Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Involving the Team in Your Strategy

Leadership has been at the heart of human experience throughout the course of civilization.Those "emperors and generals" who have always been in the long river of history use their magnificent and far-reaching life journeys to clarify to people that the importance of leadership is beyond doubt.In the modern commercial society, global competition and rapid technological development make enterprises in a constantly changing and "turbulent" environment.The leadership ability and strategic vision of the leader have become the vital resources for the survival and development of the organization.

However, whether it is the formulation of strategies or the implementation of strategies, it is inseparable from the strength of the collective.Therefore, in order to achieve the long-term strategic goals of the organization, your team must be involved in your strategy. Robertson Walton, president of Wal-Mart, in order to motivate employees to achieve the goal of a profit margin of over 8%, wore grass skirts and garlands, and accompanied by a group of hula hoop dancers, danced on Wall Street for promotions.Walton regards the company's goal of breaking through the 8% profit margin not only as his own strategic goal, but also as a requirement for employees. He set an example for employees with his own behavior and let employees see A passionate and charismatic leader who keeps his word, is willing to work with his subordinates, and employees are naturally willing to follow and trust Walton.

Strategy is the team leader's strategy for the team, and it is a strategy for the team's integrity, long-term, and fundamental issues. Strategy points out the direction for the overall development of the enterprise.Team development faces many overall problems, such as the response to major changes in the environment, the development, utilization and integration of resources, the balance of production factors and business activities, the rationalization of various basic relationships, and so on.It is an important condition for the development of an enterprise to plan the overall problem well, and it is necessary to keep abreast of the overall development of the team.Don't think that leaders can grasp the overall development of the team. Leaders who only see the trees but not the forest can be seen everywhere.

Strategy is also an important basis for planning the long-term development of the team.The team also has a lifespan limit, and the lifespan can be long or short.Leaders should establish the awareness of "longevity team".In order to make the team "longevity", we must not only pay attention to short-term development issues, but also pay attention to long-term development issues, such as development goals, development steps, product and technological innovation, brand and reputation, talent development, cultural construction, etc. Wait.Teams that want longevity need to care about the future.Not only must we think about future problems in advance, but we must also solve them in advance, because solving any problem requires a process.In order to eat peaches, peach trees were planted three years ago.To correctly deal with the relationship between short-term interests and long-term interests, predicting the future is difficult, but not impossible.No one can imagine accidental events in the future, but they can always grasp the development trend of various things.People without thought, he must worry about.Leaders don't care about the future development of the team. They only know that they "can't wait to see what's in front of them", which is tantamount to making fun of the life span of the team.

Strategy is a fundamental issue that determines the overall and long-term development of the team.The leaves grow on the branches, the branches grow on the trunk, and the trunk gets nourishment from the roots.In a team, there are thousands of leaf problems, hundreds of branch problems, and not many root problems.These questions are rare, but very important.If the roots are rotten, no matter what you do with it, the branches and leaves of the tree will not flourish. Leaders should concentrate on planning the basic issues of team development.If the basic problems of team development are not solved well, even if the employees are mobilized to work hard, they will not achieve results, and even the harder they work, the more money they will lose.

The leadership's planning ability does not focus on short-term strategic planning, but on the formulation of long-term plans.In other words, an excellent leader must have foresight and foresight. He cannot see the present but not the future. He must let employees understand the company's vision in a timely manner so that they will not lose their way.Especially when making decision-making and planning, it is even more important to be able to properly use the integration ability, effectively use the wisdom of subordinates and existing resources, and avoid wasting manpower. Generally speaking, after making a major decision that concerns the interests of the team, a good leader will inform all departments as soon as possible, because when a general mobilization is required, a successful leader will gather the strength of the members, rather than just sit and watch the organization become a mess.Especially in the face of huge and chaotic resources, good leaders can exert a high degree of integration ability, put everyone in the correct job position, so as to maximize the strength of the team.

However, no matter how strategic planning, or how to develop ways to increase employee productivity, the most important thing is still - senior leaders must have a sense of responsibility.John Miller mentioned in the book "QBQ-The Question Behind the Question": Once, he went to the convenience store attached to the gas station to buy coffee, but the coffee pot was empty, so he ran to the lady at the counter and said : "I'm sorry, the coffee pot is empty." The counter lady just stood there, pointed to a colleague not far away and said, "The coffee belongs to her department." Miller was surprised by her response, and he was heartbroken. Thinking: "Departments? In this small store that is the same size as my living room, what departments are there?"

In fact, many enterprises or companies have this kind of situation. Once there is a problem in the work, all departments will often shirk their responsibilities, and no one is willing to take responsibility for the mistakes.Only by thinking more about responsible issues can we improve the organization and life. Everyone should ask questions based on "how", rather than "why", "when", and "who".Most importantly, focus on concrete actions rather than reasons why you can't. For leaders, the specific practice of planning and integration capabilities is "action". The result of action is the solution, and no action can only maintain the status quo and make things stagnate or regress.Therefore, although action may bring about mistakes, it will also bring about learning and growth at the same time. Therefore, in addition to cultivating planning and integration capabilities, leaders must also have a high degree of action.

For subordinates, what they need is a real sense of "ownership".Subordinates are invited to participate in the formulation of strategies, and the personal experience makes them realize their master status and the scientific nature of strategic decision-making, which naturally produces the same views as the leaders.Correspondingly, the sense of responsibility of the master will emerge spontaneously, and it will become his conscious action to put the goal into practice.Especially in some large organizations, because it is impossible for everyone to participate in the formulation of goals, it is the most practical way to send representatives to participate.If the representatives agree with the strategic goal, they will not only practice it personally, but also publicize the goal with great enthusiasm, so that the goal will be recognized on a greater level, and even heartily supported.At this time, because the decision-making goal has been emotionally recognized by the subordinates, the subordinates will consciously turn it into their own goal. Then, the realization of the goal is not only based on the appeal of its scientific content to the subordinates, but more importantly What is important is the conscious efforts made by subordinates to achieve strategic goals.

For the long-term strategy of the company, what intelligent leaders need to do is not only to concentrate on the long-term strategy of the team, they should also strive to absorb the collective wisdom of their followers.Walking shoulder to shoulder with others in the team, the leader co-creates a lofty ideal that will promote the rise and vitality of the team.Only by attracting people to participate in your strategy and resonate with it can sustainable change be possible. Inviting subordinates to participate in the formulation of the strategy will undoubtedly cause many problems, such as wasting time, discussing without resolution, and opinions that run counter to the original intention of the leader gaining the upper hand, and so on.But these problems are not the fault of the principle itself, but caused by improper operation.Leaders must pay attention to the following aspects when asking subordinates to formulate strategies together:

1. Limited theme At the beginning of jointly establishing the goal, the leader should put forward his own assumptions about the goal, point out the direction for the participants, provide ideas, and prevent the participants from bringing in some irrelevant things, confuse the priority, or involve other issues Going up, leading to wasting time and deviating from the decision-making goal.However, the vision of the goal put forward by the leader should not be perfect. Sometimes even if the leader has the ability to design the goal to be perfect, there are some omissions in the initial design plan of the goal.Because only when subordinates feel that a perfect goal is formed under their own criticisms and suggestions, will they have a stronger sense of identity with the goal.There is little point in setting goals together when the stated goals are impeccable and engagement becomes hand-offs. 2. Coordinating Disputes In the process of jointly formulating goals, because various departments and individuals propose from different perspectives of interests, disputes are inevitable.The confrontation between the two armies, the three-legged confrontation, and the quarrels will often happen.If the leader lacks the art of controlling the overall situation at this time, it will lead to unresolved discussions and even intensified conflicts.When the leader perfects the goal and reaches a certain degree of compromise with all parties, so that the goal is accepted in a wider range, he must be aware that even the correct goal of forced implementation is more effective than the wrong goal of voluntary implementation. 3. Information sharing The formulation of the goal of joint participation is to create an atmosphere in which a wide range of opinions and a hundred flowers bloom.However, leaders often find that some of these views are obviously out of date, full of loopholes, or lack of insight and depth. They are either entangled in trivial matters, or form a wrong tendency to prevail among subordinates, and the result can only be time. waste or embarrassment and deadlock between leaders and subordinates.The solution to this problem is: Subordinates must be provided with sufficient factual information so that they can have a basis for setting goals, which is information sharing.Information sharing should be an institution to correct conjecture or speculation, circles of debate, and decisions based on prima facie evidence and poor intelligence. There are many changes in the team every day.In a sense, the job of leadership is to manage change and change. People respond to change in good ways and badly, and avoid reactions that bog you down because of the change.For example, lack of awareness of the need for change; lack of awareness or perception of the environment for change; lack of trust in the people making the change, etc.Therefore, when communicating, we must work hard from the following aspects: 1. The first task is to explain why change is necessary Supporting change starts with accepting the preconditions on which to stand for change.With these accepted, it is not difficult to understand the proposed change actions.Employees may not like having to change, but recognize the benefits.Therefore, the first task of communication is to explain the theoretical basis of change. This task becomes more difficult the closer you get to the implementation phase.People are concerned with finding answers to their specific questions.When organizations are bloated and layoffs are on the horizon, people's primary concern is keeping their jobs.As for the issue of international development, it is ranked behind.They don't want to look at the future, they just want to look at the present, and they care about the immediate interests.At this point it is too late to explain the theoretical basis for change, people have already followed their own agendas.Undoubtedly, their priorities will differ from those of the company. The more you drag back, the narrower the area of ​​communication, the more likely conflicts will occur, and the greater the resistance.The process of communication is the process of leading people to experience a kind of thinking.You want to change people's attitudes and understanding of the problem, you have to let them go through the process, you can't just pass on the results of the process to them.The purpose of communication is to share ideas, not to announce conclusions. 2. Tracing back to the source, explain clearly the environment in which the idea of ​​change arises The greater the magnitude of the change, the more the communication should focus closer to the origin.Without clarifying the circumstances in which your ideas arise, the information you provide will not make sense or have the intended impact.Employees then interpret the exchanged information from their own perspective, believing that the leader is taking a position that is hostile to them.Communication appears to be about imposing a change agenda without regard to people's vital interests.When the leader announces new plans for the future, employees are filled with worries directly related to their own future, and it is difficult to put other things in their minds. The factors that made the business successful have now become disadvantages.Too much focus on completing tasks, forcing employees to obey, making clear statements about right and wrong, communicating in the context of different values, etc., all of these will lead to misunderstanding and great resistance among employees.If you don't share your understanding of the problem and the previous thought generation process with employees, but try to draw conclusions directly, you will increase resistance. 3. Help employees change their minds Avoid collisions.In relationships there are shared goals and conflicting goals.In times of turmoil, it is easy to lose sight of common goals and what brings people together, and instead focus nervously on goals that cause opposition and conflict.When communication is focused solely on getting things done, people will adopt a protective attitude, creating the resistance you fear most. Don't belittle the past.Often, people tend to describe tomorrow's splendor by describing yesterday as dull and full of mistakes.It is reminiscent of the fact that the company has been wrong in the past and now needs to be corrected. Let employees vent their grievances.Only by unloading the burden in their minds can people accept new ideas.Communicators can only truly communicate when they receive feedback.Often, leaders are surprised to find that their words have been badly misunderstood long after the fact.Misunderstandings are inevitable, and if you don’t allow employees to voice their views and concerns, you will face resistance from misunderstandings that you are not aware of. Don't just focus on tasks.Helping employees cope with change requires skills in explaining, articulating the change environment and providing feedback.Most leaders spend their time issuing orders and checking on task completion.At this time, there will be a disconnect between the two parties.The leader's attention is on completing tasks, giving orders, and checking work.The desire of employees is to understand the causes and consequences of change and various environmental conditions, so they hope to know the prospect of change, why it is done, what is the feedback from the leader, and how things are progressing.Leaders only focus on tasks and don't care about environmental conditions. In daily actions, they can only make employees unhappy, which is a negative factor for change. Employees are welcome to ask questions.People want to understand the specific situation of a strategy in practice, so they often need to ask questions and get satisfactory answers.This process of inquiry and assessment by employees is critical to both developing a sense of ownership and adapting to change. If employees dare to express different opinions when they are very sure, and the corporate culture is characterized by keeping silent when they are not sure, everyone is afraid of making a wrong step, and the company has always been submissive and always responds to everything, then the leader We should look for opportunities and create opportunities to change this situation. Regardless of the type of team, leaders have many interesting and exciting strategies and great ideas.Many leaders have important and meaningful goals, but without effective communication with subordinates, these goals are difficult to achieve.In terms of management, a successful leader needs to be able to express himself and describe his career as an unbelievable blueprint—a blueprint that inspires enthusiasm and dedication.By concentrating on doing a good job of information exchange, the leader's intentions can be accurately expressed and conveyed. It can be seen that it is very important to let subordinates understand your strategy. 1. State your point of view firmly As a leader, you must stand your ground.Standing up is not the same as being domineering. It means standing up for one's own position and point of view rather than fighting to solve problems.People who stand their ground express their needs by communicating with people honestly, fairly, and nonconfrontationally.When making your point, don't mix in irrelevant details.If the conversation gets out of control for a moment, you can return to the original topic by saying, "I understand how you feel, but I think we should solve the problem first." Speak your mind firmly, but don't lose sight of the valuable elements of the other person's point of view.Be prepared to listen and respect other opinions, willing to agree with anything that makes sense, but stick to those that still don't sit well with you.If you can't agree, you need to find a compromise, you can say: "Let's keep our opinions", and then continue to work on your own.At the same time, you need to do your best to avoid working with this person again or avoid the matter. 2. Solicit advice from key subordinates Before you make a final decision, it is best to ask your subordinates for their opinions and listen to their views.After you have listened to their opinions, the period of soliciting opinions is over, and you can announce your final thoughts. From then on, you have the right to expect the full support and dedication of your subordinates to implement your decisions and decisions. Follow your orders. 3. Know the right moment to announce your idea Choosing the right moment to announce your decision is very important.You must let the people under your leadership have sufficient mental preparation and time arrangements, and you must not let them be caught off guard, so that they will not have enough time to formulate their own plans and let them implement your ideas. The most important point is not to announce your plans and orders to your subordinates' subordinates, which will make your subordinates embarrassed and passive.As for what they say to their subordinates, that's their business, and you can't do it for them. 4. Encourage subordinates to adapt to changes No situation can be static, mistakes can be made at any time, and accidents can happen at any time. Encourage your subordinates to make their own evaluations of the current situation. Make a plan for adapting to new situations. 5. Let subordinates fully understand the overall situation When you make a correct and timely decision, you must ensure that the people who should know know the content of your ideas.If you can't do this, you will inevitably make a big mistake, and then who should bear the responsibility?And the question is not only as simple as who should be responsible!Mistakes due to lack of communication are often more serious than those caused by willful disobedience. Only by letting your subordinates understand the overall situation can you implement your ideas well. 6. Pay attention to the long-term impact of your intentions It is not enough to think about the immediate benefits and effects of your idea, you must be able to foresee the long-term effects and effects it will have.You have to remember that when your subordinates start implementing your ideas, there will be a chain reaction of events. Remember, don't let your guidance today bring all kinds of troubles to managing subordinates tomorrow! The main mistake that brought many companies to the brink of bankruptcy came from a strategic error by leaders—excessive expansion.However, there are also a few examples of companies whose mistakes are at the other extreme - the leader's "no growth strategy". The Monvor Company from 1939 to 1955 is the most notable example. The "no-growth strategy" made it lose its dominant position in the struggle with its rival Xerox Abe. In 1872, Montgomery and Ward, who had worked as grocery store managers and dry goods salesmen, opened a business in Chicago that specialized in selling various groceries by mail.Ward had worked on the farm for several years. He knew that ordinary farmers at that time were quite dissatisfied with the high prices and low stock in grocery stores; he was also very familiar with the mutual aid cooperatives organized by farmers at that time, which eliminated middlemen by means of cooperative purchases. exploitation.Ward and his brother put together a $2,400 joint venture to build their business out of a small room in Chicago.They list what they sell and explain how to order it on a piece of paper. In 1874, the original price list became an eight-page booklet, and by the end of the same year, the booklet became a 72-page booklet; in 1884, the booklet became a 240-page catalog and contained nearly 10,000 items. At that time, Monvor was the official supplier of farmers' mutual cooperatives, so it was easily accepted by the rural market.But a more important factor in Monvo's success is its guarantee that customers can return unsatisfactory products without paying the return shipping fee.Monvo likes to promote products in a lively way.He used the railroad's traveling trains to provide entertainment by performing variety shows and displaying products on board.He also invited customers to visit the company's factory in Chicago, and as many as 285,000 customers were invited during the Chicago Exposition.In this way, Monwall grew into a popular large retailer. Monvor's competitor, Xerox Abe, was founded in 1886.At that time, the main business was selling watches by mail.Although it was established later than Monvor, in 1902, Xerox's sales surpassed Monvor's, although the gap between the two has never been large.However, after World War II, Xerox gradually widened the gap, and its sales were far ahead of Monvo.What caused this situation was the strategic mistake of the chairman of Monvo, Swell Avery. In 1927, Xerox had 27 stores in operation, three times the number in 1926.Monvor moved even faster, with 37 stores opening by the end of 1927.In the next few years, both Monvo and Xerox have increased the number of their sales stores at an alarming rate.Monvor tried his best to get into select towns ahead of Xerox, but some outlets turned out to be wrong.As for the two mail-order giants, they adopt different strategies in choosing the location of their outlets.Monvor prefers to move into towns with populations between 4,000 and 75,000, while Xerox prefers large cities. By the end of 1929, Monvor had opened 500 stores, and even had a record of opening 25 stores within a week, and at this time, Xerox had reached a total of 324 stores. From 1945 to 1952, that is, a few years after World War II, no new branch of Monwo opened, but 27 branches were closed, reducing the number of Monwo branches from 632 to 605. Another 37 branches were also closed during 1955.During this period, rival Xerox Abbey aggressively expanded from 610 stores in 1946 to 684 in 1952.The following table lists the number of branches operated by Monvor and Xerox in different years from 1938 to 1954. The number of stores operated by Mengwo and Xerox (1938-1954) Year 1938 1946 1952 1954 Monvo 600 632 605 568 Xerox 496 610 684 718 In the past, Monvo has always opened its stores in small rural communities in order to cater to rural consumers.These rural consumers were thought to be where the market was until World War II.During the war, the expansion of both sides was temporarily suppressed.But as soon as the war ended, Xerox launched its biggest expansion since the late 1920s.Some $30 million was desperately invested in the immediate post-war expansion.As a result, in the two years after the war, Xerox's turnover surged from 1 billion to 2 billion.During the same period, Monvo's chairman, Alfred, chose a strategy of no expansion.After World War II, however, much of the growth in the consumer population was concentrated in major metropolitan areas and their surrounding suburbs.Shopping centers are burgeoning and taking business away from downtown and small business districts.However, when the shopping pattern was undergoing major changes, Monvo was unwilling to expand and did not open a store in a big city, deliberately giving up the battlefield to Xerox and other competitors. Why this stubborn notion of settling against growth?Is it because the company does not have sufficient financial resources to support an aggressive growth plan?Or is there a shortage of leaders?In fact, Monvor lacks neither financial resources nor leaders.One vice president even said: "Monvor is one of the best banks in the United States with storefronts." Just after World War II, Monvor also had many capable senior executives.What is it that leads to this persistent "don't grow" decision? The answer lies in Swell Avery, Monvo's chairman since 1932.He has always firmly believed that after the end of World War II, there will be a period of depression immediately.He bases his judgment on the depression that followed World War I.Alfred predicts that the shift from wartime to peacetime production of industry, coupled with the millions of veterans eager to find work, will put the country in a period of temporary crisis from wartime to peacetime economy. dilemma.Based on this, he predicted that "the economic situation will deteriorate to an unprecedented level", and said: "We (Monwo) will not act rashly now, we are staying vigilant." If Avery had been right then—that is, if there had been a severe depression in the three or four years after the war—he would have been a hero, and he might have gained, as BusinessWeek puts it, "America's Smartest Businessman" title.But everything he predicted didn't happen.The cash and liquid assets owned by Mengwo can fully enable him to buy other people's stores at ultra-low prices to expand himself when everyone is forced to tighten up. Unfortunately, he didn't do this, but kept it as it is cautiously and stubbornly.But with each passing year, the integrity of this "stand still" strategy is increasingly questionable. After World War II, the Great Depression did not occur as Alfred had predicted.The no-growth strategy did not bring any benefits to Monvo—except for sacrificing growth and not entering core markets such as cities and shopping malls. Avery also paid the price for his strategic missteps: In 1945, Monver accounted for 41.7% of the mail order business market, while Xerox had 50.7%; by 1951, Monver accounted for only 28.3%, while Xerox had 66.1% of the market. Before the start of the war in 1939, Monvor and Xerox were almost equal, but in 1952, Xerox's sales were 250% of Monvor's, and its profits were 200%. The failure of Monvo's "no-growth strategy" proved a basic law of business leadership: a company cannot stand still, it must grow if it is to survive.Customers, suppliers, and leaders are all attracted to growth-oriented companies, because everyone can benefit from the company's growth and prosperity.A good leader should have the willingness to change strategies, and cannot stubbornly go wrong in order to abide by principles.Alfred's post-war strategy may have been right, but it should be reassessed and adjusted five years after the expected economic collapse.After all, the competitive environment is dynamic. If a company wants to be active and successful, it must constantly reassess the established strategy.