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Strategic
Leadership
By
Michael Keller
Mission, vision, values, goals,
objectives, and strategic planning are just some of the leadership buzzwords of
the late 20th Century. Virtually
all professional executives have attempted to understand what all the buzzwords
mean and make them a reality. Few have
succeeded and most continue to search for what bridges the gap between
leadership theory and leadership reality.
That bridge may well be the new buzzword for the 21st
Century. It is “Strategic Leadership”.
Strategic
Leadership is a process that is simple in its basic form, easily applied, and
has the potential of yielding significant results. Leading strategically means having a comprehensive strategy for
the immediate future. Unlike strategic
planning, which is long term for the whole organization, Strategic Leadership
is short term designed for the executive and staff.
Since
September 11th, “doing more with less” has been the theme of many
organizational budgets. With the
economic instability, stock market uncertainty, the war on terrorism, and
additional military conflicts on the horizon, many organizational priorities
have changed. Many organizations are
just trying to survive, as budgets have not increased or, worse yet, some have
decreased. As a result, leaders are
again called upon to be creative as they strive to accomplish their goals. Having to accomplish more than the available
resources will allow, many leaders will be forced to try and accomplish more by
doing more. Strategic Leadership offers
the professional executive the solution to not only accomplishing more with
less but by doing less.
“This
short passage describes how an early CEO, CFO, HR Director (Moses) is being
overwhelmed while leading the children of Israel toward the Promised Land. Help arrives one day in the person of
Jethro, the Priest of Midian (who also happens to be Moses’ father-in-law). After a few days of observing Moses in action,
Jethro takes him aside to offer some friendly advice. The following is a very loose translation of the conversation
between what may well be the first management consultant-client relationship in
recorded history.
Jethro: “Moses, you’re doing
it all wrong! You’re wearing yourself
out, as well as your people, by trying to do to much.” (i.e. accomplish more by
doing more?)
Moses: “You may be right. I’m putting in very long hours and working harder and harder; but
what else can I do? My people expect a
lot from me, and I don’t want to let them down!”
Jethro: “Here is a better way to get the job
done: Select some trusted subordinates,
and instruct them to deal with all but the most important issues your people
bring to them for judgment. In that way
you may actually accomplish more for your people than you can by trying to do
everything yourself.” (i.e. accomplish more by doing less?)
Exodus 18:24-27 picks up the story:
So Moses gave heed to the voice of his father-in-law, and
did all that he said. Moses chose able
men out of all of Israel, and made them heads over the people; rulers of
thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times; hard cases they brought
to Moses, but all the small matters they decided themselves. Then Moses let his father-in-law depart… to
his own country.” (Lasagna)
Moses took the first of several
steps required to implement Strategic Leadership. Strategic Leadership, similar in some respects to strategic planning,
is about action, not just a written document that all too often sits on a shelf
or in a drawer and is very rarely reviewed.
Strategic Leadership is a daily process that should be reviewed at staff
meetings. Effective Strategic Leadership
is a fluid, dynamic process that requires constant vigilance. Integral to the success of Strategic
Leadership is the P.O.L.I.C.E. Leadership Methodology:
P: Planning
O:
Organizing
L: Liability/accountability
I:
Information/communication
C: Control/accountability
E: Ethics/integrity
The P.O.L.I.C.E. Leadership
Methodology ensures that the Strategic Leadership process is grounded on a
foundation of accountability. With all
of the scandals surrounding CEO’s of both public and private organizations,
accountability to all stakeholders has come to the forefront and should make
Strategic Leadership very attractive to the professional executive.
Like Moses, the professional
executive must take that first step and come to the conclusion that there has
to be a better way to accomplish the mission of the organization. The implementation of Strategic Leadership
requires an introspective assessment of the programs, goals, and tasks of the
organization. Many executives are
biased in their assessment, which can degrade the effectiveness of Strategic
Leadership. An outside review offers
the best, unbiased assessment, to make educated decisions from.
In the second step, the executive is
introduced to strategic thinking. “Strategic thinking means asking, Are we
doing the right thing? Perhaps, more
precisely, it means making that assessment using three key requirements about
strategic thinking: a definite purpose be in mind; an understanding of the
environment, particularly of the forces that affect or impede the fulfillment
of that purpose; and creativity in developing effective responses to those
forces.” (Bryson) In assessing those
forces that can affect or impede the success, the executive and staff will determine
the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (S.W.O.T.) to each
strategy. In particular, the executive
must be cognizant of the budgetary restraints and political implications
(threats) to certain strategies and initiatives. The executive will participate
in the “I want” brainstorming session.
Every executive in every organization has a vision of what they want to
accomplish. Some are more realistic
than others. “Fewer have a clear,
succinct, and useful vision of success.” (Bryson) Sadly, many of their “I want” to accomplish will not come to
fruition. Not because their goals are
unrealistic but because so many executives are bogged down with the minutia of
leadership (Moses) and can’t get many of the important (critical) things done.
During this session the executive is
tasked to list the “I want” to accomplish for himself and the staff within the
next year. The executive is encouraged
to “shotgun” his ideas for the organization regardless of how unrealistic they
may be. At this point, Pareto’s 80/20 Rule is introduced. Count Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) was an
Italian economist who observed that 20% of his fellow countrymen owned 80% of
the country’s wealth. He concluded that
their success was dependent upon focusing on the critical few (20%) and they
did not waste valuable time on the trivial many (80%). “The Rule and Its Corollary: Pareto's
rule states that a small number of causes is responsible for a large percentage
of the effect, in a ratio of about 20:80. Expressed in a management context,
20% of a person's effort generates 80% of the person's results. The corollary
to this is that 20% of one's results absorb 80% of one's resources or efforts.
For the effective use of resources, the manager's challenge is to distinguish
the right 20% from the trivial many.” (Hafner)
“The leader of an organization must remember that 80% of his problems
come from 20% of the workforce; when 80% of your events are not within your
control, focus on the 20% you can do something about. Utilizing the 80/20 Rule in tandem with strategic thinking, the
executive determines what are the critical few (20%) on the list that he will
need to concentrate on. The number of
critical few will vary depending on the size of the organization. In addition, the P.O.L.I.C.E. Leadership
Methodology is introduced into the process.
A major component to the success of Strategic Leadership is the
accountability factor. When the
critical few and trivial many are established, then who is accountable for the
achieving these goals, along with a reasonable timetable, is established.
In the third step, the facilitator
will hold a meeting with the executive and the staff. The facilitator will explain Strategic Leadership, the 80/20
Rule, and S.W.O.T. to the staff. The
executive will outline his critical
few and a roundtable discussion should take place. All of the interactive sessions are informal and directed at
achieving consensus through teamwork.
All participants will discuss the pros and cons of the critical
few. The end result, with the input of
the staff, may be that some of the critical few are not feasible. Once a consensus has been reached, the
executive will be assigned the task of writing out a strategy (plan) for
accomplishing the critical few assigned to him.
In the fourth step, the facilitator
will meet individually with each member of the staff. This is the “I will” accomplish development session. “I will” is an action statement. It is not, “I might, maybe, I think so, or I
probably can.” The staff member will
review each of the critical few that he is assigned and during discussion with
the facilitator come up with a strategy (plan) to accomplish the goal. Staff members are not only responsible for
their “I will” statement. They are encouraged to be future thinkers and
empowered to state what they want to accomplish during the next year. The staff
member will be assigned the task of writing out a strategy and timetable for
accomplishing the assigned tasks and the tasks they see as significant to their
area of responsibility for the next year.
Staff members will have the opportunity to discuss their strategies with
the executive.
In the fifth step, the facilitator
will meet with each staff member with the executive present. During this session, the executive and the
staff member will review each strategy that the staff member has designed. The facilitator will assist the executive
and staff member in reaching a consensus as to the feasibility for success of
the strategy and the timetable required.
As in the previous steps, the executive and the staff member will review
each strategy, determining the S.W.O.T. for each.
In the sixth step, the facilitator
will meet with all the participants to briefly review all the “I want” and “I
will” strategies that the executive and staff have developed. A brief overview of the strategies and any
final questions should be answered.
Each participant needs to bring his or her calendar to establish
follow-up dates. The facilitator will
take a copy of the “I want” and “I will” document from the executive and
staff. The facilitator will draft a
final document outlining the tasks and the strategies to fulfill these
tasks. Included in the document will be
who is responsible for the task, when it is to be completed, the follow-up
date, and whether the strategy has a budgetary impact. The final document will be distributed to
all of the participants and the governing body. After all, the executive in most organizations is accountable to
someone, be it a chairman, governing board, or governmental body.
Strategic Leadership is not a
panacea but a tool for the professional executive that wants to be more
effective by doing less. Although the
strategies for completing the tasks have been established, there is always the
unknown. Executives are plagued with
incessant time restraints as well as depleted budgets. September 11th taught us a
valuable lesson about strategies and planning.
Nothing is cast in stone and the professional executive must be flexible
and consider contingencies.
Summary
Leaders are experiencing depletion
in resources but are expected to accomplish great things. This expectation is nothing new. Moses walked the walk, talked the talk, but
was still lost and inundated with the daily minutia of leadership. It’s not until the professional executive
comes to the conclusion that he cannot accomplish more simply by doing more,
but by thinking strategically. At this
point Strategic Leadership becomes a viable solution for both the public and
private organization.
The implantation process has
numerous steps, during which the participants learn about the 80/20 Rule,
S.W.O.T. (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), and the P.O.L.I.C.E.
Leadership Methodology in which the process is well Planned; is Organized; the
Liability in the decision making process has been assessed; there has been
accurate dissemination of Information; Control/accountability measures are in
place; and Ethics, “Are we doing what is right?” has been set as the standard
for all strategies.
Strategic Leadership is not a
panacea for all the woes of leadership but a useful tool. Strategic Leadership
is a daily process, not a long-range plan, and requires constant vigilance. Strategic
Leadership offers the professional executive the opportunity to successfully
accomplish his goals with the resources available and without over-investing
his time and energies. Strategic
Leadership may very well be the new leadership model for the 21st
Century.
Comments
to: mkeller@mungovconsultants.com
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About the author:
Michael A. Keller
has been in the public safety profession since 1973 attaining the position of Chief of Police & Director of Public Safety. He retired as Chief of Police of the Webster
Texas Police Department. He is the CEO
of the Keller Consulting Group, Government Consulting Services. He has consulted with police agencies on
issues involving Police Management and Planning, Leadership, Employee
Discipline, Internal Investigations, Criminal Investigations, and
investigations regarding the Sexual Exploitation of Children. He holds a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in
Police Administration from Western Illinois University, is a graduate of the Leadership Command College, and
a graduate of the FBI
National Academy 176th Session.
He has written numerous articles on Leadership and Policing for various
publications. He is an instructor at
the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas at Sam Houston State
University. He has extensive media
experience and has been a guest on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and CBS’s
“Today Show”. He is committed to
“ethical, professional leadership” and assisting other organizations in meeting
the demands of the 21st Century.
He lives on the coast of Texas and is an avid saltwater fisherman
References:
John Lasagna, “Accomplish More by Doing Less”, JBL
Associates, p.1
John Bryson, “ Strategic Planning for Public and
Nonprofit Organizations”, A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining
Organizational Achievement, (Jossey-Bass, 1995)
Arthur
Hafner, Ph.D., “Pareto’s Principle: The 80:20 Rule, Seton Hall University,
(http://library.shu.edu/HafnerAW/awh-th-math-pareto.htm)