Achieving the mission requires capacity - the people, partners, systems, facilities, and financing necessary to deliver. It is the leader's job to develop capacity every day.
1. Develop People
Sustainable excellence requires people with the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors to implement positive change. Think through your team of people. Do you have the right people in the right positions? Who might be a positive leader either now or in the future? Who might benefit from coaching or training? Think about concrete ways to develop the individuals on your team - and go to work on it every day.
2. Build Partnerships
In today's world successful projects often cross organizational boundaries. Who are the internal partners needed to support the project (e.g. board, top leadership, other departments)? Who are the external partners (e.g. payers, funders, regulators, other provider organizations)? How might you use ROI thinking to engage and sustain critical partnerships? Think about partnership every day - and go to work on cultivating the partnerships you need to achieve your mission.
3. Improve Systems.
Think of 'systems' as the policies, practices, and technology we deploy in concert to manage assets and deliver on your mission. Systems can almost always be improved, and technology can often be a key driver. It is the leader's job to assure that effective systems are in place. System design should be driven by vision, mission, strategy, capacity, culture, and above all, customer needs.
4. Build Physical Capacity
Some initiatives require changes to the physical space and equipment we use to deliver our mission. How does physical capacity affect your ability to achieve your mission? If physical capacity is important, how can you bring together people, partnerships, and financing to develop the physical capacity you need?
5. Build Financial Capacity
Financing is obviously a cornerstone of capacity, but it is not the only one. Consider financial capacity in the context of the people, partnerships, systems, and facilities required for the project. Are you getting the most out of the personnel on your team? Could you do a better job of leveraging partnerships, systems, or facilities? Make sure you are optimizing all of these non-financial resources. Then go to work on developing your financial capacity.
Summary
It is the leader's job to continuously evaluate and build capacity in five areas.
- Develop people
- Build partnerships
- Improve systems
- Build physical capacity
- Build financial capacity
