Mistakes on our Path

Mistakes properly dealt with lead to wisdom, as long as they're not made twice. They are sometimes part of our path to best practices.

What Gets Measured Gets Attention....

....and what gets attention gets results.  There's truth in this concept that "what gets measured gets attention--and what gets attention gets results."

It is difficult to deny that the goal of every organization must include “results.”  To go through the actions of business, transactions, product development, program initiatives, and tactical execution WITHOUT the attainment of results is in itself disappointing, but is totally unacceptable if the “results” were never the focus, not measured, not spoken about, unclear, and were not at the heart of the leader and his or her team’s focus and conversations.

How do you do this?  One way to start is to ask yourself “how visual is my workplace?”  If for instance, safety, on-time shipments, customer satisfaction, or profit margins are important--how do you keep track of those?  Better yet--how does your team and how do your employees keep track of those?

A visual workplace is one where the company metrics aren't a secret, where they're not shared only among the management team.

A visual workplace is one where the "vital signs" are posted, they are shared, and they are used in daily decision-making.  A visual workplace uses "dashboards" or charts or bulletin boards to post the progress against the stated goals and objectives.

And while you're considering sharing vital information--why not post your entire strategic plan?  Whether you post it for all employees or in your office for you and your team to review frequently--Verne Harnish has created some outstanding tools for business planning.  Review and download his templates and planning forms at http://www.gazelles.com/.

One of the Gazelle's primary principles is to create measurements and themes and post them for all to see--and to track the progress throughout the year.

Three keys to creating a visual workspace are:

1. Select a small number of metrics to measure that reveal the progress of the company and departments towards the top objectives.

2. Use dashboards and easy-to-read graphs or charts to convey the "green light/red light" status toward the goals.

3.  Keep them updated.

And finally, engage your team and employees in conversations regularly around the progress you're making.  Bring attention to the measurements--and you'll bring attention to the results.

Permanent Whitewater

Throughout my career, it seems I've been engaged in continuous change. Whether it was developing a new channel model; helping market partners understand new ways of selling; or participating in the pioneering of a new product and industry.

I like to say that "the smooth waters are behind us and there's nothing ahead but permanent whitewater." We all have to create change, adapt to change, and "live" change.

I reached into the archives this morning and found one of my favorite pieces that addresses man's (and woman's) reaction to change--and in some cases--their resistance to it.

From Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, Written in 1513

And one should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer than to introduce a new order of things.....for he who introduces it has all those who profit from the old order as his enemies, and he has only lukewarm allies in all those who might profit from the new.

This lukewarmness partly stems from fear of their adversaries, who have the law on their side, and partly from the skepticism of men, who do not truly believe in new things unless they have actually had personal experience of them.