The Case for Getting Clear on Where to Focus your Energy
The Challenge
We were asked to help a senior-level leader put together a plan for his first 100 days in a new role. The role was running an eCommerce business. The business was relatively new and backed by a larger organization. That organization had goals for the business, but the new leader needed help sifting through all the noise to figure out what to prioritize and where to focus his energy. This challenge is one of developing healthy leaders–healthy leaders get the best out of themselves and the people they lead.
The engagement
We were initially brought into to facilitate a series of “clarity” sessions –essentially coaching experiences–during which we asked and helped our client answer five important questions.
Why does the role exist?
How will you need to behave in the role?
What will you need to do?
How will you succeed?
What’s most important right now?
To really be able to answer the questions, our client needed to go have conversations with people across the organization. He needed to find out what they were up to and why. He needed to explore what different kinds of things customers cared about and what was both allowing and getting in the way of his team being able to deliver on that experience. Having the conversations helped him learn from and build connections with the people who came before him. By listening to what they had to teach him, he was able to develop his own perspective, which helped him first answer the clarity questions and second, develop a strategy for the business that was both inspiring and pragmatic.
The Results
Our client’s answers to the clarity questions became the backbone of his strategy for the business and continues to guide their approach, including the actions they take and the decisions they make. In addition, we’ve used the same process to help all of their leaders get clear on what is most important as they step up into new roles. As a result, the organization is made up of more confident leaders with clearer plans. They know they are doing the right things and can prioritize where to focus their energy.
The sr4 Insight
Getting clear on what is most important is hard work. It is easier, at least at first, to operate without a plan, but this is not very productive. Using this proven process centered on the clarity questions to help new leaders focus will result in making a bigger impact faster.