Archive for Strategy
What’s the Difference Between Mission, Vision, Initiatives and Goals?
Posted by: | CommentsI was talking with one of my clients earlier today and we ran into a common problem that most organizations have when they engage in strategic planning–that is, confusion (or agreement) about what individual terms mean. For example, what’s the difference between a mission and a vision? Or what’s the difference between an opportunity and an initiative? Or how is a goal different from a tactic? Different people have different definitions—which is why there’s so much confusion about what each terms means.
To help un-complicate the process of defining these terms, here are the definitions I use when working with clients (along with an example or two of each).
1. Mission: This is what a company does. It should be short and easy to memorize. However, it shouldn’t be so generic that you can’t tell what business it’s in. Note: similar businesses may have very similar mission statements. Why? Because they essentially do the same things.
- To promote and develop the growth of tennis (The United States Tennis Association)
- To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful (Google)
2. Vision: This is what a company wants to become. Vision is a seeing term. Therefore a vision statement should be future-oriented. It’s an image of what a company wants to create. It isn’t what a company is, it’s what it wants to become. While mission statements may be similar, vision statements should be very different. They should be motivating and inspiring. And they should drive decision-making.
- Be the safest, most customer-focused and successful transportation company in the world (Norfolk Southern)
- To be the preeminent publisher and provider of self-improvement resources that inspires and empowers individuals to lead the lives they most desire (Nightingale Publishers)
3. Values – Values are the foundational beliefs about how you want your employees to act. They are the beliefs that create the culture of an organization. They don’t need to be exhaustive. Nor should the simply be the same from company to company. While integrity, trust, honesty, etc. are good core values, they don’t need to appear on your list unless you believe they must. In many cases, they’re givens. I recommend no more than five core values for a company. Once you get past five, very few people can remember them.
- Excellence – To do the best we can, with the resources we have, in the amount of time we have to do the tasks we’re assigned.
- Curiosity – To be insanely interested in knowing, yet never content with what we know. To be a life-long learner.
4. Growth Initiatives – From a strategic standpoint, what are the three to five most important things you can do to grow your organization? Note: a growth initiative differs from what I refer to as a strategic initiative because a growth initiative is usually related to one or two business units or people—and it can often be completed before the end of the year.
- To add five new joint venture partners by September 30th
- To open an office in Shanghai by July 31st
- To complete a merger or acquisition by December 31st
- To create a strategic partnership with Apple by May 30th
5. Strategic Initiatives – Strategic initiatives, if you want to keep your entire top team involved, should be initiatives that everyone can play a part in fulfilling. And they should be year-long initiatives. The main key thought of a strategic initiative is that it’s something everyone can contribute to, that will advance the organization. Also, strategic initiatives are usually designed to overcome constraints (whereas growth initiatives are often strength focused).
- To double the number of leaders who have completed our Level Three Leadership program and are ready to take on new assignments.
- To raise the level of execution excellence so that the number of errors rate falls to less than one per thousand.
- To train everyone in every department in effective customer service skills so that every customer has a more positive experience regardless of whom they’re interacting with from our company.
6. Goals – Goals are dreams with deadlines. They are quantifiable. You should clearly know if you hit them or not.
- To generate $5.7M by 12/31
- To raise our customer service rating to 4.75 by 9/30
- To raise our profit margin from 30% to 35%by 12/31
7. Tactics – Tactics are the individual activities an employee engages in to complete a goal/initiative/strategy/etc.
- To hire a merger specialist by 3/31
- To design a leadership development process by 6/30
- To recruit three college marketing interns by 3/31
- To renegotiate all vendor contracts by 6/30 to reduce our cost of goods sold by 40% (and saving us $1M)
Hopefully, those definitions and examples will help you get everyone on the same page as you work on (or refine) your strategic plan!
To your accelerated success!
P.S. For a clean pdf of the above definitions and examples, click here >>
What’s Holding You Back, Part II
Posted by: | CommentsIf you didn’t read part one, scroll below (if you’re on the blog right now) or click on the following link>> (if you’re reading this by RSS).
Note: If you didn’t answer the question from the last post, “What are the major constraints that are hindering me (and my business/organization) from achieving my (our) potential?”, then make sure you do so before proceeding any further.
Okay, so you’ve now identified your major constraints (and as I said last time, they could be external or internal, mental or physical, systemic of situational). They could be a person or a process, a self-limiting belief or a financial limitation (for example).
The next thing you want to do is order them. You want to take each constraint and ask the question, “Where does this constraint come in the priority list of which constraint needs to be solved first?” In other words, you want to play each constraint off the others as you seek to find the major constraint that needs to be solved first.
I liken this to a playoff system (brackets) you see in sports. For simplicity’s sake we’ll call constraints “C”. So you play C1 vs. C2. Let’s say C2 needs to be solved before C1. Then you play off C3 vs. C4. Let’s say C3 needs to be solved before C4. Then you playoff C2 vs. C3 and let’s say C3 needs to be solved before C2 (which means it has to come before C1). You now know what has to happen first. In other words, once you work through this process, you’ll quickly know what the major constraint is for you (or you and your business) this year.
Using the four constraints listed above, it would be understandable to think that you need to solve the financial problem first. But that might not be true. It may be because you don’t have a systematic and methodical process in place to acquire new capital. However, it may be that the reason you don’t have a systematic and methodical process in place is because Sally is in charge of that area and she’s not very competent. She’s been at your company for ten years, she’s loved by every one, but she’s incompetent. You know you ought to let her go, but you haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Why?
Ah, it’s that self-limiting thought that keeps you from changing her out. It may be a belief that letting Sally go will demoralize your team. Or the belief that, “If I just give her some more time and training, she’ll succeed” (which could be true, but hasn’t been for the past five years). Or it could be the belief that, “She’s a single mom and she needs our help.” Or it could be the belief that, “Maybe in a year another position in our company will open up and I can move her over there.” Etc. We all have them. And those self-limiting beliefs do get in the way of making good business decisions.
The beauty of working through this process is that once you play this game, you’ll often find out that what you thought was the major constraint (in this case, “We don’t have enough access to capital”) may, in fact, not be the most important constraint to solve first.
So, before I give you the next step, why don’t we stop here for today. Take out your list of constraints and order them. Play them off against one another and see if you can reduce your constraints down to a handful of the most important constraints to solve first. And most importantly, make sure you identify what the first constraint is that you need to solve before any others!
To your accelerated success!
What’s Holding You and Your Company Back?
Posted by: | CommentsAre you familiar with the Theory of Constraints (TOC)? If you’re not, the theory (an overall management philosophy) came into vogue post the publication of a book entitled, “The Goal,” by Eliyahu M. Goldratt.
In its most basic form the theory contends that any manageable system (like your business) is hindered from achieving its potential by a very few number of constraints–of which, one, is the major one. While the book focuses on the throughput of a manufacturing concern, the theory has been expanded into a general management philosophy–which can provide major dividends for you and your business.
Without going through the whole process, you can clearly benefit, at the start of this year, by focusing on its basic idea–which is, instead of looking for 50 or 100 constraints that are holding your business back, you want to look for a handful of major constraints–and then narrow those down to your major one.
The easiest visual picture I can off you is that of a pipe. If you have one section that is clogged so that only a dime’s worth of water can flow through it, it doesn’t matter what you do to improve the other area of the pipe. You can expand the diameter of the pipe in those other sections. You could even upgrade those sections from PVC to aluminum to steel to platinum to gold. And it won’t make a difference—until you fix that one point in the pipe that only let’s a dime’s worth of water through.
Likewise, in your business, you have some built in constraints. And until you fix them, you’ll always be hindered from achieving your goals. All other activities will be less effective, until you solve that major constraint.
Now, while I think it’s true that you win games by playing to your strengths (not your weaknesses), the best teams focus some of their attention on alleviating their weaknesses. For example, a football team that has a great passing game and a terrible running game would be foolish to focus their attention on running the ball. They’ll simply lose–and lose a lot. However, if they don’t pick up their running game, they’ll hinder their passing game’s potential.
In other words, too many people make success an either/or proposition. Either you focus on strengths or you focus on building your weaknesses. When, in fact, it should be a both/and. Run with your strengths and shore up your weaknesses.
However, that said, shoring up and focusing on weaknesses can be both demotivating and difficult for an organization and its people–which is why I like the Theory of Constraints. Because the theory doesn’t say focus on all of them, it says, “Focus on the major one.”
So, how do you do that? Well that’s for our next discussion. But for now, I’d recommend that you take out a piece of paper (or open a new document on your computer) and simply ask the question, “What are the major constraints that are hindering me (and my business/organization) from achieving my (our) potential?”
To your accelerated success!
Note: Your constraints could be external or internal, mental or physical, systemic or situational. For example, your constraint could be an individual. It could be a facility challenge. It could be a mental limitation. It could be a technology issue. It could be a reach issue. It could be a conversion issue. It could be a training issue. It could be a financial issue. Etc. Don’t worry about narrowing down yet. Just start thinking about your constraints.
New Free Report on Fast Growth Released Today!
Posted by: | CommentsWant to Know How You Can Immediately Begin to Grow Your Business Faster Than You Ever Have Before—While Increasing Your Ability to Lead It More Effectively?
If so, you’ll want to immediately get your hands on the new free report I just released today entitled, “The Seven Secrets of Fast Growth Companies.”
Inside it you’ll discover,
• The number one differentiator between slow and fast growth companies
• The two key elements you need to use to create a fast growth culture
• A simple practice that can radically reduce the time it takes to implement anything
• A lesson from a Harvard professor that can change the way you think forever about your products and services
• A top team practice that can change any meeting you run—and make it more effective.
• The one metric you need to use before choosing any growth idea if you want to be an accelerated growth company
• How you can create a business that’ll scale fast
• How to avoid letting your market think you’re just like “everyone else.”
• How you can create a business that works 24/7, especially when you’re not around.
• And the number one mistake that most CEOs of small and medium-sized make
To get your copy immediately, just fill in the form in the right hand column entitled, “Interested in the 7 Secrets of Fast Growth Companies?” and then click the submit button, “Send it to me now!”
Then after you read it, post your comments below!
Five Lessons from Steve Jobs, CEO of the Decade
Posted by: | CommentsIf you haven’t seen the article yet, Fortune Magazine has declared Steve Jobs, CEO of the Decade. In their own words,
How’s this for a gripping corporate story line: Youthful founder gets booted from his company in the 1980s, returns in the 1990s, and in the following decade survives two brushes with death, one securities-law scandal, an also-ran product lineup, and his own often unpleasant demeanor to become the dominant personality in four distinct industries, a billionaire many times over, and CEO of the most valuable company in Silicon Valley.
Not a bad story, is it? 
Furthermore, at the start of the decade, Apple had a market cap of “just” $5B. It now hovers around $170B (slightly larger than Google). What that means is that despite the market crashes of the dot.com boom and last year, if you had invested $1,000 in Apple in 2000, your investment would now be worth over $7500 (I think most of us would gladly accept that). And finally, Jobs has been instrumental in changing four completely different industries–computers, music, media and mobile phones—three of those in the past decade.
Any way you add it up, the past 33 years have been a pretty incredible run for Steve Jobs—and we’ve all benefitted—even if you’re a PC. But the question for you and me is, “What can we learn from him that can make a difference in our businesses?” Here are my top five lessons.
1. Improve on the next new thing. What’s fascinating about Jobs and Apple is that Apple has become the symbol for innovation. However, Apple rarely creates anything entirely new. In fact, one of Steve Jobs’ comments on this subject years ago was, “We look for the next new thing and then make it better.” In other words, Apple didn’t invent the mp3 player, they just made it better. They didn’t invent the cell phone, they just made it better. They look for trends they think are going to be big—and then figure out how to make that “new thing” infinitely better.
So, in your realm, what are the next new things or new trends you’re observing in your market space? How can you create a better product and/or service that can improve on the current offerings in that market space?
2. Change before you have to. As a long standing card carrying Mac Addict, one of my favorite sites is MacRumors. And one of my favorite parts of the site is the buyer’s guide which tracks the time between new iterations of a product (and let’s you know where they are in cycle). Even when Apple is making good money, they keep introducing new models or discontinuing old models so that none of their competitors can catch up (i.e. they change before they have to).
I’ll never forget the day Steve Jobs was talking about the iPod mini and how it was the most successful launch they had ever had up to that point in time. And then he said, “And that’s why today we’re killing the iPod mini … (dramatic pause) … and introducing the iPod nano!” Who else would have killed a cash cow right in the middle of a growth cycle? Only Steve and crew!
So, what products and/or services have you been riding for too long? Do you need to revamp or upgrade any of them? Do you need to discontinue any of them? And/or what new thing do you have in the pipeline?
3. Eliminate what ticks people off. The supposed story of the iPhone is that a bunch of Apple execs were at a meeting when they were all complaining, tangentially, about their cell phones. In the midst of that discussion someone said, “We’re all a bunch of bright people. We should be able to do this better.” Or if you had ever tried to download an app several years ago and load it on a Palm device, you know it was a major pain (it ticked people off). What Apple did with the App store was/is nothing short of remarkable. Or if you had ever tried to download music and put it on your mp3 player pre-iPod, you know it was a major pain. The iPod and iTunes store combo simply eliminated that piece of the puzzle that just ticked people off.
So, what are the issues that tick off the people in your market space? Find the key ones and design a simple solution to solve that problem.
4. Repurpose what you can. If you haven’t been in the Apple fold, you could easily miss this, but Apple is great about repurposing ideas and technology. For example, back in the 90’s, if you wanted to see a movie trailer on the internet, the best place was to go to the Apple site, which highlighted movie trailers and their product Quicktime. But that experience and built in infrastructure for movies made streaming music for the iTunes store infinitely easier. And the experience of the iTunes store made creating the App store for the iPhone infinitely easier. Or the Safari browser for the Mac, made it infinitely easier to create a great web experience on the iPhone (which was night and day ahead of Palm and Blackberry when it debuted). Or the experience with NeXT, led to Mac OS X. On and on you could go. The, “Apple Way,” is not just to create something new, but to repurpose what they already know into a different arena.
So what do you know or have or do that could be repurposed to create a new product or service for your market?
5. Think big and small at the same time. Some leaders are just big picture people. Others are just small picture people. However, what makes Steve so powerful is that he’s both. Steve gets it that executives need to make big picture, bold strategic moves (like canceling several product lines in ‘97 and focusing on just four products). However, he’s also famous for being nit picky and focused on the very intricate details of the business–especially when it comes to design issues and market messaging. As he said to Ken Segall (who used to be at Chiat/Day, the ad agency) on day, “The third word in the fourth paragraph isn’t right. You might like to think about that one.”
Looking back on your history, are you more of a big picture person? Or a small picture kind of person? Whichever one you are, how could you add the other to your wheelhouse and become more versatile ?
So, there you have it, “Five Lessons from Steve Jobs, CEO of the Decade.” The only question remaining is, “What are you going to do in the next few moments in response to it?”
To your accelerated success!
Want to Grow Your Business Faster?
Posted by: | CommentsHave you ever noticed that two companies can attempt to employ the same strategy or tactics and yet get different results? Or more importantly, have you ever been frustrated that you’ve tried the same strategy or tactics that someone else has–and yet haven’t seen the same kinds of results? Why is that?
My conclusion is that there are a series of drivers behind those strategies, tactics and procedures that determine whether or not one company is going to be successful at employing a specific strategy, tactic or procedure.
To give you a taste of the ten, here’s a video sample from a talk I did this past weekend in Phoenix for the Association of Information and Image Management (AIIM). Enjoy!
Remember that Today’s Solutions Always Create Tomorrow’s Problems
Posted by: | CommentsBusiness Week just ran an article in this week’s edition (Nov. 2, 2009) on, What’s Holding Tech Back. The subtitle was/is, “The surprise surge in demand for PC’s and handsets has the industry scrambling to get the supply chain humming.” Now, before you hit the snooze button, hang on for a moment. This will be worth it!
When the downturn occurred, what did most chip makers do? 
Exactly, they cut production, closed down plants, and went into survival mode. The problem, of course, is that it takes months to bring dormant factories back to life. So, what’s happening now?
If you remember that today’s solutions ALWAYS create tomorrow’s problems, you’ll know exactly what’s happening. Now, companies like Nokia are reporting losses for their handsets saying,“We could have sold more phones in the third quarter [if it wasn’t for] the capacity constraints (i.e. if we could have purchased more component parts, we could have sold more).” And chip makers and others are losing out on revenue they could have been making had they not done everything they did over the last two years to reduce capacity.
Interestingly, the article highlights one company, Linear Technology, that made a different choice. Instead of closing down a plant or two, they decided to keep all four of their plants open and all of their employees on payroll–unlike their competitors, Instead, what they did was to stage a rolling factory shut down, which has allowed them to get back online and fill NEW orders within two to four weeks.
- Remember, today’s solutions always create tomorrow’s problems.
It doesn’t matter what choice is made. In a closed system, every choice has both positive and negative implications (some of which we can anticipate and others which we can’t). The trick is to make sure you’re actually evaluating the possible future implications (both positive and negative) when you’re making a decision.
For example, if you decide to take on a big client (let’s say a Walmart or GE kind of client), that could be good. But the first rule of entrepreneurial finance is that growth sucks cash. Even worse, a lot of elephant clients like to manage their cash conversion cycles on the backs of smaller companies (often paying from 100-200 days late–which, of course, your banker discounts because anything past 90 days doesn’t count).
In other words, while pursuing and landing that big account might have driven you and your company for the past twelve months, if you haven’t stockpiled cash or secured access to cash beforehand, the next six months may be devastating. On the other hand, not landing that big client, may have significant consequences of its own.
So, every time you’re faced with an important decision, especially a strategic decision, as the CEO, you need to make sure you’re looking at the potential negative outcomes from that decision–and not just the positive ones (because they are there).
As the Business Week article points out, it’s currently taking 18 weeks (four and a half months) to fill orders for megahertz crystals (a key component of cell phones). And why is that? Because too many players decided to cut production by closing down plants over the past two years. Now, if we went back in time I’m sure the CEOs of those company’s thought that was the wisest course of action–but was it?
To your accelerated success!
Thinking Long Term Still Wins (Amazon)
Posted by: | CommentsWhile there’s always a tendency to think short-term, especially during an economic downturn, there are plenty of compelling reasons to not do so. Major test case: Amazon.
If you didn’t read the Business Week article (Sept. 28, 2009) on “At Amazon, Marketing is for Dummies,” you missed a compelling argument for thinking long-term, especially during a recession.
Over the past three years, Amazon’s stock price has doubled, while the S & P has gone down 20%. Over the past six months, Amazon revenue has been up 16%, while most retailers have been negative. And, as per the section in BW that the article ran (the 100 Best Global Brands), Amazon has moved up 13 spots this year to No. 43.
So, what’s behind this magic? Bezos’ commitment to invest in infrastructure and technology. In fact, I thought the best paragraph from the article was,
“The performance is something of a vindication for Chief Executive and founder Jeffrey Bezos. After the dot-com bubble burst, critics hammered him for investing so much in technology and physical distribution centers. Some investors called for Bezos to pull back and produce more short-term profits. Now, those heavy investments are paying off big time, helping the company sell an ever-widening range of products to more than 94 million customers.”
Did you catch that? During the last downturn, rather than give into short-term thinking, Bezos opted for the long-term approach–even though his critics and other investors were urging him to focus on short-term profits. It was that decision, during a market that was fixated on the short-term, that has allowed Amazon to do so well now–during this economic downturn.
So, as you look at the decisions you’re making this month, are you thinking short-term? Or long-term? Are you allowing the siren song of the recession to keep your eyes and investments off the long-term? And finally, do you need to make any adjustments to how you’re currently operating so that you can prosper, not just in the coming months, but for years to come?
To your accelerated success!
Originality and Commonality: A Powerful One-Two Punch!
Posted by: | CommentsHave you ever noticed that most people like to live life in an either/or world? Either we buy a sports car or a minivan. Either we go to the beach or the mountains for vacation this year. Either we locate in a busy location or an isolated one. Either we focus on one product or a slew of products. Either we focus on one niche or on everyone.
The problem, of course, with an either/or world is that it rarely reflects reality because life is rarely that clean. Rather it’s full of contradictions and surprises. One of which is that originality and commonality go hand in hand together.
In an either/or world that doesn’t make sense. Either you’re original or your common. But, in the real world, being completely original isn’t an easy road to success. Just ask the creator of the first fax machine (Bain, 1843) or first cell phone or first anything. It’s not that easy to create an entirely new market.
When people read books like, “Blue Ocean Strategy,” they tend to think that the key to success is to come up with an entirely new idea (a new blue ocean). But if you take a look at the examples in the book you’ll notice they weren’t entirely new at all.
Cirque du Soleil wasn’t the first circus. Southwest wasn’t the first airplane company. Curves wasn’t the first health fitness facility. Etc.
All three of those examples are part of huge industries. The entertainment industry is huge. It’s common. But Cirque du Soleil’s genius was to do something original in a big market (i.e. a circus for adults with one ring vs. three and no live animals).
Southwest’s genius was to do point-to-point (i.e. non-hub), fun, no frills flights to tier two cities. Curves’ genius was to do a women’s only club with minimal equipment in a circle (a low-cost, quick, gender specific workout).
In other words, rather than look where there wasn’t a lot of competition, they looked for a very competitive market (the common part) and then looked for an uncommon way/original way to meet the needs of that market.
So, if you’re in a town full of pizza joints, that doesn’t mean you can’t start another pizza joint. Maybe you should start a gourmet one (if there isn’t one yet). Or maybe the people in you town just love fast food. If that’s the case, you might want to start a different kind of fast food restaurant (maybe BBQ wings). Or maybe your market simply loves Italian food. In that case, you could start a northern or southern Italian or even a sicilian restaurant. Etc.
Ultimately, it comes down to buyers. And what do they want? In general, they usually want something similar to what they already like/have–just a little different. This is not to downplay new and disruptive technologies. Just an observation about what fast growth companies do.
As a twenty-five year fan of Apple, I’ve drunk the kool-aid. But most of Apple’s successes haven’t come from being the first at something. 
The iPod wasn’t the first mp3 player. And the iPhone certainly wasn’t the first cell phone. But Apple, usually referred to as, “the most innovative company on the planet,” usually has winners when it looks at what people already want and then makes something original in that field.
So, if you want to build a wildly successful company, you might want to look where there’s a lot of competition (the common part) and then come up with a unique solution to that market’s wants and needs (the original part). It’s not an either/or, but rather a both/and that usually wins in the real world. So do your best to eliminate either/or thinking in your company. Both/and thinking is a much better route to go! Originality and commonality are a powerful one-two punch when used correctly.
To your accelerated success!
Five Keys to Turning a Company Around
Posted by: | CommentsIf you were in charge of GM, what would you do?
Even if you’re not leading a large company, there are still a few lessons you can draw from CEO Fritz Henderson’s 
playbook, that could make a big difference in your business if you want to grow faster and be more profitable.
In an article in Business Week (June 29, 2009), David Welch outlines a number of Henderson’s initiatives and changes that are worth paying attention to. For example,
1. Focus on a Few Key Metrics. Under the previous administration, Wagoner was a data geek and had too many metrics in place. The problem with too many metrics is that when you have too many metrics, you really have none. To correct that, Henderson has narrowed down their key metrics to five–plus the ones he’s chosen, focus on the most important things for GM (you know, little things like sales and profits :-), and they focus on the company’s overall health vs. individual departments.
2. Encourage Ideas AND Criticism. Under Wagoner’s administration, there was a sense of fear and a corresponding lack of honesty among employees (i.e. just because employees aren’t bringing you bad news doesn’t mean it’s not there). To correct that, Henderson is actively encouraging dissent, criticism and critique from employees to eliminate the culture of fear while encouraging honest engagement.
One of the phrases I use continually with clients is, “You should never be afraid of a question. The only reason to be afraid of a question is if you’re afraid of the answer.” So ask away. Remember, asking your people a question doesn’t mean you have to agree with their answers, it just means you’re listening and open. And as long as you regularly make changes based on feedback, your people won’t mind that you don’t act on everything.
3. Act Fast. Again, under the previous administration, there was a culture of analysis paralysis and CYA with data. The problem with that is that by the time anyone was willing to pull the trigger, the opportunity had passed. In order to correct this, Henderson is working hard to change the culture whereby they make decisions without all the data.
4. Ditch Bottlenecks. I love David Welch’s phrase, “Henderson is tackling GM’s glacial decision-making process.” What a great picture. To accomplish this, Henderson is taking a hatchet to things like holding meetings to decide the agenda of the real meeting. He’s cutting four hour meetings down to two. And he’s empowering people to make decisions.
For example, at one point, all of the executives were weighing in on a decision to add some pricey features to a future Buick model. After a short debate, Henderson turned to the person in charge of it, Susan Docherty, and said, “You’re the vice-president of Buick, you make the call.” She did. Done. Now let’s move on.
5. Speed up the Decision Meeting Process. This one is still in development, but up to this point, a small group of people (16) who make up the Automotive Strategy Board meet monthly and make the big decisions for GM. The problem is that if a decision needs to be made today but the board doesn’t meet until three weeks for now, the decision can’t be made until, often, it’s too late. To correct this, Henderson is thinking about replacing the strategy board with a set of small teams that meet weekly and who would make decisions farther down in the company–which I think would be an incredibly wise decision to make. Faster decisions, down the chain, by people who actually have to do the work is usually a wise choice.
So, as you look at your business, which of these five do you need to pay attention to? For example, do you have a small set of metrics that you continually focus on? Are they the right ones? Do you have too many or too few? Do they focus on the whole company or a subset? And do they focus on the most important things?
Take each one of these five keys and ask yourself a set of questions about them–you might be surprised that some of the keys to GM’s hopeful turnaround, just might be the key to your turnaround as well!
To your accelerated success!