Preventing Obstacles to Strategy Implementation

Back in May, I wrote a blog post titled, “The best idea ever for building a strong team is an idea almost as old as time; Effective Communication” (Engberg, 2013). It focused around Lawson, Hatch, & Desroches’ thoughts on the principle where strong leaders set the stage for success or failure by making the right decisions, and leading the team in the right direction using the unique perspective available only to the leader, and communicating that message clearly through the use of business scorecards. Building on that premise, I’m going to turn the camera around and look at the rest of the team, not only as the ones who will carry out the actions called for by the leader, but also as the ones who are ultimately responsible for providing the appropriate feedback of what is happening on the line to the leader, in order for him or her to make solid decisions.

The term “armchair quarterback” comes from the idea that it’s easy to make the call from the sidelines where there’s no real pressure, and no real consequences, for making a bad decision. In the business world, there is very real pressure and also very real consequences for success or failure. Because this is the case, it’s important that leaders have all the information they need to make good decisions and lead the team in the right direction.

This leads us to what is probably the most important concept of strategy implementation: Know Yourself.

Shimizu et al (2006) point to the writings on Sun Tzu, which are summed up in the phrase, “If you know your enemy, you do not need to fear the results of a hundred battles.” Shimizu missed the more important portion of this quote, which is that you must also know yourself. You need to be able to look at your team and their abilities before you send them out on the field of battle because your reaction to your enemy should be based on what your forces are capable of doing. Otherwise, your plans are as ephemeral as the smoke on the battlefield.

Self-awareness begins with

introspection and being able to look at your self as honestly as possible; the same holds true for a company. As I stated earlier, leaders need to clearly outline their strategy and communicate it to their teams. This idea is shared by Beer and Eisenstat, who outline a series of additional components towards implementing strategy through a process of internal review; the first step of which is articulate a coherent strategy.

The second step is to solicit honest feedback (Beer & Eisenstat, 2004). The example provided by Beer and Eisenstat is through the implementation of a task force made up of managers whose job is to find out what employees are thinking, how things are going, and get honest answers to any barriers that are in their way. By lowering the barriers that prevent telling truth to power, managers can get to the heart of what is really happening, and make decisions or take corrective action to improve the situation.

The third step is to listen to the feedback (Beer & Eisenstat, 2004). This may seem really obvious, but not all leaders put themselves in a position to really listen to what is being said. Sometimes leaders can get wrapped up in their own point of view and/or their own prejudices and not actually hear what they are being told. It’s vital they take off any blinders they may have and take in all the information being presented.

Once a leader truly listens to the feedback, they need to take action and incorporate it into their decision-making process. Without this step, the first three steps are more or less unnecessary. While that can be said about any of these steps, this one is even more crucial than the others because by this stage, the leader in question has already involved a group of others into the decision making process, and not taking action and incorporating their feedback into their decisions, will not only stymie innovation and change, but it will send a negative message to everyone involved that their work and insights didn’t matter.

The fifth step is to ask your managers or task force to provide their feedback to your implementation plan (Beer & Eisenstat, 2004). With any luck, the leader will have taken all the existing ideas into account, but much like a proofreader, it never hurts to have another set of eyes, or many sets of eyes, look over the plan before it’s implemented. This will have the added benefit of gaining their support for the plan, and build the needed buy-in to the plan that will need to be disseminated to the rest of the company, and supported by other managers and leaders.

Finally, you act on the plan (Beer & Eisenstat, 2004). This is the phase where all your hard work pays off and a new direction or plan takes place. Then you can start measuring the outcomes of your new strategy, and make any tweaks or adjustments to improve the results. While Beer and Eisenstat leave this as the final point of the process, and recommend repeating these steps on a regular basis, I add the caveat that an annual process of change can become tiresome for long-term employees. New ideas should be tempered by not coming off as though the company were reinventing itself every year. There needs to be a consistency of overarching theme that pulls each year together into a single unified message.

References

Beer, M., Eisenstat, R. (2004). How to have an honest conversation about your business strategy. HBR OnPoint, February 1, 2004.

Engberg, E. (2013). The best idea ever for building a strong team is an idea almost as old as time; Effective Communication. Retrieved from http://mremans.blogspot.com/2013/05/best-idea-ever-for-building-effective.html

Shimizu, T., Carvalho, M., & Laurindo, F. (2006). Strategic Alignment Process and Decision Support Systems : Theory and Case Studies. Hershey, PA: IRM Press.

Best Idea Ever for Building an Effective Team

The best idea ever for building a strong team is an idea almost as old as time; Effective Communication. However, human communication has changed over time from simple grunting and pointing around a campfire, to electronic messages that zip around the world at the speed of light.

As a leader and manager, you set the stage for the success or failure of your team. There is always work to be done, and teams can make themselves be busy, or even just look busy, without anyone telling them what to do. Similar to how an increase in salary is quickly allocated and absorbed into a household budget, so does an increase in time available at work. To make sure all your work teams are using their time to the best of their ability, it is important to keep everyone on track, and working towards the established goals.

Imagine you are the coxswain (leader) of a sport rowing team, and each of your employees is one of the rowers. If they all start rowing in different directions, or at different times, there is going to be a lot of energy put forth, but not much progress towards a single goal. As the leader, you are tasked with making the necessary decisions that get everyone working within the same rhythm, and moving in the same direction to win.

Much like the coxswain, you have a different perspective of the rest of the team. You are the only one who can see where they are headed, and you need to make the right calls to keep them moving forward. This requires constant communication of where the team is, where they are headed, and how you plan to get them there. But unlike the coxswain, your entire team isn’t always sitting right in front of you within earshot of what you have to say. This is where the use of the Balanced Scorecard can come into play.

A great balanced scorecard is able to share the entire team’s goals, and the portions of those goals made up by the various groups, or even the contributions of individual team members. This tool could help give you the competitive edge you need to outperform your competition, and get a leg up in the ever-expanding global marketplace. It communicates goals, strategy, and shows team performance so that managers can make effective decisions and focus their time where it is needed most (Lawson, et al, 2008).

The best part, is that the balanced scorecard isn’t just for managers and leaders. It can communicate this same information to everyone within an organization. Once the culture and daily business of using a scorecard system is in place, it will be second nature for employees to check on their team’s results throughout the day, week, or month to see how they shape up. In doing so, employees become not just a tool towards solving a problem or completing a goal, they become managers of their own daily duties, and they are able to stay on track towards what is expected of them.

The balanced scorecard has many secondary uses as well. Managers can use it as an evaluation tool for their team members. With specific goals communicated on a regular basis, employees will understand how they are being evaluated. It can also be used to create a cause and effect map of how teams are operating, and can be used to measure progress and ability over time. By keeping data long-term, you gain the ability to measure the same areas day over day, month over month, and year over year in order to map trends in the market. This same information can be used to calculate relationships between different measures that can help plot potential future success or failure when certain conditions are met, similar to profitability, liquidity, and valuation ratios in finance (Lawson, et al, 2008).

Additionally, with everyone always up to date on target goals and the progress towards them, teams are able to collaborate on results and support each other more effectively. This means stronger synergy between departments that are able to change how they work, or pitch in when other teams are struggling to meet their goals (Lawson, et al, 2008).

In the end, everyone needs to be working towards the same point on the horizon, and with strong leadership offering open channels of communication to guide them, they are able to work more effectively as individuals, and more importantly, as a team.

References

Lawson, R., Hatch, T., & Desroches, D.. (2008). Scorecard best practices: design, implementation, and evaluation. [Books24x7 version] Available from http://common.books24x7.com/toc.aspx?bookid=23364.

Worst April Fool's Day Ever

It's been about 10 years since this event originally happened, and it still haunts me a little to this day. Just a word of warning to those with uneasy stomachs or hearts. I don't want to give it away yet, but it ends up VERY SAD at the end.

At the time, I had been working for a few years as an instructor for a local college in Brooklyn Center. In the years I had been there, I had a solid following of students, and some who really needed help, or had big dreams and wanted to learn more beyond what we did in class. There was one student in particular, Sarah, who I got to know pretty well. She and her partner, Mary, lived not too far from the school, and there were a number of occasions where I would go over to her house and help her with some of the more advanced web design tools and coding. Through those visits I got to know her dog, Casey Jones. He was a rambunctious little dog; if memory serves he was a Shetland Sheepdog. Just a small little lap dog version of Lassie for those of you who don't know what they look like.

So it came one day when Sarah had rethought her life and ended up meeting a gentleman who lived out in New York. They started out writing to each other, after some time, she decided he was the one and made plans to move to the New York area and live with him and get married. She packed up all her things and made arrangements to ship them out by rail. She didn't want to bring Casey with her initially so she would have a chance to get settled for a couple days before he came out with her. So she asked me to watch him for a few days. Another option would have been her parents, but they were older and had some trouble getting around the house, let alone watching after a somewhat hyper little dog.

So one afternoon my wife and my daughter, and I drove over to her parent's house and picked up little Casey. He and I got along pretty well, and he listened to me a fair amount. When I picked him up, I simply opened the car door and called him and he came running and jumped into the car. I grabbed his leash, some dishes for food/water and we were off.

We arrived at our house and opened the door to the car in the driveway and little Casey took off around the yard smelling everything he could. He lifted his leg a few places, and generally made our yard into his yard. All seemed to be going well, until it was time to get inside. As I said, Casey listened pretty well, but he must have missed Sarah more. And he took off running.

I, of course, grabbed Mr. Casey Jones' leash and took off after him. Now, I was much younger than I am now, and in a lot better shape physically. That dog ran all over the neighborhood. There were a number of times when I lost track of him while running through side yards and all over the place. Luckily, being not too far off Dinkytown in Minneapolis, there were a lot of houses and a lot of people out walking around. They were kind enough to point me where they had seen the dog running loose.

I eventually tracked him down and kept in pursuit. Now, I know there comes a point where a dog will turn something like this into a game and if you stop and turn around he may follow you. This was not the case with Casey. He wanted nothing to do with me, and wanted everything to do with getting home  to where he thought Sarah was.

So I kept in pursuit; about 2.5 miles now. I would have to stop and take a breath from time to time, but I was able to keep Casey in sight. He stopped from time to time as well. Then he found something that made his trip towards home much easier. Railroad tracks. How very fitting considering his namesake, Casey Jones.

So Mr. Jones and I jogged down a set of tracks for a while, but the sun was setting now and light was fading. Within a short time, it was getting downright dark, and I was no longer able to keep direct sight on Casey, but did see his shape in front of me. There were a number of times while we were on the tracks when I would get within 10-15 feet of him, but nowhere near close enough to grab him.

And then I saw it. A light off in the distance, right down the center of the tracks. Yup...now getting the dog was truly a matter of time. Sooner or later I was either going to have to grab him, or at least get him off the tracks.

However, Casey thought the tracks were great, and he continued right down the middle with me right behind. And the light grew closer. And closer. It eventually got to the point where the train was quite visible to me and the light was quite close. It was about then that I had to make a decision. I had tried any number of tricks with fake treats, his leash, running off the tracks, running around and screaming...to no avail. But I kept on his tail and eventually put on a last burst of whatever I had left and made a mad dash to get him. He turned around and saw me gaining and he put on his own burst of speed. Damn dog.

I stayed with him as long as I could, but eventually had to jump off the tracks to avoid being hit by the train myself. Now, if you have never been this close to the front of a moving train, I can tell you they are quite large, and the light is a lot brighter than you think it might be. To the point where sunlight was dark enough that it caused me to have some blind spots in my eyes, and made it hard to keep an eye on the dog. I walked back and forth on my side of the train, trying to see if he was on the other side running around. And then I saw him. On the tracks. Just lying there, with the remainder of the train's cars passing over him.

It took about 5 minutes for the rest of the train to pass. I then walked over to Casey and he surprisingly looked pretty intact, but was clearly very dead. So I pick him up and carry him a little over a mile back down the tracks we had come until I finally hit a cross street. I laid him down in some tall grass with my t-shirt wrapped around him so I could find him easier in the dark when I came back. So I walked the rest of the way back home, got in the car and came back and got him. Then I had the unenviable task of calling Kathy and letting her know what happened. I called Sarah's mom first to make sure I should tell her tonight and not wait until the next morning. She thought it best to tell her right away.

For those of you who know me, I'm a laid back guy who enjoys a good sense of humor. And this was nothing short of a perfect storm of events that was almost too unbelievable at face value. A dog, named after a famous railroad engineer, who was supposed to take a trip out East in a couple days, was killed by a train. What made it all even worse, was that it was literally April 1st. Yup, this happened on April Fool's Day.

So now I call Sarah and slowly set up the story so it's not a shock, and to my horror, she doesn't believe me. She thinks I'm kidding. Her first response is, "Yeah Erik, ha ha, April Fool's Day. And then Casey got on the train and is heading over to New York on his own. Ha ha ha." And she's actually laughing. So I have to keep telling her over and over what happened, and then finally have to tell her that she needs to hang up the phone and call her mother and verify what happened.

I get a call a few minutes later, from a very sad and teary Sarah who has finally come to grips with what happened. She didn't blame me for what happened, but I still felt microscopically small and just absolutely horrible. Not wanting to be completely separated from Casey, she asked me to clip off some of his fur and save it to send to her, along with his tags and leash. The next day I built a little box for him, and per Sarah's request, buried little Casey in her parent's garden in their yard. They were both very nice about the whole thing, as was Sarah. We stayed in touch for a little while, but eventually time and distance did what it does to people, and we just fell out of touch.

I still think about this day from time to time, generally around April Fool's Day. I've had a number of my own dogs since then, but we're more of a cat family as a whole, and we put down our last dog, Lucy, after a series of health issues including seizures made it uncomfortable for her to continue living. That said, if you were touched by the story at all, please consider making a donation to a local animal shelter and help out another cat or dog in need. There are many animals who need our help.

The Use of Balanced Scorecards in Business

The Use Of Balanced Scorecards in Business

My blog post today focuses on the use of Balanced Scorecards in business. Today I will discuss what scorecards are, how they are used effectively, and what some of the pitfalls can be when used improperly.

What Are Balanced Scorecards

Scorecards are used by businesses to share the company’s mission and strategic goals by breaking down a set of performance measures that are being monitored for outcomes (Lawson, et. al., 2008). Scorecards are important because they give a company a method to clearly communicate information regarding their mission and their strategic goals. Scorecards work by linking and aligning the outcomes of people, projects, and goals to the strategy, and give a clear reason to measure performance at all levels (Lawson, et. al., 2008). Quite often people go through their work each day without thinking about how the work they do impacts the bottom line. By sharing the information contained within balanced scorecards, managers are able to link those daily efforts to real-world measures, and show how they in turn affect the strategic plan. It gives perspective to employees, and simultaneously allows managers to more effectively, and quantitatively, measure performance (Lawson, et. al., 2008).

How Are They Used Effectively

To be used effectively, scorecards need to measure the appropriate information, and do so accurately. Scorecards also need to display the information effectively, so it can be used to measure performance over time, as well as at a glance. When asked, adopters and non-adopters of scorecards agreed on some of the following measures: key performance indicators, a cause and effect map, measure of leading, lagging, financial and non-financial data, and the ability to collaborate on results (Lawson, et. al., 2008).

The use of scorecards can also be detrimental if they are not used appropriately. As indicated before, a scorecard is only as effective as the information being measured. A company may choose to follow a metric in one department, simply because it’s easy to measure, and not because it has a solid impact on the bottom line.

Common Pitfalls and Problems

Over time, the use of scorecards can also become more sophisticated and complex to implement as businesses look for more ways to drill down to various measurements. This can give managers too many metrics to follow, and spread their targets too thin. This can also give rise to complaints from employees who were part of the initial rush of excitement when scorecards were first rolled out, only to later feel bogged down by watching so many metrics that they are unable to do their jobs effectively (Lawson, et. al., 2008).

Cost benefit analysis of some metrics may also prove to be out of reach, and are determined to be too costly to implement. Companies that solicit managers and employees for input on which metrics to measure may also be disappointed when their opinions are determined not to meet the needs of the organization (Larson, et. al., 2008).

Successful Implementation of Scorecards

Having the scorecard system driven by top management can greatly increase the chances of long-term success of scorecard adoption and use. The first reason being that there is going to be cost associated with the collection, and dissemination of the data. If upper-management doesn’t support the initiative, they are also unlike to support the added expenditures. Additionally, employees tend to pay attention to the things their managers pay attention to. As company leaders adopt the use of scorecards into their everyday management of their departments, they initiate a change in company culture that centers on the use of scorecards by everyone. This shift in culture allows for more widespread adoption, and thus wider understanding of how scorecards are used, and what is being measured (Lawson, et. al., 2008).

Conclusion

            The use of scorecards is not without possible pitfalls or problems. However, when used effectively, they can shift the culture of a company to being more focused on the bottom line, and open up more lines of effective communication. It allows for more effective and accurate measurement of goals and outcomes, as well as more qualitative measurement of employees. These benefits are certainly needed for companies to remain profitable, and even those in the non-profit realm, scorecards could allow them to stretch their dollars further.

References

Lawson, R., Hatch, T., & Desroches, D. (2008). Scorecard best practices: design, implementation, and evaluation. [Books24x7 version] Available from http://common.books24x7.com/toc.aspx?bookid=23364.