Tuesday, March 8, 2011

And The Survey Says...

And The Survey Says...
by Michael Diercks
Managing Partner, LMI

We just got the results of a major survey of managers and executives conducted in the middle of February this year.

The topic was "What is the greatest challenge ahead of your organization in 2011?"  

We believe that ALL businesses will have to find a way to deal with these issues, IF they want to be successful.

The First Issue Respondents mentioned was "We need to execute better!"  Better execution was seen as being essential to increased productivity.   Many organizations need to increase productivity NOW, gaining a competitive edge from being able to get things done faster and better. 

The second issue was " We need to think and act more strategically."  Strategic thinking and acting was seen as critical to becoming better goal-setters.   Without well thought-out goals, using insights gained from real world thinking coming from solid strategy, many organizations drift, not only losing momentum but also wasting scarce resources. 

The third issue was "We need to invest more effort in leading our people."  The broad consensus was that executives and managers need to be BETTER LEADERS in order to gain better results.  Organizations do NOT just succeed, they must be well led in order to produce superior results.  Abdicating responsibility for achieving success to others produces few good results.  Organizations need to take the responsibility to train leaders and support their efforts. 

The final issue was "We need to get some balance in our lives." Survey respondents voiced the need to be a "total person" with balance in all areas of their lives.  The old saying that all work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) a dull person has never been truer.  And, survey results make that point clearly.