By Jose Ruiz
Jose Ruiz serves as Alder Koten’s Chief Executive Officer providing vision, strategic direction and the roadmap for the firm’s future. He is also involved in executive search work focused on board members, CEOs and senior-level executives; and consulting engagements related to leadership and organizational effectiveness helping clients create thriving cultures.
Managers use various tools to take note and outline their strategies and plans. However, without a smooth execution, all those strategies and plans would mean nothing. The true essence of management, after all, is the ability to turn potentials into deliverables. And it would require a strong commitment from the management and all stakeholders.
In an organization, individuals who work together are likely to have committed themselves to complete tasks. Managers make a commitment to their superiors, subordinates, shareholders, and stakeholders. Employees make a commitment to the management team, colleagues, and customers. If you draw a line for every single commitment that occurs in an organization, you would see a weave of networks.
Now let’s imagine that an organization is a piece of fabric and every commitment is a strand of thread. The leader is a weaver who must ensure that the networks of thread are arranged in harmony. When an organization has achieved this level of harmony, you can expect to see high-quality activities and deliverables.
Naturally, the best output of commitment-based management is excellence in execution. And it translates to excellent error-free deliverables.
However, every leader must face challenges, as often they must improve the execution process. Poorly executed strategy, improper organizational tactics, underperforming employees, and low productivity must be properly amended. Now, what are the characteristics of commitment-based leadership and how can you achieve them?
Commitment-based management (CbM) was initially developed by Fernando Flores of University of California at Berkeley and Terry Winograd of Stanford University. This management style relies on agreements of commitment among parties to deliver an output within the agreed timeframe. When it’s executed efficiently, it will increase the quality of business performance.
In a nutshell, commitment-based leadership is a leadership style that works by commitment-based management, where an organization is driven by the quality and fulfillment of explicit network of commitments made between people in the organization and their customers. And there are five ways that a commitment-based leader can improve the execution process.
In conclusion, every organization comprises of networks of promises and committed individuals. How well those networks work depends on the ability in turning commitment to final deliverables. For this, the role of a leader is key to execution excellence.
About Alder Koten
Alder Koten helps shape organizations through a combination of research, executive search, cultural & leadership assessment, and other talent advisory services.
The firm was founded in 2011 and currently includes 6 partners and over 28 consultants in 4 cities.
The firm’s headquarters are located in Houston and it has offices in Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Mexico City with partner firms in New York, Boston, Chicago, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and United Kingdom.
We know where to find the executives you need and how to attract top talent to your organization. Our approach to executive search is based on a thorough understanding of the strategic, cultural, financial and operational issues our clients face. Our executive search engagements are targeted and focused on the specific requirements of the position including industry and functional experience, skills, competencies, cultural fit, and leadership style. Our process is rigorous. We take a disciplined and structured approach to identifying potential candidates that meet the position requirements including subject-matter, functional and regional expertise. We use our high-level professional networks, industry knowledge, and internal research resources to achieve results in every executive search engagement.
