Are you getting too comfortable with the results being achieved at your organization or company? What do you have in place to challenge the status quo? It is important to set aside regular time at senior management and company-wide meetings to ask strategic questions. The goal is to make sure everyone is on the same page with their answers or differing views can be expressed until consensus is reached. This approach will build higher-performing leaders, a higher-performing team and a higher-performing company or organization.
The following is a list of strategic questions that you are encouraged to think about and address within your organization. Watch for new questions to appear.
- What is the single most important measure of success? How are you integrating that measure into your organization’s business practices?
- Does the marketplace know who you are and what you do?
- Are your employees empowered to make decisions?
- Does your company have clear 3 to 5 year goals?
- Does your company “do things right the first time?”
- How is your reward system set up? Does it provide incentive for breakthrough performances? Is it fair? Does it over or under pay individual performances? Are there long-term incentives? What is the current morale/attitude of employees? What rewards/incentives are in place to motivate and retain the stars?
- What is the company’s vision? Do all the owners and senior executives understand and share that vision?
- Is the vision achievable? How does the company’s vision relate to current budgeting and business practices?
- What trends are impacting your company? Are these trends a threat or an opportunity? Why?
- What are your competitors doing? Are there lessons to be learned from their successes or failures?
- How are you and your organization seeking new ways to gain a competitive advantage?
- What do your customers/clients want? How do you know? What data validates this conclusion?
- How is your organization different from your competitors? How does this distinction relate to your business planning process?
- How can you reduce costs and improve productivity within your company?
- What opportunities exist today and in the near term? How are you taking advantage of these opportunities? Who in your organization is responsible for generating and capturing new opportunities?
- Are the company’s current reporting and information systems responsive to customer and client needs, internal requirements, budgeting and accounting uses and performance benchmarking?
- How have you and the organization improved teamwork, efficiency, effectiveness and profitability?
- What new products, services and/or skills have been added to give your company a competitive advantage? If none, why?
- What is the value proposition that you offer clients?
- How have you organized to communicate and work with, for and in support of others at your company?
- What have been the principal reasons for your company’s success in the past? Are those reasons present today? Will they be present in the future? What do you and the organization plan to do if those reasons suddenly disappear?
- What are the performance milestones or benchmarks upon which you and the organization will measure your progress and performance? Are the goals set too low? Too high? Who is accountable and for what?
- Is your company organized to adapt to changing market conditions?
- How do you intend to get more business? What facts support these proposed activities? Who is responsible?
- How do you define quality within the organization? Do others share the same definition?