Strategy, Communication and Values : Alignment in Execution

Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.

I used to own a relatively premium brand of car. Good branding and technology focus !! However, fewer service centers (a function of numbers I thought) made access inconvenient. I finally switched due to the company’s apathetic approach to after sales service.

So I settled in for a ‘less’ premium brand. My Justplainandsimple™ decision was based on the company’s strong communication on ‘Customer Orientation’, ‘Trust’ and the assurance of a huge service network. The experience of regular initial free service, with pick ups and drops by the very ‘competent’ service centre, was quite satisfying, I must say. Continue reading →

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Healthcare setups that tripped ….. 2

How is it that certain teams achieve extraordinary excellence, day after day, year after year and manage to stay committed to each other, their customers and their organization’s mission ?

Tripped 2

A healthcare start up ….. successful doctors, experienced healthcare professionals and a seasoned healthcare entrepreneur got together. Hired people with rich experience in healthcare. Much excitement and hope !! Great Aspirations …..

The only issue ….. aspirations were on different vectors.

Six months from start, issues erupted. Differences on ‘What to do’?; ‘How to do ?’; ‘Who does ?’ ….. Everything.

Difference of opinion should be welcome and healthy discussions throw up agreed and effective directions.

Instead bitterness creeped in; operations stalled; could not see/talk to each other. All within one year.

Reason : Each of the ‘promoters/founders’ joined in with a different agenda, thought process, assumptions. On the surface all looked ‘Rosy’ ….. A new start up healthcare business in the age of healthcare, by people experienced healthcare.!!

The core was never discussed. A ‘Shared Mission’ was never there.

Reasons to get together were as many as the number of people who got together ….. valuation in ‘X’ years, gain startup credentials, clinical excellence, long term business, more leisure time ….. and so on

The mission was aborted within 18 months and all went their own ways …..

In another well run set up, absence of a shared sense of Values and Direction created a severe deadlock, stalling all operations for a long period of time, demotivating the team, forcing many to leave.

The fact is that while all teams are groups, not all groups are teams. A group becomes a true team only when its members support and enhance each other’s performance and contributions … when they work together to achieve results that are bigger and better than those that could be realized individually

Build a team of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable ~ team definition by Katzenbach/Smith

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Healthcare set ups that tripped ….. 1

Tripped There is so much buzz surrounding healthcare today. And rightly so. Healthcare is on a growth path.

All eyes are focused on the healthcare success stories. For gaining valuable learnings and for valuation gains !!

Lost somewhere in the melee are stories of slips that can give equally significant insights.

Without disclosing the identity, here is one such case …..

A new unit, started slow and steady with one healthcare speciality and progressed well. Led by an enthusiastic entrepreneur, full of passion and ambition, ready to take risks. All the correct ingredients it seems.

The enthusiasm led to related diversification into other healthcare verticals.

Two years into this mode, growth started slowing down and profits started getting eroded.

Good brand equity, doctors, patient satisfaction, advertising spends, infrastructure ….. nothing seemed to be wrong.

Root cause analysis brought up a peculiar core issue, generally very difficult to accept by any business leader ….. that the leader lacked the ability to handle multiple business operations.

Adaptive Thinking, Empowerment with Accountability, Execution Excellence, Networking and Executive Maturity were the development areas that the leader could have sought help in and built on, to Realise Business, Professional and Personal Potential.

More cases …..

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Strategy and Cleanliness

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“Cleanliness and order are not matters of instinct; they are matters of education, and like most great things, you must cultivate a taste for them.”

―Benjamin Disraeli

In the context of Strategy and its correlation with the Value of Cleanliness, focus is on clarity of mind. Physical cleanliness and hygiene, however, continue to be important always ….. premises, building design/layout, infrastructure, ….. and do play a strong role in cleanliness and health of mind and body.

Specifically related to Strategy, is the role of Cleanliness in terms of cutting out noise and clutter of thought …..right from the definition of the Strategic issue to execution of actions with neatly and clearly defined scope, roles, timelines.

Jim Collins, in his well known Hedgehog Principle, in a way refers to a ‘squeaky clean’ and crystal clear mental state while defining areas of passion, expertise and economic engine drivers. Such clarity is actually the outcome of a well defined, neat and clean thought process and allows selection of highly effective Strategic options !!

An organization that continues to ‘clean’ and polish its shared understanding of Values, Strategic Priorities, Vision, Culture, Decision Processes, Reward and Review Mechanisms, stays Attractive and Healthy !!

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That which cannot be expressed by speech …..

Painting by JPSingh

That which cannot be expressed by speech,

That by which speech is expressed.

Know That alone to be Brahman, not this –

this which (people) worship.

Kenopanishad I : 5

The Supreme God, Brahman, Atman is Consciousness which enlivens the organ of speech to speak. The Subject within which animates speech. It is not an object of speech. Speech cannot express Brahman. Brahman causes the organs of action to function, breathes life into them.

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