LEADERSHIP RESOURCES BLOG

What’s ahead in the next year for your company? Will there be a new level of success? More clients? More profitability? Or do you predict a period of difficulty and struggle? In this article we’ll explore how the right strategic planning services can help your organization answer these challenging questions. 

Strategic planning is the key to turning an average year into a spectacular year. Its systematic approach takes your business to the next level. Read on to see how strategic planning services can help.

The Basics of Strategic Planning

First, what is strategic planning? It’s a thoughtful approach to running a business that includes key steps like choosing the right methodology, meeting with a strategic planning consultant, developing a written strategic plan, and partnering with strategic planning services to support the success of the process.

During the implementation stage of a strategic plan, individuals and teams collaborate to pursue the best possible outcomes. Unexpected issues arise, and problem-solving occurs under the guidance of the strategic plan and the company’s strategic planning leaders.

An often-cited study from several years ago found that about 67% of all strategic plans fail. More recently, a group of Harvard Business Review researchers found that in the current business climate, 60% to 90% of strategic plans are failing to meet expectations.

The good news is that not all strategic plans are destined for failure! Your results depend on your strategy and commitment.  When companies handle their strategic planning properly, they set the stage for success. Below, we’ll outline the factors that support the best strategic plans.

The Importance of Collaboration and Communication

Communication is the cornerstone of every great strategic plan. It takes a spirit of openness and collaboration to learn the elements of a new strategic plan and bring them to life.

Unfortunately, many companies resist sharing information and avoid communicating key details of their strategic plans across the levels of their organizations. One study found that 95% of employees don’t know or understand what’s in their employers’ strategic plans.

Do what it takes to strengthen your company’s communication. A great first step is to examine the fundamentals of how, where, and when your teams are collaborating. Is company leadership providing the tools they need to succeed? Is technology or structure interfering with collaboration?

One of the most common areas for improvement involves holding productive team meetings. For additional tips, take a look at Leadership Resources’ blog post about creating meetings that are designed to elicit maximum cohesion and performance.

Growth-Focused Strategic Planning

How growth-focused is your organization? When a company has bold goals for growth, the strategic plan should be structured to systematically achieve growth-focused goals.

In our work with hundreds of different organizations, Leadership Resources has sometimes seen companies struggle with manageable growth. The growing pains of rapid growth can cause people and processes to buckle under the pressure.

This is where a business coach or strategic planning consultant makes a huge difference in the outcome of your strategic plan. A skilled, experienced coach keeps you on the lookout for common mistakes and pitfalls, even as they nurture you along your path to success.

Goal-Setting to Reach Your Objectives

Imagine that you’re developing a brand new strategic plan. Everything you’re creating is fresh from the ground up as you build a new strategy from scratch.

One of the most common questions we hear at this point in the journey is, “What’s the difference between goals and objectives in strategic planning?” They work hand-in-hand, but they’re not the same thing. Below are two definitions that clarify the differences between them.

What Are Our Goals?

In a strategic plan, a goal is a single, long-term achievement that serves as a broad, overarching outcome everyone pursues together. When you set goals, you’re thinking “big picture.” This is a fundamental aspect of strategic planning that allows your teams to move forward with purpose as they do their daily work.

What Are Our Objectives?

Unlike goals, which are more long-term, objectives are short-term activities that make progress toward goals. Any objective you set should be measurable and achievable, or it’s unlikely to help you reach your goal.

When you engage in strategic planning, you’re setting goals and arranging the objectives it takes to get there. Companies are most likely to achieve their strategic goals when they’re skilled at devising specific objectives and holding people accountable for their roles in accomplishing them.

Incorporating Virtual Strategic Planning Services

Did you know almost half of all Americans now work remotely for at least part of their job? Virtual strategic planning is the new norm in an environment that’s constantly evolving.

Here are our top 3 tips for working virtually and strategic planning:

1. Be human. Maintain human connections by giving people breaks as needed, offline support, and opportunities for feedback. Acknowledge their feelings and avoid allowing your virtual interactions to feel too robotic.
2. Provide support. Your employees need the tools and technology to maintain remote communication. Offer guidance and support for smooth collaboration.
3. Seek help from the pros. You don’t have to do it all alone. Work with a strategic leadership consultant who has plenty of experience with virtual meetings and strategic planning.

Strategizing Your Next Step: Finding the Right Strategic Planning Services

Taking your business to the next level takes next-living thinking. For the best results, experts recommend expanding your employee resources with full-service leadership and strategic planning programs as opposed to basic training programs. 

We’re here to help! Leadership Resources provides leadership development and strategic planning services that help companies become more adaptable and successful. To learn more, please contact us and schedule a discovery session.

What if improving your mindset could improve your business? Would you invest in developing a growth mindset to gain better productivity, profitability, and opportunities for future growth? Your overall growth mindset in business makes a huge difference in defining how your business performs for years to come. Let’s explore how having the right growth mindset in business can make a difference.

A growth mindset is a smart investment. It supercharges business success and sets the stage for sustainable, long-term growth.

Some of the most famous and fast-growing businesses in the world are using the power of the growth mindset to outshine their competition and achieve their biggest goals. Below, we’ll explain how to build a growth mindset in business, plus we’ll highlight 3 companies that are doing it right.

What Is a Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset?

First of all, do you know the difference between a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset? Here’s how to tell them apart.

Fixed Mindset

Someone with a fixed mindset is stuck on the idea that change is impossible or not worth pursuing. They’re an inflexible thinker who often faces decisions and new situations by displaying fear, denial, and blame.

Growth Mindset

Someone with a growth mindset isn’t afraid to encounter new situations and is fast to adapt to changing conditions. They have the openness to accept evolving circumstances and look for new opportunities to succeed. 

In the business world, identifying the fixed vs. growth mindset is particularly important when it comes to hiring people and developing emerging leaders. A growing company relies on people who can easily adjust and adapt to business growth.

3 Great Growth Mindset Examples

Certain companies and leaders are experts at capitalizing on a growth mindset. Here are three of the best examples of famous businesses that fostered a growth mindset to accomplish exceptional success.

Microsoft: A Tech Growth Mindset

Microsoft was one of the first companies to use the terminology of “fixed mindset vs. growth mindset” years ago. Today, the company still emphasizes the importance of having a growth mindset when you’re one of its business partners. Microsoft bases its approach on Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck’s book Mindset, The New Psychology of Success.

Dweck’s book focuses on educational settings, where young learners do best when they make the connection between mindset and student achievement. This concept translates well to the business world. Leadership development goes hand in hand with having the right mindset.

General Electric: A No-Excuses Growth Mindset

At General Electric, Jack Welch was famous for warning people about the dangers of having a fixed mindset, as opposed to a flexible mindset. He often repeated some version of the quote, “For people with a fixed mindset, failure is an identity.”

People with fixed mindsets get into the habit of blaming others for their failures. Instead of focusing on what they can learn from the experience, they bury themselves in the blame game. People with growth mindsets can instead gather intel from failure and go on to much greater accomplishments. This is widely acknowledged as the secret behind Welch’s success at GE.

Procter & Gamble: A Learning Growth Mindset

In the fast-paced and competitive world of pharmaceuticals, companies that aren’t growing are at risk of getting left behind. That’s why Procter & Gamble famously adopted a “fastest learner wins” approach. P&G rewards its employees for expanding their minds, not just outshining their competition in terms of traditional measures like building revenue or market share.

F.D. Wilder, the former P&G senior vice president of global market strategy, was one of the company’s biggest supporters of an educational growth mindset. He said, “Because growth is shifting and disruption is accelerating, we must be the fastest learners and the fastest at applying learning to deliver business outcomes.”

Building The Right Mindset for Business Growth

Is your organization leveraging the power of a growth mindset yet? If you need extra help, Leadership Resources is here with growth-focused resources and business mentorship.

Keep in mind that growth always comes with risks of unintended consequences among your employees, like infighting, jealousy, frustration, interpersonal stress, and feelings of being burned out. That’s why experts recommend supporting your employees with robust leadership development programs as opposed to simple training sessions. 

To learn more, please contact us and schedule a discovery meeting. Let’s grow your mind and grow your business!

Emotional intelligence, also known as EQ, impacts almost every aspect of your business. Success or failure hinges on your employees’ capacity to adapt, interact, and solve problems. Emotional intelligence training can make a huge positive impact on your business’ overall efficiency and productivity. Let’s explore how.

How Emotional Intelligence Affects Leadership

Emotionally intelligent leadership involves being aware of yourself before you put on your oxygen mask. This means bringing your best self to work and supporting others. It may seem selfish, but putting your needs first will help you be more present and connected with your employees.

The ability to manage your emotions is one of the keys to effective leadership. Self-aware leaders have a more calm and rational approach to situations and are more likely to take an organization forward. Self-aware leaders are always aware of their emotional state and how it affects others. They also have a clear picture of their strengths and weaknesses and operate with humility.

According to research by the Korn Ferry Hay Group, 92% of leaders with multiple strengths in emotional self-awareness have high-energy teams. These great leaders create a positive emotional climate, resulting in the highest levels of motivation and extra effort. On the other hand, leaders who score low in Emotional Self-Awareness are more likely to create a negative climate for their teams.

How high is the EQ at your company? How high is it among your most important leaders? Here are 3 reasons why emotionally intelligent leadership can make or break a business.

Emotional Intelligence Training Impacts Success

Companies with emotionally intelligent employees tend to be more stable and financially successful over the long term. Emotional intelligence on a personal level is closely tied to emotional intelligence on a professional level, with the habits of EQ benefiting both the employee and the employer.

One study found that 85% of financial success arises from emotional and personality-related factors. In fact, having a higher EQ throughout a career is linked to an individual employee earning almost $30,000 more per year in income due to the additional success they’re bringing to their lucky companies.

But is it really luck? Many companies now make it a priority to hire with EQ in mind. A Forbes study found that 71% of hiring managers prefer candidates with high EQs over high IQs, and 59% of employers would avoid hiring a low-EQ employee even if they had a high IQ.

Higher EQ Fosters Flexibility and Adaptability

Flexible thinking is strongly associated with high emotional intelligence. Successful companies leverage the talent of leaders who use their adaptive skills to form strong interpersonal relationships and resolve conflicts smoothly. 

If your company is struggling to adapt to changing market conditions or needs to build new relationships with clients, consider whether you’re battling a lack of emotionally intelligent leadership. EQ often provides a beacon of hope just when companies need it most.

Who are your most flexible thinkers in the company? Consider not only official leaders, but also de facto leaders who seem to magnetically draw others to them and foster effective everyday communication. Look for current employees who show the capacity to build their EQ but perhaps haven’t yet had the best emotional intelligence training.

You need high-EQ leaders who can boldly move forward with your strategic plans and accomplish your biggest business goals. It’s especially crucial to consider refining your company’s learning objectives for emotional intelligence training if you’re pursuing new initiatives like:

• Mergers and acquisitions
• Diversity and inclusion
• Social responsibility
• Sustainability and environmental awareness
• New company values or ethical codes
• Personal/professional accountability initiatives
• Expansion into new sectors, services, products, or client groups

Emotional Intelligence is a Teachable Trait

Here’s perhaps the best news about EQ: It’s something you can learn. Although a handful of people are born with extraordinarily high levels of natural EQ, pursuing emotional intelligence training is the secret to raising the overall level of emotional intelligence throughout your company.

Almost anyone can improve their EQ skills with the right kind of coaching and support. In fact, the best emotional intelligence training programs aren’t just “training” at all. Experts recommend engaging with fully enriched leadership development programs as opposed to traditional employee training seminars.

Leadership Resources’ Accelerate Leadership Program (ALP) is this kind of robust leadership development experience. It educates participants about the fundamentals of EQ while encouraging them to expand their leadership talent, confidence, and drive. Each participant encounters a personalized program that nurtures them along the voyage to having higher EQ.

Ready to make a meaningful difference for your business? Connect with Leadership Resources to boost your company-wide EQ and pursue a higher level of success.

How healthy is your company? Have you conducted an organizational health assessment lately? Has your organization ever had a health checkup?

What is Organizational Health?

Organizational health is a company’s ability to work productively and positively toward a shared purpose. A healthy organization is capable of consistently setting goals and achieving them through highly engaged employee collaboration.

Related to organizational health is organizational development, which is a process of making improvements to set the stage for continued well-being and success. This also involves organizational change and evolution, which comes naturally to any healthy company.

An organization’s strong or weak health impacts almost every aspect of its vision, mission, culture, and ability to find continued success. It also impacts its employees on multiple levels: professionally, psychologically, and even physically. 

Research from the CDC shows healthier companies tend to have:

• Elevated employee productivity
• Reduced absenteeism
• Improved morale
• Increased employee retention

An investment in organizational health almost always pays off. A McKinsey study found that when companies take concrete steps to improve organizational health, they see an average of 80% improvement in company performance. 

That’s an enormous difference! Having good health can make or break your company.

How Do We Conduct an Organizational Health Assessment?

Many companies aren’t even aware of the need to assess organizational health. Although U.S. employers have created a surge in employee health and wellness programs in the past decade, organizational health is often overlooked.

Keep in mind that assessing organizational health isn’t the same as adding employee wellness programs, which usually involves things like offering blood pressure screenings, starting smoking cessation campaigns, and encouraging employees to get their annual physicals. Instead, we’re talking about the health of the organization itself.

An organizational health assessment takes the pulse of your organization and provides a picture of its overall health. It also highlights specific areas for improvement where the organization might show symptoms of poor existing health or an impending downward trend.

Unfortunately, organizations don’t always like to have health checkups. In many companies, there always seems to be an excuse to avoid assessing the organization’s true health. Fear, uncertainty, cost, time, and other pressures put organizational health on the back burner.

For example, in a decades-old company, top executives might assume that the company must be healthy enough to continue chugging along as-is. The thought is, “We’re already profitable. Why rock the boat?”

On the flip side, a new and fast-growing company might not make conducting an organizational health assessment the top priority with so much else going on. The company is probably focusing on gaining new clients rapidly, which could come at the expense of employees’ morale. That’s just not healthy.

An experienced strategic planning consultant can help illuminate the need for additional organizational development at key moments in the company’s lifecycle. A business consultant can also advise about the best way to foster positive organizational change so everyone gets the most out of the process.

How to Measure Organizational Health

While financial metrics have been a standard way to assess the health of a company, measuring organizational health is growing in importance. Organizational health is affected by many factors, including leadership, culture, engagement, and structure. In many ways, this type of measure is similar to an annual physical exam. It helps identify and prioritize areas for improvement. A review of an organization’s overall well-being is often called its organizational health index.

To boost your organizational health index requires consistent care. Healthy organizations build a culture and system that fosters progress and growth. Leadership must be part of this process and must model desired behaviors. During periods of change, companies often face challenges and run the risk of reduced organizational health. To make sure a company stays in business for a long time, leaders should implement organizational health initiatives that promote internal alignment.

A comprehensive evaluation of an organization’s health index should also include the health literacy of its staff. The employees of a health literate organization will be able to explain its policies and procedures and answer questions clearly.

Hallmarks of Healthy Organizations

Just like every person, every organization is unique. Good health takes many forms, so assessing organizational health isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. 

Still, certain factors and qualities tend to show whether an organization is functioning optimally. Below is a summary of common hallmarks of organizational health.

Healthy companies show:

• Resilience in the face of challenges
• An aptitude for proactive conflict resolution
• Good collaboration and communication skills 
• Effective leadership styles that support manageable growth 
• Clarity and cohesion in the mission, vision, and purpose of the organization
• Flexibility to spark organizational change when needed
• A clear desire to regularly perform organizational health assessments

When you look at these hallmarks of healthy companies, what do you see? How does your organization measure up?

It’s common for organizations to need help making transitions to healthier habits. If your company needs a fresh and healthy perspective, please reach out to Leadership Resources using the information below.

The Next Step: Organizational Development

Leadership Resources provides organizational health assessments for companies that want to grow and thrive. For the healthiest results, experts recommend engaging with our type of full-service leadership development programs instead of just sending employees to training.

We’re here to help companies achieve lifelong health. To learn more, click the link below to read our whitepaper about building healthy, emotionally intelligent leadership.

Training in emotional intelligence has become more important than ever. Changes in traditional work environments, market unpredictability, social and political unrest, and other factors increase tension in a workplace. Having employees with strong emotional intelligence, however, can help teams navigate these times of difficulty. These leaders offer inspiration and encourage others to strive for bigger and better things.

We’ll let you in on a little secret about this type of leader; those skills are often not inborn. In fact, that leader likely spent years honing their leadership styles and building their emotional intelligence. That’s right! It’s a skill that almost anyone can learn with the right training in emotional intelligence.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional intelligence, often abbreviated as EQ, is about having savvy interpersonal skills and always remaining open to learning new things and sharing new information. It involves flexibility, adaptability, and a habit of listening closely to what people say so you can react appropriately.

In business settings, high-EQ leaders tend to display actions like:

• Acknowledging others’ feelings and concerns
• Actively bringing people together to build camaraderie
• Reassuring people during stressful times
• Communicating and providing feedback
• Being consistent about following through on promises
• Staying transparent about thoughts and plans
• Remaining flexible in fast-changing circumstances

By contrast, people with low emotional intelligence often struggle to bond with other people and have a hard time building productive teams at work. When a situation is challenging or stressful, they might react impulsively or close themselves off from interpersonal interactions.

Proper training in emotional intelligence in the workplace is so important that a lack of it can severely interfere with company-wide productivity, efficiency, retention, morale, and profitability. Hardworking people need emotionally intelligent leadership. When you feel that your leaders don’t care about your feelings or feedback, it erodes your motivation to work.

Consider the following statistics about the connections between EQ and employee performance.

• 90% of top performers have high emotional intelligence, which contributes to an average $1,300 extra in annual salary.
• Emotional intelligence accounts for up to 60% of job performance at the top supervisory and CEO levels.
• 84% of U.S. workers blame bad managers for making them hate their jobs.
• At least 41% of U.S. employees are actively considering changing jobs, and 36% are willing to quit before having another job lined up due to bad management.

Can You Build Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace?

Here’s some good news about boosting emotional intelligence in the workplace. Contrary to popular belief, it’s a skill you can build, rather than an inborn trait. The idea of a “natural born leader” is a myth. To put it another way, leadership is a learned behavior.

Some people naturally have certain leadership skills, but most have to learn how to develop emotionally intelligent leadership qualities. It doesn’t always come naturally to do things like actively listening to others and asking the right questions. These skills take significant education and practice. That’s where training in emotional intelligence comes in.

For example, leadership coaching often teaches emerging leaders about the importance of check-in questions. These gentle questions establish trust and encourage people to let their guards down. A supervisor can periodically ask check-in questions by finding quiet moments to simply inquire how the employee is feeling or handling a certain situation.

• How are you feeling about [situation or challenge]?
• Is there anything I can do to make it easier?
• What are you looking forward to about it?

After asking check-in questions, remember to thank the employee for sharing their feelings and encourage them to always talk to you when there’s a concern. This trust-building process is an integral part of building an emotionally intelligent supervisor-employee relationship.

7 Steps to Improving Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

Companies that want to build high-EQ leaders should set learning objectives for emotional intelligence training, then follow certain steps to teaching emotional intelligence. Below is a summary of the 7 most important steps.

1. Engage with a reputable leadership development program that supports EQ
2. Use plans and encouragement to create a systematic approach
3. Maintain empathy as people adjust to the process
4. Acknowledge feelings and opinions without harsh judgment
5. Build accountability and create action plans
6. Welcome feedback in a continuous two-way conversational loop
7. Celebrate success and adjust as new challenges arise

When it comes to building EQ, Leadership Resources provides the best emotional intelligence training for companies that want to grow and succeed. For superior results, experts recommend engaging with our type of full-service leadership development programs instead of just dabbling with basic training in emotional intelligence.

Leadership Resources is here to help your leaders expand their EQ and reach new levels of success for your company. To learn more, click the link below to read our whitepaper about building emotionally intelligent leadership.

Successful leadership transitions happen every day, but they’re notoriously challenging to accomplish. Everyone feels on edge as a new CEO comes on board and joins the company culture.

This is just as true when the CEO is hired from within and is someone your whole company knows. The transition to executive leadership can be rocky as your staff makes the mental adjustment to having a former colleague as their CEO.

Having the right CEO in place comes with numerous benefits for your company. According to Forbes research, there are nine potential benefits when companies transition to new CEOs.

1. Providing a psychological safety net for employees
2. Setting a new tone and standards
3. Having an embodiment of values
4. Polishing up the company’s reputation
5. Calming the emotional climate
6. Improving company diversity
7. Becoming more mission-driven and purpose-driven

A new CEO could be just the boost your company needs to succeed. But what ensures a smooth transition to new leadership? The answer lies in having a transitional leadership strategy in place to ease the stress and complexity of such a significant change.

What is Transitional Leadership?

Transitional leadership is an approach to business continuity that focuses on maintaining resilience and making smooth transitions in leadership while optimizing productivity and minimizing negative outcomes. More simply, transitional leadership gets you off to a good start when someone new is in charge.

Success is found in choosing the right transition strategy for your business. Although there are best practices to follow, transitional leadership isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Each business must create a unique leadership transition strategy that suits its culture, size, industry, stage, and so forth.

One of the must-haves in any transitional leadership plan is a succession planning strategy. Below is a more detailed look at what succession plans are and why they’re vital to making successful leadership transitions.

How Should We Start a Succession Planning Strategy?

A succession planning strategy starts with identifying key roles that present a substantial threat to the organization when they’re vacant or when they’re filled suboptimally. Note that at first, the priority should be identifying roles, not people. Pay close attention to all leadership roles that are most essential to overall organizational stability. 

The most common examples of key C-suite roles include:

• Chief executive officer (CEO)
• Chief financial officer (CFO)
• Chief operating officer (COO)
• Chief information officer (CIO)
• Chief marketing officer (CMO)

Some companies also have other C-level roles that hold significant power and authority, like:

• Chief compliance officer
• Chief medical officer
• Chief diversity officer or diversity director
• Chief risk management officer or risk management director
• Sales and/or advertising director
• Director of IT
• Building security/safety director

The actual human beings who occupy these roles will inevitably change over time, so the succession plan should stay evergreen. Develop a succession plan by roles first, then move to the next stage of finding the right leaders to fill them.

When it comes to spotting future leaders who are excellent candidates for key roles like the CEO and C-suite executives, look both inside and outside the company. Most organizations have numerous hidden gems of people who could be excellent leaders with some leadership support and skill-building.

Whether you hire from inside or outside the company, attracting and retaining the right leaders involves the dual activities of talent development and succession planning. Talent development, also known as talent management, is different from succession planning and includes tasks like recruiting, offering benefits and incentives, and onboarding new employees.

Together, these concepts form a cohesive set of action steps under the general umbrella of strategic planning at your company. If the organization is struggling to articulate its overall strategic mission, vision, or succession planning objectives, seek help from business planning experts as soon as possible. It’s also a red flag if there’s a strongly negative company culture. Left unchecked, these issues tend to grow exponentially over time.

Need to hire a new CEO now? Work with a skilled succession planning consultant to give your company the best chances of success with leadership transitions. 

An experienced consultant knows the pitfalls of losing a C-level leader and hiring from outside. They also know the challenges of hiring an existing employee and making the transition to executive leadership. Your consultant can help your company take every possible step to transition the right leaders at the right times and secure the organization’s future for decades to come.

Planning a CEO Transition

Complex CEO transitions take thoughtful transition strategies. For the best results, experts recommend engaging with full-service strategic planning and succession planning programs as opposed to following simple training programs. 

Leadership Resources provides robust leadership and CEO transition management services with proven results for thousands of successful companies. To learn more, please click below to read our whitepaper about improving your organization’s succession planning.

What Is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning is a systematic approach to goal-setting and defining the direction of an organization. It includes tasks like selecting a methodology, meeting with a coach, creating a written strategic plan, and/or engaging with strategic planning services to support the process.

A typical strategic plan contains a core set of principles that set the stage for success. The key principles vary somewhat among businesses, but strategic planning usually involves business development methods, planning techniques, and interpersonal collaborations among team members.

A solid strategic plan is the “secret sauce” that enhances a business and encourages it to grow. However, not all strategic plans succeed. Roughly half of all businesses engage in some type of strategic planning, but 67% of strategic plans fail.

Even more shocking, the Harvard Business Review found that 95% of employees don’t understand their companies’ strategic plans. This shows the importance of approaching strategic planning with an open mind and working to welcome all employees into the process.

Below are some of the most common questions about strategic planning. The answers come from the strategic planning experts at Leadership Resources.

What are the Benefits of Strategic Planning?

Strategic plans lend structure and direction to companies that are eager to grow. As the company expands, everyone can always turn to the strategic plan for continued inspiration.

Some of the top growth benefits of strategic plans include:

• Relying on a single, unified vision that carries the company forward
• Eliminating biases, false assumptions, and bad habits
• Establishing metrics and tracking progress
• Maintaining personal and interpersonal accountability
• Minimizing the negative effects of fear
• Nourishing a healthy company culture
• Handling growth skillfully

What’s the Difference Between Goals and Objectives in Strategic Planning?

Goal-setting is a fundamental aspect of strategic planning that impacts the daily jobs of nearly all employees. Without a clear grasp of potential outcomes, it’s challenging for people to accomplish the right things and move forward with purpose. 

Strategic planning builds a picture of a bright and successful future, then arranges the specific goals and objectives it takes to get there. When discussing goals and objectives, it’s easy to get the two confused, so below are two definitions that show the difference.

Goals

A goal is a single long-term outcome that can be reached through strategic planning. Goals are broad, overarching achievements that are worthy of celebration after you reach them.

Objectives

Objectives are short-term, measurable activities that make progress toward goals. To achieve its goals, a company needs to create numerous strategically designed objectives.

Does it Help to Have Strategic Planning Services?

There’s no need to tackle strategic planning alone. There are many types of supportive resources and experts available to make the process easier and more effective.

Custom strategic planning services are tailored to the company’s unique needs, challenges, and goals. These services allow a business to take a proactive approach and directly address roadblocks that are standing in the way of strategic planning.

For example, imagine that a company has an entrenched negative culture that’s limiting the potential positive effects of its strategic plan. A strategic planning coach works with the company’s staff to get to the root of the problem and overcome obstacles to success.

How Does Virtual Strategic Planning Work?

In today’s rapidly-changing work environment, virtual meetings are becoming the norm. Up to 45% of all Americans now work remotely some or all of the time.

This makes it more important than ever to incorporate virtual strategic planning sessions. With the right technology and processes in place, strategic planning can take place at a distance just as smoothly as in person.

For the best results, follow virtual leadership training best practices like:

• Working with a business leadership coach who has experience with virtual strategic planning sessions.
• Providing employees with the technology they need for smooth remote communication.
• Making it a priority to build buy-in at every level.
• Maintaining a human touch by providing plenty of time for strategic planning, breaks as needed, offline support, and opportunities for feedback.

How Should We Get Started With Strategic Planning?

Ultimately, the world’s best strategic plans result from asking the right questions. What is strategic planning at your organization currently? Could it be improved for much greater success and profitability? What kinds of roadblocks are standing in the way? 

Growth doesn’t happen by accident and it takes significant strategic planning, plus the boldness to push forward through difficult challenges. For the best results, experts recommend engaging with full-service strategic planning and leadership development programs as opposed to following simple training programs. 

Leadership Resources provides leadership development and strategic planning services that set the stage for manageable growth. To learn more, please contact us about how to grow your business with strategic planning.

When a company invests in developing its emerging leaders through the right leadership development program, this investment leads to decades of success. Your company’s diamond-in-the-rough leaders learn how to shine.

What is a Leadership Development Program?

A leadership development program is an important tool for developing future leaders. Changing times are constant, and organizations are no exception. Market conditions, employee turnover, and company growth all contribute to continuous change. As such, future leaders must be prepared to lead through these changes and to guide the organization’s employees as they adapt to new challenges. The most effective leadership development programs include training in change management, which equips future leaders with tools to harness the power of vision, provide strong leadership, and improve performance.

Effective leadership development programs should focus on developing leaders who master strategic execution. By learning how to manage a project’s complexity, leaders develop bright, talented workers who can influence others across non-direct reporting lines. These leaders also learn how to break down goals into actionable tasks, mobilize workers across teams, and build broad, organizational connections. These skills will be crucial for future leaders, whether they are in the C-suite or the field.

Companies that invest in leadership development programs often benefit from the long-term results of their efforts. Research shows that 85% of US employees are dissatisfied with their jobs. And 60% of all employees in the United States are not engaged. Developing leaders will improve employee engagement, promote personal growth, and ensure that the company’s values are maintained. It will also attract and retain top talent. In addition to developing future leaders, this program will prepare people for the challenges of the modern workplace.

A well-designed leadership development program is an investment in the future of your business. It improves organizational culture by investing in people. A more responsive and agile organization will result from such an investment. HR departments can’t change company culture overnight, but managers who are equipped to manage their teams positively will see improved motivation and better business results. The more you invest in leadership development, the more likely your business will achieve its goals.

Choosing the right program matters. Certain factors determine whether a particular leadership program is the right fit. Here are three important things to consider.

Does it Foster Flexible Problem-Solving?

Leadership development isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. The program must be individualized and tailored to each company, culture, and team of emerging leaders. 

Your business includes people with a wide variety of leadership styles, some more productive than others. A high-quality leadership development program helps identify preferable leadership styles and encourages your staff to follow best practices in effective leadership.

When choosing a leadership development program, consider the quality of leadership coaches available to your company. How well trained are they? What types of leadership development principles do they follow? Do they display flexible thinking and the adaptability it takes to address evolving issues at your company?

Effective leadership development improves a company’s capacity for productive problem-solving in a wide array of daily circumstances. Whenever a challenge arises, company leaders can plan strategically and implement action plans with adaptability and resilience.

Does it Build Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional intelligence is an often-overlooked aspect of organizational growth, but it’s an essential component to address. When developing leaders display high emotional intelligence, they’re more capable of working together, achieving goals, and surviving tough times.

In addition to boosting personal income, emotional intelligence is proven to impact the bottom line in business. High-EQ leaders have the interpersonal skills to succeed and inspire others to succeed, too.

On the flip side, low EQ limits personal and professional success. When organizational leadership includes too many low-EQ leaders, there tends to be more interpersonal conflict, hesitation to innovate, and resistance to making changes that move the company forward.

Does it Support Lasting Engagement and Satisfaction?

The ideal leadership development program won’t use a set-it-and-forget-it attitude, abandoning your company after a short period. The most productive leadership development programs take a long-term approach that lasts at least 1 to 3 years into the future.

This is a thoughtful, transformative approach to accomplishing your company’s biggest goals. It requires a shift in mindset that impacts how an employee sees themselves within an organization.

Do your employees feel fully engaged and satisfied with their work? This is an important point to consider when choosing a leadership development program. Entrenched negative attitudes and strong resistance to change make it all the more difficult to accomplish big things.

Ask a potential leadership coach about big-picture matters like cultural change, strategic planning, and succession planning. Your business strategy consultant must be skilled enough to support your company through a period of massive growth and change.

How to Choose the Best Leadership Development Program

The right leadership development program brings the top benefits of developing leaders and helps your staff feel supported. It empowers them to be their best and, in turn, to bring the best to your company.

It’s essential to recognize that leadership isn’t an inborn trait. It’s something people can learn and hone over time as they expand their leadership knowledge and practice their new skills. To do this most successfully, experts recommend engaging with robust leadership development programs, as opposed to following traditional training programs. 

Leadership Resources provides a comprehensive leadership development approach that checks all the boxes of a high-quality program. To make strides forward in personal and professional leadership development, enroll in the Accelerate Leadership Program.

The backbone of any strong organization is its operating system. Many company leaders are familiar with EOS® or Entrepreneurial Operating System®, a popular choice for structuring strategic operations. However, you have a choice of alternatives to the Entrepreneurial Operating System® that might be a better fit for your organization. 

What is an operating system and what should it be doing for your company?

At the most basic level, your company operating system (OS) should be helping you organize and conduct daily business. It should encompass the platform, methodology, strategy, and set of tools you use to support and nourish growth. Today, most operating systems involve digital platforms plus teams of people using strategic decision-making to move toward success.

The best and most robust operating systems include proven methodologies and flexible tools that support people as they work to improve company operational excellence. A best-in-class OS is also individualized and optimized for your business.

Why You Should Consider Alternatives to EOS®

To ensure your company is running at an optimized clip, it is worth it to audit your current OS and review other choices. There are a handful of alternatives to EOS that are worth considering. Here are the top three.

Top EOS Alternatives

EOS® Worldwide

Founded in 2008, EOS Worldwide is the company behind the Entrepreneurial Operating System. EOS helped to establish a common language for using an OS at companies that previously struggled to maintain operational control. The drawbacks of going with this option are:

• The EOS franchise cost, which depends on factors like your business size and focus.
• The restrictive rules on how, when, and where you can use the materials.

PINNACLE© Business Guides

Founded in 2020, PINNACLE© Business Guides (PBG) is a network of former business owners and leaders who offer their own experience and expertise to coach their clients and achieve success. Each system is purposefully designed for each client, bringing together various operating systems and tools that address exact, individualized business needs. Pinnacle Business Guides work with companies of all sizes nationwide.

Accelerate Operating System (AOS)

Established in 2021, the innovative Accelerate Operating System (AOS) is a custom-designed, open-architecture system that can help you optimize how you currently operate and make greater improvements, creating a more effective operating system for your company’s future. 

Developed by Leadership Resources, AOS is a simplified approach to strategic planning that combines powerful planning tools with executive consulting and coaching to get everyone on a team aligned and working toward shared goals. 

The user-friendly AOS puts people at the heart of its structure, guiding you along its growth path without abandoning you during the process. Organizations are enabled with customized tools and individualized processes through proprietary strategic coaching programs tailor-made just for you.

With AOS, challenging business tasks like strategic planning and performance management are much easier to handle. Company leaders feel more empowered to make decisions confidently because they can rely on a proven set of tools, steps, and habits that promote thoughtful and proactive leadership. 

How the Leadership Resources Approach is Different

When developed and refined through AOS, your refreshed operating system establishes clarity in every facet of your company.

• Organizations that experience the AOS process see an average of 20% growth year over year. 
• The approach is experience-driven, centered on flexibility to meet your team where they are.
• The AOS open architecture structure finds the best tools to fit your needs.
• You get access to Accelerate – Leadership Resources’ proprietary goal-setting platform for KPIs and accountability.
• You get access to Engage, communication software for executive team alignment.
• AOS works for start-up companies with a smaller leadership team to enterprise organizations with multiple divisions and thousands of employees. 
• With over 20 experts on hand at Leadership Resources, you acquire a highly credentialed and skilled partner to accelerate growth.
• In business for 20 years, Leadership Resources has worked with hundreds of companies in numerous industries. There is no business challenge we have never encountered.

How Does Having an OS Help Growth and Development?

A reliable OS fosters growth and development in leadership within company teams. It helps you accomplish some of the biggest and most challenging tasks, like:

• Creating a shared vision
• Setting priorities for individual and team achievements
• Establishing SMART, FAST goals
• Using key performance indicators (KPIs) to improve operational excellence
• Thinking strategically to supercharge profitability

Ideally, your OS should have the full support of a strategic coaching consultant who helps guide the process toward success. Top-notch educational materials should be available to support implementation. For example, Leadership Resources partners with Pinnacle Business Guides to provide world-class AOS-integrated tools and materials.

The Number One Alternative to the Entrepreneurial Operating System®

AOS expands your resources for operational transformation. Book a call with Leadership Resources today to learn how AOS could supercharge your organizational success.

To learn more, please click below for an AOS whitepaper from Leadership Resources.

Fast growth sounds ideal until you’re in the thick of it. The pressure is on, and everyone at the company is trying to keep up with the rapid pace of change.

Suddenly, there’s intense pressure to stay ahead of the curve and stretch your company’s resources to the max. Employees feel stressed out and overworked. Do they have the skills it takes to cope with such rapid expansion? Do your leaders have the right leadership styles to maintain the company’s business growth strategies?

How to Manage Rapid Business Growth

As your business grows, you’ll find yourself pulled in many different directions. And, there will likely be big challenges along the way. From cash flow crunches to operational inefficiencies, there are numerous potential issues that could arise from rapid business growth. Managing this rapid growth gets easier once you set timelines, streamline communications, and find the right tools. You need to stay focused on the end product, but you’ll be surprised at how easily it is to lose track of your goals and the big picture. This article will focus on rapid business growth strategies and help you learn how to manage what’s important.

Employee Burnout

Business growth puts intense pressure on your people. Employee burnout can happen faster than the company can hire new employees; plus, this creates a “brain drain” effect where your best and most loyal workers abandon the company in search of something less exhausting.

A recent study found that 79% of all U.S. workers have experienced work-related stress in the previous month. While some level of stress is to be expected, more than one-third of workers report burnout symptoms like work-related physical fatigue (38%), cognitive weariness (36%), and emotional exhaustion (32%).

Companies can minimize the growing pains by engaging with a business growth consultant who has experience with business growth strategy. Work proactively to prevent burnout before it settles in and erodes morale among your employees.

No Reality Checks

Fast growth makes it difficult to slow down and think things through. Employees are moving at such a rapid clip that there’s no time to ask sensible questions like, “Is this what we should really be doing?” or “Is this what’s best for the customer?”

This is another realm where a consultant can help a company develop business growth strategies that make sense in the real world. An experienced consultant reminds everyone of the organic growth business realities that shouldn’t be ignored, even during periods of wild success.

Lost Long-Term Focus

Short-term success sometimes clouds the long-range forecast. Everyone is so focused on the action that’s happening now that there’s no time to think about what’s coming a month or a year from now.
Is your company still doing strategic planning, or was it lost in the shuffle? Can you still attract, engage, and retain top talent? What about your succession plan? Your mission and vision statements? Carve out time away from the company’s day-to-day work to think strategically and maintain a clear long-term focus.

Interpersonal Tensions

If tensions are rising amid the stress, put the focus on stress management techniques that help people stay calm, focused, and productive. Interpersonal tension often arises when one or more employees in the environment struggles with emotional intelligence. 

Emotional intelligence is a skill that can be learned and practiced. The company can support this kind of emotional education by initiating two-way conversations that allow people to express their concerns and discuss workable solutions.

Poor Leadership Styles

Rapid growth calls for managers and executives with strong leadership styles that focus on communication rather than control. Encourage leaders to share feedback tactfully, resolve conflicts thoughtfully, and focus on working together as a cohesive unit.

Like emotional intelligence, leadership is something people can learn and hone over time. To do this most successfully, experts recommend engaging with leadership development programs, as opposed to traditional training programs.

How to Avoid Common Business Growth Strategy Pitfalls: Leadership Resources

Growth presents challenges and opportunities, so don’t miss out on your company’s chance to seize the reins and ride toward success. Handle this period of rapid change correctly, and it could lead to supercharged company growth that’s both manageable and profitable.

Leadership Resources provides business growth consultants and a comprehensive leadership development approach that embraces fast growth. To learn more, take a look at our latest whitepaper about increasing accountability and productivity.