Are You Sabotaging Your Business? The 3 Foundational Pillars You Need to Deliver On Your Goals
A client once told me, "It's all about the customer experience, I don't care about the money."That sounds great -- but how can it ALL be about the customer experience?Creating an exceptional customer experience also requires you to create an exceptional team environment -- one where every employee can perform at their best. Without the foundation of an effective, motivated term, you’re compromising your ability to truly deliver on customer service.The same is true of every other strategic priority. There’s the priority itself, and then there is everything that supports the priority. If you don’t pay enough attention to the “everything,” you’re setting yourself up to fail.In fact, when we drill down a bit, we can see that there are several business foundations that must exist in order to support ANY priority. You neglect those foundations at your own risk.
3 Foundational Pillars That Every Initiative Requires
In my experience, there are three foundational pillars that distinguish agile, successful companies that consistently succeed with their top priorities.
1. A clear vision that everyone in the organization can get behind and support in all their daily activities.
Without a meaningful vision that’s shared across the organization, you’ll find that teams and individuals often end up pulling in different directions. At best, this is inefficient. At worst, it threatens the organization's strategic goals.
2. A business that is working profitably and is sustainable financially.
Profits and financial stability underlie the long-term success of your business. They enable you to invest in new opportunities, pursue new priorities, and respond effectively to changes in the marketplace. Without a solid financial base, you’ll find it difficult to resource your top priorities effectively.
3. An environment that allows employees to work at their highest level, doing work that they feel good about.
Effective, happy, and motivated employees are the cornerstone of your business operations. Team members need smooth operations, robust systems and procedures that work. They need easy access to data reports and metrics. And to do their best work, they also need a culture of respect, trust, and collaboration.
Any worthwhile strategic goal will depend on having the proper vision, financial resources, and human resources to execute effectively. These aren’t one-and-done, easy-to-implement foundations. Building this kind of culture and internal operating environment requires thoughtfulness and care over time.However, taking time to do so sets your organization up for greater success in all future initiatives. So take a few minutes now to consider your organization’s top priorities - Do they have the necessary foundational support? Or will you need to redirect some resources and energy into other parts of the business, in order to ensure that your biggest priorities are more likely to succeed?