Things Good Leaders Do – Align Tactical Activity to the Strategic Game Plan

My friend Roy Osing wrote a great article that was published in The Globe and Mail on June 3, 2016 entitled “10 Things Smart Business People Do”. Most of the 10 things are great reminders regardless of our level of leadership and so I thought I would spend the summer reviewing my favourites. I am changing the title slightly to “Things Good Leaders Do”  instead of Things Smart Business People Do”

Today I start with:

“Have a strategic game plan for their organization and use it as the context for all tactical activity.”

It’s hard to think or believe that there are organizations out there operating without a strategic plan.  Most do. But it turns out that many can’t seem to execute properly.

I’ve written numerous times about my passion for the area of strategy execution.  As we look at reasons for failed strategic plans most of the arrows point to the senior leadership team. Most of them will be quite adept at creating strategic plans. Few are very good at the execution.

Good leaders know how to carry strategy through execution to completion. They know how to tie strategy to everything the organization does from the bottom right through to the top – making the strategic plan the key to all tactical activity. And these leaders know how to create a culture that supports the strategic plan:

• strong communications from top to bottom
• being involved themselves and not leaving the execution part to others
• continual checking in and reporting on progress

So yes, of the 10 things smart business people do, ensuring that the strategic game plan is used as the context for all tactical activity is a sure sign of a strong leader.

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