THE ISSUE

We are seeing the gyrating door for top officers whirl faster and faster. 2/3rds of all major firms globally have replaced their CEO at least once since 1995. More than 1,000 CEOs have left office over the past 12 months. In 2000, over 40 CEOs of the top 200 companies were fired. When 20 percent of the most powerful business leaders in The United States lose their employment, there is a problem!

So, what has brought down these capable executives? What is the overwhelming problem? In a Fortune article titled, "Why CEOs Fail," the question was posed, "suppose what brought down all these powerful and undeniable talented executives was just one common failing?"

Top management gurus have been screaming for corporate America to better focus and execute.

Workers are pleading for focus, clearer expectations, and the opportunity to contribute to that focus. FranklinCovey study involved than 400,000 employees who were asked to evaluate their managers. Managers scored lowest in the following areas:

• Prioritizing work so time is spent on most important issues (related to strategy)

• Setting clear expectations with employees (related to strategy)

• Providing feedback on how to improve

• Building teamwork by maximizing the talents of the workgroup

Gallup studied more than 80,000 managers from 400 companies to find out what leadership behaviors are most effective. From that, Gallup identified twelve key behaviors that were most successful. Here are four of those:

• aligning each employee with the mission

• letting employees know what is expected

• tapping into the talents of employee

• talking with the employee about their progress

So how big is this problem?

Some studies show that managers waste 90% of their time on unproductive activities, and only 10% of their time on what proves to have an impact.

FranklinCovey conducted a study of 850 workers from many different companies and found that these (knowledge) workers typically spend 40% of their time on tasks related to the organization’s mission-critical objectives. "Imagine the impact on the organization if people were giving 80% or even 60% of their best efforts to your top priorities – instead of only 40%?"

Knowledge workers constitute 60% of a typical workforce, and waste up to 60% of their time on low value activities.

Management consultants report that less than ten percent of the business strategies developed get executed.

THE SOLUTION

The solution is an company where every person, every week, knows what they should be doing, how much weight it deserves relative to their other assignments, and how their goals relate to the goals of the people around them -- in short, an open system that's always running in high gear.