The Individual Brings Strategy to Life

The new financial year has started and businesses across Australia, including our own manufacturing powerhouse, are currently putting steps in place to deliver the outcomes defined in their Strategy. 

As the saying goes, “without a strategy, a plan is just a plan”. In our company strategy, its formation and implementation is done a bit differently to other organisations. Our system is a complicated matrix, but it’s worth it because the resulting plan has been formed collectively as a team, and so it belongs to each person in our company. The connection of individual performance to the corporate goals is not always easy. This how we do it:

Strategy

Our process starts with opportunities that our sales and marketing team have ascertained from the previous year’s engagement with their markets. Half the company’s employees, from all levels of the company, then spend a day with the board of directors to discuss those opportunities. Together, we collaborate and engage in “how might we” brainstorming. We gather the parts together that will allow us to form Board-acceptable financial targets, and the broad sense of the plans to be developed later. If we get this early idea-formation part right, we have a higher chance of achieving the strategy.

Vision

Being clear about a corporate vision is important. It’s a clear statement that unites us and drives our work. Our corporate vision, “Solutions That Matter,” was chosen by our employees at last year’s strategic workshop. It gives shape to our purpose and, together with our Core Values, guides everything we do. 

Purpose

Our purpose is not the same thing as our Vision. Purpose is our “how”. The vision is to deliver solutions that matter, and our purpose is to deliver leading-edge technical expertise to delight our customers with technically sophisticated solutions.

Goal

Our goals are usually more technical and measurable than the details in the plan. Ideally, a business needs business goals, team goals and individual goals – all working on parts of the big picture, which is the strategy. The goals are measured monthly and may be adjusted as part of the formal strategic reviews throughout the year ,where necessary. Goals and their monitoring let us know how we’re tracking.

Individual Goals

Every person in our company – myself included – have discussions with their manager (in my case, the Board) to set and agree on reportable goals. In the case of an individual’s yearly Goals & Objectives, 3-5 business-focused SMART goals are set, as well as 2-3 personal development goals. A SMART goal is one that is clearly defined: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time bound. 

Goals are based only on factors that the individual can control or influence. The goals are formally revisited two times over the course of a year, to check in on progress and to ensure the individual has the tools and training to be able to successfully achieve their Goals. There must be a sense in every person that they are accountable for what they do and how that contributes to the organisational strategy and goals. 

Monitoring

We have both informal and formalised monitoring, so that employees and their manager review an individual’s performance against their goals on a regular basis. This is where we track not only the individual’s work performance but also their personal development; we can see how well their manager’s initiatives are helping with achieving both the company’s desired outcomes as well as the employees’ personal goals.

Reporting

Each employee submits a monthly one-page dashboard to their manager, reporting on the agreed-upon KPIs and providing space for qualitative feedback. This concise reporting process enhances efficiency and contributes to higher company productivity by reducing the time spent preparing lengthy reports.

Incentives

In addition to being remunerated relevant to the external market, employees are incentivised and rewarded in such a way that when they achieve or excel with their goals, they are rewarded for going an extra mile. To put it simply, the employee wins and so does the company.

Two-Way

Our company implements strategy through a shared responsibility and reward system. Strategic goals are broken down into realistic targets for each business unit, team, and individual. When everyone contributes fully to the strategic plan, success cascades upwards and both employees and the company win. 

Defining Goals Drives Results

Every business has a strategy, but using the strategy to drive results – rather than just passively waiting for them – is both hard work and very rewarding. I believe that tightly defined goals and KPIs are crucial to a corporate strategy, but only when the performance being evaluated can be tied to those actions that the employee has direct control or influence over. This means there is personal accountability to the larger strategy, but also room for personal goals and development. If you don’t consider the individual, the best strategy in the world will not work.