The C.O.E. - by Patrick Ongman

Any of us who have been in business for the last thirty years have heard their share of business acronyms. In the mid 80's when I began my career I knew that I wanted to work hard and learn about the G.P. A.S.A.P. so that I could become the C.E.O. or C.O.O. P.D.Q. Then I got into sales where I discovered that A.B.C. stood for more than a television network. After I became the President, I realized that G.P. wasn't as important as R.O.I. or E.B.I.T.D.A. During this time I started to develop my own acronyms to help people easily understand what was missing and needed to be be addressed.

One of those acronyms was the C.O.E.

It stands for the "Cents of Ergency"... (Sense of Urgency) If you need to ask why I have spelled the acronym that way, I will tell you that I am not a good speller, and that COE sounds much better than SOU (lol)... No matter how many times that I spoke with my people about the COE there was always someone with a sheepish grin that was ready to correct my spelling errors. I found that the misspelling helped them begin reflecting about the meaning (of each word), and started their process of truly understanding how to achieve their COE.

The issue that I saw at my company and at many others was that some of the individuals and departments had a COE, and others didn't. I couldn't understand why all of the people at my organization didn't have the same COE since they worked for such an inspirational leader (insert laugh here or should I say "lol"). I dug in and tried to discover why. Many of the reasons were obvious and others were not so apparent. While I was attending classes at Olin Business School (thank you Jackson Nickerson) it dawned on me why...

One of the main reasons was that I had not taken the time to develop the culture in all departments where they understood the importance and value of what they did in relation to the success of the business. I had not taken the time to realize that each department had a different "hot button" for their COE. In other words, a sales person (in most cases) operates at a different cadence than a credit manager. Once I spent the time with the leaders in each area to help them develop the specific COE matrix for their department, everything started to run more smoothly. Clear direction and interactive communication helped each department establish a clear and concise COE. During this process we developed a culture where each person and department was made to understand that they were all "owners" in this process, and in the company. Even though they did not have an equity position, they were respected the same.

Another issue that I identified was the amount of work silos that had been setup within the company (and even within departments). Early on in the process we spent time in department reconciliation. I found that there were historical issues that were counterproductive to our success. Communication between departments was encouraged and infighting between departments was discouraged. I led the process where each department was inspired to understand that they were a crucial part of the organization's success. Also, that all departments were connected, and that a change in the COE of one affected the performance and success of everyone.

The philosophy that we adopted was that each person and department had to "bring it" each and every day in their area and specific job. If the operation's department didn't have their COE at 100%, the commercial people could not be at 100%. On the flip-side, if the commercial department didn't "bring it" at 100%, the operations people would have a difficult time.

I was the "cheerleader" of this process. Through a lot of hard work, great teammates, a strong will power, soul searching, positive communication, and strategic follow-up we were able to raise the COE of my organization.

Now it is your turn to measure your COE, and to energize your organization's COE A.S.A.P.

Thank you for reading my article. I hope that you enjoyed it. Patrick

Coming Soon - How to be Successful and Only Work Half a Day, The Fighter Pilot Organization, and The Culture of Clean

Patrick Ongman

As of 12-30-2016, after 30 years at my company, I have resigned as the President of American Tubular Products. I did so to pursue other opportunities within the steel business. I can be reached at 801-244-2213 or [email protected]