Why did it fail? Your project didn’t produce the expected outcome, your strategy wasn’t effectively executed, your change initiative didn’t become part of the culture … why?

As leaders we’re driven to pinpoint the root cause, the key underlying factor that led to failure. If only we had assigned an executive sponsor. If only we had allocated the right resources. If only we had spent more time communicating the rationale.

Yet it’s often impossible to find the root cause. Why? There isn’t one. There are many.

Organizations are complex systems with many dynamic and interdependent factors. It’s typically a combination of factors that contribute to failure, or to success.

At one time I led a quality team to improve customer service at a university bookstore. Our initial research showed a low-level of satisfaction with the bookstore experience. Why? It turned out there were 19 root causes related to the greeting process, design of shelving, signage, organization of the books, store hours, and the checkout process. Addressing all 19 of the root causes led to a dramatic improvement. Addressing any one alone would not have.

The same thinking applies not just to failure but to any level of performance, good or bad. The model of one cause for one effect is overly simplistic. Thinking of your organization as a complex system helps you look beyond the one so-called root cause and more deeply understand which factors drive performance and what to do about it.

Your thoughts?

Michael

“If the current trend continues …”

How often have you heard someone say that when talking about the future? “If oil reserves continue to be depleted at the current rate …” “If housing prices keep going up …” “If our business keeps growing by double-digits …”

Extrapolation. Extending a past trend into the future. We seem to have a default assumption that things will keep going in the direction they’re going. The problem is in most cases they don’t. New oil reserves get discovered. The housing market gets overheated. Businesses get knocked down.

Assuming the extrapolation of a trend ignores the importance of context. Sure, oil reserves will continue to be depleted … unless new discoveries and better technology help to replenish them. Yes, housing prices will keep going up … unless too many homeowners assume too much risk or new buyers can’t afford to get into the market. And of course your business will keep growing by double-digits … unless competitors take action, technology evolves, markets change and the economy fluctuates.

Trends are not guarantees. They’re often not even the best predictors.

When assessing and forecasting for your business, don’t assume the extrapolation of trends. Ask yourself which contextual factors have supported or inhibited the trends and how could they change.

Your thoughts?

Michael

True entrepreneurs have the gift of seeing opportunities everywhere. True entrepreneurs have the curse of seeing opportunities everywhere. The very trait that allows them to envision the possible, allows them to get distracted from achieving the possible.

I recently had lunch with a client, two co-founders of an up-and-coming consulting firm. Having helped them narrow and redefine their focus, and reformulate their positioning, they’re now excited about the possibility of pursuing multiple new verticals and even international work.

Stop. Take what you’ve proven in one vertical and successfully extend it into a ripe-for-adoption second vertical. And defer the complexities of doing business internationally – cultural differences, staffing, regulations, and so on – until that second vertical is proven. Then you’ll have a vertical-independent platform from which to grow your business and expand in the direction you choose.

Many growing businesses lose focus and spread themselves too thin. As a result, they outstrip their infrastructure and ability to deliver. And they implode.

There will always be more opportunities than you can exploit. Always. Narrow your focus. Intensify your commitment. And rigorously execute.

Your thoughts?

Michael

It feels like you’ve got a thousand projects on the go and everything is a triple-A-one priority. Sound familiar? So how do you prioritize all those priorities?

Answer: Rate each project against a set of criteria. The few projects that best meet your criteria become the true priorities. Here are examples of criteria:

• Resource requirements
• Availability of resources
• Time to complete
• Probability of success
• Organizational trauma
• Return-on-investment
• Payback timeline
• Strategic Impact

First, decide which criteria are most relevant for your situation. Next, using a 5-point scale for each criterion, rate every project. For example, a project with no real strategic impact would receive a “1” while a project with a very high strategic impact would receive a “5”. If some criteria are more important than others, then you might weight them (e.g., return-on-investment could get twice the points of resource requirements).

Once you’ve completed the set of ratings for each project, see what the numbers tell you. Finally, do they pass the “gut-test?” Do those projects that stand out seem like the top priorities?

Everything can’t be a triple-A-one priority. Prioritize those priorities.

Your thoughts?

Michael

A strategy is simply intention. It doesn’t become real until it’s paired with structure and action.

1. Sponsorship. If it’s important enough to be a strategy, then someone on the executive team needs to own it and be accountable.
2. A Champion. The strategy needs someone who is responsible for overseeing its management and execution. That’s the champion.
3. Milestones & Timelines. You don’t want to find out at the 11^th hour that the strategy is off-track. That’s why it’s important to have 5-8 high-level, time-linked milestones that indicate if sufficient progress is being made.
4. Resources. Identify the required financial, material and people resources at the front end of the strategy. Don’t be surprised if you discover you need to secure additional resources or stretch timelines with existing resources.
5. Progress Tracking. The strategy team should meet no less than monthly to review commitments, track progress and set new commitments. It builds a team culture of expectations, report-out and accountability.
6. Recalibration. Reality changes. So the plan may need to change. Set a dedicated semi-annual meeting to review new information, test your original assumptions, and discuss implications for the strategy. Make changes as required.

Many so-called strategies never translate into results. Following these six steps will maximize your chances.

Your thoughts?

Michael

It’s an age-old conundrum: should you focus on process or results? Process is how stuff gets done. Results are what need to get done.

Some leaders are intensively results-focused. Hit the number! Everything comes back to the number. People aren’t allowed to forget about the number. As a result, in many cases, the number gets hit. Yet in other cases, the number doesn’t get hit and it’s not clear how you manage towards the number.

Some leaders are painstakingly process-focused. It doesn’t mean they don’t care about results, it means that to get the results they’re continually trying to determine and control how. That’s process. Leaders who focus on process often hit the number and are in a better position to know why and to replicate it. On the other hand, I’ve seen leaders who are so process-focused that the target is allowed to keep slipping back because the process isn’t quite right.

So what’s the answer? Results-driven and process-focused. In this time of big data and analytics, it’s irresponsible not to try to understand the variables upstream of results and to influence them. Yet process for process sake is simply activity. There needs to be a continual positive pressure to get the results.

Drive for results. And focus on process.

Your thoughts?

Michael

If there’s one activity that sets strategic leaders apart, it’s that they regularly reflect.

Beyond managing the whirlwind of the day-to-day, they reflect on how the world is changing. How the market environment is changing. What it means for their organization. What their long-term goals should be. How their actions today are supporting those goals. What they must change to achieve them.

Strategic leaders realize the limitations of managing exclusively to the day-to-day. They fear becoming effective and efficient at what is increasingly irrelevant.

Take time to think. Look beyond the whirlwind while you’re riding the whirlwind.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Last week I covered why most Mission Statements are meaningless. So while I no longer believe in Mission Statements (or Vision Statements), here’s what I do believe in.

Whether it’s a networking event, a trade show or a social encounter, when you tell someone the name of your organization they always ask the same question: What do you do? And they want you to tell them in one, simple, easy-to-understand statement the essence of what your organization does.

When you want your people focused and motivated, looking beyond their day-to-day jobs, understanding the big picture, you have to continually convey one thing: What winning looks like.

What We Do and Winning are positioning statements. And good positioning statements have these elements:

1) Purposeful. They’re crafted with a particular audience and objective in mind.

2) Memorable. To be effective they have to be memorable and to be memorable they have to be concise. And not just a mash-up of overused words.

3) Conversational. The intent isn’t to end the conversation it’s to engage the conversation. Your statement should naturally lead to follow-up questions: How do you do that? What markets do you serve?

Yes, you should have positioning statements. Just don’t default to meaningless missions and vacuous visions.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Quick, what’s your mission statement?

Bet you struggled with that, didn’t you? You’re in good company. Most leaders struggle to remember their mission statements. Why? Many are simply too long. One of our clients had a mission statement that was … drum roll please … 247 words long! How could you remember that? How could you possibly align your organization around a 247-word mission statement?

Even if they’re not too long, too many mission statements sound hollow. They recycle the same generic words. Superior value … blah, blah, blah … customer focus … blah, blah, blah … solutions … blah, blah, blah. All nice words, but they don’t say what you do, what business you’re in.

Your mission statement is supposedly the most important statement in your company. If you can’t remember it or if you wouldn’t use it in a real-life conversation, then get rid of it. If you don’t, your employees will think it’s a joke.

But without a mission statement, how do you convey what your company does, what it stands for, and where it’s headed? That’s the topic of next week’s blog.

Your thoughts?

Michael