Management Capacity as a Strategic Issue

Should a company’s strategic plan address their management capacity? You betcha! One of the best predictors of whether and how well and strategy will be implemented is the strength and abilities of the management team. How important is this?

A mediocre strategy, executed well, will often outproduce a brilliant strategy that is poorly executed.

Here are a few questions to ask that address management capacity:

a. How well do we execute? Which managers excel and which need development or to be replaced?

b. Do we suffer from productivity blockages? What’s getting in the way of implementation? What should we do about this?

c. How well do our managers plan and implement projects and initiatives?

d. Does the senior team recognize, manage, and value good planning and implementation skills?

e. Looking at the major elements of the strategy - how important will planning and implementation be? What can we do to ensure that our managers are ready, willing, and able to execute well?

f. Are managers regularly assessing and realigning work assingments and processes to meet changing needs and directions? Does the company culture encourage and allow for this?

g. What is the current capacity of our key middle managers? Are they in a state of overwhelm or are they ready to support new initiatives and projects? What can be done to re-prioritize what our managers are working on? Shold we eliminate some projects and tasks? How will we do this?

Managers and Senior execs often have very different views of capacity, barriers, and planning. Open, regular, and inclusive conversation about these issues will improve the odds of successful business implementation and success.