What is the largest obstacle to your team’s success?

Our reader poll today asks: What is the largest obstacle to your team’s success?

• Corporate bureaucracy 25.52%
• Lack of resources 27.59%
• Lack of skill/talent 13.80%
• Lack of clear direction 19.31%
• External market factors 4.13%
• Lack of motivation 3.79%
• Something else 5.86%

It’s a strategy obstacle. When there’s a lack of clear direction, improperly allocated or insufficient resources, and a corporate bureaucracy hampering your team’s success, it all points to a strategy issue. A good strategy will set the right direction and make it clear to everyone. Based on that strategy, resource needs will be clearly defined and properly prioritized. This means getting teams the resources they need both in terms of money and talent. Corporate bureaucracy should decrease in such an environment because resources will be moved away from ineffective controls and into more strategic efforts being driven by market-facing teams. If the strategy isn’t clear, push your leaders to create and execute one. If you’re in a position to define that strategy, stop messing around with the small day-to-day tactical tasks and invest the time in creating a proper strategy that prioritizes resources and clarifies efforts.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.