Are you clear on strategy for 2022? | Issue #171
How to get clarity on your strategy for 2022
Has Christmas given you some breathing space to think about your business? Maybe downing tools and taking a break has made you realise you’re not heading in the right direction. You don’t want 2022 to be like 2021 (or the many years before it). You want to do something different.
After some chit chat to set the scene, I go straight for the jugular. ‘Tell me, Mr/Ms CEO. What’s your strategy?’ It’s not unusual to get silence back. ‘What do you mean?’ they eventually reply. ‘Describe your strategy to me in any way that makes sense to you’, I elaborate. And what do they come back with? ‘We want to grow by 10%’, or ‘We’re going to break into America’ or ‘We’re going to launch this new product’. None of these is a strategy. Tactics, ambitions or wants – yes. But a strategy? No.
It’s the difference between playing golf and practising golf. If it’s been your hobby for ten years, it’s unlikely that you’ve got much better at it. However, if you’ve set a goal to reduce your handicap in a certain timespan and broken it down into hitting x number of fairways in regulation and x number of putts per hole, you’ll be well on your way to improving your game.
How to do Better Business Faster with Artesian : DueDil CEO, Andrew Yates
Fintech company Artesian:DueDil – a London/Reading based business helps B2B customers do better business faster with a focus on using data science and curated business information to help find the right customers, onboard them faster and keep them for a lifetime.
BT uses it and sees a 48% ROI. You could too.
In this latest episode of The Melting Pot, CEO and founder of recently merged Artesian:DueDil, Andrew Yates, talks about how you can take data from banking and financial services and put it to work for you.
This is a fascinating conversation about data, fast growing businesses and how to use data in your organisation, whether you’re a customer of Artesian:DueDil or not.
Recommended Podcasts
Vroom Vroom Veer with Jeff Smith
A personal transformation podcast aimed mainly at GenX’rs who are burned out from the revved-up mindset that has driven them to where they are—both professionally and personally—and are searching for more fulfilling, authentic and meaningful ways to move forward. The show’s format is set up as lively conversations, storytelling and sharing of advice between host, Jeff Smith and his various guests—all of whom have had a unique and distinct experience of metaphorically shifting from “vrooming” to “veering” in how they’ve approached certain aspects of their lives.
Recommended Articles
Closing the agile achievement gap
Despite the wide adoption of agile across industries and functions, most companies are barely scratching the surface of its vast potential. Business leaders can change the game by paying careful attention to seven mission-critical factors.
How to Optimize Your Team’s Information Sharing in Meetings
Meeting overload, zoom fatigue, and too much time wasted in unproductive meetings: these problems grow during periods of rapid change. Bad meetings proliferate when we struggle to communicate well. And when things change rapidly, we need to share more information more often to keep on top of the situation.
10 Tactics to Keep Your Meeting on Track
Too many meeting leaders think their job ends when the meeting starts or that they merely serve as note-taker and “agenda police.” But, as with almost any work project, a meeting’s success relies on the success of leadership communication. This article covers 10 communication tactics that can help leaders and executives attending meetings make sure that critical points are raised and discussed as effectively as they are efficiently, so that meetings ultimately accomplish their mission.
Recommended Reads
The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
As the central curator of the success media industry for over 25 years, author Darren Hardy has heard it all, seen it all, and tried most of it. This book reveals the core principles that drive success. The Compound Effect contains the essence of what every superachiever needs to know, practice, and master to obtain extraordinary success. If you’re serious about living an extraordinary life, use the power of The Compound Effect to create the success you desire.
HOW TO WIN:Rugby and Leadership from Twickenham to Tokyo is much more than the story of a tournament, however. It is the distillation of a philosophy of leadership developed during a lifetime in high-performance environments, from the rugby field to the boardroom. Tapping into his experience of winning the 2003 World Cup, being a part of the leadership team that delivered Olympic Success in 2012 and lessons drawn from Japan 2019, the author delivers a go-to manual in how to improve both individual and team performance in order to reach the pinnacle in sport and in business. Every individual position in rugby requires a unique set of skills, knowledge and expertise that collectively form a balanced team; the same is true in any successful business or organisation. With a fascinating blend of analysis, insight and anecdote, and the highs and lows of a memorable Rugby World Cup as the setting, Clive reveals how to lead the culture of a winning team – in any context.
MEANINGFUL ACTION FOR MONDAY
Refuse to do meetings in the morning
Most people do their best work in the morning. So plan your meetings later in the day. Block the first hours in the morning so that you can get stuff done. You can set up your calendar to auto decline meetings when you’re busy working, so that it forces your meetings into the afternoon. That will give you chunks of time during the day where you can make progress in your work.
Otherwise, you’ll be shifting between meetings, checking your emails, making a coffee and then back in another meeting. By the end of the day, you’ve got nothing done.
Upcoming Events
Friday Pulse People Manager Webinar – 12th January 2022
A repeat webinar for anyone who leads or manages a team using Friday Pulse. It will include some background on the science of happiness and the five ways to happiness at work, but mostly focus on how you as a manager use Friday Pulse with your team.
Like Minds Nudge Ideas Festival, Exeter (UK) – 25th March 2022
After 19 months of online-only, the Nudge Ideas Festival is back, in-person at the stunning Winslade Manor at Winslade Park, just outside Exeter. It will be an intimate event designed around engagement and collaboration. Places are limited to 100 (plus our speakers), so don’t miss out!
Quote of the week
“Strategy is not the consequence of planning, but the opposite: its starting point.”
Henry Mintzberg
Dominic Monkhouse
Dominic offers business coaching and management development, strategy planning and organisational change, using tried and tested methods to launch your organisation onto an unparalleled growth trajectory. His programme is a function of his broad experience, his deep expertise and a proven process used by over 2,700 firms worldwide.