Discovery leadership masterclass series 11: Entrepreneurial leadership (2)

The beginning of every expedition is characterized with excitements and euphoria, great optimism and a purposeful energy for accomplishment. Sometimes with a little shadow of doubts, feeling of uncertainties and the inability to envisage clearly how the future holds, often become the bane to dream and more importantly push the urgency to start perpetually postponed. I will in this series take a critical look at the various dimensions of the dream processes and opine suggestive roadmaps to see the sustainability of the beginning which is possible. Stay connected!

The statement by Theodore Roosevelt that “Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirit who neither enjoy much nor that suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat is a euphemism that goes to emphasize that nothing ever gets sustained if it’s first not created, built or managed to endure. More significantly, every great success begins small but with much efforts of a discipline personality or mindset, discipline thought and of discipline action to make it happen. At these different stages of managing, nurturing and or navigating the agenda for success, brings to fore a lot of hard work and dedication, positive spirit, energy, motivation, focused attention and abundant mentality. Nonetheless, the inability to sustain what was created often were a characteristic of apathy in observing protocols, executional indiscipline, visionless pursuit and inaudacious goals set coupled with wrong strategic implementation focus and the lack of commitments to prosecute the needful. To create or build starts with a vision, the commitment to make it work, supported by the right people and mindset to sustain it.

The Vision and Disciplined People

A sustained vision must be bold, audacious and promising without which nothing really works. The road actually leads nowhere if actions are not backed by a clear vision, constructive roadmaps for execution. The popular Chinese proverb that goes without saying, vision without action is a daydream and actions without vision is a nightmare speaks well of this assertion. A vision statement tells you where you are going. It paints a compelling work of a desired future state. It can make anyone who reads it, hears it or lives it want to support, work for, give to, or in some other way be part of the plan or the organization. In addition, the vision assists in motivating and ensuring the impartation to drive actions, take right decisions and engage the right people to move in the right direction.

But vision alone is not enough. The vision must be supported by dedicated and fine talents who share in the common vision and themselves willing and reliably committed to offer their all and align with the ultimate purpose, desire and objectives being pursued. Arguably, the mandate to successfully prosecute and execute the agenda stems from devoted personalities who first believe not only in themselves but in the shared vision devoid of mediocrity and sluggishness. The disciplined person has to be passionate about the course, focused, resilient, courageous, teachable, responsible and team oriented who leverages on relationships to influence other talents. What holds most vital and crucial to organizations’ indeed is the coordination of its talents that work for it and the pointing to them toward the goal what is to be pursued.

The Strategy and Disciplined Thought

The action plans that ensure that the vision is achieved through a unified, comprehensive and integrated plan must provide a “roadmap” for achieving the vision and is critically fundamental for the sustainability and success of the organization. Without an implementable strategic plan, the building effort will not be successful and sustained. The vision therefore would be short-lived.

This strategic process encompasses an all-inclusive agenda to open the loop for discussion and addressing operational, structural and people capacities and requirements for the endearing vision. An open conversation of team selection, technical, production and the financial resources needed for the execution coupled with a robust dialogue to surface the realities of the business where accountability, follow through and reward mechanisms are instituted to incentivize the best performers so to ensure the plans are on track defines the framework for a lasting and reassuring structure to accommodate and support the vision to last.

Whereas the operational process defines an organization’s ability to transform its inputs into outputs suitable to its core implementation agenda, the people process addresses the question of who to select, recruit and or employ to perform designated task and assignments. This operational process in the value chain is the fulcrum for the actualization of all intended plans, therefore needs greater attention. Likewise, a good strategy with wrong caliber of people is a fiasco. The attempt in having great people to compliment a great strategy ensures phenomenal results.

In my earlier series, I did build the case and asserted that, businesses that execute prosecute with vigor, intensity and depth to sustain the objective. Essential to the building blocks of any good strategy communicates to whether the team observes and critically are guided by thought patterns which are not counterintuitive to the original goal. The need by strategy to define the expectations so to ensure unison of thought and energy just to stay the course is highly recommended.

The Implementations and Disciplined Actions

If there’s one thing that would guarantee the success of any quest, that is DISCIPLINE. It’s the bridge between thoughts and accomplishment…the glue that binds inspiration and achievement…the magic that turns financial necessity into the creation of an inspired work of art. Here, leading is more than thinking big. The leader must be charged to get things done by picking other leaders to complement the efforts, make leaders, set the strategic direction, conduct operations and walk the talk.

That notwithstanding, If an organization is to meet the challenges of a changing world, it must be prepared to change everything about itself except its basic beliefs as it moves through the corporate life. Again, it must be understood that, the only sacred cow in an organization should be its basic philosophy of doing business. For it’s the consistency of its principle that gives a direction and focus. Moreover, the drive for progress that arises from a deep human urge to explore, to create, to discover, to achieve, to change and to improve must be enshrined in the organizations culture and be imprinted in the hearts and minds of its people. This drive for progress must not be sterile but rather be given intellectual recognition that, progress is healthy in a changing world or that, healthy organizations’ should change and improve or that, the organization should have goals and be driven by its deep inner and compulsive primal objectives.

The discipline to stimulate preservative progress is fundamental and primal if the organization wants to move from being good to great. This principal habits of building to last must ensure an interplay between the core ideologies (principles) of the organization and the deliberate efforts to drive same for progress. This singular implementable action would provide continuity, stability, continual change in strategies, directions and methods. More so, all actions must be aimed at preserving the critical importance of creating tangible mechanisms aligned to preserve the core and stimulate progress at all times. The intentions to start something new are all fine and good, but it is the translation of those intentions into concrete items, mechanisms with teeth that can make the difference becoming a visionary company or forever remaining a wannabe.

In conclusion however, it’s suggestive to note that, initiatives and strategies that often fail or die are symptomatic expressions of executional indiscipline. Therefore, the decision to execute the strategic priorities of the organization must rest on its key leaders and vigorously be championed by its change agents. All attempts by individuals, teams and organizations to build great fortunes and manage their sustainability are enshrined in the principle by being discipline in preserving the core whiles it stimulates progress incrementally.

I however dare to submit that, any organization with a great culture of discipline helps to promote and ensure there are:

*Discipline#1: Deliberate action to remain Focused on the important

*Discipline#2: Discipline action to follow and be guided by implementable roadmaps.

*Discipline#3: Discipline action to track performances against set imperatives

*Discipline#4: Creation and maintenance of accountability across all divisions

Having said that and in summary, enduring organizations owe their longitivity and success to tried and tested principles which serve as blueprint, guide and lessons to stimulate evolutionary progress for all visionary companies. Hence, the need to,

*Give it a try-seize the opportunity, try new things, experiment and solve the problems that may rear their heads.

*Accept that mistake will happen-failures are integral part of all great companies and since you cannot always tell ahead of time mistakes are bound to happen.

*Take incremental steps-small incremental steps can form the basis of significant strategic shifts so stay the course.

*Offer people the learning room-allow people room to act and be persistent and this will help to predict precisely what they will do.

*Put mechanisms in place-ensure systems work in alignment to stimulate the desired progress and results.

The post Discovery leadership masterclass series 11: Entrepreneurial leadership (2) appeared first on The Business & Financial Times.

Read Full Story