Limit the Priorities

I have been surprised a few too many times by executives who have an incredibly large number of goals. In many board meetings over my career, both in corporations and not-for-profits, I have suggested that an executive and his or her team FOCUS on just five top priorities and word them in such a way that the whole organization understands what they are trying to do. Too often people get caught in the minutiae and miss the big picture. Sure, there are one hundred things to fix in any company, but what are the truly BIG issues that will make a radical difference to your success? What is so important that the whole organization needs to understand where you are going and why? Once those macro goals are established for an organization, each division or group can detail exactly how they are going to contribute to the plan. The issue is the same whether you are in a public company, a university, a hospital, or a bank. FOCUS drives success. 

For instance, big goals could be: improve customer service in your organization by thirty percent and measure it, get a new brand to market by September 1, have two hospitals integrated on key systems within six months, or increase your pre-tax margin by three points. Once big goals like that are established, there are many sub-points that will help you get there;but the key is that everyone in the organization is clear on what the company is trying to do and why. Limit your focus and work with the team to make sure those things on which you concentrate will make the biggest impact for your organization—and eliminate the many smaller items that only cause folks to lose focus.