John Stein - Building the Pyramid: The winning (formula)® approach to delivering success on your organisations growth journey

Building the Pyramid

The winning (formula) approach to
delivering success on your
organisations growth journey

John Stein

First Edition

This edition published in Great Britain by

TWF Publications

Dallam Court

Dallam Lane

Warrington WA2 7LT

www.the-winning-formula.com

Copyright John Stein 2014

The right of John Stein to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted to him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted at any time or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

The winning (formula) is a registered trademark of TWF (UK) Ltd.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9780954713416
ISBN 9780954713423 (eBook)

Book cover by Chay Hawes

Typeset by Craig Martin

It soon became obvious that we were but on the threshold of the discovery

Howard Carter

Steering an organisation on its unique growth journey is one of the biggest personal challenges facing all leaders. Although the end goal, the destination may stay the same, the conditions experienced on the journey will be different within six months, and different again within a year.

Why? Because internal and external issues and events will constantly change the commercial landscape in which the organisation operates.

Navigating the landscape has become the new core requirement of the 21st century leader. To support this need, meet the challenges ahead and deliver success, a more flexible, adaptable leadership approach is needed to keep everyone connected with the organisation on track a framework that adapts to changing conditions on the journey.

The winning (formula) is a powerful performance framework with a proven track record of equipping leaders and managers with the knowledge and skills required to successfully grow, develop and transform the fortunes of their organisation.

Building the Pyramid describes the workings of the framework and how it can be applied to help leaders and their teams succeed on their journey.

Journeys are a part of all of us. We spend most of our lives on a journey to somewhere, whether a change of location, a career path, even a new relationship.

We start out dreaming of the future, full of hope and ambition. We set off into the unknown with fear and excitement. We experience despair and frustration but also overcome the most difficult hurdles. We celebrate key milestones and dine out on reaching seemingly impossible goals.

Is that life or business? The answer is either. The growth journey is no different to any other life journey, and is just as rewarding.

However, very few leaders view the workplace experience in the context of a journey. The day-to-day pressures of managing the organisation can get in the way of thinking of work as anything other than an intense process of actions, activities and decisions. Mores the pity.

All leaders dream of building a successful, growing and sustainable organisation. Likewise, their teams dream of being part of the same workplace experience.

Pursuing that dream should be seen as an adventure for everyone connected with the organisation. The journey to achieving sustainable growth should be lived and enjoyed by all, and this includes suppliers, partners and other stakeholders.

As this book will show, purpose and a sense of belonging are important to everyone in every organisation. They make the difference between people merely going through the motions or giving their all. With everybody feeling a connection to the growth journey, morale improves, productivity increases, efficiency improves, retention rates remain high. People are more engaged.

In the commercial world the positive impact on sales revenue, profit and cash the most important requirements of any growing organisation and the aspects that dominate leaders thoughts on a daily basis are immense.

The challenges to running any organisation and steering it on a growth journey are of course, manifold. You know that remaining competitive is important to your long-term success. Managing the expected growing pains, improving operational efficiency, implementing change, improving the customer experience, engaging your people and developing a high-performing culture will form part of your overall strategy.

On top of that, you are faced with three main leadership challenges that will dramatically affect your organisations performance.

These are:

1. Developing and leading a vision for the organisation to which everyone will commit

2. Aligning strategy to operational goals and objectives

3. Executing the strategy and delivering the plans for growth

Address each of these areas successfully and your growth journey will surpass your expectations.

But this is all easier said than done. You and your fellow leaders may have a clear vision for the organisation in your mind. But does everyone else in the company share that vision, in order for it to become a reality?

Your strategy might sit nicely with your operational goals on paper, but what happens if a major competitor steals market share, throwing your operational goals to the wind? Will your leadership be as effective in the face of the pitfalls that might lie ahead?

The reality is there will be many events to throw you off-course. Economic conditions will play their part, markets will change, key people will leave when you least expect it and internal conflicts may come to a head.