TEC Resource Center

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Happy New Year – so what’s the plan?

Strategic Planning

We have officially entered the new year of 2018; are you ready to grab that golden ring you have been working towards or is your plan to forge ahead and hope for the best?  Running a successful business is a lot like sailing a ship across a vast ocean.  The big difference is many business owners haven’t taken the time to map out their route with up to date navigational information and calibrated gauges that will assist them to take their journey safely arriving at their visionary port on time.

The thing about the business journey is the map of the ocean we will be crossing is forever changing.  Your competitors have changed, the products have evolved and the consumers are completely different than those the business started out with.  Today’s consumer is more informed, less patient, and has the tools available to assess products on a global basis in an instant.   If your plan is to stay the course I am here to tell you that course more than likely no longer exists in the marketplace.

Take the time today to reassess your journey and identify the reasons you are in business and where and when you will arrive at your final destination (mission, vision, values).  Update the market information necessary to ensure your offering will be well received by the end user and develop Key Performance Indicators (KIP’s) that will help guide your path when land is no longer visible.

Share this navigational plan with your team so they can assist you in the journey.  The power locked inside your employees will be the differentiator if you harness it and use it to drive a culture of success within your organization.  Ensure everyone shares the values you believe in by stating them clearly and often.  Only hire those who will add to the growth of the culture and divest yourself of those that detract from the mission, no matter how integral they may be to the business.    Your mission and vision are why you are successful, not any single employee.

Take advantage of the New Year and start planning today.  The time is right to get your entire team engaged in this new journey.  I assure you the excitement and energy this will bring to your employees is explosive and will give you the power you need to reach that final destination, wherever it may be!

Visit the TEC Resource Center and take a free strategic planning assessment (https://tecresourcecenter.com/strategic-planning-assessment) to assist you in determining how to get started planning the future of your business today!

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Create Safe Accountability in Your Organization

 

  1. Set clear and mutually agreed upon expectations with people in regard to both performance and behavior.  This reduces confusion, mixed messages, and judgments of non-performance.
  2. Share information openly and timely to avoid unnecessary surprises.  Develop a communications strategy for informing everyone about relevant and current information.
  3. Surface any conflict directly with the person involved.  Focus on ways to avoid conflict in the future. (This is far more effective than avoiding the person, telling everyone about the conflict, or blaming the person as the one who was wrong.)
  4. Provide encouragement, guidance and other forms of support to individuals who need to make a change but who may not realize the importance, or the process, of doing so.  Typically, we either ignore people who are struggling, or we sympathize with their discomfort and let them off the hook.
  5. Focus on functional roles and processes, rather than position and power, to accomplish outcomes.
  6. Support the development of people and systems in order to respond to the needs of tomorrow and to avoid reacting only to crisis.
  7. Monitor and measure the results of each team and individual so that people know exactly where they stand.  This is the only way to let people know of their successes and their need for improvement.
  8. Do not allow people to perform poorly without making it clear that their performance is unacceptable.  Skirting the issue only causes people to feel deceived and victimized.  No one benefits by carrying a poor performer.
  9. Follow up on commitments so that people can depend on your words and your consistency.  If you are unable to keep a commitment, let people know as soon as you know.
  10. Let others know the care, appreciation, and compassion you feel, instead of holding back.  Honor their humanity as well as your own.  When all is said and done, we are FIRST human beings with fears, needs and imperfections, and SECOND, employees hired to complete a job.

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Do you have the right people on the bus?

Do you have the right people on your team, and are they sitting in the right seats? Often managers find they have wonderful people working for them. They are dedicated and they work hard. Still, though, they are not getting the results they want from their team. The sad truth is that they may be wonderful, hardworking and dedicated, but they may not be right for the job.

I had a client that was so distraught over his hiring record. He said he always felt he picked the perfect person. His favorite saying was, “They looked so good on paper.” On the interview they seemed so gung ho. He felt hopeless.

Sometimes you meet a person who is really nice, the life of the party, and deep down a really good person, however, you don’t immediately move in together or get married. No matter how fun or well-meaning they are, you have to know you will be good together and work well together to build the life you want. I think this is how Match.com became so successful!

Your work relationships should be regarded in the same way and it starts before the interview process. Selecting the right people to help you build your business or run your department is key to YOUR success. You need to spend time in this process to avoid wasting time later. Here are some tips on how to improve your success rate in selecting the best candidate for your position:

Prepare for the hiring process:

Make sure you understand the Knowledge, Skill and Abilities (KSA’s) the candidate must possess to be successful in the job. Identify the MUST HAVES and the NICE TO HAVES. Write these things down so you can base your questions around them and then rate your candidates after each interview based on these areas. What attributes and values must the candidate embody to add to the overall culture of the organization? Look carefully at the team they will become a part of and understand the behavioral style that will best augment that team.

Review resumes:

I’m assuming you have a job description for the position, so first review it and see if it needs to be tweaked a bit. Review the resumes first to see that the candidate meets the qualifications keeping in mind the KSAs. If you are lucky enough to have too many resumes, start narrowing them down by the MUST HAVES and NICE TO HAVES. Then look for any red flags on the resume:

  • Overall appearance
  • Blanks and omissions
  • Gaps in time
  • Overlaps in time
  • Inconsistencies between education and experience

Create Powerful Questions

This is the most important piece in my opinion. Think about the interview as a time to get to know the person. You really want to see what they are made of. Did they really do the things they have listed on their resume? I’m not saying people lie, but…………. Powerful questions allow you to confirm what is on the resume, so make them count. Ask open ended questions that cannot be answered with a yes or a no. So don’t say, “Are you familiar with……” They know the answer you want is yes, and you really won’t be able to tell if they really have experience with it. Ask them something that will demonstrate knowledge, like, “Can you tell me the biggest issue you have experienced with……..”

Make your choice:

Ask the same questions to each applicant based on the KSAs and MUST HAVES and NICE TO HAVES. Your follow up questions will vary of course, based on their answers. Make yourself a little grid and rate how each candidate did on each base question. Then come up with a total rating. This will help you choose who is statistically best for the job, not who you like best.

Nobody’s perfect

On a personal note, this is obviously not fool proof. People have become very skilled at interviewing due to all the resources that are now readily available to them. But I’ll bet if you look back at some of your good and bad hires, you will find, YOU had a lot to do with the mistakes or the successes. I once hired someone for an administrative position. On my MUST HAVES I listed proofreading skills. After I hired this woman I liked very much, I realized proofreading was actually a weakness, not a skill of hers. I wondered what happened. I went back to my grid. Sure enough, I only rated her 3 out of 5 on proofreading based on what she told me. I didn’t follow my own advice! Here are 3 common errors people make when interviewing:

  • Leniency Error – You know the candidate or they were referred to you by someone you know. Tendency is to rate him/her higher than deserved.
  • Error of Contrast – Some interviewers tend to compare some traits shown by a candidate with their own traits. May be better to choose someone who has more of what you don’t!
  • Halo/Horn Effect – Initial impression about the candidate (good or bad) cloud the interview. I immediately connected with the person I mentioned above on a personal level. It made me overlook a very important qualification she did not have.

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The differences between a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and a Goal?

I would say this is the most frequently asked question I receive from our client base. The term goal is pretty well established in the business world. Companies have revenue goals, customer satisfaction goals, productivity goals and the list goes on. More often than not however, there is a void or even a lack of understanding on the part of management as to what exact performance measurements can be used to monitor the success of the initiatives put in place to achieve these goals.

Goals are often too lofty or grandiose for the everyday employee to get their mind around. Everyone knows the company needs to grow in revenue and profit to ensure the future employment and the financial growth of the staff. What they don’t understand is how they directly impact the company’s ability to achieve this. Most employees want to work for a successful organization and will do their part if they clearly understand what their part is. Let’s take a minute and better define the differences between goals and KPI’s.

So as not to overcomplicate the conversation we will start with the basic need of a corporation – revenue growth. A typical goal for an organization might be 10% growth in revenue within the next fiscal year. We have all heard of the term SMART goal. A S.M.A.R.T. goal is defined as one that is specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time- bound. Let’s put our goal to the test.

Specific: a 10% growth in revenue is very specific. It is best to do the math so everyone understands what the 10% means.

Measurable: It is most definitely measurable unless you don’t report out revenue.

Results-Focused: Again very result focused

Time-Bound: Yes it is our desire to achieve this goal within fiscal year 2017.

A Key Performance Indicator is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations use KPI’s at multiple levels to evaluate their success at reaching targets. High-level KPIs may focus on the overall performance of the enterprise, while low-level KPIs may focus on processes in departments such as sales, marketing or a call center. For the purposes of simplicity I would like to discuss how this goal will be viewed by three departments – Sales, Customer Service and Production.

The key word at the department level is performance. What are they doing to contribute to the company achieving this goal? Most times these are called initiatives at the department level. How will these departments change their daily activities to achieve a higher level of performance? The sales department is probably most accustomed to this discussion due to the fact that their world revolves around numbers – more leads – more meetings, more meetings – more presentations, more presentations – more proposals, and the more proposals the more revenue booked. Simple, right? Your vice president of sales will more than likely know off hand what these ratio’s look like.

Typical Sales Funnel


The sales department therefore has already established the KPI’s that will help them monitor the success of their team in meeting the goal. The marketing department might be responsible for generating the 100 leads needed (i.e. Marketing Goal).


 

 

 

 

The sales department’s goal for booked revenue will differ from that of the company in that booked orders don’t invoice until they can be shipped. Obviously this is where customer service and production come in. If these two departments don’t meet their KPI’s the goal for the company will be missed. Production cannot produce the product until the order is processed and the company cannot book the revenue until the order is shipped. The KPI’s will measure the success of the initiatives undertaken to achieve the increase in revenue. If any of these departmental KPI’s fall below the expectation for the initiative implemented immediate action can be taken. This allows the department leaders to tweak the program along the way to ensure its overall success.

The sales department is in most cases a little more straight forward than the other two departments we have selected. However, every department should know what they must do to achieve the overall goal of the organization.

Customer Service has to take the call and process the order in coordination with the sales team. If there is a delay in the processing time the revenue for the month or quarter will be missed. The KPI’s of the customer service group might revolve around processing time or number of calls handled per day. But the goal of the department is to process the number of orders booked by the sales group within a specific period of time that will allow production the time they need to produce and ship the product needed to meet the revenue goal for the company.


 

 

 

 

In the same way the production department will need to set their goal to be in line with what the customer service department can process. In some cases they might over produce if there is a high confidence level on the part of the sales VP. See if you can draw out a KPI chart for the production department. If not send me and e-mail (pat@tecresourcecenter.com) and I will work through it with you for your company.

Successfully run companies know that engaged employees who understand how they directly contribute to the goals of the organization will lead to the improved implementation of the strategic initiatives and faster growth year to year. Does your team understand the KPI’s for your organization? Is there a reporting process to monitor the success of your strategic initiatives? I will discuss balanced score cards and KPI dashboards in upcoming blogs. Sign up for our monthly TEC Talk update ( https://tecresourcecenter.com/contact-us ) to ensure you receive future discussions.


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How do you measure performance?

We have all heard the saying – “if it is not measurable it is not manageable.”  Why then do we spend so much of our time managing the softer side of our employees rather than the results they actually achieve throughout the year?  In some businesses it’s all about the statistics of achievement.  In the sport world for example, each member of the team is evaluated on each aspect of their game and ranked against others in the same field.

In the business world some would say that’s just not possible.  I say that’s due to the fact that not everyone on the team understands how they contribute to the overall success of the organization.  Okay, in the sports world it’s easy, right?  Everyone knows what the vision of the organization is – win the championship of course.  There are clear parallels in business but they might not be as easy to define.

Vision

Most businesses have a vision for the organization.  The question is – can it be as clearly defined and understood as winning the championship?  The easy part of the sport world is that the path to the championship has been well defined.  Rules have been set up that allow the manager or owner of the team to build a clearly understood strategy that can then be passed on to the coaches and players.  In your business you can do the same thing!

The first step is to determine your vision for the organization.  Keep it simple!  Keep it measurable!  If it’s not measurable it cannot be managed – Right?  If it’s too complex no one will understand how to break the vision down into departmental and then individual goals.

Vision Statement

In the next Timeframe the company will Attainable Goal by Differentiator!

Most sports teams set out to win the championship but not all of them have the tools and resources to win it this year.  So their timeframe might be to win the championship within the next three years by rebuilding the existing team.  The same goes for your organization.  You might not have the tools on board today to attain the ultimate goal but everyone should understand that’s where you are headed.

SMART Goals

Thankfully the hard part is done right?  Wrong!  Countless businesses I work with have the vision of where they are headed well in hand and simply cannot understand why they haven’t gotten there already.  The long term goal (The Vision) needs to be broken down into yearly, quarterly and even daily goals for each member of the team.  This is a very difficult task and can only be accomplished through strong communication and teamwork within the leadership of the company.  Obviously, the real long term goal of a sports organization is to build the value of that organization by driving up revenue attained from broadcasting rights and game attendance.  Can you imagine if that is what was communicated to the offensive line on a football team?  They would have no way of relating their performance to that high level goal of the organization.  So winning a championship becomes the goal.  Every athlete can relate to this goal and understands what it means to their financial future.

But winning the championship is still too broad a goal to drive performance on the team.  So that goal is broken down further in to win this week’s game and then again into scoring the touchdown.  But it doesn’t stop there!  It’s about first downs – achieving them for the offense and preventing them for the defense.  “If you control the line of scrimmage you win the game.” 

So what are the SMART goals for you team?  How can you break them down into bit size measurable indicators that can be monitored and improved upon each day?

I like to use the example of the airline that wanted to improve on time performance (Goal) in order to raise the overall rating of the airline.  Anyone who travels can understand how this impacts their lives and therefore they pay attention to this rating when selecting their airline of choice.  In turn this will drive revenue for the airline.  So increasing revenue is the high level goal but the employees cannot directly relate to this goal.  Not everyone in your business understands business and therefore you need to make the goals at the employee level relatable to the worker.

But on time performance was still too broad a goal.  This goal was in turn broken down further in to Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) for the baggage handlers, maintenance workers, gate attendance, pilots and flight attendants.

Baggage Handlers: Have all bags loaded 20 minutes prior to the flight’s departure

Maintenance Workers: Have all flight checks completed 40 minutes prior to flight departure

Gate Attendants: Have all passengers loaded 10 minutes prior to departure

Pilots and Flight Attendants: Arrive at the plane 30 minutes prior to departure

Of course there is more to it than this but for the purposes of our discussion today you can see my point.  These are KPI’s related to the goal that can be reported and monitored to better understand where the weak points in the operation are.  Once identified you can put improvement plans in place that might include training or improved technology to report problems ahead of time.

So start today.

  • Make sure your vision is clear and relatable
  • Ensure the strategy to attain the vision is well thought out and documented
  • Breakdown the goals into (KPI’s) that can be measured at the department and even employee level.

When differences are discovered through the reporting process, don’t shoot the messenger.  Sometimes the process is to blame for good people achieving poor results.  Ask them for their help in fixing the problem.  If you hired the right people, and they understand what they need to do to achieve the goal you will be surprised at what can be resolved if you are willing to listen with an open mind.

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