingfeelingbeing.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/thinkingfeelingbeing/
Join our Community
https://mailchi.mp/cddf4c91d169/welcome

Podcast Video https://www.youtube.com/@adaptconsultingcompany9798/videos
Podcast Audio https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/timhjrogers-adapting-to-change-podcast/id1724029364

It’s crucial to differentiate between strategy, business plans, and operational tasks. Let’s illustrate this using the analogy of menus and food.

Strategy revolves around fundamentally understanding what we do and why we do it. In the context of food, it could mean defining ourselves as vegetarian or vegan. By making such distinctions clear, we not only clarify our business’s focus but also identify what falls outside our scope. Being crystal clear about our strategic objectives lays the groundwork for developing effective business plans. For instance, if our strategy is centered on veganism, our business plan wouldn’t involve purchasing meat to prepare beef bourguignon.

Business plans, in essence, outline how we intend to execute our strategy. Building on the previous example, if our strategy is to cater to vegan preferences, the business plan becomes the blueprint for achieving this goal. Just like the precise instructions found in a recipe book by culinary experts like Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay, a good business plan provides clear steps and strategies for implementation.

Operational tasks encompass the nitty-gritty activities involved in executing the plans. These could range from sourcing ingredients to cleaning, mixing, and managing cooking processes.

It’s essential to maintain a clear distinction between these three levels—strategy, business plans, and operations. Combining them into a single document risks convoluting the process and diverting attention from crucial strategic decisions to minor operational details, such as oven temperatures.

I propose a structured approach involving three separate sets of meetings:

Firstly, a meeting to establish the high-level strategy—defining our core business and identifying what we don’t do. For instance, if we’re a plumbing business, we focus solely on plumbing services and refrain from venturing into electrical work or carpentry.

Once the strategic direction is set, subsequent meetings can delve into the implications and requirements for realizing these strategic objectives. This involves discussions on resource allocation, training needs, staffing requirements, and financial considerations. The CEO will document these discussions, and the board will approve them, ensuring alignment with our strategic vision.

Finally, regular follow-up meetings, possibly on a quarterly basis, will track progress on projects, address any challenges, and evaluate overall performance against predefined key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs serve as benchmarks for assessing our execution of the plan and our progress toward achieving strategic objectives.

Simplicity is key.

I advocate for simplicity at every stage. Just as a restaurant provides a clear menu divided into categories like starters, mains, and desserts, we should present our strategies, plans, and tasks in a similarly straightforward manner. Avoid inundating stakeholders with unnecessary details better suited for operational teams. Their role is to make informed decisions based on strategic objectives, not micromanage implementation.

In conclusion, while attention to detail is essential, let’s ensure we maintain clarity and focus on the bigger picture. Just as a skilled chef oversees the cooking process in the kitchen, let’s assign responsibility for operational details to those best equipped to handle them, allowing decision-makers to concentrate on strategic priorities.

Tim HJ Rogers
Consult | CoCreate | Deliver

Adapt Consulting Company
#people #products #productivity #processes #projects #change

Website Consulting https://www.adaptconsultingcompany.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/adapt-consulting-company/
Join our Community
https://mailchi.mp/9fee22102e71/signup

Thinking Feeling Being –
#teams #coaching #mentoring #change

Website Coaching https://thinkingfeelingbeing.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/thinkingfeelingbeing/
Join our Community
https://mailchi.mp/cddf4c91d169/welcome

Podcast Video https://www.youtube.com/@adaptconsultingcompany9798/videos
Podcast Audio https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/timhjrogers-adapting-to-change-podcast/id1724029364