There are three main reasons why organisations fail to extract full value from their strategy creation to strategy execution process:

1. We fail to align on a single source of the truth.
2. We don’t place enough emphasis on strategy execution.
3. We get lost in translation.

Strategy creation is not a passive delegation process. It is an active participation process that happens at every level in an organisation in order to breed success for every individual.

What to expect in this episode:

(06:40): Why your strategy might be failing.

(10:06): Is your strategy getting lost in translation?

(12:00): How to prevent losing sight of the purpose when there’s so much focus on goals and measures of success.

To download the entire audiobook, ‘Purpose, Passion and Performance’, get your copy here - https://tinyurl.com/2d2krd8y

If you want Steph to answer your question in an upcoming Q&A episode, DM Steph or use this form - https://forms.gle/BFDxwyem9zZXCbih8

For all other resources:

🎙️ Podcast resources - https://stephaniebown.com/podcast/

📢 Book Steph to speak - https://stephaniebown.com/conference-speaker/

🖊️ Check out my upcoming leadership events - https://stephaniebown.com/events/

🎵 Music by Slip.stream - Alleyoop | Take It On | I’M Holding On

📱 Follow Steph on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebown1/

My essential reading list:

📕‘The Balanced Scorecard’ by Kaplan by Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton - https://www.amazon.com/Balanced-Scorecard-Translating-Strategy-Action/dp/0875846513

📕 ‘Scaling Up’ by Harnish Verne - https://www.amazon.com.au/Scaling-Up-Build-Meaningful-Business/dp/0986019526

📕 ‘Strategy Execution Heroes’ by Jeroen De Flander - https://www.amazon.com.au/Strategy-Execution-Heroes-Jeroen-Flander/dp/9081487310

📕 ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins - https://www.amazon.com.au/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996

📕 ‘Traction’ by Gino Wickman - https://www.amazon.com.au/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837

📕 ‘Prove It!’ by Stacey Barr - https://www.amazon.com.au/Create-High-performance-Culture-Measurable-Success/dp/0730336220

Support the podcast by leaving a review or rating on your favourite podcast platform. It really does help us!

Fostering a culture of openness and transparency means regularly evaluating and reviewing performance.

People leaders provide clarity and alignment by setting goals and KPIs during performance reviews and Team Plan workshops. These are revisited in regular forums to evaluate progress, celebrate wins and reflect on lessons learned along the way.

Regular evaluation and review forums create context, meaning and connection to your company’s purpose, values and vision. They create a cadence around which all work activities revolve and help teams remain not just accountable, but motivated, because they are times when we actively observe progress and experience a sense of achievement.

What to expect in this episode:

(07:35): How to effectively evaluate and review performance.

(10:11): What can happen at an annual leave if there’s criticism?

(16:53): Where CEOs need to be heavily involved.

To download the entire audiobook, ‘Purpose, Passion and Performance’, get your copy here - https://tinyurl.com/2d2krd8y

If you want Steph to answer your question in an upcoming Q&A episode, DM Steph or use this form - https://forms.gle/BFDxwyem9zZXCbih8

For all other resources:

🎙️ Podcast resources - https://stephaniebown.com/podcast/

📢 Book Steph to speak - https://stephaniebown.com/conference-speaker/

🖊️ Check out my upcoming leadership events - https://stephaniebown.com/events/

🎵 Music by Slip.stream - Alleyoop | Take It On | I’M Holding On

📱 Follow Steph on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebown1/

📕 What I’m reading this week - ‘THidden Potential’ by Adam Grant - https://www.amazon.com.au/Hidden-Potential-Science-Achieving-Greater/dp/0753560054

Support the podcast by leaving a review or rating on your favourite podcast platform. It really does help us!

A well-defined and succinct one-page Business Plan without a process to translate that plan into action is just a good read.

The senior or executive team sets strategic goals, targets and priorities, but teams and individuals should have a large degree of autonomy over how that work is delivered.

The Business Plan is cascaded to a Team Plan and My Plan via Team Plan workshops and annual performance reviews.

What to expect in this episode:

(02:16): Transform your business plan into an action plan.

(08:34): What a good quarterly team planning checkpoint looks like.

(15:07): What makes a great individual plan for your employees.

To download the entire audiobook, ‘Purpose, Passion and Performance’, get your copy here - https://tinyurl.com/2d2krd8y

If you want Steph to answer your question in an upcoming Q&A episode, DM Steph or use this form - https://forms.gle/BFDxwyem9zZXCbih8

For all other resources:

🎙️ Podcast resources - https://stephaniebown.com/podcast/

📢 Book Steph to speak - https://stephaniebown.com/conference-speaker/

🖊️ Check out my upcoming leadership events - https://stephaniebown.com/events/

🎵 Music by Slip.stream - Alleyoop | Take It On | I’M Holding On

📱 Follow Steph on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebown1/

📕 What I’m reading this week - ‘The Rise of Superman’ by Steven Kotler - https://www.amazon.com.au/Rise-Superman-Decoding-Ultimate-Performance/dp/1477800832

Support the podcast by leaving a review or rating on your favourite podcast platform. It really does help us!

Any founder, CEO or senior executive responsible for running a business can write a one-page plan. Gaining full alignment, clarity and accountability for that plan from the whole team is the challenge.

Creating a Business Plan is a team engagement exercise. If you want your team to have ownership, accountability and buy-in to a strategic plan, they must be involved in building it.

What to expect in this episode:

(05:27): Why business planning needs to be both a bottom-up and top-down process.

(07:24): Using the SOAR framework for clarity on your team’s greatest opportunities and challenges.

(09:42): How you'll disengage your staff with business planning.

To download the entire audiobook, ‘Purpose, Passion and Performance’, get your copy here - https://tinyurl.com/2d2krd8y

If you want Steph to answer your question in an upcoming Q&A episode, DM Steph or use this form - https://forms.gle/BFDxwyem9zZXCbih8

For all other resources:

🎙️ Podcast resources - https://stephaniebown.com/podcast/

📢 Book Steph to speak - https://stephaniebown.com/conference-speaker/

🖊️ Check out my upcoming leadership events - https://stephaniebown.com/events/

🎵 Music by Slip.stream - Alleyoop | Take It On | I’M Holding On

📱 Follow Steph on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebown1/

📕 What I’m reading this week - ‘Showing Up’ by Nedd Brockmann - https://www.amazon.com.au/Showing-Up-Comfortable-Being-Uncomfortable/dp/1761422138

Support the podcast by leaving a review or rating on your favourite podcast platform. It really does help us!

Like birds flying in formation, a one-page Business Plan enables your people to efficiently and effectively migrate from where you are now to where you need to be. It translates your vision into clear and measurable action.

Having a highly engaged, positive culture filled with smart, capable people is not enough. To harness your team’s collective potential, you must have a single source of truth: the base from which all other activities cascade.

What to expect in this episode:

(01:18): What to do when a founder struggles to communicate their message to all staff.

(05:56): 5 key elements each one-page business plan needs.

(10:51): What the top teams do better each time when reiterating their business plan.

To download the entire audiobook, ‘Purpose, Passion and Performance’, get your copy here - https://tinyurl.com/2d2krd8y

If you want Steph to answer your question in an upcoming Q&A episode, DM Steph or use this form - https://forms.gle/BFDxwyem9zZXCbih8

For all other resources:

🎙️ Podcast resources - https://stephaniebown.com/podcast/

📢 Book Steph to speak - https://stephaniebown.com/conference-speaker/

🖊️ Check out my upcoming leadership events - https://stephaniebown.com/events/

🎵 Music by Slip.stream - Alleyoop | Take It On | I’M Holding On

📱 Follow Steph on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebown1/

📕 What I’m reading this week - ‘Lola in the mirror’ by Trent Dalton - https://www.amazon.com.au/Lola-Mirror-heartbreaking-award-winning-bestsellers/dp/1460759834

Support the podcast by leaving a review or rating on your favourite podcast platform. It really does help us!

The Strategy System is your process for strategy creation and execution that ensures your organisation remains adaptive and responsive in your chosen market.

The Strategy System aligns the whole team to work collaboratively. It involves:

• creating a one-page Business Plan that is clear and actionable
• cascading goals through to teams and individuals through alignment sessions
• evaluating performance to review progress and to reflect on opportunities for continuous improvement.

What to expect in this episode:

(01:22): What you need to get right with strategy.

(05:19): Avoid the mistake made by this leadership client.

(09:04): Top tips for improving a chance of embedding a strategy system for success.

To download the entire audiobook, ‘Purpose, Passion and Performance’, get your copy here - https://tinyurl.com/2d2krd8y

If you want Steph to answer your question in an upcoming Q&A episode, DM Steph or use this form - https://forms.gle/BFDxwyem9zZXCbih8

For all other resources:

🎙️ Podcast resources - https://stephaniebown.com/podcast/

📢 Book Steph to speak - https://stephaniebown.com/conference-speaker/

🖊️ Check out my upcoming leadership events - https://stephaniebown.com/events/

🎵 Music by Slip.stream - Alleyoop | Take It On | I’M Holding On

📱 Follow Steph on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebown1/

📕 What I’m reading this week - ‘Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think’ by Hans Rosling - https://www.amazon.com.au/Factfulness-Reasons-World-Things-Better/dp/1250107814

Support the podcast by leaving a review or rating on your favourite podcast platform. It really does help us!

At its most basic level, a strategy is a plan for realising a vision.

But plans are limited – we can only form them based on the experiences and inputs we have at the time. The more information and experience we gain, the better our plans become.

Plans are simply ideas that get you moving on a path towards your vision; action is where you learn the true nature of the game. Plans must be put to the test; and the quicker they can be tested, the more people learn, and the more effective their strategy creation process becomes.

What to expect in this episode:

(02:51): Transform your strategy into a sports game.

(08:35): How to create alignment in your business using the strategy ladder.

(12:01): The world-leading companies have these types of strategies.

To download the entire audiobook, ‘Purpose, Passion and Performance’, get your copy here - https://tinyurl.com/2d2krd8y

If you want Steph to answer your question in an upcoming Q&A episode, DM Steph or use this form - https://forms.gle/BFDxwyem9zZXCbih8

For all other resources:

🎙️ Podcast resources - https://stephaniebown.com/podcast/

📢 Book Steph to speak - https://stephaniebown.com/conference-speaker/

🖊️ Check out my upcoming leadership events - https://stephaniebown.com/events/

🎵 Music by Slip.stream - Alleyoop | Take It On | I’M Holding On

📱 Follow Steph on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebown1/

📕 What I’m reading this week - ‘Human Work: In the Age of Smart Machines’ by Jamie Merisotis - https://www.amazon.com.au/Human-Work-Age-Smart-Machines/dp/1948122626

Support the podcast by leaving a review or rating on your favourite podcast platform. It really does help us!

If you don’t manage culture, culture manages you. Culture goes wrong when we:

1. Think it’s something HR does.
2. Fail to fail.
3. Don’t hold leaders accountable to it.

In this episode, Steph breaks down each of these so you can pinpoint the red flags to watch out for in your organisation.

What to expect in this episode:

(06:13): Why your organisation needs psychological safety.

(10:37): It’s not your P&C/HR team to look after culture.

(12:21): When you should promote someone to manager/leader.

To download the entire audiobook, ‘Purpose, Passion and Performance’, get your copy here - https://tinyurl.com/2d2krd8y

If you want Steph to answer your question in an upcoming Q&A episode, DM Steph or use this form - https://forms.gle/BFDxwyem9zZXCbih8

For all other resources:

🎙️ Podcast resources - https://stephaniebown.com/podcast/

📢 Book Steph to speak - https://stephaniebown.com/conference-speaker/

🖊️ Check out my upcoming leadership events - https://stephaniebown.com/events/

🎵 Music by Slip.stream - Alleyoop | Take It On | I’M Holding On

📱 Follow Steph on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebown1/

Support the podcast by leaving a review or rating on your favourite podcast platform. It really does help us!