Refocusing: Seven Steps on the journey from Success to Significance

By Stephen C. Tweed, CSP
Healthcare & Business Strategist

You are successful. Otherwise you wouldn't be in the position you are in…and you wouldn't be reading this article. (We have a fundamental rule in our business.  We only work with winners.  The losers don't call.)

The real question is… are you achieving the level of significance you desire?  When your work here is done, what will be the legacy that you leave behind?

We've worked with over 500 highly successful CEO's during the past 23 years in this business.  Nearly all of them have been successful.  A few of them have achieved amazing levels of significance in their work and personal lives, and are leaving behind an enduring legacy that will long be remembered.  Would you like to achieve that level of significance?  If so, consider these seven steps on the journey:

1.  Be a Servant-leader.  The CEOs we know who are leaving a significant legacy are Servant-leaders.  They put service before self.  They look for ways to provide the tools and resources for their team members to be successful.

2.  Be a place that gathers top talent.  You can't be significant alone.  To accomplish all that you are capable of, you need to surround yourself with top talent.  Become known as an organization that has an amazing ability to find and keep top talent.

3.  Objectively assess your current reality.  One important role of a significant CEO is to keep your team members grounded in reality.  To do that, you need to regularly assess your current reality in an objective, unbiased manner.  

4.  Define your Strategic Focus.  The most significant people I know are also the most focused.  In business today, it is so easy to become diluted and distracted.  It's easy to get out of focus.  There are a thousand people who want a piece of your time and attention.  The key to significance is to be really clear about what is important to you and your organization.  Then develop the skills and resources to find and keep your focus.

5.  Create a Culture of Accomplishment.  Corporate culture is defined as… "the way we do things around here."  It comes from the values and leadership style of the CEO, and other key leaders.  To achieve the level of significance you seek, you'll want to consciously create a culture where people are focused on accomplishment.  

6.  Measure your success with undisputed facts.  We have a saying… "What gets measured gets managed.  What gets rewarded gets repeated."  You send a clear message to your team members about what is important to you by what you measure and reward.  To let your key people know what is important to your company's future, set up a Strategic Scorecard.  This is a tool for communicating and measuring the critical ingredients of your corporate strategy, and for rewarding positive performance.

7.  Accelerate your Performance through Technology.  In this day and age, you need to use Performance Accelerating Technology to gain and sustain competitive advantage in your marketplace.  Define your Strategic Focus.  Determine what tasks need to be done to beat your competition.  Then find the technology that will accelerate the performance of those tasks.  

Strategic RefocusingTM

These steps are part of a process that we call Strategic RefocusingTM .  It begins with a snapshot of where you are now.  Then it looks at the four fundamental factors affecting your future; the forces and trends shaping your industry, your desired future, your competitive advantage or uniqueness, and leadership.  The process involves taking your senior leadership team away for several days to spend uninterrupted time concentrating on develop a strategy for significance.  Then the team comes together on a regular basis to continue dialog and debate on the major issues, and to measure success and update plans.  An experienced facilitator leads the process, documents the results, and provide accountability for the team

Strategic Reading

For some insights on the significance of a true servant-leader who has left a lasting legacy, you'll want to read a new book by Robert Darden.  Secret Recipe: Why KFC is still cookin' after 50 years is the story of our friend and client, Pete Harman, and the influence he has had on the quick-service food industry.  

Pete was the first person to buy Colonel Sanders' chicken recipe, and the man who named Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Pete has achieved significance as the founder and Chairman-emeritus of Harman Management Corporation, the largest KFC franchise, and as a respected advisor to Colonel Sanders and five generations of KFC executives.  It's a fun, quick read that's well worth your investment.

We had an opportunity to speak for two annual management incentive trips for Harman Management Corporation several years ago.  We were with them for five days in Tucson  and Nashville. This true servant leader and the legacy he's leaving behind mesmerized us.

Creating Your Strategic Scorecard TM

We've always said, "What gets measured gets managed. What gets rewarded gets repeated."  What you measure sends a loud message to your management and staff about what you think is really important.  We've begun refining some new tools to help you implement your strategic plan and measure your progress.  

The Strategic ScorecardTM is a tool that will keep you and your team focused on implementing your strategy, and help you see clearly the progress you are making.

To refocus your business and achieve new levels of significance, apply these seven steps, follow the wisdom of servant-leaders like Pete Harmon, and measure your progress with a Strategic Scorecard TM.  You'll be mesmerized by the progress you make.

Read Only © 2002 Stephen C. Tweed Used with permission of copyright holder

About the Author:  Stephen C. Tweed, CSP is a nationally known healthcare and business strategist.  He works with companies that want to grow, and with leaders who want to get ready for the future.  He is the author of Strategic Focus:  A Game plan for Developing Competitive Advantage, and co-author of three other books.  Stephen is a principle in Tweed Jeffries, LLC, and Chief Lighthouse Keeper at Lighthouse Learning Systems … a Tweed Jeffries Company in Louisville, KY.  Stephen is also the 2002-2003 President of the National Speakers Association, based in Tempe, AZ.  He can be reached at Stephen@tweedjeffries.com or www.tweedjeffries.com.  NSA can be reached at www.nsaspeaker.org.

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