Create a Successful Business in 2014 - Structure

Any successful organization requires a clearly articulated vision, strategy, and structure. An organization without these is like a house with no walls - purposeless. A leader has the unique position to determine the vision and implement the strategies and structures so that organizations are primed for optimal performance. A vision is “a description of a desired end state.” Leaders should have a vision that is tangible and desirable such that it has concrete attributes that appeal to employees and other stakeholders. A vision should also be feasible, flexible, focused, and simple. That is, the vision is attainable and easy to grasp. If the vision follows these requirements, it will be able to motivate an organization toward the desired result. To implement the vision, leaders then put in place the strategy. To do so successfully, a leader must understand the organization and its needs. Further, leaders must enlist a team of people that can help implement the strategy. Effective leaders of organizations will pay attention to staffing as employees are the mechanism through which any vision will be achieved. Leaders also implement an organization’s structures, the formal systems of task and authority relations that control what people do and how they do it within an organization. Structures provide the framework for execution and must be aligned with the organization’s vision and strategy. Leaders fail when they are unable to fully execute their vision. Leadership does not end at creating the vision and strategy for an organization. Leaders will be judged on their execution through the structures they put in place.