New Discussion Viewpoint – Warning Flags

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To succeed, it is often not good enough to have the best talent, the latest technology, and the most efficient processes. In many instances, the difference between organizations performing exceptionally and those that are merely good is the ability to avoid performance pitfalls.

To date, the StrategyDriven website has been focused on those best practices that successful organizations employ to achieve sustained, exceptional results. Going forward, StrategyDriven contributors will offer performance insights in a new type of discussion posting, Warning Flags.

Warning flags represent those activities or performance attributes that diminish an organization’s effectiveness. By their very nature, warning flag behaviors are active not passive. They represent individual or organizational behaviors that diminish the organization’s overall ability to create value. Because warning flags are behavior based, they can be readily observed, recognized, and corrected or eliminated.

Warning flags are not simply the absence of best practice performance. While this may be the case in some instances, the omission of a best practice often only results in an organization foregoing that practice’s benefits. Warning flags always represent behaviors that are destructive to organizational performance, not the absence of performance enhancing practices.

We hope you find these new warning flag postings to be of great value in your pursuit of organizational excellence and look forward to receiving your comments and feedback.

Recommended Resource – First, Break All The Rules

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First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

About the Reference

First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman explains how great managers select employees, set expectations, motivate people, and assign people to jobs that fit. Selected examples from the vast research for this book reveal in detail why these practices are successful at attracting and motivating the most talented individuals in a way that produces results beyond those realized by applying traditional managerial methods.

Benefits of Using this Reference

The challenge of today’s highly competitive business environment is compounded by an ever tightening labor pool. In order to meet the need of continually producing more with less, managers must attract and retain talented personnel and find better ways to release their creative, productive spirits.

StrategyDriven Contributors like First, Break All the Rules because it clearly illustrates how managers, without elaborate and costly rewards systems, can better attract and motivate employees. Using the insights gained from extensive Gallop Organization research, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman show how great managers:

  • select employees based on their talents rather than their skills and experiences
  • define goals and expectations for the work employees perform
  • focus and build on the individual strengths of each employee rather than on “fixing” the employee’s weaknesses
  • seek to place employees in jobs that fit rather than on corporate ladder climbing

We believe the management approach described in First, Break All the Rules will motivate employees and help them reach their highest potential; ultimately creating increased organizational value.

Strategy without effective execution is no more than a compilation of good intentions. We believe managers implementing the approach described in First, Break All the Rules will enhance tactical business execution at all levels of the organization; making this book a StrategyDriven recommended read.

StrategyDriven Decision-Making Best Practice Article

Decision-Making Best Practice 2 – Multidiscipline Teams

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StrategyDriven Decision Making Best PracticeComplex decision execution, whether seeking near- or long-term results, often stimulates action involving many of the functional business units within an organization. These decisions may mobilize procurement personnel for material acquisitions, human resources specialists for contractor in-processing, finance personnel for debt restructuring, or any of a number of other functional organizations for the performance of core business activities.[wcm_restrict plans=”49224, 25542, 25653″] Regardless of the specifics of these complex decisions, it is unlikely that a single individual will possess the broad range of knowledge and experience needed to fully understand the influences and impacts the decision poses for all relevant functional areas. It is for this reason that effective decision-making, especially when dealing with complex or high risk circumstances, employs the use of multidiscipline teams.

The purpose of a multidiscipline team is to ensure the full range of needed knowledge and experience resources are brought to bear to resolve a particular issue. Having enough knowledge and experience resources occurs when the team includes individuals that together possess the background necessary to reasonably anticipate the potential functional impacts of a decision and together can identify and select an alternative that maximizes value to the organization. By extension, this implies that all functional disciplines need not be represented during every performance of the decision-making process.

The number of participants in a multidiscipline decision-making team often varies throughout the decision-making process. Early in the process, when uncertainty is most significant because of a lack of problem definition and alternative selection, these teams tend to be larger to ensure all potentially impacted functional areas are represented. As the decision-making process progresses, typically after an alternative is selected, individuals representing disciplines not significantly impacted are often excused from direct participation and are kept aware of the decision’s progression by way of periodic communications. As circumstances evolve, additional requirements may arise that demand inclusion of disciplines not currently represented on the team. At these points, needed personnel are engaged or re-engaged in the decision-making process.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”49224, 25542, 25653″]

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About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Best Practice Article

Strategic Planning Best Practice 8 – Results First, Actions Second

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Best PracticeToo often, organizations biased to action move forward with projects and initiatives before defining the results to be achieved. This shotgun approach resembles the marksman who shoots, shoots some more, and then aims. And like the marksman who doesn’t first aim, the organization may or may not achieve its desired goals. Even if the goals are met, it is likely that many of the activities pursued contributed little or not at all to the organization’s goals; ultimately, wasting precious time and resources.[wcm_restrict plans=”40647, 25542, 25653″]

Results first, actions second refers to the planning process were desired outcomes are first identified and performance goals clearly defined before the many actions that might enable the organization to achieve those results are assessed, the costs-benefits determined, and the portfolio of the most value adding activities selected. This planning process has several steps including:

Step 1 – Executives explicitly define the goals and/or objectives to be achieved.

Step 2 – Managers assemble a list of activities to move the organization toward achievement of the defined goals. An array of activities are reviewed and assessed because it is unlikely that a single activity, pursued in isolation, would be capable of fully satisfying the organization’s goals.

Step 3 – From the activity list, executives select and prioritize mix of activities offering the greatest value potential given the limitations of the organization’s available resources. These activities represent the portfolio of value adding options to be pursued by the organization.

Note that the list of activities compiled by the management team should include one-time projects and initiatives and the major ongoing activities the organization routinely performs. It is only when all work is considered in aggregate that the most value adding activities can be identified and those offering little or no value, including activities that have been routinely performed for extended periods, can be targeted for improvement or elimination.

Results first, actions second offers significant benefit to an organization. By aligning the organization’s activities to established goals and objectives, executives can more readily identify and eliminate low value adding activities; enabling better employment of limited resources toward value creation. By establishing a relative priority for all of the organization’s activities, decision-makers at all levels are provided the guidance they need to ensure resources are allocated in a way that maximizes the organization’s overall chances for success. Employing the results first, actions second philosophy truly helps an organization become strategy driven.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”40647, 25542, 25653″]

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About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Resource Projection Best Practice 2 – Begin with the Work

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The business planning process of balancing what the organization will do with its limited resources is an iterative one. However, resource owners too often focus on the amount of resources they have and alter work estimates so the activity portfolio they are responsible for fits within the resource pool under their immediate control. This practice frequently leads to under-estimating resource needs as managers continually strive to expand their activity portfolios; resulting in reduced quality, late deliveries, and a diminished bottom line.

Beginning with the work emphasizes the need to make quality resource estimates, both in terms of personnel and financial resource needs. While estimators will undoubtedly be aware of the resource limitations of the organization, they should focus their attention on making quality resource estimates thereby allowing the organization, through the use of its work prioritization system, to appropriately rank and select activities for inclusion in the overall corporate portfolio. Only when this is done, does the organization have a high probability of accomplishing all of its approved activities on time, on budget, and at the desired quality level. Managers focusing first on the resource portfolio often find themselves shorthanded, taking shortcuts, and ultimately failing to accomplish overall goals and objectives.

Additional Resources

StrategyDriven contributors recommend the following resource that elaborates and compliments the Begin with the Work best practice:

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition
by the Project Management Institute

About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.