New World, New Rules?

Although this is a prescription for a new company, the intent is to rise like a phoenix from the ashes – building the company on the same ground as the old. These are universal rules that work – period.

There are 4 Operating Principles that provide the foundation for success and growth:

  • Accountability
  • Feedback on Results
  • Peer Support
  • Planning as the CEO’s (you the business owner) Job 1

Why?

After 4 decades of business consulting with the large and the small plus years of researching organizational excellence, I found these 4 Principles in every success story.

Accountability

What It Is

The obligation of an individual, work group, department, division, or the entire organization to accept responsibility for performance.

How Does It Work

All behavior is at a minimum based on expectations of consequences. It affects choice, control, and responsibility for one’s actions. Most organizations do not tap into the vast potential employees bring to the job. Most studies on discretionary performance (how hard people choose to work) show that only a 30-40% effort is required, the rest is a choice. In short, people decide to work harder than they have to and that cannot be forced or bribed.

Results You Can Expect

It starts with balancing the chemical equation Responsibility must equal Authority. There is no greater formula for failure than holding people accountable for things outside of their control; it creates victims. The key here is Locus of Control. It is the person’s belief system – are they masters of their own lives or just flotsam at the mercy of the waves. The more we can hire, develop, and support the belief they are masters of their own destiny – the better they will perform in a more productive company.

Getting It Done

  • Line of Sight to Business Objectives – everybody knows what the company is trying to accomplish and they have a piece;
  • Measurement Skeleton – the company measures the right things to determine real-time progress and results;
  • Recognition & Rewards – positive and negative performance receives the appropriate

Feedback on Results

What It Is

It is the second leg of our performance chair. Once you have created, or in the process of creating a culture of accountability, it is the system for delivering the information. Feedback is communicated to a person or a team regarding the effect their behavior is having on another person, the organization, the customer, or the team. It is positive and negative.

How Does It Work

Knowledge of performance is feedback related to HOW a specific skill is performed. It gives feedback on the quality of execution of the skill and may come from either intrinsic or extrinsic sources. Knowledge of results refers to the IMPACT of performance. It is external feedback and may come from sources such as peers, leaders, or the system.

It is nothing more than a feedback loop that provides timely feedback on performance and results.

Results You Can Expect

  • Increase in productivity (Supervisors and Managers average a 9% increase);
  • Increase in employee productivity (70% of employees will work harder);
  • Negative feedback is not necessarily negative (90% report if correctly delivered it will positively impact performance);
  • Improves goal setting and meeting organizational objectives (30% improvement);
  • Vertically and Horizontally Aligns the organization (vertical = people with business objectives, horizontal = processes with customers).

Getting It Done

  • Automation – system feedback delivered continuously on performance;
  • Creation of dashboards for the frontline, scorecards for management;
  • All dashboards are updated continuously;
  • Visually manage the business – make everyone post performance and results.

Peer Leadership / Peer Support

What It Is

Peer leadership is leadership that functions “sideways”. It considers that all work groups have informal leaders who exercise as much control as those in formal positions. Peer support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical help to each other and can take several forms, such as peer mentoring.

How Does It Work

Every work group develops a set of norms or rules. These are informal, but as strong as your company’s policy manual. It controls how hard they work, how they decide, how they fight, and who is in charge. Given how connected the immediate supervisor or manager is to the group (the degree of presence and contact), the informal leaders are usually more powerful than those you appoint.

Results You Can Expect

If your influence on the work group norms is successful, you can expect synergy. A miss used and understood outcome. It is not the wisdom of groups because many you encounter are not very smart. Synergy occurs when the performance of the group is greater than its parts, like the best sports teams. Talent wise they are outmatched but find a way to win.

Getting It Done

  • Assemble workgroups carefully (make it based on both skills and personality);
  • Manage by meeting (force people to work together through cross-functional groups);
  • Create peer awards (let members of the work groups create their own awards);
  • Reward support (company wide recognition for the individuals who help others perform).

Planning is CEO Job 1

What It Is

Organizations pay people to perform in the present; the frontline for doing the work, supervisors for managing processes, and managers for delivering results – what do you pay yourself to do? The role of the CEO (owner) is success in the future.

How Does It Work

Free up your calendar to allow the thinking space to look at the near (next 6 months) and far (12 months) future. In the near future, your role is to identify and solve strengths and weaknesses of the business. In the far future, it is to identify and solve issues related to opportunities and threats.

Results You Can Expect

It will start with a less hectic workday where you are working from a plan rather than crisis to crisis. You have people in the organization to handle the crises that are the normal part of any workday. This prevents the urgent from stealing time from the critical. It is also empowering for your managers, supervisors, and employees to be “forced” to handle it. It provides the greater accountability we discussed earlier – expect a 30% improvement in performance of the organization.

Getting It Done

  • Create 2 Teams – Future Team that supports your efforts to focus on opportunities and threats, and a Present Team that handles strengths and weaknesses;
  • Membership on the Team is based on role and personality – operations on the Present Team, marketing on the Future Team, nuts and bolts people on the Present Team, big picture people on the Future Team;
  • Make the membership cross functional and from several levels;
  • Make the requirements for membership 10% of their work week. This will force delegation.

Next: Stop Fixin To and Take Action – You Don’t Have The Time

 

William Eastman is a result focused Entrepreneur, Consultant, Advisor, and Thought Leader with over 40 years in the business. That includes training, consulting, and management experience working with leaders in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, software, hospitality, higher education, and online services. His areas of expertise include leadership, team building, coaching & mentoring, organizational design & change, business development, HR solutions, strategic planning, global strategy, startups, and M&A. His weekly radio show, Real Help Wanted: Building an All-In Workforce, airs on BizTalkRadio on Monday 7pm ET and Saturday at 1pm ET.