When you don’t know what you don’t know…
Being a new executive is a challenge in many ways, but trying to tell how the group you inherited is doing is a critical issue that many new leaders face. It is usually easy to find out what the goals are, and how things have gone in prior periods but the ability to get a handle on the real time progress is dicey. At CNC we offer an online strategy execution dashboard which allows you to see what is happening in relation to your strategy execution in real time. This can allow for course correction as needed.
Jaime (name changed), a software executive, was thrilled to get promoted to a new division of his company. He had been a strong operator throughout his career and was rewarded with a larger and potentially more profitable division. He came in and like most new leaders met with his direct reports and reviewed the division strategy with each of them. He was pleased to hear, over and over again how things were “on target” and he got lots of reassurances from his team that they are working towards their goals and were not at risk of not meeting them. When the quarter ended Jaime was surprised to find out that the “targets” had in fact not been met. Being slightly off would have been forgivable or even reasonable, but in the case of some of the strategies and the initiatives the team was charged to execute the gap was substantial. If Jaime had the opportunity to look at the progress in real time during the quarter through the lens of a Strategic Execution Scorecard the opportunity for executing on strategy and meeting the initiatives would have been increased.
Leaders need information, sadly, much of the information they get is after the fact. A new leader is in even more jeopardy since he or she may not have the operational context to spot things going awry early. Having diagnostic opportunities to review things as they happen can prevent being surprised in a bad way.
Today’s leaders must stay ahead of the game. It is up to them to make sure that strategy is being executed even when business conditions make it difficult to maintain controls on a daily basis. Tools like CNC’s Strategy Execution Scorecard (SES) can provide one more way for a leader to make sure they are executing on their strategy. It also gives them the opportunity to fine tune and course correct as needed. I encourage you to take a demo or avail yourself of the 30 day free trial. You won’t be disappointed. 
