Even though it took place 12 years ago, Dennis Richardson vividly recalls a specific conversation he had with board members of the organization he leads as president and CEO. He remembers because it was a conversation that altered the future of their organization, Alliance member Hillside Family of Agencies, Rochester, N.Y.
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The agency’s leaders were asked a simple question: How is the organization doing? They responded with financial performance measures.
“We were struck by the narrowness of our answer,” Richardson says. “Financial measures are only part of the story; they do not reflect the actions that galvanize the organization to achieve its strategy.”
To compete in these tough economic times, a strategy must be reviewed regularly to understand how well the organization is performing relative to its goals, he adds. This assessment goes beyond financial performance.
A strategy must answer a variety of key questions: How is the organization doing operationally? What skills are needed in the organization? How does the organization motivate staff to realize the strategy? Do the agency’s services make a real difference in the lives of consumers?
The answers to these questions were the true indicators of how the organization was doing.
“Hillside had been doing strategic planning for years, but we needed a more purposeful way to define our future intent, as well as a plan for working daily toward achieving that intent,” Richardson says.
“Creating a plan is just the beginning,” agrees Mitch Kohls, president of Kohls Consulting Group, a member of the Alliance’s Executive Consultant Select Group. “You must execute it operationally on a day-to-day basis at every level of the organization.” Continue reading.
