September - 2021

Is True North South of the Equator?

What happens when True North is defined, but not communicated? Execution will suffer as employees perform their jobs based on different assumptions and goals. It is not uncommon for teams to pursue conflicting goals; sometimes, managers and employees form cliques that each defend a different belief about what the strategy should be, a recipe for a toxic culture. No organization is immune to this confusion. Learn why communicating True North to your employees matter. The econo

Is your Leadership Enabling Execution?

Execution excellence starts at the top. It is the leadership team’s responsibility to set the foundation of execution by formulating a clear market positioning, communicating it to all employees with credibility, deliberately and thoughtfully managing the changes required to maintain excellence in operations, and being self-aware enough to understand their own strengths and gaps to deliver against their strategic goals. The economic recovery in 2021 will put a premium on exec

How Relevant Are Your Metrics?

A set of well-chosen metrics allows employees to understand exactly how their activities are going to be tracked and how their output will be aggregated into successful execution. In other words, good metrics will foster the right behaviors to execute. The economic recovery in 2021 will put a premium on execution. Why? Because the operating environment will be more stable and predictable. 2020 was the year of big strategic changes; in 2021, you just need to execute well. Howe

Are Your Employees Focused On What Matters?

Execution is the sum of all the activities and tasks performed by your employees. This is where the rubber hits the road. These activities and tasks must be directly relevant to your strategy. The economic recovery in 2021 will put a premium on execution. Why? Because the operating environment will be more stable and predictable. 2020 was the year of big strategic changes; in 2021, you just need to execute well. However, how do we even know how well our organizations are curr

Human Capital: Once You Get ‘Em, How Do You Keep Them?

You execute with people and through people. Employees are your most precious asset, but they are also the one asset over which you have the least control. The economic recovery in 2021 will put a premium on execution. Why? Because the operating environment will be more stable and predictable. 2020 was the year of big strategic changes; in 2021, you just need to execute well. However, how do we even know how well our organizations are currently executing? Financials cannot giv

How Best Practices Make You Worse Off

Market discipline starts at the top: the leadership team must define the mission (why do customers buy from us versus the competition), vision (what needs to be done to deliver the value proposition), and strategic intent of the organization. Only then can processes, infrastructure, and assets be aligned. The economic recovery in 2021 will put a premium on execution. Why? Because the operating environment will be more stable and predictable. 2020 was the year of big strategic

What Leader Do You Want to Be in 2021?

After nearly a year of operating in a crisis environment, we know what the attributes of good crisis leadership are: resilience to absorb unforeseen shocks, adaptability to pivot based on new circumstances, and ability to predict future scenarios. We recently became a Line-of-Sight SM Certified Partner to help our clients execute better. Line-of-SightSM looks beyond talent to help you assess the 5 Key Success factors for Execution (let’s call them KSEs): Strategic Understandi

The Many Benefits of a Clear Strategy

Despite the amount of change companies have been subject to, and perhaps because of it, Line-of-SightSM data show that our clients have over-indexed on communicating their intent and goals to employees. We recently became a Line-of-Sight SM Certified Partner to help our clients execute better. Line-of-SightSM looks beyond talent to help you assess the 5 Key Success factors for Execution (let’s call them KSEs): Strategic Understanding, Leadership, Balanced Metrics, Activities

When It comes to Metrics, Less is More

You can only control what you can measure. Ford Motor Company is a great example: when the company decided to make their strategic goal, “Quality is job one,” they translated their performance into Six Sigma performance standards. We recently became a Line-of-Sight SM Certified Partner to help our clients execute better. Line-of-SightSM looks beyond talent to help you assess the 5 Key Success factors for Execution (let’s call them KSEs): Strategic Understanding, Leadership, B

A Simple Idea to Keep Employees Focused on What Matters

This week we discuss a simple approach to align activities and structure to your business strategy in the post-pandemic. We recently became a Line-of-Sight SM Certified Partner to help our clients execute better. Line-of-SightSM looks beyond talent to help you assess the 5 Key Success factors for Execution (let’s call them KSEs): Strategic Understanding, Leadership, Balanced Metrics, Activities & Structure, and Human Capital. This week we discuss a simple approach to align ac

Preparing Human Capital for Superlearning

This week, we consider how you can keep your employees’ competencies up to date despite the shifts in the work they’ve been asked to perform since the pandemic started. We recently became a Line-of-Sight SM Certified Partner to help our clients execute better. Line-of-SightSM looks beyond talent to help you assess the 5 Key Success factors for Execution (let’s call them KSEs): Strategic Understanding, Leadership, Balanced Metrics, Activities & Structure, and Human Capital. Pr

Uncertainty Is Not An Excuse

There is no other way to say this: for many companies, execution will be at risk in 2021. We recently became a Line-of-Sight SM Certified Partner to help our clients execute better. Line-of-SightSM looks beyond talent to help you assess the 5 Key Success factors for Execution (let’s call them KSEs): Strategic Understanding, Leadership, Balanced Metrics, Activities & Structure, and Human Capital. Uncertainty Is Not An Excuse There is no other way to say this: for many companie

The High Growth Curse

In the first quarter of 2021, Line-of-Sight conducted research to measure how CEOs evaluate their organizations’ execution performance. In particular, the research compared the CEO ratings for high-growth companies (growing 50% or more year-over-year) against their peers growing at a slower clip. Line-of-SightSM helps mid-market companies and large enterprises execute better by measuring and managing five critical capabilities necessary for successful execution (or KSEs): str

Human Capital: Preparing for the Turnover Tsunami

Surveys show that between 25% and 50% of employees plan to look for a job this year and will do so as soon as the effects of the pandemic subside. The economic recovery in 2021 is putting a premium on execution. Why? Because the operating environment is getting more stable and predictable: 2020 was the year of major strategic changes but 2021 is the year when companies need to execute well to take advantage of the improved economic environment. However, how do you even know h

The Paradox of Size

CEOs of mid-sized companies rate their execution capabilities highest among their peers. Line-of-SightSM helps mid-market companies and large enterprises execute better by measuring and managing five critical capabilities necessary for successful execution (or KSEs): strategic understanding, leadership, balanced metrics, activities & structure, and human capital; it also assesses market discipline – the ability to execute in a way that remains true to the strategic intent. Th

Human Capital: The unsung hero of execution

CEOs rate the most important element of execution capabilities the lowest. Line-of-SightSM helps companies execute better by measuring and managing five critical capabilities necessary for successful execution (or KSEs): strategic understanding, leadership, balanced metrics, activities & structure, and human capital; it also assesses market discipline – the ability to execute in a way that remains true to the strategic intent. These factors are aggregated to form an overall O

Customer Intimacy

Want to follow a Customer Intimacy-based strategy? Here is how you need to execute… Line-of-Sight led a survey of more than 100 CEOs to measure how they evaluated the execution capabilities of their organization. This survey took place in Q1 2021, when most businesses were transitioning to a post-pandemic world. The 2020 crisis forced many businesses to rapidly adapt their strategy to a radically shifting market demand, both from consumers and from business buyers. Therefore,

Operational Excellence

Want to follow an Operational Excellence as a competitive strategy? Here is how you need to execute… Line-of-Sight led a survey of more than 100 CEOs to measure how they evaluated the execution capabilities of their organization. This survey took place in Q1 2021, when most businesses were transitioning to a post-pandemic world. Line-of-SightSM helps companies execute better by measuring and managing five critical capabilities necessary for successful execution (or KSEs): str

Product or Service Innovation

Want to follow a Product or Service-based innovation strategy? Line-Of-Sight survey highlights the execution ingredients of success… Line-of-Sight led a survey of more than 100 CEOs to measure how they evaluated the execution capabilities of their organization. This survey took place in Q1 2021, when most businesses were transitioning to a post-pandemic world. The pandemic compelled many companies to rapidly pivot and develop new delivery models, products, or services to meet

Strategic Understanding

Less is More: how to select strategic initiatives that create value. Line-of-Sight led a survey of more than 100 CEOs to measure how they evaluated the execution capabilities of their organization. This survey took place in Q1 2021, when most businesses were transitioning to a post-pandemic world. In the post-pandemic, companies are restarting projects that got paused or side-tracked during the COVID crisis. But as employees are adjusting to being back in the office and consu

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