The image in this blog! How many of you have heard of the game of SHINTY? It’s a sport played in my homeland of Scotland. It’s basically like field hockey or la cross. Ronald Ross who you see here in the image is the only man to have ever scored more than 1000 goals in the sport and one of the things he attributes this to is that he’s particularly good at figuring out WHERE THE BALL IS GOING TO BE V’S WHERE THE BALL IS. Why am I showing you this? You need to think about your organization the same way. You need to be able to figure out where does my organization need to be tomorrow versus where it is right now and what are the critical talent implications.

I bet we all WANT to do this but it comes back to this issue you’ve heard me raise before,  TACTICAL IS DRIVING OUT THE STRATEGIC and the urgent keeps winning….. We have to PROTECT STRATEGICALLY VITAL WORK from becoming engulfed by the TRANSACTIONAL WORK that characterizes so much of what must get done on a daily basis.

The GOOD NEWS – there are significant gains for organizations who can nail this. 85% of companies who do this see stronger financial performance, 77% see better strategy implementation, 75% of companies who do this see higher revenue growth YET – only 45% of companies have the processes in place to do this (i4cp 2016)

Organizations that implement these forward-thinking approaches are better able to anticipate to, adapt to and take advantage of changes and opportunities in their market, particularly in this Digital Era. You’re not alone in wrestling with this issue, but you’re probably wondering “if I’m focused on the right activities today how do I build for the future without dropping the ball”…..and the answer is HAVE A BLUEPRINT AND TO USE IT.

I’m guessing most of you work for a company that has a 3-5 year plan but here’s the tougher question how many of you use this plan to ruthlessly prioritize your talent investments and talent decisions? You have to systematically unbundle your organizations business strategy and establish what your workforce needs to look like in the future. The challenge is, we can all have a blueprint but the secret is knowing when and how to put all the pieces together and in the right order. It’s like a recipe. We can all follow the recipe but the results at the end depends on how skilled you are!

Audrey McGuckin consults with top CEOs and HR Executives to solve their toughest and most complex talent and leadership challenges. To connect with Audrey and learn more about her BLUEPRINTS, visit our contact page or message her directly at audrey@audreymcguckin.com.