Contributing to Strategic Leadership
I believe it is a good thing when professional corporate
planners construct strategic plans. It is an even better thing
when people in the organization participate in the formulation
of strategic priorities. But the best thing about strategic
leadership is frequently missed by scholars and practitioners
alike. The missing link is right under our nose. It is so
obvious that it seems embarrassing.
The real key to strategic
leadership lies with each member of the organization from
the top to the bottom. Everyone can and should become a champion
of strategy within their function or area of responsibility. If
a company is to truly become or remain competitive, it needs to
get everyone into the strategic leadership game, each person a
strategic contributor. This means the organization needs more
than just one grand business strategy. It needs an army of
strategic thinkers not foot soldiers without direction or a
cause of their own to pursue in conjunction with the overall
business strategy.
To ensure future organizational success, people need to
anticipate and get ahead of the game by figuring out what they
need to be doing now to prepare for the future. This is a
win-win deal: the organization gets an entire workforce that is
more proactive and innovative, and the individual builds long
term success, productivity, and eliminates the threat of
obsolesce and irrelevance.
It means that people have to do more than participate in
formulating organization strategy and business plans. They have
to see themselves as strategic entrepreneurs over their own job.
If people feel inspired to lead and execute their bottom-up
strategic process, organizations can unlock the minds and
talents of everyone to be a step ahead. What we are suggesting
is that organizations need strategy to "filter down" from the
top and then "filter up" from the bottom.
There is no question that personal or team strategy should be
linked to and aligned with the grand corporate business
strategy. But, personal strategy should also contain independent
goals and plans that will address long term needs,
opportunities, and threats that can only be perceived by those
embedded in the organization. In fact, exercising individual strategic
leadership unleashes creativity, innovation, and motivation.
What better way to motivate people than encouraging them to
pursue personalized priorities that will help them add value to
the business over the long haul. It also helps them to achieve
more of the elusive power that Abraham Maslow coined as "self
actualization." By promoting individual strategic leadership,
you will help your organization retain talent, motivate people
to achieve their daily work tasks, and empower them to work on
longer term strategic challenges and initiatives that challenge
the status quo.
Fundamentally, it all boils down to having supervisors,
managers, and key contributors operating like small businesses.
People have to be entrepreneurially minded about the future.
They need to read trends, identify and target ambitious
opportunities and unmet needs, and innovate more. People will
always have to accomplish their daily demands and emergencies -
that goes without saying. However, long term sustained
organizational success means we need everyone to engage in strategic
leadership and continually tests ideas and channels energy
and resources into their future success.
When people understand how they fit and why they matter, they
will respond with commitment and give that extra discretionary
performance that managers want. If people are encouraged to
challenge the status quo and to formulate personal strategic
initiatives, your organization can surge beyond the competition
and become an unstoppable force in the market place.