InnerActive Consulting – Insights

The One Concept Executives Need to Understand for Effective Strategy

Through my years of working with organizations and assisting in the formation of Strategy, I have found one concept or element to be the most important concept for Strategy to become effective. This is the one thing that drives the competitive advantage and insures success in your marketplace. So what is this magic bullet?

First, it is not a magic bullet. Second, it becomes magic in its effect upon the overall performance of the organization when the top managers and executives totally understand this concept. Several years ago, a couple of researchers validated the concept and wrote a best selling management book entitled – the Discipline of Market Leaders. It was determined that companies using the discipline to focus in certain areas and limit investment of time and money in other areas – would lead their markets.

So what is this concept? Continue reading ‘The One Concept Executives Need to Understand for Effective Strategy’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 22, 2009 at 5:47 am under Strategy.
Tags: Discipline of Market Leaders, Major Driving force, Strategic Drivers of the organization, Voss Graham, What you must know for effective startegy
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Obstacles to Strategic Thinking

Obstacles to Strategic Thinking come in many different sizes and shapes, yet, they can have negative impact on an organization’s ability to successfully create their future. There are a number of obstacles that are common blocks to successful and effective strategic thinking. As a leader, you must be prepared to recognize these obstacles and make choices to minimize their negative effects.

There are eight primary obstacles that occur in most organizations. It is your job as a leader to recognize these eight and focus upon the real goal of creating a clear pathway to the future. Here are the primary eight obstacles… Continue reading ‘Obstacles to Strategic Thinking’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 21, 2009 at 12:31 am under Strategy.
Tags: efficiency and effectiveness, Eight Obstacles to Strategic Planning, Having a Formal Strategic Process, Strategic vision, Voss Graham
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Three Strategic Planning To-Do’s during Tough Times

I had an interesting discussion last week with an executive who suggested that Strategic Planning was of NO Value during this economic downturn. This was intriguing to me as a short sighted statement from a very smart individual. Sorry if that sounds arrogant, yet, I have experienced this type of economic downturn in a regional group of states during the mid-80′s. And, the key to surviving is to totally understand your options and making the critical choices for success. Winging it is not an option.

Assuming that you agree that Strategic Planning is still – if not more – important today, what do you do differently in your strategic thinking process? There are three things you want to cover in your current planning activities. These include the following… Continue reading ‘Three Strategic Planning To-Do’s during Tough Times’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 13, 2009 at 5:16 am under Strategy.
Tags: Economic downturn, Monitoring Important Information, Performance Management Systems, Scenario Planning, Strategic Thinking, Voss Graham, What to do Strategically during tough times
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October is International Strategic Planning Month

The month of October has been designated as International Strategic Planning Month. What a great idea to place this on your calendar – especially the executives of organizations. The act of strategic planning is how you create the future for an organization. Continue reading ‘October is International Strategic Planning Month’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 8, 2009 at 5:25 am under Strategy.
Tags: Major Driving force, October is International Strategic Planning Month, Performance Management Systems, Strategic vision, techniques and methods for strategic planning, Voss Graham
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Not Using KISS Caused our Financial Meltdowns

KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) is an old principle used to remind sales people and leaders to keep things simple. It is probably more important today than ever before. Why do I say this? Because complexity seems to be everywhere and is causing our overall economic losses.

While complexity is present in many areas of our lives today, and certainly is necessary for development, change and progress. However, when it is over-used or applied to people or financial issues, then it goes to far and needs to reined in. In fact, as a rule of thumb – if something is too complex for the average person to understand – then it is time to say no or to reexamine the purpose and content of item in question.

All the financial meltdowns were caused by smart people who made things very complex and confusing to the average person. If they had been asked more often to explain it in common terms with both the pros and cons, then maybe others would have caught the problems earlier and saved millions and now billions of dollars from loss.

It takes high self-esteem for anyone to question a smart person about their work. Smart people (who are morally corrupt) will purposely attempt to confuse you and then intimidate you if you appear not to understand. They are counting on you to lack the courage to question what they are doing.

During my career, I have seen multiple meltdowns for investors or businesses. The common theme has been someone creating a complex model that others don’t truly understand. The problem as I see it, is the other common factor is the relationship to financial and legal matters. When these factors are combined, the normal person can have difficulty in understanding what is actually happening and what is actually in play.

Therefore, beware of the complex and embrace the simple. Simple is still a good thing. More people can comprehend and understand a simple solution or idea. Then people can execute the plan and get good results. Everything you do needs to include simplicity rather than complexity if you want to be more effective.

One of the advantages we provide our clients is the ability to simplify issues or problems they are experiencing. If you feel that a problem or issue is too complex for you, call us. 901-757-4434 is our phone number and we will look forward to helping you.

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Posted by Voss Graham on May 12, 2009 at 5:34 am under Strategy.
Tags: Creative Problem Solving, Economic downturn, financial meltdown, financial understanding, Keep it Simple Stupid, KISS, People and Communication
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Sales & Marketing – the Third Key to Growth

This seems like the obvious choice for the third key to growth, however, it can be a problem for many organizations. The key point is alignment between Sales and Marketing. Alignment seems to be missing in action in many of the organizations that we have seen.

A common theme is – there is the Sales Department and there is the Marketing Department – and they take this split to be meaningful. That’s the biggest mistake an organization can have within its walls! Sales and Marketing should be an integrated unit – both speaking from the same book.

Here are the pitfalls for non-alignment and reasons for alignment for sales and marketing. Continue reading ‘Sales & Marketing – the Third Key to Growth’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on January 30, 2009 at 5:58 am under Strategy, Uncategorized.
Tags: Alignment, Lead Generation, Sales & Marketing, Sales Growth
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Technology – the Second Key to Growth

The second key in the world of creating a steady, consistent and profitable growth organization is Technology. Old technology does not count. The key word with technology is emerging. New and cutting edge technology is the focus for breakthroughs in productivity and growth. Examples are numerous as to what technology has done to and for organizations.

Some old technology examples that created productivity increases include things like telephone systems
(now referred to as communication systems due to complex coordination of technology.) which reduced the need for operators; fax machines that allow for immediate transfer of people documents including invoices; personal computers on desktops leading to easier creation of documents and spreadsheets allowing for instant analysis of data point changes due to strategy or investments. Databases and information became portable for sales people, managers and team members.

So what is emergent technology and how does it impact growth opportunities? Continue reading ‘Technology – the Second Key to Growth’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on January 29, 2009 at 4:19 am under Strategy.
Tags: Business Acumen, Growth Opportunities, Technology
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Three Keys for Successful Growth

During these time of downturn, it is not acceptable to stop thinking and acting on growth opportunities. The time is ripe for Growth. And, Growth Opportunities are all around us. It is a time to focus on the three things that create steady, consistent and profitable growth. There are three keys to these type of growth.

Leadership – the ability to focus on the future and relate it to present day action plans; clarify the vision with everyone in the organization, motivate a culture for growth and make the right (and tough) decisions to ensure the success of the whole.
Technology – the ability to maximize productivity; to have reporting systems that alert you to potential issues; to allow people to use their minds for higher level results; and to create a customer experience that exceeds all expectations of service and contact.
Sales & Marketing – the ability to coordinate two diverse units into one representing the best interests of the company and the customer; to develop an ongoing lead generation system; to sell using the same message or intent across the company; and enable the company to grow faster than the competition – as well as helping their customers grow.

Each of these three keys for growth will need to be discussed individually. Check back over the next three days and read more about each key. This information was compiled through research and actual experience of working with companies over the past three decades.

Finally one last thought. While the focus of this post is on companies and organizations – it also applies to individuals who want to grow and develop. It is easy to see the correlation of each key and how the three steps can be applied at the individual level. There will be a future post outlining these traits for individuals.

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Posted by Voss Graham on January 27, 2009 at 5:07 am under Strategy.
Tags: Growth Opportunities, Leadership, Marketing, Sales, Strategy, Technology
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What’s happening to Performance Management?

I’m asking this question about Performance Management because of a disturbing research item I found this week. While doing some keyword and trend research on Google, I found that U.S. managers searching for Performance Management were not in the top ten countries for this keyword combination. What is the reason for this?

While English speaking countries were leading the list – India, South Africa and U.K. – the USA was no where to be found. Do the US Managers, Leaders and Executives already know everything about Performance Management?

Well, not based upon what I have seen, heard and read about for the past decade. Performance Management is one of the most important processes that can be used by companies today. Yet, the execution of strategic goals and objectives continue to be a hit and miss exercise – with little thought about how can we execute the plan consistently? Enter Performance Management. Continue reading ‘What’s happening to Performance Management?’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on January 23, 2009 at 4:02 am under Leadership, Strategy.
Tags: Performance management, Strategy, System and Process for Results; Stategy
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Do You Have a Clear Vision of the Future?

This is the question that separates the winners from the losers. Do YOU have a clear vision of the future? This question applies to companies, departments, teams and people. The best take creating their future very seriously and will take the time to create and design their future.

The Losers of the world live by the Law of Accident – which means they have no plan or vision for the future – they just wait for others to tell them what to do or worst, just take things as the occur no matter what the consequences! Unfortunately, this is where the vast majority of people hang their hats. They live to execute others’ plans and vision. What amazes me is that they have the time to complain about how they lack of success and how dull their lives have become.

What can you do to create your future? Continue reading ‘Do You Have a Clear Vision of the Future?’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on December 30, 2008 at 11:41 am under Personal Development, Strategy.
Tags: 2009 planning, action plans, Law of Accident, Strategy, Vision
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Archive for the ‘Strategy’ Category

The One Concept Executives Need to Understand for Effective Strategy

Obstacles to Strategic Thinking

Three Strategic Planning To-Do’s during Tough Times

October is International Strategic Planning Month

Not Using KISS Caused our Financial Meltdowns

Sales & Marketing – the Third Key to Growth

Technology – the Second Key to Growth

Three Keys for Successful Growth

What’s happening to Performance Management?

Do You Have a Clear Vision of the Future?

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