ValuExecBlog

Lessons in Excellence

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that this week I picked up two books both of which were published in the 90's and both of which just 'blew me away.' I am embarrassed because as consultants, we are meant to be at the 'cutting edge' of business thinking, and here I am reading books that are nearly 10 years old. But, I am a firm believer that a truly good idea never really gets old. Both books provide wonderful lessons in excellence.

"I have always looked at it this way: If you strive like crazy for perfection - an all-out assault on total perfection - at the very least you will hit a high level of excellence, and then you might be able to sleep at night. To accomplish something truly significant, excellence has to become a life plan." Charlie Trotter. (Taken from the book: "Lessons in Excellence from Charlie Trotter;" by Paul Clarke; Ten Speed Press; 1999)

Clarke notes further that "At Charlie Trotter's every evening, as a matter of course, Trotter and staff speak with customers before they're seated, during dinner, and as they are leaving. They ask not just the conventional "Is everything OK with your meal?" but very specifically what needs to be changed and improved."

I have never had the pleasure of dining at Charlie Trotter and so intrigued, I visited their website. Apart from the standard plaudits stating that Charlie Trotter has "established new standards for fine dining," (which one would expect from someone who has a philosophy of striving for perfection,) what truly appealed was the inclusion of their Guest Satisfaction Survey. Three questions in particular stood out - "How would you rate the rest of the service staff? Do you plan to join us again and if not why? How could we have improved your experience?"

It appears that almost 10 years on, Charlie Trotter and his team are still asking their customers more than the conventional questions.

Valu-Kudos - The "Execution Excellence" Hall of Fame

Kudos: [Ku:das]:means "fame" and "renown" resulting from an act or achievement. Valu-Kudos: means those people or companies that have repeatedly provided execution excellence in what they do and by doing so, have raised the standards for us all.

All of us at some time or another have come across people or companies that "wow" us with their excellence. In the majority of instances, it is a one-off occurrence. However, sometimes we come across a person or a company that "wows" us repeatedly, and this repeated experience makes us raving fans. It makes us re-look at what others are doing, and we find ourselves raising the bar on our expectations. The Valu-Kudos Hall of Fame recognizes and applauds these remarkable people and companies for their excellence in execution and for setting the standards for others to reach.

To be elected into the Valu-Kudos Hall of Fame, a person or company needs to excel in all of the 5 key areas of execution, namely strategy, people, customers, process and finally alignment.

The Blog Squad is the first recipient of the Valu-Kudos. They manage to create masterpieces out of nothing. They never miss a deadline and they continuously offer more value than that which is asked for by the customer. They challenge whilst at the same time provide support. They hold each of their customers uppermost in their minds despite the large number of customers that they have and the time zones that separate many of them. They have a steadfast commitment to ensure that their customers succeed. They clearly define the objectives of each project at the beginning of the project so that there are no surprises and expectations are laid out upfront. Importantly, they ensure that there is alignment at every step along the way. Just one other thing that I need to mention - they are just wonderful to work with.

The Blog Squad is Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff. Welcome to the Valu-Kudos Hall of Fame.

ian

PS: If you would like to nominate a person or company to Valu-Kudos, let me know either through an e-mail or use the comment link. i would like to hear from you. 

Where does Responsibility End - Looking Beyond Acquisitions?

Coca-Cola Amatil is close to selling its Korean bottling operation to LG Household & Health Care. This has been a long process for Amatil who has been looking for a buyer for some time and although Amatil will not be receiving the price it originally wanted, it will at long last be able to hand over responsibility of the poor performing operation to someone else.

What makes LG Household & Health Care (LG), a company that sells household cleaning and personal care products, think it can do any better than Amatil? Importantly though, what makes Amatil think that LG will fare any better than it did, or is it just happy to offload the operation?

In answer to the first question; well, for starters LG is a Korean company and a highly successful and respected one at that in its country of origin. Secondly, it would appear that it has a better insight into the tastes of Korean consumers. For example, LG will use the purchase to launch into the lucrative green tea and health-focused beverage business. Something that Amatil apparently could not do or did not want to do. And thirdly, LG is likely to have a lot more patience than Amatil in netting the returns from the business. It certainly has a lot more to lose. 

Anorexia Industrialosa - Are companies too lean to survive?

Anorexia industrialosa is an excessive desire of an organization to be leaner and fitter, leading eventually to emaciation and death. This was the unfortunate outcome that befell many companies in the 1980s and the 1990s as they embraced a mentality driven by financial ratios of cost-cutting and margin management.

Under such a mentality, every product had to make a prescribed margin over what it cost to produce it, otherwise prices were raised or the product was taken off the market. The latest business models at the time (Total Quality Management, Customer Relationship Management, Balanced Scorecards, etc) were quickly swallowed in heavy doses in an attempt to find a cure but by then it was too late and companies found themselves slipping closer and closer towards bankruptcy.

So, what has changed? Companies are still driven to be leaner and fitter and they still maintain a focus on costs and profitability. But whereas in the 1990s the prime focus was to tinker with internal  processes, today companies realize that to sustain profitable growth they can not ignore their market nor their customers whilst at the same time driving to be lean and fit. It is a delicate balance.

'Never Mess with the Little People'

There is an old saying 'Never mess with the little people!' I get somewhat miffed when the leaders of companies think that the company is bigger than the people who work in it. The following comment is from a Chairman of a particular sports club who, after he unceremoniously and without warning dumped the coach of some 27 years and after the coach had made a comment in the press as to the method of his sacking: "I told him:'Don't destroy your own brand out of personal bitterness. In the end it will bite you and not the club. The club always survives. The institution survives and the individuals suffer.'"

The Chairman goes on to explain that the reason they had to move on the coach quickly was because another coach had become available and " ....we didn't want to be at the back of the queue."

Whereas I tend to agree with the sentiment that 'personal bitterness' is not a good weapon, the Chairman's implied arrogance that the institution is better than its individuals hits a raw nerve. No institution is better than or superior to the individuals that work within its walls (Just look at Communist Russia) and if its leaders think that it is - then they are horribly wrong and shouldn't be leading the organization.

So, I say - 'never mess with the little people' for they may be alot bigger than you think.

Finally, a quote that I came across which I hadn't heard before: 'It's just another splinter in the bum as you slide down the banister of life.' (Darren Beadman: record-making jockey after he was suspended for 7 days by stewards in the UK for excessive use of the whip on his horse at Ascot.) I wonder what his horse would say??

ian

Balance Sheets - The Language of Value

I read somewhere that if you go to bed having not learnt a single thing that day, then it is a day wasted. Yesterday, I learnt something that I would like to share with you.

I was talking to a colleague of mine who is a contractor. During the course of our discussion, he told me that recently he had been asked to quote on providing air-conditioning for one floor of a particular building. A project worth $40,000. After listening to the briefing from the architect, he asked if he could have a few minutes with the CEO of the company that was commissioning the project and that would be occupying the building. The architect agreed.

My colleague spoke to the CEO about balance sheets. First, he spoke about the Commercial balance sheet and how he could save the company money over the medium term as well as improve her employees' productivity in the short term.

Then, my colleague spoke about the Social balance sheet and how he could enhance the lives of her employees by improving their work environment. They would not be constantly sick as he would virtually eliminate 'sickness building syndrome' and because of this they would go home to their families feeling healthy and happy. That in turn would impact their families positively.

My colleague then spoke about the Environmental balance sheet and how he could reduce her energy costs quite considerably.

Finally, my colleague spoke about the Scarce Resource balance sheet and how he could recycle the water generated by the building's air-conditioning system rather than have it channelled directly into the sewage system.

The net result was that his $40,000 project was approved at $180,000 and subsequent orders from the company amounted to over $1 million.

Today, as I was sitting in front of my client, I spoke about balance sheets.

When you provide value to others, they will always be willing to pay for it.

The Differentiation Helix - Separating Yourself from Competition

Organizations are constantly trying to differentiate themselves in the market place, and it would seem that the more they try, the more they begin to look alike.

Only those companies that have an aligned and integrated 'Differentiation Helix' that permeates through the whole organization are truly differentiated in the market place.

Like DNA, the 'Differentiation Helix' consists of two strands, but in our case, the two strands are Strategy and Talent. The Helix is unique to the organization; it is the organization's fingerprint and is what separates the organization from its competition.

Some might argue that a company may differentiate through processes (as GE did through its Six Sigma program). I would suggest that differentiation through processes is simply 'best practice' and may well provide a company with a competitive advantage, but it is not true differentiation. 'Best practices' can and will be duplicated whereas talent and strategy can not be duplicated. (I am of course referring to Blue Ocean strategy.)

When next you sit down to plan for the next 3-5 years, start by:

1. Assessing your strategy - are you competing in uncontested waters (Blue Ocean)?
2. Assess your talent - First, do you have 'A' players in all key strategic roles and secondly, do you have a plan to fill all remaining roles with 'A' players?
3. Finally, is your workforce scorecard aligned with your strategy and is your compensation such that your 'A' players are adequately rewarded?

Then, and only then will your organization be differentiated in the market place.

ian

'Criminal Minds' & the Art of Execution

If you want to see execution at its best, then go no further and watch an episode of 'Criminal Minds'. 

For those of you who have never seen an episode, 'Criminal Minds' is about a group of FBI profilers who catch criminals by getting inside their minds and then anticipating where the criminal will strike next.

The team inevitably finds themselves on a plane (they have their own jet) headed to another part of the country. It would appear that crime is not selective as to where it occurs. But, as time is of the essence and the team has to 'hit the ground running' when they land, the plane trip is spent talking about what each team member thinks about the case; it is spent brainstorming possibilities and detailing who will do what the moment they land.

As soon as the plane comes to a stand still, everyone jumps into action. Every team member is very clear as to what they have to do and what is expected of them.

I can count on one hand, the number of senior managers from Head Office who 'hit the ground running' when they visited the field. In the main, senior manager field visits tend to be time consuming, put everyone on edge and are of very little value to those being visited.

When next you visit the field, or a country operation, 'hit the ground running' because time is of the essence.

ian 

The Corporate Athlete & the Process of Performance

When athletes find themselves in a slump, they revert back to the basic principles of the sport in which they compete. One such principle is the principle of "Concentrating on the Process of the Performance."

The belief is that what you focus on before and during your performance will determine your success or failure. If you are to do your best, you need to focus all your attention on your performance and not on the outcome. That is, you need to focus your attention on your action as it unfolds in the immediate moment and not be distracted by thoughts of winning or losing.

This is a principle that all of us "corporate athletes" would do well to embrace. How often have we focused on the outcome rather than the process at hand when attempting a task, project or even doing our basic job? Thoughts like: "what will people think of me?" or "what if I mess this up?" or "will I get that promotion after I complete this project or not?" and the evergreen "why isn't that person in the front row laughing at  my joke?"

Outcome thoughts like the above or general thoughts of winning or losing interfere with doing your best and prevent you from operating at peak performance or executing with excellence. As corporate athletes, we could learn a thing or two from our sporting colleagues.

If you have any lessons that are transferable from the sports arena to the corporate arena, I would love to hear of them. Simply use the "comment" link below and leave your lesson.

ian

Execution - The Discipline of Getting Things Done

I came across a post by Jack Covert on the book "Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done" by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan which I thought provided an excellent overview of the book. For those of us that are in the business of "Execution" this is a must-have, must-read book. 

Mr. Covert's comment "I find the ability to actually finish a project a lost art," is particularly relevant today as managers are becoming more and more frustrated with incomplete projects or with projects that do not provide the results promised.

In a recent survey of 200 senior and middle managers undertaken by The Hay Group out of the UK, 40% of senior managers claimed that their middle managers represented their biggest single barrier to achieving company objectives. "Execution" is indeed a lost art.

You will find Mr. Covert's post here.

ian