Balancing operational tasks for senior stakeholders. How can you ensure strategic focus remains intact?

Empower Team Accountability: Empower my team by clarifying roles, setting clear expectations, and providing targeted training. This approach builds ownership and accountability, enabling the team to manage operations independently. It reduces micro-management, allowing me to focus on the direction and future milestones. Use Data to Drive Decisions: I use data from tools and our systems to balance operational and strategic needs. Regularly reviewing reports and metrics helps me quickly identify areas needing attention, ensuring operations support long-term goals. Maintain Open Communication: I keep senior stakeholders informed about operational changes and their strategic impact, aligning adjustments with our high level direction.

Communicate Strategic goals effectively, delegate to the senior teams, ensuring key objectives which meet these are clearly defined and have active monitoring in place with relevant coaching / guiding when appropriate.

Effective delegation has been a cornerstone of my leadership, whether managing applications for Cumberland County or coaching a sports team. I understand the importance of recognizing each team member's strengths and assigning tasks that align with their capabilities. For example, in my role with the Fayetteville Fury, I empowered team members to take ownership of data analytics and CRM strategies, allowing me to focus on strategic growth initiatives. This approach not only optimizes operational efficiency but also fosters a culture of accountability and professional growth within the team, ensuring that strategic objectives are met without micromanaging daily tasks.

Para delegar con eficacia, primero identifique las fortalezas y debilidades de cada miembro del equipo y asigne tareas que se alineen con sus habilidades y áreas de crecimiento. Esto no solo asegura que las tareas se completen de manera eficiente, sino que también fomenta el desarrollo profesional dentro del equipo. Mantenga una supervisión regular, proporcionando orientación y recursos según sea necesario, para garantizar que las tareas delegadas avancen en línea con los objetivos estratégicos. Establezca puntos de control para revisar el progreso y ajustar las asignaciones si es necesario, asegurando un equilibrio entre la operación y la estrategia.

In order to "delegate" activities to the team successfully and in a scalable way, they need to live and breathe the vision and the strategy. This means that you need to find the best way to communicate it so that it resonates and they can say in their own words... and repeat, repeat, repeat. They need to feel that they came up with it. If they own the strategy, they will make the right decisions without needed to check with you every time.

Effective communication with senior stakeholders is not just about sharing information but also about engaging them in the strategic process, ensuring their insights and experience are integrated into decision-making. This alignment is critical for driving organizational success and maintaining cohesive leadership.

I would add "communicate clearly... and often". C-level stakeholders are busy people and get bombarded with lots of information every day. You would be surprised by how little they might retain. Condensing/simplifying the key points you want them to remember and then repeating them often should do the trick. Also, if you can connect the information to what they care about in their specific area, you will increase the odds that they will retain the message.

Clear communication is essential for balancing operational tasks and ensuring strategic success for senior stakeholders. By effectively messaging our mission, vision, and strategic objectives, we establish key linkages that guide lower-level activities. This clarity enables teams to prioritize their efforts in alignment with our goals. Leveraging automation solutions to generate prioritization matrices allows for a single end-user input, reducing task saturation and enhancing efficiency. Additionally, this approach provides traceability of lower-level tasks to strategic objectives, fostering accountability and ensuring that our focus remains on driving organizational success.

Throughout my career, clear and consistent communication has been critical to keeping teams and stakeholders aligned with strategic goals. Whether leading a diverse team in local government or serving on various boards and committees, I ensure that everyone understands how their work contributes to the larger mission. Regular updates and transparent discussions about our strategic objectives help maintain focus and minimize misunderstandings. For instance, in my work with the Cumberland County Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, clear communication was key to aligning operational efforts with the committee’s long-term goals.

To maintain strategic focus, regularly monitor progress towards goals. Establish KPIs aligned with operational efficiency and strategic objectives to track progress and identify areas where operational tasks may overshadow strategic initiatives. Regular monitoring enables timely adjustments to ensure both day-to-day operations and long-term goals are met. Celebrating milestones and recognizing achievements can motivate your team and reinforce the importance of strategic focus.

Monitoring progress is essential to ensure that our strategic focus remains intact. I’ve implemented robust tracking systems in roles like Chief Analytics Officer at Walker Florez Consulting Group, where I developed BI frameworks to monitor performance against strategic goals. Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) aligned with both operational and strategic objectives allows me to identify areas where we might be deviating from our goals. This proactive approach ensures that we can make necessary adjustments in real time, keeping both daily operations and long-term strategies on track

In many cases the progress KPIs related to the strategic goals and the operational tasks are not the same. Tracking them together may cause confusion and affect your focus. I would suggest to create separate dashboards and trackers for these and review them in separate meetings/touch points.

Supervisar el progreso requiere establecer KPIs que reflejen tanto la eficiencia operativa como los objetivos estratégicos. Revise estos indicadores regularmente para identificar desviaciones y áreas que necesitan ajustes. Esta vigilancia continua permite corregir el rumbo a tiempo, garantizando que las operaciones diarias no desvíen la atención de los objetivos estratégicos. Además, reconozca y celebre los hitos alcanzados para mantener la motivación del equipo y reforzar la importancia de mantener el enfoque estratégico en todo momento.

Flexibility is great, but too much of it will make your organization run like a headless chicken. It's important for the team to understand the vision and strategy and give flexibility within those confines. You can change direction as long as it's still moving in the right direction.

In the dynamic business environment, flexibility is essential as change is a constant presence in our lives. Whether in the workplace or in our personal lives, the ability to adapt to evolving circumstances is crucial for success and well-being. This requires a mindset that embraces change and sees it as an opportunity rather than a disruption. In the professional context, being prepared to adjust your approach to operational tasks as situations shift is vital. By cultivating flexibility and resilience, we can navigate change more effectively, ensuring that we continue to progress and thrive, both professionally and personally.

Regular reflection is integral to maintaining the balance between operational tasks and strategic focus. I make it a point to conduct strategic review sessions, whether in my role with Cumberland County or while leading non-profit initiatives. These sessions allow me to assess what’s working, what isn’t, and how we can improve. Reflecting on past successes and challenges, such as those experienced during my time with the Governor's Advisory Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, enables continuous improvement and ensures that our strategic objectives remain the driving force behind our actions.