Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.
—Mahatma Gandhi
So I’ve told you the what and why. Now let me cover the who. Who will this book serve? Why them and not others?
This piece of the puzzle is critical to generating real change. My strategies for optimized performance may be useful to a variety of workers situated within an organization, but they will only gain widespread adoption if a select few spearhead them.
This distinctive power is in the hands of the senior leaders and the CEO.
Before I explain why, I want to emphasize that while a CEO is the paramount authority of any organization, he or she is not always best suited for remedying dumbed-down operations.
Because the CEO is the liaison between the board of directors and the rest of the organization, he or she is typically faced with making impactful decisions every day. Coordinating the work of thousands of employees and directing the fate of an organization demand a macroscopic approach that often leaves little room for the kinds of tactical, hands-on support that is the responsibility of the senior leadership team.
Of course, you typically have only one CEO, but have a senior leadership team. Senior leaders can work together, allowing each team member to supervise and support one another. This provides them with an advantage.
Why exactly are senior leaders such potent catalysts for change? The first reason should be obvious—their seniority allows for a wide-ranging, aerial view of their organization. Their jobs revolve around measuring the success of entire departments, rather than smaller subsections.
Because they operate as a group, senior leaders can observe their particular divisions in relation to one another. Each senior leader’s vantage point can be cross-operational, requiring cross-organizational cooperation from the other leaders. Aligning internal and external strategies can only be done holistically; otherwise, you wind up with one department outperforming the others. Spearheading this kind of transformation is where the senior leadership team shines.
Next, senior leaders approach their jobs with a long-term perspective. While an organization rewards most workers for short-term results, senior leaders are preoccupied with ensuring success over much longer periods of time. Never mind this week or this month—they’re typically worried about this year, or the next 5 years.
Likewise, their goals are much broader. “How do we double our revenue in 2 years? How do we scale to 10,000 employees by this year? How do we improve customer satisfaction with as little expense as possible?” They want to be able to document their progress with precision.
Finally, senior leaders are essential for aligning internal and external strategies because of their unique ability to hold the organization, as a whole, accountable. Given that each leader’s success is inherently tied to the success of their peers, as well as the success of their subordinates, there are several levels of accountability at play.
To start off, each senior leader is, of course, the primary supervisor of strategy and execution among his or her team. Senior leaders are updated on the status of projects and general operations. Reports get circulated, dashboards are monitored, and plans are continually being analyzed and revised—to ensure the results leaders are seeking.
At the same time, they are also being held mutually accountable. Because senior leaders are experienced in setting and meeting goals, it’s often easy for them to keep themselves and the rest of their team in check.
Those who don’t excel in these ways get replaced rather quickly. Consider a team where some leaders are high-performing and accountable, but others aren’t. Any efficiency disintegrates. Because certain departments become undependable, the high-performing leaders are thrown off kilter because their success is tied to the organization functioning as a whole. The success of every senior leader is dependent upon that of the other team members. Each senior leader must be clear about what they need from all other senior leaders, as well as vice versa.
Achieving this synergy is, of course, not always a walk in the park. But that’s why you’re reading this book. After two decades in the field, I’ve devised five core strategies for aligning internal and external operations. As a consultant, my clients have ranged from small startups to large international corporations. These strategies are all-encompassing and meant for businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Each strategy confronts misaligned internal and external processes from a different angle. Put together, they are a surefire way to support all potential for long-term and sustainable growth.
But I will warn you. Nowhere in here will I attempt to tackle the specifics of every imaginable obstacle you can encounter. Instead, my focus will be to inform and empower you—the senior leader.
Be it the granule of sales percentages or the overarching importance of communicating your agenda to your peers, your attention must be on high-performance teams and interpersonal relationships. As I said in the last chapter, technical problems are rarely the showstopper, but interpersonal problems have the potential to cripple an organization if they are not well managed.
This was where Compaq reigned supreme. With the right intentions, strategy, and teamwork, your organization can succeed too.