Home
>
Strategic Planning
>
Business Results - Four Critical Success Factors

Business Results - Four Critical Success Factors

Scenario One

During a recent presentation, a business owner was given the following challenge. If 10 of his 100 employees were asked to name the top 3 organizational goals for the current year as they perceived them to be, would he receive the same 3 goals from everyone or would he receive 5, 10 or even 25 different goals? The business owner shook his head and thoughtfully responded, "No, I am sure that I would receive more than 3 goals." He was then asked to consider what these misdirected actions from his employees were costing him in terms of missed opportunities.

Scenario Two

At another presentation, a business owner was asked if she set goals? She responded quite enthusiastically, "Of course, I set goals." She was asked a follow-up question: "Can you state with 100% conviction that your employees know how to consistently achieve both their personal and professional goals?" After a few moments, she replied "No." She was then asked how this lack of knowledge potentially affected her bottom line?

Scenario Three

A president of a company was asked: "Have you ever seen behavior inconsistent with your strategic plan?" He quickly answered "Yes!" A second question was asked, "What did you do about it?" "Well, we sent them to training and within 6 months we had to send them back again?" A new question was then posed to the President. "Are these performance failures a result of a lack of knowledge or skills or due to poor attitudes and habits?" The president immediately said "Why bad attitudes and poor habits." Again, the facilitator asked another question: "What are all these re-do's costing your company?"

Scenario Four

During the annual meeting, the CEO of a manufacturing company informed her executive team that she wanted to achieve a 10% growth during the next 12 months. The VP of Operations made plans to purchase new manufacturing equipment for some new products while the VP of Marketing & Sales began to implement a plan selling existing products. The CFO decided to cut budgets to capital improvements and marketing. All three executive team members believed that their actions would help achieve the 10% growth.

These scenarios shared four critical success factors (CSF's) that impede all organizations from achieving consistent results: communication, goal setting and goal achievement skills, attitudes and alignment.

Critical Factor #1: Communication is the key to unlocking the potential within businesses as well as individuals. When the goals are in alignment with the vision and consistently communicated from top down, then performance excellence is much more likely to happen. Inconsistent communication contributes to missed targets and lowers the performance for the entire organization.

Critical Factor #2: Goal setting and goal achievement are learned skills. Unfortunately, many presume that these skills are acquired during the K-12 educational experiences through the "Osmosis Process." Also, these skills are not actively taught in the corporate setting. Yet, consistent goal achievement or the results are what every organization seeks.

Critical Factor #3: Attitudes drive behaviors that result in change. Many companies focus on trying to change negative behaviors because they are experiencing negative change. However, when the negative attitudes are replaced with positive attitudes, those attitudes will drive positive behaviors creating positive change. By failing to address negative attitudes, new trends, changes or initiatives, the result is wasted resources creating a negative drain on the "KASH Box."

Critical Factor #4: Alignment is necessary to ensure that the desired results are achieved. Performance excellence happens when the strategies, systems and people are working together to build loyal internal customers that drive loyal external customers. The much heard adage about "Getting everyone to row in the same direction" is true, but probably should be amended to include the following "by using the same paddles."

When these four CSF's work together, results happen quicker and create a culture of working "smarter and not harder." The following questions may help you to achieve the consistent results that you desire as you work your strategic plan:

1. Do I know with 100% accuracy that every employee can clearly articulate the top 3 goals for the organizations?

2. Does every person within the organization consistently sets and achieves all of his or her personal and professional goals?

3. Does everyone within the organization at ALL times consistently demonstrate positive attitudes?

4. Are the strategies, systems and people in alignment to build loyal internal customers?

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. President of ADVANCED SYSTEMS, is the Process Specialist. With over 25 years of business and education experience, she builds peace and abundance by connecting the 3P's of Passion, Purpose and Performance through process improvement. Her ROI driven process solutions affect sustainable change in 4 key areas: financials, leadership, relationships and growth & innovation with a variety of industries. She aligns the strategies, systems and people to develop loyal internal customers that lead to external customers. As co-author of M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential:Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement due for June 2005 release, Leanne speaks nationally to a variety of audiences. Please call Leanne a call at 219.759.5601 or email leanne@processspecialist.com if you are seeking amazing results.

Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).

express cleaning service Arlington Heights ..

In The News:

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

ChatGPT data breach exposes personal info of users through partner Mixpanel. OpenAI confirms names, emails compromised in security incident.

Android rolls out Emergency Live Video for 911 calls, letting dispatchers see real-time scenes during emergencies. Great for holiday travel safety.

Malicious Chrome and Edge extensions collected browsing history, keystrokes and personal data from millions of users before Google and Microsoft removed them.

Google's new Call Reason feature lets Android users mark calls as urgent before dialing, displaying an urgent label to recipients using Phone by Google app.

Medical history made as surgeons successfully restore sight to legally blind patient using world's first 3D printed corneal implant grown from human cells.

Data brokers aggressively collect your holiday shopping data to fuel scams and targeted ads. Learn how to delete your digital profile before 2025 starts.

Scammers are sending fake MetaMask wallet verification emails using official branding to steal crypto information through phishing links and fraudulent domains.

Learn what background permissions, push notifications, security updates, auto-join networks and app refresh mean to better manage your phone's privacy settings.

Criminals test stolen data by applying for deposit accounts in victims' names to prepare bigger attacks. Learn why banks won't share fraud details.

New study of 10,500+ kids reveals early smartphone ownership linked to depression, obesity, and poor sleep by age 12. Earlier phones mean higher risks.

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

Business Results - Four Critical Success Factors

Strategic Planning