The Strategic Leadership System

The "Deming Wheel," named for W. Edwards Deming, is the graphical representation of the plan, do, check, act (PDCA) cycle of work. This cycle is very basic, almost intuitive, but requires strategic leadership to effectively accomplish with a team.

Plan

The first part of the cycle is the most important. Strategic leadership brings the goal to the table and participates with the team to draw up a workable plan. The plan has to include all of the steps needed to accomplish the goal, all of the resources (time, people, materials, outsourced help, money, etc.), all of the possible roadblocks and all of the contingency plans.

Planning should result in a virtual road map of the project. It should detail all of the necessary steps to accomplishment, the structure needed to achieve it, and the resources as well as the ways to allocate them. Every step of the way, strategic leadership is needed to keep expectations realistic, find ways around problems and motivate the team to accept the necessary workload.

Do

Thorough planning makes the doing that much easier. The team should be ready at this point to set priorities for the tasks and begin doing the first jobs. The most strategic leadership is needed to oversee every team and keep them on schedule while making sure that the materials are secured for the next set of tasks. Strategic leadership ensures that team members are rewarded when needed and counseled as needed.

Check

The checking is done at each milestone of the project. The strategic leadership duties at this point include checking standards and performance and making adjustments. Checking standards involves ensuring that the work product meets the levels set at the planning stage. Checking performance means looking after the employees themselves and the level of their work. Making adjustments is done when either the standards or performance is not meeting the plans that were set. Adjustments are usually the responsibility of the leader since it is very difficult for teams to meet and make decisions in the midst of a project that is not proceeding according to plan.

Act

The action to be taken at this point is set at the planning stage. It might be releasing a new product, moving on to the next major part of the project or beginning to plan another project. Sometimes it means going back over a part of the project that needs to be corrected or changed according to a change in the situation. Deciding what action to take is the job of strategic leadership.