Action-Oriented Execution (full text)

Recently an interstate colleague contacted me to advise their annual performance review included a random new deliverable, “Improve your Emotional Intelligence (EI)”. I held my breath, tilted my head, raised my eyebrows and responded, “Do you have a formal EI HR expectation; a repeatable and transparent EI methodology that all from CEO to shop floor are transparently measured and exception-managed. Do you have a prioritized improvement plan that’s mutually agreed with your manager providing concurrent support, measurement and recognition?” My question was met with belly laughter.

When we have an ailment or illness, we seek a doctor/specialist; when an IT, mechanical or electrical system faults, an engineer; when a contract is in dispute, a lawyer. Yet workplaces accept the bias and ‘gutfeel’ of manager’s authority, without evidence or qualification to critically measure exception in personnel. Some managers are disconnected from the deleterious effect this bias has on engagement, morale and mental health.

#facepalm.

In recent decades, business has more heavily lent on consultancy to deliver ‘strategy houses’; we all know the template, start with purpose and vision, seek differentiation and deliver on a foundation of people, culture and continuous improvement (CI) with vertical pillars of industry best profitability, safety, environment and customer service whilst being a ‘corporate pillar’ of community. Simple, repeatable, proven. That’s the strategy house template 101.

Some years ago, a mentor advised that it is not in the strategy where the capability gap in the current business model exists, seemingly an infinite number of consultancies will wheel out their strategy house templates. Rather, it is in internal execution, that tangible, visceral activation where gaps exist in leadership and application – consultancy’s scope is never long-term execution. In the following chapters, I’ll seek to share execution gaps across culture, CI and risk; often many authors create narratives too broad feeding reader’s self-interested interpretation rather than definitive, distinct, simple, specific actions that should be core, endemic, coded to DNA to support excellence within that operating sphere. Structured & transparent processes; clear culture and empowerment; repeatable actions.

Simply, in my colleague’s recent experience, don’t be a manager that acts as a corporate Lone Ranger. Don’t shoot from the hip and assess personality, like a vitamin supplement, as being deficient in EI. Don’t stroll off into the annual performance review sunset without supporting and lifting your most important resource – your team. Admittedly rising from a negative vantage – these are distinct, repeatable and executable actions. 

Chapter 1 – Is Netflix Culture a pipedream?

Chapter 2 – CI is not capital expenditure

Chapter 3 – Gaming Statistics

Chapter 1 – Is Netflix Culture a pipedream?

Netflix coined the phrase “Act in Netflix’s best interests” a simple and defining empowerment of all employees to ‘act like THE owner’. This statement stretches beyond the selfless delivering of shareholder value in increased market share, profit and cost reduction. This concurrently talks to the ‘how?’; the intangible morale, engagement, camaraderie and fraternity experienced in great workplaces. It talks to the catchphrase ‘champions do extra’ and All Blacks’ ‘sweep the sheds’; the vulnerability and humility to give more than you take.

DESIRABLE ACTIONS in a great culture

Don’t misinterpret ‘have genuine interactions’; rather, specifically ensure every first greeting of the day is authentic, focused and with warmth, whether to a superior, peer or junior.

Don’t misread capability due to Groupthink; rather through Devil’s Advocate, rationale and conviction; challenge assumptions, processes and standards to ensure that best efforts and best outcomes are always achieved.

Don’t dispatch ‘role-modeling’ as something primary school teachers are expected to exhibit for their cohort; rather, accept role-modeling as a leadership attribute and everyone leads at some time. In every behavior and activity, everyone should seek to proudly role-model best efforts and in turn, be a leader.

Don’t be paralyzed by ‘management by committee’ nor make ‘captain’s calls’; rather, be Goldilocks and find the optimal balance of being evidence-based and collaborative - listening to prioritized voices & data is fundamentally the best engagement style and a pillar in genuine and immediate conversations.

Others might generically suggest being genuine, authentic and a confident-to-challenge collaborative role-model – don’t selfishly interpret this statement, rather, be best-in-organization action-oriented.

Chapter 2 – CI is not capital expenditure

Definitively, Continuous Improvement (CI), Process Improvement (PI), Focused Improvement (FI) do not use capital expenditure (CapEx) to deliver change imperatives, not a single penny. Admittedly, an output of CI/PI/FI can become an input to Business Improvement or Appropriation/Capital Procurement processes; however, CapEx is released from stress-tested and sensitivity-analyzed business cases, balance sheet agility and is the governed delivery of benefits cases/IRR. CI by direct contrast is the delivery of ‘blood out of a stone’, it is the domain where discrete increases in efficiency, yield and throughput are achieved, physical or administrative. It is the eternal search and re-prioritization of activities towards perfection; precision first and ultimately accuracy. CI is iterative and virtuous. CI is a requisite of corporate DNA and is formally led by qualified and outcome-experienced Six Sigma ‘belts’ and Lean Practitioners. CI is equally at home in the factory, the mine, the hospital and the administrative operation – no workplace is immune to the P&L benefits delivered by CI whether revenue or expenditure benefits.

DESIRABLE ACTIONS in industry-leading CI

Don’t summarily ‘tighten budgets’, rather, specifically have professionals analyze the business and trading conditions, apply zero-based budget (ZBB) techniques, Pareto the improvement path across all budgets (including all the ‘protected’ central budgets) and prioritize and resource the mutually agreed tracts of improvement work. Recognize, reward and promote the change champions; further embedding change and CI into corporate DNA.

Don’t not implement a change methodology led by CI professionals; rather understand, through ZBB, seek Lean, Six Sigma (6s) or a combination of Lean-6s (L6s) as the best fit for the opportunities within revenue and expenditure sides of your business. Ensure that the loss buckets and opportunities are clearly defined and prioritized to return shareholder value.

Don’t disregard, misunderstand or misuse lean or 6s tools; rather, create and champion improvement through exception-management using 5Y’s, fishbones, SMED, TIMWOOD, VOC, Pareto, hypothesis tests, regressions, segmentation, automation and design-integration.

Do not accept ‘cowboy change’; rather embed repeatable and transparent governance and reporting frequency. For clarity, many businesses implementing CI fail on two governance fronts, they ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’, the act of creating gains by creating inefficiencies, waste or cost in other areas. Additionally, many businesses ‘move the goalposts’ of their baselines, specification or perfection, so as reporting appears positive, though change might be inconsequential. Change through CI is challenging; support the CI teams, maintain integrity in governance and demand all in the organization equally deliver CI imperatives.

Do not accept a ‘blame culture’, rather celebrate being an exception-managed business. See failure, waste, error in the process, poor capability, organizational gaps and lack of market share as the purest oxygen from which improvement can breathe. Use evidence-based techniques like formal Root Cause Analysis (RCA). Be an information-led organization, challenge data, analysis, assumptions and ensure the change agenda supports the entire organization knowing their “critical numbers”.

Others might generically suggest using ZBB, celebrating change champions, employing transparent governance and being exception-managed – don’t selfishly interpret this statement, rather, be best-in-organization action-oriented.

Chapter 3 – Gaming Statistics

Let’s be very, very, very clear, risk is the monetarization of known negative consequences to the organization through transparent and authorized quantitative/statistical methods.  Management consultancy will quickly install a corporate risk register with appropriate consequences, likelihood and functional risk levels/ratings. Consultancy may ultimately support the population of whole of business actuals and gap analysis to Board risk appetite. Ongoing management of risk, however, is never the job of consultancy, rather it is one of the key ingredients to the annual strategy (choices we make) process of the organization.

DESIRABLE ACTIONS in risk management

Don’t accept Groupthink and ‘gutfeel’ for likelihood assessments; rather, be an evidence-based organization that statistically supports each likelihood assessment with quantifiable probability.

Don’t cheat risk; rather transparently assess, audit and periodically review statistical evidence and consequence to ensure risk is not being downgraded and thus unknowingly creating a gamed climate where risk might be diminished and become an issue on ‘someone else’s watch’ or the contrary, the unnecessary overstatement of risk to ensure CapEx deployment to favoured departments/personnel for biased programs of work.

Don’t be ‘paralyzed’ by risk; as the saying goes, ‘nothing would be started’, let alone achieved if swamped by risk aversion. Make choices, act, report, seek feedback and be purposeful and confident in scoped and authorized activity. Conversely, don’t be indifferent to risk, it is not a once-a-year offsite workshop administrative activity; the risk register is a dynamic reflection of operating conditions – it is situationally contextual and managed in that rhythm.

Don’t be delayed or absent in updating internal legal agreement templates – divergence of agreement clauses with the ongoing instantaneous shareholder risk appetite can create a mismatch within negotiation that can stymy activity or can create unexpected risk on the organization. Seek the ongoing convergence or ‘goldilocks’ drafting or markups through negotiation and post-execution review.

Others might generically suggest being a quant-driven organization, being courageous, delivering uncertain change and optimizing the organization – don’t selfishly interpret this statement, rather, be best-in-organization action-oriented.