Strategic Leadership
An overview for Human Resource Professionals
Linda J. Nolte, MA, CMC, RODC
January 2014
What do you think?
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If you were the owner, president, CEO, founder, manager/director of an
organization and you realized that your staff members were not supporting
your direction, what would you do?
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If you were the key HR liaison for this person, what kind of support would
you offer?
Leadership
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What words do you think of?
Best/worst leader?
Defining leadership is similar to nailing a
custard pie to the wall
Poor Leadership is an Oxymoron
Assumptions about Leadership
That leadership is
 A special rarified state of being
 Independent of personal success
 Conferred on a chosen few
Interdependence
What does it take to get followers?
 It
depends
 On
what?
 What
followers
are seeking
compared
to/matched
with what you
offer and
provide
Leaders: Born or Made?
Proliferation of books, seminars, classes,
workshops, degrees, etc. on leadership
 Lots of money to be made in the
leadership industry
 Myths and Realities
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What do you think?
Strategic Leadership
Articulates
and Promotes
the vision and
long term
direction
 May not be
the sole
creator, but
might be!
 Cheerleader
and Drill team
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What is Strategy?
1. A method or plan chosen to bring about a desired
future, such as achievement of a goal or solution to a
problem.
2. The art and science of planning and marshalling
resources for their most efficient and effective use.
The term is derived from the Greek word for
generalship or leading an army.
What is strategy?
Project-based
to support
goals also can
be similar to
tactics.
What do we mean by “strategic?”
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Strategy – upper case?
strategy – lower case?
Context
Intent
Intra vs. Inter organizational
Community
Volunteer
Public Sector
Private Sector
USA or International?
Strategy
Strategy
Strategy
The Literature:
• Hart: studied ancient Greeks through WWII “the art if
distributing and applying military means to fulfill the
ends of policy”
• Moltke: Distributing and applying military means to
fulfill the ends of policy.
The Literature
Mintzberg
 Strategy is a plan, a "how," a means of getting
from here to there.
 Strategy is a pattern in actions over time; for
example, a company that regularly markets very
expensive products is using a "high end" strategy.
 Strategy is position; that is, it reflects decisions to
offer particular products or services in particular
markets.
 Strategy is perspective, that is, vision and
direction.
The Literature
Kenneth Andrews
 "Corporate strategy is the pattern of
decisions in a company …
Treacy and Wiersema
 Narrowing, not broadening
 three "value-disciplines" that can serve as
the basis for strategy: operational
excellence, customer intimacy, and
product leadership
The Literature
Porter
About being different
Unique value mix
Competitive view
Kepner Tregoe
Framework guiding choices
9 factors but single driving force
Matter of perspective
Robert
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Think and manage strategically
4 decisions
10 possibilities for a driving force
Tregoe and Zimmerman urge
executives to base these
decisions on a single "driving
force" of the business.
Although there are nine
possible driving forces, only
one can serve as the basis for
strategy for a given business.
The nine possibilities are
listed below:
•Products
offered
•Production
capability
•Natural
resources
•Market
needs
•Method
of sale
•Size/growth
•Technology
•Method
of distribution
•Return/profit
Michel Robert takes a similar view of strategy in, Strategy Pure & Simple
[8], where he argues that the real issues are "strategic management"
and "thinking strategically."
For Robert, this boils down to decisions pertaining to four factors:
•Products and services
•Market segments
•Customers
•Geographic areas
•Like Tregoe and Zimmerman, Robert claims that decisions about which
products and services to offer, the customers to be served, the market
segments in which to operate, and the geographic areas of operations
should be made on the basis of a single "driving force." Again, like
Tregoe and Zimmerman, Robert claims that several possible driving
forces exist but only one can be the basis for strategy.
The 10 driving forces cited by Robert are
Product-service
Sales-marketing method
User-customer
Distribution method
Market type
Natural resources
Production capacity-capability
Size/growth
Technology
Return/profit
The Literature:
George Steiner:
• that which top management does that is of great
importance to the organization
• refers to basic directional decisions, that is, to
purposes and missions
• consists of the important actions necessary to
realize these directions
• answers the question: What should the organization
be doing?
• answers the question: What are the ends we seek
and how should we achieve them?
The Decisions are the same:
The choices between and among products and
services, customers and markets, distribution
channels, technologies, pricing, and geographic
operations, etc.
What is required is a structured, disciplined,
systematic way of making these decisions.
Options
• "driving forces"
• “value disciplines"
• "value-chain analysis“
All three as a system of cross-checks
The Practical Question: How?
How does one determine, articulate and
communicate company-wide ends? How
does one ensure understanding and obtain
commitment to these ends?
Strategy and strategy
Confused yet?
How would YOU differentiate?
Elements of Leadership Strategy
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Values
Vision
Mission
Goals
Elements of Leadership Strategy
Values
Non-negotiable tenets which influence how
you are willing to work/live/volunteer.
Elements of Leadership Strategy
Vision :What we want vs. what we want to
avoid
Elements of Leadership Strategy
Mission
Elements of Leadership Strategy
Mission
“Guided by relentless focus on our five imperatives,
we will constantly strive to implement the critical
initiatives required to achieve our vision. In doing
this, we will deliver operational excellence in every
corner of the Company and meet or exceed our
commitments to the many constituencies we
serve. All of our long-term strategies and shortterm actions will be molded by a set of core values
that are shared by each and every associate.”
In what order?
Values/Vision first
 Mission
 Goals
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Elements of Leadership Strategy
Goals
 State the desired goal
 Long-term goals
 Short-term goals
 What does success look like?
Goals and Objectives: 2014 Annualized
$5M in gross sales
15% net profit
Less than 2% involuntary turnover in staff
 Grow new customer base by at least 15%
 Increase sales to existing customers by at least
23%
 Survey results = 95% positive staff satisfaction
 Fewer than 1% safety incidents
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Goal Alignment
Terms to Confuse and Abuse
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Tactics
Tasks
Strategies vs. strategies
Steps
Processes
Job Descriptions
Job Aids
Instructions
Targets
Outcomes
Process Model for Strategy Development
Why this works!
Let’s try a few examples:
Smalltown Community Gardens
Values: eliminating hunger,
erasing loneliness, building
self-sufficient skills
 Vision: Nobody in Smalltown,
OR is hungry or lonely, unless
by choice
 Mission: Develop many
gardens where citizens gather
to produce and share healthy
fruits and vegetables and build
supportive relationships
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Smalltown Community Gardens
Values: we all include and help
each other
 Vision: Everyone in Smalltown, OR
has access to, healthy food,
supportive friendships, and
empowerment
 Mission: Develop many gardens
where citizens gather to produce
and share healthy fruits and
vegetables and be involved in
mutually-supportive relationships
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Smalltown Community Gardens
Strategic Intent:
Smalltown is a safe,
sustainable place to live
and thrive – everyone
wants to live here and
no one wants to leave!
Smalltown Community Gardens
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Goals:
1.
Acquire one location per square mile
2.
Designate one coordinator per
garden
3.
Identify participants for each garden
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Tactics
1.
Layout and prepare each garden
2.
Select and plant
3.
Maintain
4.
Harvest
Smalltown Community Gardens
Questions?
How would we sell such a vision? Who
will directly engage?
 Master Gardeners
 Land Owners
 Existing producing gardens and farms?
 Swap volunteer labor for food?
 Other groups that have a related
vision/mission around hunger,
loneliness, self-sufficiency
Outreach?
What Pulls Me?
All organizations can be excellent!
Knowledge and skills exist to make it so!
Together we can make excellence the norm!
XXX Consulting
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Values
Vision
Mission
Strategy
Goals
Tactics
XXX Consulting
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Doing things the right way; calling out the elephant in the room.
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All organizations are healthy and profitable; they contribute generously
to their communities. A better world!
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Ask for referrals and leads to like-minded professionals
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To consult so that all organizations are led by those who understand
Strategy
 Vision
organizational behavior and how to balance human, financial, and
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Tactics
 Mission
 Goals
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Values
physical resources within and without their communities.
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Share knowledge and experience with HR professionals and support
HR professionals in fostering organizational effectiveness and leadership.
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Networking, teaching, consulting and presenting on areas of interest and
necessity
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Complete at least one meaningful contact per month and share my
VVMSGT
Failure of Leadership
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Strategic Leadership is redundant
Poor Leadership is an oxymoron
Fitting it Together
The Point!
This is not about what to think, or the one “right”
answer… but about how to think about the best
answer for your organization at this time….
 HR professionals are well-trained and clearly a
group of life-long learners…
 The best answer today may not be the best
answer tomorrow…
 BUT… the principles remain constant.
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Questions?