THE POWER OF STRATEGIC COMMITMENT

Transcription

1 THE POWER OF STRATEGIC COMMITMENT Achieving Extraordinary Results Through Total Alignment and Engagement Josh Leibner Gershon Mader Alan Weiss, Ph.D. AMACOM American Management Association New York * Atlanta * Brussels * Chicago * Mexico City * San Francisco Shanghai * Tokyo * Toronto * Washington, D. C.

2 CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction xiii xv Chapter 1: Why Commitment Trumps Compliance 1 Why Commitment Is More Important Than Ever Even the Most Successful Organizations Don't Operate at Their Full Potential 1 It's a Question of Now or Never 5 Most Leaders Confuse Compliance and Commitment 10 Generating Commitment Requires Great Courage 14 Chapter 2: What Is Strategic Commitment? 19 If It's So Important, Why Don't I Know About It? There's Commitment and There's Commitment 19 What Drives True Commitment? 21 The Heart of Strategic Commitment: Content and Context 22 The Drivers of Context 25 The Characteristics of a Strategic Commitment Environment: Why Should You Care That They Don't Care? 32 You Might as Well Find Out Where You Stand Before Reading On 37 VII

3 Viii THE POWER OF STRATEGIC COMMITMENT Chapter 3: Working Back from the Future 39 How to Generate Strategic Commitment We're Not Here to Stick Our Toe in the Water, We're Here to Make Waves 40 Barriers to Assessing the Current Reality 43 What Are the Warning Signs? 45 Diogenes Searching for the Honest Man 52 The Picture Emerges from the Mosaic 55 Are You Your History or Your Future? You Really Have a Choice 57 Crafting a Bold and Compelling Future 58 Chapter 4: Pushing Through the Thermal Layer 65 How to Engage Middle Managers in Strategic Commitment You Can't Lead Without Light 65 Avoid Strategic Limbo 67 Offer to Listen, Then Demonstrate That You Have Listened 71 Involvement Is Magic 74 Why Slow Is Fast 77 Chapter 5: Leading from the Front 81 "Follow me!" (Not, "I'll Be There in a Minute...") The Resume of the Senior Leadership Team: Ten Essential Leadership Competencies and Qualities 85 How Leadership Behavior Has Changed to Less Leadership 97 Why the Trusted Few Can't Be Trusted 100 Cold Cruel World: Commitment from Key Outsiders 103 Chapter 6: Taking a Stand-The Key to Strategic Commitment 107 Why the Aztecs Put a Stake in the Ground Putting a Stake in the Ground Means No Retreat 108 People Are Not "Goaled," They're Committed 110

4 Contents ix When the Going Gets Tough, You're Finally Making Progress 112 Success and Failure Ebb and Flow, but Courage Cannot 117 Dedication for Him Isn't Necessarily So for Her: Tailoring Commitment 120 Chapter 7: Building and Restoring Trust 127 Essential Competencies for Generating Strategic Commitment What Is Trust, Anyway? 127 The Real Question: How Is Trust Built? 135 The "Building Trust Dialogue" 136 Five Steps to Recovering and Building Trust 137 Moving Forward 142 Chapter 8: Return on Strategic Commitment 145 On Competitive Edge and Profit Margins Financial Performance 145 Customer Service, Satisfaction, and Loyalty 146 Quality 148 Safety 149 Innovation 151 Cross-Functional Collaboration 152 Integration of Cultures (Mergers and Acquisitions) 153 Employee Morale, Loyalty, and Satisfaction 155 The Drivers Working Every Day 156 When Strategic Planning Meets Strategic Commitment 157 A Strategic Plan Fit for Strategic Commitment 159 Doing It Right 163 Chapter 9: Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way-HR at the Crossroads 165 The Role of HR in Generating Strategic Commitment To Be or Not to Be: Can Your Human Resources People Actually Help? 166

5 X THE POWER OF STRATEGIC COMMITMENT HR as Chief Commitment Officer: The Best of All Possible Worlds? 167 Building Potential: HR Can Help, but Needs Your Help 169 I Won't Dance, Don't Ask Me: Jettisoning HR as an Impediment 171 Stormy Weather: The Role of Strategic Commitment in HR Transformation 177 Chapter 10: Strategic Commitment as Organizational Lifestyle 181 Integrating the Process into Organizational DNA You Get What You Pay For: Creating the Proper Reward System 181 The Metrics of Commitment: Focusing on Output, Not Input 185 Picking and Choosing: How to Hire Talent That Thrives on Commitment 188 Communicating Commitment: Changing the Nature of Feedback 191 Choosing Your Friends: Alliances, Vendors, and Contractors in the Fold 198 Chapter 11: The Diversity of Strategic Commitment 203 There Is No Such Thing as "But We're Different" Nonprofits Are Not a Synonym for "Unprofessional" 203 Rules for Gaining Strategic Commitment in Nonprofits 206 Educational Institutions Need to Learn Something 208 Government Agencies Can Actually Achieve Operating Efficiencies 209 Volunteer Organizations Require Strategic Commitment More Than Others 212 Start-ups: Strategic Commitment in the Petri Dish 215

6 Contents xi Afterword: Strategic Commitment Is Essential in Volatile Economies 221 Appendix: Tips, Techniques, and Tools for Generating, Monitoring, and Addressing Setbacks Related to Strategic Commitment 225 The Strategic Commitment Scorecard: Finding Out Where You Stand (Chapter 2) 225 Four Conversations That Will Tell You Where You Stand or Fall (Chapter 2) 229 Working Back from a Future State: Getting "Unfrozen" (Chapter 3) 232 Crafting a Bold, Compelling Future State (Chapter 3) 234 Leadership Team Strengths and Weaknesses Assessment Instrument (Chapter 5) 236 Leadership Strengths and Weaknesses Assessment Recorder (Chapter 10) 241. Index 247 About the Authors 263