No, not that SEC.
For most people, SEC is the Southeastern Conference, home to great athletes,
great sporting events, and a proud athletic tradition. For organizations
building excellence in the workplace, SEC is Succession, Execution, and
Culture, the building blocks for a great workforce, high quality products and
services, and a compelling brand. What does that mean?
Succession
During the Manila
Overture, one of the presentations included mention of helping organizations
develop succession strategies. It may be old news by now, but it's still
urgent. Your organization is staring down the barrel of the greatest
generational shift in its history as the Baby
Boomers exit the workforce and a new generation takes their place. Will
your organization be ready? Every organizational leader I've spoken with has
identified succession as a top concern. We're in the middle of helping one
organization develop and implement a succession strategy so they can prepare
key people in their workforce to take on greater responsibility, and we expect
more organizations to put succession strategies in place.
Execution
During the Manila
Overture, I learned about Glenn Yu of SeaOil, who grew his business from one
station to two hundred stations. That growth is an example of execution.
Developing your workforce at all levels makes your organization better at turning plans into action.
That requires skills for understanding the organization's business objectives,
aligning plans to support those objectives, and integrating people who have
different specialties into cohesive teams. Your workforce, in other words,
needs management systems like supervisory management, operations management,
and project management in their competencies to succeed in turning plans into
action.
Culture
Organizational
culture is at the heart of all the presentations during the Manila Overture.
Your organization's
culture brings your brand to life. Communicating that culture comes via
formal means like onboarding classes and informal ways like peer interaction.
Have you determined
your organization's culture? Is what and where you want it to be? If not, how
would you go about changing it?
Don't hesitate to
ask for help. There are many experts who have practical experience as well as
deep knowledge in the field. By staying current in your industry and
discipline, you'll know who these experts are. You can also find them via your
network of peers, relationships you developed that can expand your reach.
Remember, SEC isn't
just an athletic conference. It's a way to look at your organization and think
about the difference between where you are and where you want to be.
