How to Set a North Star That Drives Your Strategy
By: Mark Moses
I’ve coached hundreds of CEOs, and you know what I hear most often?
“Why can’t my team just handle this?”
You already know how busy life is as a CEO. But so many executives make life harder for themselves by needing to step in for every little thing—whether that’s finalizing sales plays, double-checking code before it ships, or approving a new junior hire.
This happens all the time. Could it be that your team is underperforming? Sure. But it’s just as likely that they’re missing two key components to their work that end up putting all the pressure on you:
- Accountability
- Ownership
In this post, we’ll talk about how both work together to create a system that helps you grow BIG.
Accountability creates a system that gets work done
Most people hear the word “accountability” and they think of pressure. Deadlines. Nagging your team again and again to get it done.
But accountability isn’t a task on your to-do list.
Accountability is a system. One that you need to put in place if you want to be successful with your team. When it’s working, accountability keeps your team moving forward. There’s a rhythm to your activities so you continue to meet milestone after milestone on your way to achieving your goal.
But when it’s not working? You’ll spend your whole week trying to chase people down.
When we hear from clients about feeling frustrated with their team, it often comes back to a lack of clarity of what to do. You need to give them a roadmap of what’s important to the business and why it matters. If a CEO can’t answer questions about their vision for the future of the company, then they can’t expect the rest of their team to know what to do and when to do it…or to hit your targets on time. When a team is working together toward a common vision, they’re 1.9x more likely to achieve above-median financial results, according to McKinsey.
To fix it: You need a North Star that your entire team can follow.
“This is where leaders think they’re clear, but there’s a big difference between clear and usable,” says CEO Coach David Desharnais. “If you were to ask your five leadership team members what the company’s North Star is, in most organizations, you’ll get five different answers. That’s not ideal.”
Set a specific goal your team can rally around. Not seven “key priorities” but one specific, measurable goal that energizes your team every day.
Ownership means your team can actually go do it
Then, your team has to connect what they’re doing every day to that North Star. If your team can’t do that, you’re just giving tasks without ownership—which can mean five different things to five different people.
To fix it: Create a repeatable rhythm of connection that aligns each member of your team with their goals and metrics for the year, quarter, and week.
This is where you assess your progress against your dashboard and identify what’s blocking your team from achieving their goals and how you can support them. That way your team is coming to you with problems (and hopefully, proposed solutions) instead of the other way around.
The question you should always be asking is: How can I help? It’s your job as a leader to make sure your team can be successful. That means truly delegating that aspect of the goal, and empowering your team to think strategically—and act.
Learn more with our free eBook, The CEO’s Guide to Make BIG Happen Systems
This five-step playbook is designed to help you use repeatable systems to achieve your growth goals. It’s filled with wisdom and insights from five of our world-class coaches.
Download the free ebook>>
About CEO Coaching International
CEO Coaching International works with CEOs and their leadership teams to achieve extraordinary results quarter after quarter, year after year. Known globally for its success in coaching growth-focused entrepreneurs to meaningful exits, the firm has coached more than 2,000 CEOs and entrepreneurs across 100+ industries and 90 countries. Its coaches—former CEOs, presidents, and executives—have led businesses ranging from startups to over $10 billion, driving double-digit sales and profit growth, many culminating in eight, nine, or ten-figure exits.
Companies that have worked with CEO Coaching International for two years or more have achieved an average revenue CAGR of 22.8%, nearly 2X the U.S. average, and an average EBITDA CAGR of 37.5%, nearly 3X the national benchmark.
Discover how coaching can transform your leadership journey at ceocoachinginternational.com.
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