Angel # 1: Performance Improvement

By Bruce Hodes based on an article by Miles Kierson called “The Seven Hurdles of Successful Execution”.

There is good news and here are some of Bruce’s Ideas. The age of performance improvement is upon us! Intelligent and systematic performance improvement plans are being created and implemented with real results. The signs are there. Three Laws of Performance by Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan, Great by Choice by Jim Collins and Switch by the Heath brothers outline some of these ideas and possibilities. 

In the past, when speaking to an executive and/or CEO about dramatically transforming organizational performance, one might just have well have been talking about space aliens. Now, organizational change gets people’s attention. More and more performance improvement and transformation systems are appearing.

I am reading the writing on the wall here – this age is upon us. This angel will trump the ogres every time! Mark my words. Knowing about the ogres gives you power in dealing with the Ogres. Being in the age of organizational change empowers. Organizational change game on…

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Creating the Reason for Being

Here are some ways that the leadership group can create a powerful and relevant Reason for Being (aka mission/vision statement).  Some of the following thinking and exercises were inspired by an article called “Building Your Company’s Vision,” by Collins and Porras, the authors of "Built to Last."

When the senior leadership gets together to create the company’s mission/vision statement (from here on I’ll refer to it as the Reason for Being) ask them to consider the following and write their answers on paper, preferably flip chart paper with a sticky side that allows for easy posting:

1. What is the purpose of your organization? You want participants to ask themselves what is unique about the organization. What does the organization do that truly matters to customers, employees, and other stakeholders? How does the organization make “the difference?”

2. What would be lost if the organization ceased to exist? Here, you need to dig into the question: if our unique, special organization were not here, what would our customers, the community, and, for that matter, the world is losing? If the group needs a scenario, tell them that the company was bought and the new owner simply mothballed the business. All employees were given a severance. What has the world lost by this organization no longer existing?

3. Repeat this process five more times with slight variations: if the organization ceased to exist, what would be lost for employees, customers, vendors, society, and the world? This question gives participants insight on the impact their organization has on its customers, employees, and communities. Provocative answers rise to the surface. One of my plastics company clients got very excited by the notion that manufacturing could thrive in America. Another one of my staffing company clients got jazzed about ending homelessness and joblessness in America.

4. Ask the team to imagine having enough money to support their perfect lifestyle. What purpose would be so enlivening and fulfilling that employees would work for no money? What purpose would be so worthwhile that they would stay fully engaged and work tirelessly for the organization?

For some people, this question evokes only resignation. “Are you kidding?” they ask. I assure them I’m not. “On drugs?” they insist? Not that, either. Then they say there is no reason on earth beyond money that would keep them in this organization. If there are people like this in your process, I would strongly consider finding new players. When work is just a survival tactic, it limits one’s view of what is possible for the business.

Most people, however, give good thought to this question. It raises interesting issues and insights. One thing I consistently see is that the generation of late-20s to mid-30s has a deep interest making a real difference in the world and their communities. Use insights like this to your company’s benefit.

Ultimately, these questions offer participants different ways of pondering “purpose.” You can see the brains working at this time; sweat pours down their backs.

Once the questions are answered, post participants’ work on the walls. At this point, everyone reads what the others have written. Flit around the room and stop at each posting while the author presents his or her work. Everyone can ask questions and give feedback. At this point, themes should start emerging.

The last part of the exercise is to divide the total group in two. This will make it easier to organize and focus. Each group synthesizes the work and drafts a reason for being that would touch, move, and inspire them and other employees.

Now I get involved. (It’s a good thing I have something to do, given the bucks I am charging.) I work with the two groups’ versions of the reason for being and draw out the common threads. I listen for what binds the company together and gives it power and focus. After I whittle the two versions to the extent I can, I ask for a group of volunteers who will meet after the session to “wordsmith” (edit) the final version of the company’s reason for being. They select a leader and choose a date for a presentation of their work to the entire group for comments and feedback.

The point is not that the Reason for Being is crafted to everyone’s satisfaction. Rather, the Reason for Being must include all the relevant points so the group aligns behind it.

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Book Review of CEO Tools

CEO Tools: the Nuts-n-Bolts of Business for Every Manager’s Success
Author: Kraig Kramers,
Publisher: Gandy Dancer Press, 2002

In CEO Tools: the Nuts-n-Bolts of Business for Every Manager's Success, Kraig Kramers, a veteran CEO, lays out the tools he used to make his various organizations rise to success. The book includes financial, communication and organizational models. These tools are neatly introduced in “How to” form and can be equally useful for managers, executives and CEOs alike. The book also comes with a CD containing many of the models discussed in the book in useable formats.
If you are number-phobic this book will challenge you (but that ain’t so bad, is it?). But, the book is much more than numbers. The tools can be though of as a heart rate monitor for your company.  On top of the tools, the acronyms are titillating. My favorites are 12MMA, CoCal, T12M and MST. YES! You will have to read the book to get the scoop on these gems.

I wish I had read this book ten years ago. This book should be bundled with “Good to Great” by Jim Collins. The combination of these books should be mandatory reading for every CEO and those that aspire to be the Big Kahuna.

Have you read this book? Let us know what you think.  Please comment below

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Seven Rules of Strategic Guessing

Rule Number Five

 

The incredible rule number five is that you must face the brutal facts confronting your company. This is a command, if you will, given to us by Jim Collins in Good to Great. It means honestly facing the issues that challenge your organization, determining solutions, and implementing them in an intelligent way.

 

Your planning team can do this by defining critical issues facing the growth of the company both now and in the future. Let’s say you’re a training company that utilizes technology. Some of the questions you ask your planning team might be:

1. How is the organization going to transition from our old CD-ROM technology to the new “streaming” technology? How are we going to fund this transition?
2. What new products are we bringing out in the next year?
3. How are we going to grow 20 percent per year for the next three years?
4. What improvements do we need to make for us to reduce costs by 10 percent?

Typically, these types of critical issues are addressed by writing a white paper.

 

“What is that?” you ask.

 

“Good question!” I respond.

 

A white paper is a three- to five-page paper that addresses the critical issue. Sometimes a white paper will take on a number of critical issues that are similar in nature. For instance, the white paper “What is Our 2012 Sales and Marketing Plan?” might address the issues of (a) what new products are being introduced next year and (b) how to grow by 20 percent. However, it would not explore the question of what improvements need to be made in the plant to reduce costs by 10 percent. This issue would need a white paper of its own.

 

White papers are written between planning sessions by the members of the leadership group who are best suited to address the problem. This group can also include members outside the planning team who have useful knowledge to contribute.

 

The paper outlines research and analysis for the issues and provides the “answer” submitted by the smaller group to the entire planning team. The entire planning team will read the paper prior to the second session; everyone is invited to bring feedback, questions, and concerns. In the second session, the critical issues are dealt with and problem solving can occur.

 

For more information about writing white papers click here.

 

 

Building a G.R.E.A.T. Company

Defining a Great Company
In the article “Good to Great,” Jim Collins defined a great company in the following manner: "The good-to-great examples that made the final cut into the study attained extraordinary results; averaging cumulative stock returns 6.9 times the general market in the fifteen years following their transition points. These are remarkable numbers, made all the more remarkable when you consider the fact that they came from companies that had previously been so utterly unremarkable.”

This is a fine definition for companies which are large enough for you and me to know about and be their customers; but what about small- to mid-size companies? For this market, I would add to Collins’ definition by saying that great small to mid-size companies are also defined by LOVE, a term I do not use lightly.

In small to mid-size companies, the primary stakeholders LOVE a great company. The owners LOVE the company because of superior financial performance and because they see their firms as their life’s work. The CEOs LOVE the company because it enables them to make a difference in the world and leave a powerful and potent legacy. The customers LOVE a great company because it provides superior service. And the employees LOVE a great company, as demonstrated by the performance of the company and employee retention.

Interested in learning more about my small business programs?  visit the CMI website.