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The General Executive

3-Feb-2024

The three essential executive competencies are strategy, planning and organization building. Weakness in any of these can cause organizations to fail for avoidable reasons.

Figure 1. The three essential executive competencies and their intersections

Figure 1 illustrates the three executive competencies and their intersections. Since executives are usually measured by the output of their organization, executive competencies and organizational competencies are used interchangeably.

I will first describe the three essential competencies, how to develop them and common hazards associated with the sole competency. Next, I will describe two-competency executives: architect, operator and force of will, as well as their common hazards. Finally, I will recommend the most effective way to assess an executive with the goal of improving their effectiveness.

Strategy

Figure 2. Strategy without planning or organization

Strategy is the synthesis of internal and external information to create a vision for the business. Good strategy generates a viable product or service that is preferred by customers over alternatives.

Good strategies:

Developing Strategy Competency

Developing strategy competency is the most difficult because it requires deep customer understanding and deep working knowledge of the business. The best approach is to start with a foundation of operations, study the material in depth and apply the principles to several successful and unsuccessful examples. A mentor, a peer group or both are also helpful.

Recommended strategy refrences:

Strategist Hazards

The risk of having strategy without planning is overlooking real-world limits, leading to strategies that can't be achieved with available resources. The risk of having strategy without organization is creating a feasible strategy but struggling to carry it out.

Hazards of an organization with good strategy but poor planning and organization capability may be:

To mitigate these hazards, a strategist should develop planning and organization building skills, or at a minimum develop delegation level competency and recruit team members with the needed abilities.

Planning

Figure 3. Planning without organization or strategy

Planning is the translation of a desired outcome into a series of tasks for a set of resources. Good planning integrates as much context as necessary to deliver the desired outcome without unnecessary cost, time or complexity.

Good plans include:

Developing Planning Competency

To develop planning competency, it is best to take on a planning role with a coach or mentor. Planning requires about two years of managing projects well and another two years of coaching others to fully develop.

Recommended planning references:

Planner Hazards

Planning without strategy risks executing a clear plan that consumes resources but does not accomplish meaningful results for the business. Planning without organization building risks ad-hoc organization design which leads to poor scaling, high overhead, or both.

Hazards of an organization with strong planning competency but week strategy and organization competency present as the confusing combination of successfully achieving goals while:

To mitigate these hazards, a planner should develop strategy and organization building skills, or at a minimum develop delegation level competency and recruit team members with the needed abilities.

Organization Building

Figure 4. Organization without strategy or planning

Organization Building is creating groups of people working together while maximizing productivity and minimizing overhead. This competency is less important for small organizations when the cost of being unstructured is low. However, as organizations grow and the leadership team begins to scale it becomes more important. Good organizations maximize productivity, minimize overhead and sustain themselves over time.

Good organizations:

Developing Organization Building Competency

Most executives have some exposure to building and sustaining an organization by the time they get to the executive level, though in some cases they may not.. First time leaders or founders of small organizations often discover organization building after their organization begins to scale.

The best way to develop this competency is through practicing with a mentor or coach, learning from a peer group and studying best practice. Rapidly growing environments like startups or new divisions offer more opportunities to practice than slower growing ones.

Recommended organization building references:

Organization Builder Hazards

The risk of having an organization builder competency without strategy and planning competencies is building organizations that do not support the company’s vision, execution of its plans or both.

Hazards of an organization with a strong organization but poor strategy and planning capability are:

To mitigate these hazards, an organization builder should develop strategy and planning skills, or at a minimum develop delegation level competency and recruit team members with the needed abilities.

Architect

Figure 5. Organization and strategy without planning

Architects excel at envisioning an exciting future and aligning organizations with this vision. Their weakness is depth in creating and executing plans.

Architect Hazards

Architect hazards stem from a lack of planning competency:

To mitigate these hazards, an architect should develop planning skills, or at a minimum develop delegation level competency and recruit team members with the needed abilities.

Force of Will

Figure 6. Strategy and planning without organization

The force of will excels at imagining a compelling product or service and marshaling resources to create it. Their weakness is depth in creating organizations.

Force of Will Hazards

Many small companies or small teams inside of larger companies can be successfully led by a force of will. The lack of organization building tends to present when scaling up the organization or when the leader moves out of the organization.

Force of will hazards:

To mitigate these hazards, a force of will should develop organization building skills, or at a minimum develop delegation level competency and recruit team members with the needed abilities.

Operator

Figure 7. Planning and organization without strategy

The strength of the operator is curating and marshaling resources at scale to get things done. Their weakness is the lack of strategy.

Operator Hazards

The primary operator weakness risk, due to the lack of strategy, leads to deploying resources in ways that don't align with the company's long-term interests. This misalignment is deceptive because goals, performance, and organizational health appear healthy, yet lead to long term decline in company competitiveness.

Operator hazards:

To mitigate these hazards, an operator should develop planning skills, or at a minimum develop delegation level competency and recruit team members with the needed abilities.

Executive Development

Figure 8. The three essential executive competencies and their intersections

The recommended development process for all competences is to assess the executive and either develop the missing skills, or develop at least delegation level competency for all weaknesses. Delegation here means assigning tasks to others while still overseeing, influencing, and being accountable for the outcomes.

Delegation level competency is the ability to:

Delegation is not to be confused with abdication, the act of assigning responsibilities to others without maintaining accountability for the outcome. Abdication is dangerous for executives as it leads to a loss of control over outcomes, the measure of their performance

Executive Assessment

Weaknesses are often blind spots that require a change in perspective to be seen clearly. The most effective way to gain this new viewpoint is through a 360 assessment conducted by a trusted external party that holds discovered weaknesses confidential. I stress 'assessment' because the goal is to enhance performance, unlike a review or evaluation, which aims to judge.

Appreciating the difference is important because employees often avoid what they see as optional judgment that carries risks and thereby miss out on opportunities for personal growth. For this reason I also recommend against internal 360 assessments because the perceived risk of judgment reduces the value of the process.

In addition to 360 feedback, working with a mentor and studying the strengths and weaknesses of other executives and organizations are also helpful ways to gain new perspectives.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Johanna Kleingeld, Judy Heyboer and James Gross for reading and commenting on drafts of this essay.