The importance of setting direction within an organisation

In any organisation, leaders and managers are responsible for setting the direction and strategy of their teams or organisations. For leaders, this involves defining strategic vision with a flow down to meaningful goals. Managers then have the responsibility of developing team vision, values and goals that are aligned with the department, and the wider organisation. In a nutshell, managers are responsible for identifying, securing and co-ordinating the resources needed to effectively achieve the goals.

Why setting direction is essential

It is important for organisations to set a direction for several reasons:

1. Provides clarity and focus: Setting a clear direction ensures that everyone is working towards the same goals and objectives and knows what is expected of them.

2. Aligns resources: with a clear direction managers can make sure resources are used effectively and efficiently and are focused on the most important areas.

3. Enables decision-making: A clear direction helps to prioritise decisions and ensures that they are aligned with the overall strategy and goals.

4. Facilitates innovation: Providing a clear focus and direction can promote innovation by helping to inspire new ideas and approaches that are aligned with the overall strategy.

5. Enhances performance: When team members have a clear focus and direction they know where to align their efforts, resulting in improved productivity, quality, and overall results.

6. Increases accountability: People are more accountable when they know what they are responsible for, and it provides a basis for measuring and evaluating performance.

Setting a clear direction is critical to success because it ensures that an organisation is moving in the right direction, making the most of its resources, and achieving its goals.

However, for organisations to fully reach their potential, everyone needs to know in which direction they should be pointing and where their efforts should be aligned. In essence, people need to know how they can increase their contribution in a way that makes a difference.

Setting direction to increase contribution

“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

Vince Lombardi

A manager’s ability to successfully set a direction is influenced by several things including their beliefs, values, and habits, as well as their managerial expertise. All these factors shape a person’s approach to managing and leading their team.

Most organisations are extremely effective at ensuring their technical staff are trained, accredited and on a well-defined skills pathway. But when it comes to managers and their interpersonal skills capability development, it’s often a different story. That is why in many organisations the promotion to management can be a poisoned chalice. The ability to manage people is essential and without the capability skills, a manager can reduce the contribution of their team.

The Contribution Curve is a management and leadership skills competency framework that provides insights and guidance on how to help managers, and their teams, become top contributors in their organisation. The contribution curve has five levels, and as managers move up the curve, their contribution to their organisation’s success increases. As the manager's ability to make an impact grows, so does the positive difference they and their team make.

Setting direction management capability at the 5 levels of Contribution

Reacting

The reactive manager is always responding to emerging issues and unforeseen problems which are solved by a short-term course of action and delegating tasks to the team accordingly. While this approach is essential for addressing urgent matters, it is not a high-contributing strategy, resources are continually focused on firefighting unforeseen problems or urgent requests. The reactive manager is stuck in a loop of having to consistently dig themselves out of a hole, which is neither rewarding for the manager or the team.

Controlling

Controlling managers aligning the vision, values, and goals of their team with those of the department. This involves translating the vision, values, and goals articulated by senior leaders into a language that team members can understand and act upon. By doing so, the team's efforts can be effectively coordinated towards achieving the department's objectives.

Directing

Managers at this level have a sharp focus on maximising contribution, while also being flexible and adaptable as needed. They recognise the need to prioritise efforts and eliminate distractions or wasteful activities that do not contribute to achieving objectives. By focusing on what will make the most difference, the team achieves greater productivity and drives more significant contributions towards the overall objectives. However, this manager mindset requires a willingness to adapt and change direction as circumstances change, rather than adhering to rigid plans or strategies indefinitely.

Facilitating

When setting direction, the facilitating manager is focused on empowering their people to deliver on the organisation's vision, values, and goals in their unique way. By providing clear direction and understanding of what needs to be achieved, and then delegating the responsibility and authority to the team to deliver in their own way on these objectives, the organisation can achieve greater innovation and creativity. This mindset requires a high level of trust and empowerment, allowing people to take ownership of their work and find solutions that work best for them while still driving towards the organisation's overall objectives.

Leading

Managers with a leading mindset are creating and communicating a clear and consistent strategic vision and ensuring that this vision cascades down into meaningful goals for the team. The combination of these two elements is essential, as many organisations struggle with either a lack of a clear vision or one that is so abstract that employees cannot connect their work to the overall objective. By articulating a clear vision that is relevant and meaningful to employees, leaders can inspire their team and align efforts towards achieving the organisation's objectives. This requires effective communication and engagement at all levels of the organisation to ensure that employees understand their role in contributing to the larger strategic vision. By doing so, leaders can create a sense of purpose and direction, which can lead to greater engagement, motivation, and ultimately, success.

Ramp up contribution in your organisation

Contribution is about more than a person’s individual performance, it’s a reflection on how people think and behave to achieve the organisation’s goals and objectives.

We have helped many organisations to increase the amount of contribution they make towards achieving the company’s vision, mission, and goals. Why not get in touch to find out more and see how our Contribution programme can help your organisation?

Are your Managers equipped to Set Direction?

Find out with our dedicated setting direction programme:

This course will equip managers with the tools to help them establish a focused yet flexible Purpose and Way of working for their teams.  They will learn how to make a difference and get everyone lined up in the same direction to collectively make a positive contribution to your organisation’s goals.

Take a look at the course and find out how we can help your managers set direction across their teams.

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