ValuExecBlog

This is your captain speaking...

There has been a lot of news coverage recently about the Qantas jet that suffered a gas explosion whilst in flight. Most of the coverage has been on trying to find where to lay the blame with very little coverage on the actions of the pilot and the crew in avoiding a potential disaster.

In one of those few articles, the pilot said that he was flying on instinct but 'instinct' like 'luck' is strongest when you train and work hard at being the best at what you do. One passenger praised the flight crew and said that they were calm, took control and helped the passengers through the unfortunate experience. Whereas I do believe in instinct, I also do not underestimate the role played by the hours of training and preparing for such emergencies which enabled the pilot and his team to avoid disaster and land the plane safely.

I have peace of mind knowing that if anything untoward should happen on a Qantas flight, I will be in safe hands. Compare that to an experience that a colleague of mine had on one particular Asian carrier. At one point during the flight, the aircraft went through severe turbulence which resulted in it dropping at what seemed to be 100 feet per second. My colleague said it was pretty hairy stuff but made all the more so by the flight attendants running down the aisles screaming in fear.

Qantas prides itself on being one of the 'safest airlines in the world,' and the actions of the pilot and crew in the latest saga would certainly back that up. But, all is not rosy in the Qantas camp one fears. A post investigation into the explosion and the events thereafter has revealed that not all gas masks in the cabin fell down and some of those that did were not operational. The unions were quick to blame this on the cost cuts that have been going on at the company for a number of years. A fact violently rebutted by Qantas management. Whether it is true or not I would not know, but of one fact I am certain and that is if a company, in the name of profitability or cost cutting, starts meddling with those factors upon which it has based its mission and built its reputation, then it will not survive in the long term. The message is simple - Don't mess with your DNA - that is, don't mess with what has made you unique.

If you are asked to cut costs in your department or company - look at those factors upon which you have built your reputation and protect them from the 'money grabbers,' but be ruthless in cutting or shedding all other factors not related to your reputation or mission. Otherwise the last words you may hear are, 'This is your captain speaking...'

ian  

The Courage to Say 'No!'

What a lot of leaders lack is the courage to say 'No!' No to the number of projects that have a tendency to accumulate within an organization and that divert scarce resources away from those projects that are critical. By critical, I mean those projects that are aligned to strategy.

It was a lesson that I learned only too well when I was heading up the Beauty Care and Nutritional Division of a pharmaceutical company. We had been asked to deliver more profit which called for a very close look at where our resources were being used. To my surprise, I am ashamed to admit, we uncovered over 150 projects that were in some way sapping the organization.

All were valid projects. All project leaders had good reasons as to why they were being done and the need for the resource allocation - but, if the truth be told, only a very few of them were absolutely critical and aligned to strategy. By focusing on the very few, we freed up resources, both financial and human; our response time improved as did our overall performance. Importantly we delivered on the revised profit target.

I spoke last week about navigating the minefields of Power and Influence and one of the outcomes of power and influence is the emergence of a project or activity and the corresponding allocation of scarce resources to support it. As leaders, we need to be true to strategy and have the courage to simply say 'No!' and to encourage others in the organization to do likewise.

In closing, review all the projects that are currently in the pipeline or on the drawing board and cull those that are not critical. Be ruthless is this task. Then, develop a culture in the organization  where people are encouraged to identify projects or activities that should be stopped and where to say 'No!' is encouraged rather than frowned upon and is not seen as failure.

ian

Navigating the Minefields of Power & Influence

At some point in your career, you will need to navigate the minefields of power and influence that exist within your organization. You will need the support of others to enable you to execute your strategy effectively or you will need to influence others to act in a certain way or to change their behavior so that you can meet your needs. You will need to either exert power and influence or tap into the power and influence of others.

Power is the opposite of dependency. The more dependent a department is on another to provide say, technical support, or key data etc, the more power and influence that department has over the department requiring the support or data. Power and influence is also related to the ability of a department to monopolize what other departments require. In other words, if a department can not obtain its technical support or data from any other source, then its dependency on and the power of the department providing what it needs is greater.

The same applies to people. People on exactly the same hierarchy level in an organization often enjoy different levels of influence. Therefore, when executing strategy, it is important that you recognize and understand the sources of power and influence within the organization. The following 3 actions will assist you in navigating the minefields of power and influence in the execution of strategy:  

1. Define the power bases and relationships in the organization
Map out the key dependency relationships affecting power or social influence within the organization. Who are the main players that affect what you do in your job (i.e., what departments do your department depend on for knowledge, data, technical support, etc), and conversely, which departments or SBUs depend on your department?

2. Form coalitions with those in power
It is important that you get power people in your corner in order to reduce resistance to your strategy or plan. The larger the power base that you create, the less likely that you will be ignored.

3. Focus on value-added, measurable results so as to gain influence and ensure that you achieve successful execution outcomes
Results do count. Individuals that create value obtain power. Therefore, when putting forward a strategy or plan, focus on the benefits that will accrue as a result of executing your plan. Measurable outcomes are important since hard measures are what people can see clearly and understand fully. To that end, try and express a problem in a way that people can identify with by providing data on the cost of the problem (i.e., the real hard numbers); then position your plan as the way to solve the problem. Finally, having a history of successful execution and positive results will increase your power and influence. 

I saw first hand the use of power and influence when working for a global food company. One of the Directors of the company had used his power and influence to push hard for expansion into Asia, particularly into Indonesia. Because of his power and influence, he was able to secure the resources for expansion. However, 2 years later, the Director retired and his replacement lacked the power and influence of his predecessor. As a result, resources that were once readily available dried up and further expansion into the territory was halted. 

Whereas the 3 actions described above will assist you in executing strategy, you need to bear in mind the downside to power and influence of which there are two:

1. People in power tend to want to stay there, and

2. Power is slow to change.

If you want to change the power structures that exist within the organization or more specifically your department, then you need to focus on and change the conditions that bestow power:

• Change Strategy
• Alter structure
• Reduce resource allocations & dependencies
• Create different levels of centrality & importance

Ultimately, the challenge for management is to ensure that power and influence furthers  the achievement of organizational or department goals and the execution of strategy.

ian

Cutting Talent ~ Be careful, very careful who you let go!

As a follow up to my blog on "Why it is necessary to Topgrade", we have recently prepared the following paper 'Defining 'A' Players: The Topgrading Alternative to Defining Talent.'  The paper is available for download free and without your having to provide your e-mail address. It is in PDF format so you will need to have the software that is able to read such. Just click on the link below.  

Download Topgrading_Paper_DefiningAPlayers_2008.pdf

Why am I doing this? It is quite simple - as we continue to read about the recession and how companies are cutting back their workforce, it concerns me that 'A' players are being let go and 'B' and 'C' players are remaining. The outcome is that once successful companies never really get back to where they were before the recession.

I appreciate that this is a simplistic viewpoint - very simplistic some may argue but I would suggest that when companies look at cost cutting through downsizing - it becomes nothing more than a circular numbers game (i.e., how can we save X amount of dollars; we can do it by shedding xx amount of costs which includes xx amount of people.) In most instances, it is middle management that is at greatest risk because not only do they have high overheads but because of what they represent, namely the 'middle' and we have been raised to 'cut out the middle man'.

If ever there was a time to Topgrade throughout your organization, it is now. If (or when) you downsize, you need to know the calibre of person that you are letting go regardless of level. To not know whether they are an 'A' or 'B' player at the time of cutting loose, is a disservice to your employees, your shareholders and to your customers. 'A' players are adaptable since they are goal driven and I have seen 'A' players thrown into new roles and succeed. I have seen 'B' players stay in their same role and fail.

Feel free to comment on the Paper. Your comments are always welcome.

ian  

  

Storytelling - Are we losing the art?

Trying to understand exactly what my 18 year old son is telling me is, in itself an art. In between slang, grunts, and the continual use of the phrases, 'you know' and 'whatever', there is a hint of a story. I just have to find it. On the other hand, when I try and relate a story to him using words and phrases 'most fair,' his eyes roll back, the shutters come down and the body snatchers ascend from the bowels of the earth and he is lost to me forever - or at least until the end of the story.

It does beg the question though - have we lost the art of storytelling?

Toastmasters in their Advanced Communication and Leadership Manual on Storytelling suggests that storytelling has been a form of communication throughout the history of mankind. Mary Catherine Bateson once said that 'storytelling is fundamental to the human search of meaning' and Stephen Denning in his book, 'The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the art of and discipline on Business Narrative' (John Wiley & Sons; 2005) argues that the 'widely held belief that storytelling is a rare skill in which relatively few human beings excel is utter nonsense.'

Denning suggests that we master the basic skills of storytelling as young children and that we retain this capability throughout our lives. He points out that you only have to watch what goes on in an informal social setting (i.e., in a restaurant, a party etc.) to see that all human beings know how to tell stories and that learning to tell stories is not so much a task of learning something as it is 'reminding ourselves of something we already know how to do.'

I have to admit though that Denning does have a point. I have watched my son relate stories to his friends and they seem to have very little problem in finding the thread of a story. I have also watched the response from his friends when a story is well told. So, perhaps it is not so much a question of whether we are losing the art of storytelling but rather as Denning suggests, a question of whether 'we are telling the right story' and thereafter 'are we telling the story right?'

So it's back to the storyboards for me or risk seeing my son's eyes roll back and the shutters come down and ....

ian