In many areas of our business the focus of the moment is on execution.  Our strategy is sound so the value comes from actually driving activities that align with these strategies.  In order to get focused on this level, I have changed the nature of my conversations.  Instead of continually sharing the vision and talking high level strategy, I am asking about individual customers.  I am asking about individual products in the development pipeline.  I am asking about specific engineering projects.  Of course it is interesting to me, but the real reason I am asking is because it places the emphasis exactly where it needs to be at this moment, on the details and the actions.

For example, with sales we have been creating sales plans customer by customer.  For the last several months I have been sharing knowledge with the team.  We have talked about products, industries and company history.  We have discussed how the department is structured and how the customers were assigned to specific individuals.  We have even talked about time management techniques that help to balance our priorities appropriately.  These have all been conceptual conversations.  But now things are practical, not conceptual.  By talking about individual customer needs it is creating individual actions.  This is where our focus needs to be in this business moment.  The transition started just two weeks ago and is already paying off.

I am leading by talking, very specifically, about the same things that deserve attention.