The gap between what you want and what the company (sales team, management team, new product process, etc.) is producing can be frustrating. There is always a gap but that gap can be a great opportunity for the leader.
Use gaps as a way to pull you quickly forward toward what you are seeking.
Since organizational inertia and individual complacency are always lurking just below the surface, the company needs a method that makes managers face up to reality and surface that gap.
The challenge is in finding these critical issues.
Assume that you have established some type of change program, vision or new strategy. Anytime new goals, change or needed improvement is undertaken, issues are going to surface.
What are these issues, and why are they critical? Critical issues are those unresolved concerns that surface (automatically) when deciding new change goals and attempting to implement strategy. They must be addressed or there will be slippage and a return to status quo. Most owners assume that these issues do not exist or simply do not know how to surface them.
The goal
Your goal is to pro-actively locate and assess these hidden, yet critical, issues. Here is a simple agenda you can use ot get the process underway. Have a team meeting just to explore the possibility of developing a process like this. Tailor it to your own situation, team and leadership style. It doesn’t matter what the final method looks like. The concept of having the team look for unresolved concerns is the point.
Sample agenda for clarifying critical issues:
Discuss:
- What factors are critical to the success of this department in the coming year?
- What are the key issues in your area that need to be resolved (reduced, improved or eliminated)?
- What, specifically, is the critical issue, and how will you know that it has been resolved?
- Who has primary accountability for resolving and recommending action on this issue?
- Who else should be involved?
Bottom line:
This process is helpful because it cannot be done until the senior group agrees on both the change sought and the issues that change will create.
Let me know how you progress with this …
