Welcome Baywalk readers to the January edition of Creating Success Viewpoint on Baywalk.com. This month we begin a three part series that examines organizational and leadership focus on business. I felt this was a perfect follow-up to our December article regarding strategic planning. After all, having a business plan but failing to focus on the identified critical issues leads no one to success. Our article title this month is:

Ever feel as if your company needs an opthamalogist? Business issues a little blurry? Cannot seem to focus on the "real" issues but we have the cost of letterhead completely analyzed! Or, we can envision the next product evolution before anyone else, but we forget to pay the computer lease. As we enter the new year, it is a good time to "check" our focus regarding business issues; both as a corporate entity and as individual leaders/managers. After all, it is hard to get to your destination if you cannot see where you are going.

The "truth," there are no companies/individuals with perfect focus. The best a company/individual can hope for is a balanced focus of internal and external issues of company operations. Companies that maintain their balanced focus are aware that focus problems can exist, and utilize different business tools to check their focus on a regular basis.

Most companies/individuals suffer from either too narrow or too broad a business focus. The narrow focused companies/individuals cannot see the forest because they are looking at the trees, and the broad focused companies/individuals can’t see the trees because they are dazzled by the forest. In a few rare instances, companies/individuals suffer from a focus problem similar to a manic-depressive state; e.g., they swing from too narrow to a too broad focus, leaving their organziations/employees floundering in the turmoil of change.

In those very rare occasions, we find the most extreme form of focus problems, the blind. They(company/leader) have no focus. Everyone wonders how and why they exist, but not for very long. These patients have a very short life span.

When I write about a company's business focus, I think of two words in business jargon that are most often misused, misunderstood, and confusing to organizations and leaders. Strategic vs. tactical. For many companies/individuals, the root of their focus dysfunction is tied directly to their lack of understanding of these concepts and how they apply to their business operations. For this article, let us define broad focus as a strategic focus, and narrow focus as tactical focus.

Article definitions

Goal What a company wants to attain.

Example 50% share of their market segment.

Strategic The strategies that the company will employ to attain their goal.

Example We will make an above average sports shoes, that are comfortable, and affordable

We will make a shoe for every major sport

We will have a professional athlete from every major sport endorse our shoes

Tactical The tactics / plans by which a company implements their strategies.

Example We will have our shoes made outside the US where labor is cheap

We will utilize a podiatrist, orthopedist, and athletes to help us design comfortable shoes and identify the components of a quality shoe

We will identify highly visible athletes from each sport and place them under contract to endorse our shoes

Using the above definitions, let's talk focus.

People are always being told "think strategically." Be a visionary! Every company and every leader must have a thorough understanding of a companys’ strategies and how they are integral to attaining company goals. Unfortunately, sometimes the focus on strategic becomes all consuming, and we lose touch with our tactics, making sure they are carried out, and making adjustments to ensure success. Companies and leaders who become excessively concerned with strategies lose touch with day to day challenges of operations and too often fall short because good tactics receive too little attention. My best mental picture has the leader standing on a high hill, gazing across a valley to the hillside beyond with his binoculars. He can take the long way around the rim of the valley, or take the more direct route down the valley wall and up the other side. But without the adjustment knob, he cannot see the canyon at the valley floor that is not crossable. If only his binoculars would allow him that tactical view of the valley floor.

I always envision the company or leader with too much of a tactical focus as a runner. He/she is running hard, head down, focusing on swing their arms, making sure their stride is perfect, monitoring their breathing, and falling over the cliff. Being prepared to run a race is good. But knowing how to run without knowing the race course does us very little good. Today, too many companies and leaders are caught up in momentum and fail to understand that old strategies have lost application in their business environment. Every now and then, we must look up to see where we are going.

Mom and dad were pretty smart. They used to repeat that phrase to me about life and business. It has great application when it comes to focus. Too broad, too narrow, too strategic, too tactical. I guess the key word is TOO. Balance is the combination that allows us to use our wisdom to make great decisions and achieve our corporate and individual goals. How is your vision? Need a checkup. Need to make an adjustment.

Have a great month.

Continue to Part 2?