Worcester Business Journal

18 Worcester Business Journal • January 5, 2015 www.wbjournal.com To register or for further agenda updates visit: www.wbjournal.com/economicforecast Please join the Worcester Business Journal and the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce for our annual Economic Forecast Breakfast event. Produced by in partnership with A forum of what lies ahead for our region in 2015. Save the date! '15 Presenting sPonsors FRiday, FEBRuaRy 13, 2015 Beechwood Hotel, Worcester 7:30 – 10:30AM $40. Pre-registration required ($45/after February 5) PanElist PREsEntations & disCussion Hear from a select group of industry experts and business leaders from the area's top firms as they discuss their outlook for the economy in our region and the key issues affecting the economic future in our region, the state, and the nation. WoRCEstER REGional ComPEtitivE outlook uPdatE Presented by: Timothy Murray, President & CEO Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce Bradley H. Johnson Vice-President and General Manager, Saint-Gobain Abrasives North America EConomist kEynotE: JEFF FuhRER Executive Vice President and Senior Policy Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Stay tuned for further panelist updates The manager's secret to effective execution lies in empowerment W e've reached that annual 30-day window of reflection and optimism. For most of us, that means thinking about the things we're going to continue doing in 2015 because they worked well over the past year, while changing the things that didn't work so well. The interesting thing about assessing what worked and what didn't is that the results are usually not tied to the plan or the task. Rather, the results are linked almost exclusively to the execution. For managers, the most influential factors impacting effective execution are what and how. Develop a vision of what to do, elicit feedback and input from your team and people, then leave the how up to the teams and people. There are two reasons for this: 1. We each do things in our own way. It's difficult to effectively do something when someone else tells us exactly how to do it, and 2. Figuring out how that creates ownership of the activities and the process. This is the secret power to effective execution. We enable ownership by not telling people how to do something. In figuring out what to do, there are many variables that can impact that vision. The number of those variables that we control is very limited. In this type of context, the greater the clarity around the vision the better we are at dealing with the myriad influencing factors and changes that pop up along the way. One useful exercise for creating a clear vision is to write a story. Imagine that in December 2015 your company is highlighted in a publication as a business success story. What would you want that story to say? Write it, based on what your answers would be to these three questions: • What does the business look like? • What are people saying about the business? • Why was the past year so successful? Use the answers as your vision, present it to your team, and engage them for feedback and input. Their daily activities have defined where the business is today. Their activities will define where the business is a year from now. Their input into what that vision looks like is the first step in the empowerment and ownership process. Now to the "how" part of effective execution. People perform best when there's a sense of meaning in their work and they feel their work is valued. Leave it up to the team to determine how to turn the vision into reality. Teams and people need to be invested in their goals and objectives; they need to own the activities and results. Being engaged and invested in determining what to do and being empowered to define how to do it is the formula for effective execution. In short, strategy depends on execution. Execution depends on people. People want to feel valued and find meaning in what they do. Enlightened leaders foster this type of culture. Create a clear vision of what to do. Solicit feedback for that vision. Empower your team to figure out how to do it, and support your team in the execution. And together, write your story of success for 2015! n Ken Cook is co-founder of How to Who and co-author of How to WHO: Selling Personified, a book and program on building business through relationships. Learn more at ww.howtowho.com. THE RAINMAKER BY KEN COOK FRESH BEGINNINGS n Doctors Express Urgent Care is open at 42 Boston Post Rd. West in Marlborough. The group specializes in serving patients' urgent care and occupational health needs. n Certified public accounting and business development firm Shepherd & Goldstein moved its Worcester office downtown. The new address is 100 Front St., 16th floor. The phone number is 508- 757-3311. n Prime Ford-Auburn is open at the former Langway Ford Inc. on Rte. 20, at 780 Washington St. The dealership is owned by Prime Motor Group of Westwood. n Porter and Chester Institute opened its new campus at 220 Brook St., Worcester. The 48,500-square-foot facility serves more than 225 students training for careers in such fields as automotive technology and medical assisting.

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