Rhythm Blog | Patrick Thean

I am often asked about the impact of leaders on a company’s strategy execution. Sometimes we have process and execution problems. But just as often, I have found that the company may actually have done a good job with execution planning, or creating priorities and KPIs. However, the leaders and managers are having trouble driving performance and results. In these cases, weakness in team leaders can be masquerading as execution issues.

Your leaders determine the performance of their teams and the results that your company achieves. Every single customer or project rolls up to a manager/leader. Your leaders determine 100% of your company’s results and performance!

It’s time to slow down and develop a world class execution plan for next year. When we don’t slow down to plan our execution, our teams don't end up being focused on the right things, leading to mistakes and rework, and ultimately smacking our profit with a 2-by-4! How strong is your execution this year?

I ask these questions to check if you had a good and strong plan this year:

• Does your team know what the company is supposed to achieve this year?
• If your team does know what the company is focused on, do they know their roles in making that happen every quarter?
• Do they have clear success metrics so they can tell if they are on track or not?

We are proud to announce that Retail TouchPoints recently featured two of our long-time clients, Simms Fishing Products, and luxury watchmaker, Frederique Constant, in a report discussing the biggest challenge in the retail industry today: engaging employees. According to the 2013 State of the American Workplace report by Gallup, 70% of employees are not engaged. 

Congratulations to Jeff Berstein, and the ImageFIRST Team! Calera Capital, a private equity firm, acquired a majority share of ImageFIRST, allowing Jeff and his team to successfully achieve their dreams. This unique win-win deal provides the following for key stakeholders:

If you are a Mastering the Rockefeller Habits fan, here are four tips to make your One-Page Strategic Plan work for you. Used correctly, it can accelerate your progress. Used incorrectly, it can quickly become a bureaucratic anchor around your neck.

1. Use your strategic foundation - Your core strategy to drive execution:

Your core strategy is made up of your core purpose, core values, and BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). Don't allow your core values to be merely a poster on the wall. Use them purposefully every day. Don't be tempted to hire that great resource who does not demonstrate your core values. Allow your core values to be your veto tool. Hire and fire by your core values. Here's a tip to live your core values: Choose words that you use daily. Don't switch into "corporate speak" when you bring up your core values. To make it stick, it's got to be the way you talk with each other. Do people in your company understand how their daily work helps to achieve the company’s overall mission or purpose? Are they on an exciting journey towards the promised land? Your BHAG is a 10+ year goal that can create excitement and inspiration for the entire team. Too often, I see BHAGs and purpose statements just being cute posters decorating corporate walls with people not understanding how they are part of the exciting journey to achieve the BHAG and purpose.

It’s time to plan your fourth quarter and finish the year strong! One of the reasons plans fail is due to poorly defined goals and priorities. Most people think that they have finished their plan when they have had good discussions during quarterly planning sessions and come up with their top 5 priorities for the quarter. “Hey, we are all aligned and ready for the quarter!” Not so fast. You need to make sure that your goals and priorities are well defined and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time bound).

During Q4, many companies begin to think and plan for the next year. To gain insight into the process and importance of planning for the upcoming year, my team interviewed me. After all, I am an Amazon best-selling author of two books: Rhythm and Predictable Results, and I've helped hundreds of companies with this process.

Question: Patrick, so annual planning time is rolling around again. Are you still looking forward to helping companies develop their plans, and if so why?

Patrick: Oh, I love this part of the year, when people are thinking and planning for the next year. It is a good practice to take stock, learn what went well and what did not go so well, and dream about how to do much better next year. This is a very important process that can really influence whether you have a great year or not.