Focus and Alignment: 4 Questions to Ask Your Team

4 min read

If you want your team to be focused and aligned on the right projects, you need to connect your strategy to Strategic Execution execution.

Successful companies have too much to do. New opportunities come about, and it is hard to say "No." But strategy is more about saying "No" to the wrong things than saying "Yes" to everything. Most entrepreneurs are not wired to say "No." We are wired to find a way to say "Yes" and get more opportunities into our companies. If that sounds like you, then you don’t have the danger of dying from starvation. But, you do have the risk of dying from over-eating from the buffet of opportunity!

So, what do you say "No" to and how do you gain confidence that you are saying "No" to the right things? Here are four questions to help you with saying "Yes" or "No" to taking on projects or initiatives.

1. Does it line up to the purpose of your company? This is your “Why” question. It’s about passion and enjoyment.
2. Do you have the potential to be really great at this? Even the potential to be best in the world at it? Will this project help you further develop this competence and distance yourselves from your competitors?
3. Is this in line with your financial engine? Is this how you have chosen to make money in your company? The financial engine is a strategic KPI (Key Performance Index). Most companies get this wrong. So if you can get this right, you will be more strategic than most of your competitors. What is a strategic KPI? It is a KPI that guides your strategy over the long term. You want to maximize it over the long term, not optimize it for the short term. Will this project improve your financial engine over the long term?
4. Does this bring you closer or take you further away from your long-term 10-year goal? If you don’t have a ten-year stretch goal, or BHAG, get one. If you have one, then ask if this project helps you to get to your ten-year stretch goal. If it does not, its time to say "No."