Strategy leakage is the time when activities are not being performed on your strategic initiatives.
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In each strategy initiative there is downtime when we are waiting for research, or dependent tasks are being performed.
For this reason it is necessary to have multiple balls in the air. How well do you handle that?
What are the natural built in delays?
I see delays regularly when I engage with a client. We decide to do something important but sometimes it can take a month or two to actually get started. Wasted time.
It’s tough to get a manager’s attention during budget season.
Vacations. The month of August is likely to not be productive if your team is on an extended vacation.
December is another big down time.
Understanding these natural dips in productivity is necessary to plan more accurately but also to be proactive. How can you plan things so we are as productive as possible during these natural down times? This is crucial so these calendar events don’t derail your plans.
Are you negating strategy urgency?
Given the day-to-day business focus it’s easy for people to lose touch with strategic initiatives. It’s human nature, these are harder to work with than day-to-day business.
Where is your focus? Are there activities where you are not focused on the strategy initiatives? Do you have staff meetings where strategy is not discussed? What questions are you asking? Are you supporting the priorities you want? Are you recapping each discussion to validate the tie to strategy?
Accessibility
Advancing your strategy means working in uncharted territory. It’s not a good idea to leave people alone for weeks. They need help, feedback, clarification. As a leader you’re part of the team. This isn’t a set it and forget type of thing. Can your teams get to you as things come up so progress doesn’t stall?
Understand Priority
It’s frustrating when someone asks a leader to define the priority. It’s frustrating because you want to answer – “everything, figure it out.” It’s frustrating because the person asking to have their work prioritized is thinking in either/or, black/white.
They key is get the ball up in the air, set activities in motion, know how to monitor each ball, be prepared to switch gears when needed, and get more balls in the air. A leader needs to teach this regularly.
