By Ken Rosen
The Performance PortfolioTM defines the responsibilities of a leader in an organization that matters — it also defines the priorities of the organization itself. Priorities map to two axes: First, a spectrum from internally focused to externally focused. And second, a spectrum from very short term to long term.

Internal focus typically includes elements like buildings and point products. External takes the perspective of partners, customers and market-wide issues. And being a spectrum, topics with both internal and external-facing aspects, including many company-wide issues, OEM relationships, and employee relations, lie between the extremes.

The time axis ranges from very short term to long term. The exact scale varies by organization. In more deliberate organizations, anything less than one year may be short term. In rapidly-changing organizations, short term may be quarterly our even monthly. Our rule of thumb is short term is any time horizon less than the standard organizational planning horizon.

We can apply these axis to the company as a whole or to any individual functions. The quality of attention paid to the four implied sectors defines whether a person or organization is reaching “higher ground” to become a person or organization that matters.

Takeaways:

  • Decide whether you care to become an organization that matters (if unsure, see “11 Good Results of Being an Organization That Matters“).
  • Join us as future posts discuss our views of becoming an organization that matters.
  • EACH of the four sectors gets a brief post on how to apply the approach. Just type “Sector” into the search box.