Six Simple Steps to Action Planning

Tsedal  Neeley

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Background Note | HBS Case Collection | August 2020

Six Simple Steps to Action Planning

by Tsedal Neeley

Abstract

As a leader, you will need to master action plans to implement solutions that advance your organizational goals. Here are six simple steps to diagnosing situations and systematically developing action plans.

Keywords: Organizations; Goals and Objectives; Planning;

Language: English

Format: Print

1 pages

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Citation:

Neeley, Tsedal. "Six Simple Steps to Action Planning." Harvard Business School Background Note 421-033, August 2020.

About the Author

Tsedal Neeley

Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration

Organizational Behavior

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Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2020 (Revised September 2020)

Shellye Archambeau: Becoming a CEO (A)

Tsedal Neeley and John Masko

With the economy in a freefall, MetricStream is losing customers, hemorrhaging cash and struggling to make payroll. Several board members are threatening to quit. Others are pressing to sell the company even at dismally low valuations. It’s 2008 and lightning has struck for Shellye Archambeau once again. As CEO of MetricStream, she had spent the last seven years turning a tech startup on life support after the dot-com bust into a market leader of governance, risk, and compliance software for businesses. As a black female CEO, Archambeau is no stranger to adversity. Becoming a leader had been her goal since high school and she had achieved it through decades of hard work and skillful decision making. Now she faces her most critical leadership decision. She calls a meeting with her board chairman, Gunjan Sinha, to discuss the best path forward: Sell MetricStream while offers are on the table, or try to save it by looking for a big customer of the company’s risk management software against the backdrop of the financial crisis? Both options have dire consequences. Valuations are plummeting by the day. Cash is disappearing by the minute. Archambeau and Sinha need to decide and act swiftly.

Keywords: Leadership; Race; Gender; Leadership Style; Risk and Uncertainty; Change; Prejudice and Bias; Decision Making; Personal Development and Career; Technology Industry; California;

Citation:
Neeley, Tsedal, and John Masko. "Shellye Archambeau: Becoming a CEO (A)." Harvard Business School Case 420-071, June 2020. (Revised September 2020.) View Details

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Case | HBS Case Collection | July 2008 (Revised July 2020)

Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A)

Tsedal Neeley and Thomas J. DeLong

Greg James, a global manager at Sun Microsystems, Inc., sets out to meet with his entire 43-member customer implementation team spread across India, France, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America to resolve a dire customer system outage as required by a service agreement. Rather than finding a swift resolution to the rapidly escalating customer situation that motivated his trip, he finds himself facing distributed work, global collaboration, conflict, and management issues that are threatening to unravel his team.

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Global Range; Management; Customer Satisfaction; Service Delivery; Crisis Management; Conflict and Resolution; Technology Industry; India; United Arab Emirates; France; United States;

Citation:
Neeley, Tsedal, and Thomas J. DeLong. "Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A)." Harvard Business School Case 409-003, July 2008. (Revised July 2020.) View Details

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Supplement | HBS Case Collection | June 2020

Shellye Archambeau: Becoming a CEO (B)

Tsedal Neeley and Briana Richardson

With the economy in a freefall, MetricStream is losing customers, hemorrhaging cash and struggling to make payroll. Several board members are threatening to quit. Others are pressing to sell the company even at dismally low valuations. It’s 2008 and lightning has struck for Shellye Archambeau once again. As CEO of MetricStream, she had spent the last seven years turning a tech startup on life support after the dot-com bust into a market leader of governance, risk, and compliance software for businesses. As a black female CEO, Archambeau is no stranger to adversity. Becoming a leader had been her goal since high school and she had achieved it through decades of hard work and skillful decision making. Now she faces her most critical leadership decision. She calls a meeting with her board chairman, Gunjan Sinha, to discuss the best path forward: Sell MetricStream while offers are on the table, or try to save it by looking for a big customer of the company’s risk management software against the backdrop of the financial crisis? Both options have dire consequences. Valuations are plummeting by the day. Cash is disappearing by the minute. Archambeau and Sinha need to decide and act swiftly.

Keywords: Race; Gender; Leadership Style; Risk and Uncertainty; Change; Prejudice and Bias; Decision Making; Personal Development and Career; Technology Industry; California;

Citation:
Neeley, Tsedal, and Briana Richardson. "Shellye Archambeau: Becoming a CEO (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 420-073, June 2020. View Details

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Six Simple Steps to Action Planning

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