All the executives I work with want to increase the level of pace across their organisation. But pace is not simply about getting people to work harder – although this can be an important step. Here are 10 ways you can drive pace and growth in a systematic way without the need for any extra working hours from by your people.
- Do fewer things and focus on those that will have the biggest impact on your business
- Clarify accountabilities and establish exactly who is accountable for each of your priorities
- Simplify your organisation and, in particular, reduce the number of senior managers such that each manager has clear ‘blue water’ from his or her colleagues in terms of their role and responsibilities
- Push down decision-making responsibilities as close as possible to the people interacting with your customers
- Clarify your strategy and ensure that everyone across the business can summarise your top goals and your key strategic priorities
- Review your own behaviour to ensure that you are demonstrating pace in your decision-making and actions
- Reward behaviours ahead of results. Who is demonstrating an ability to work cross functionally and take prudent risk to increase pace, even if the results aren’t immediate?
- Don’t sweat them small stuff, and ensure that both your time and your team’s time is centred on driving new growth rather being focused on fixing small problems
- Align organisational and personal goals, so that everyone is focused on the same results
- Follow-through on your priorities, hold your team to account and deal with poor performance up-front
Which of these actions could help your organisation improve its pace this week?
© Stuart Cross 2013. All rights reserved.