The_Essential_Manager_s_Handbook

132 / LEADING THROUGH CHALLENGES

Planning the future

Making decisions

Leaders set the agenda in three key

areas—by determining the direction in

which the organization will move, by

shaping how the organization does

business, and by setting the pace of

change. Any decisions you make in any

of these three key areas should be based

on objective criteria; for example, in a

choice between two equally attractive

options that require large investment,

you should be able to explain why your

own decision was the best one in the

circumstances. Test your decision by

assessing its strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats (SWOT).

As a leader, you’ll need to make tough decisions, plan a course of action,

and take your team with you. The best way to achieve this is to involve

your team from the start: explain what criteria your judgment is based

upon and how plans are connected to other activities in the organization.

Locating change

Deciding which opportunities to explore,

exploit, and reject requires a crystal clear

understanding of your organization’s

purpose and mission. In particular, you

must know what gives your business its

edge over the competition and use this

knowledge to guide your future focus.

Competitive advantage is based on what

customers value and the organization’s

strengths relative to the competition. It

takes into account external trends that

will help or hinder momentum. In a SWOT

analysis, internal factors are strengths

and weaknesses, while external issues

are opportunities and threats.

ASK YOURSELF...

What’s our competitive advantage? YES NO

1 Do we know what business we are not in? ......................................

2 Do we know our core values? ..........................................................

3 Do we know what business we are in? .............................................

4 Do we differentiate ourselves by offering our customers

unique benefits? ..............................................................................

5 Do we differentiate ourselves by offering our customers

better prices? ....................................................................................

US_132-133_Focusing_on_the_future.indd 132 30/05/16 3:02 pm