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Are You Suffering From Initiative Overload?

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Most likely, yes! Companies here in South Africa and around the world are routinely spending hundreds of millions (insert your currency) on initiatives that are seldom integrated and strip away valuable time and focus from your existing resources. Not only that, but the result and impact of those initiatives are often hard to quantify. What is the real value delivered?

Special projects and initiatives often put additional strain on company resources and take valuable time away from day-to-day operations. Ask any manager or leader in a business what wastes their time and you’ll be sure to get three common answers;

  1. too many initiatives and
  2. too many meetings (most of them of course about the initiatives) and
  3. slow decision making. According to Harvard Professor Robert Kaplan, companies introduce an “abundance of projects [that] compete for limited resources including: Human Capital, IT and Financial”.

Sorry guys, but you appear to be the main culprits and while your projects may provide useful support services to the group, the value of those projects remains hard to quantify in other parts of the business.

Why? According to Kaplan there is “no integrated view across business units”, what Tom Peters would call “a lack of cross functional integration”. Divisions and departments act in isolation of each other seldom coming together to prioritize their projects and activities with their peers. The net result is commonly called a “silo organisation” a way of operating divisions within the business compete with each other internally rather externally, in the market. Who wins? Generally the competition, who, to be fair, are possibly struggling with similar challenges. In short, the fight is happening on the wrong side of the fence.

The systemic consequence (a clever way of saying the knock on effect) of silo thinking impacts employee morale and organisation performance. Companies end up fat, with too many heads pulling in different directions, or internally political, with leaders and teams fighting for attention, resource and budget. Put that kind of thinking into the workforce and the net result is a plethora of headaches for which no pill can easily cure. Layer into this the challenges that come with a matrix structure, and then the real complaints come: we are pulled in too many directions, we don’t have the time, we’re in too many meetings, the goal is not clear, we don’t have the skills.

Kaplan goes on to add that there is often “[no clear] distinction between strategic and operational project efforts”. Poor prioritization and lack of integration appear to be the basis for a slew of unorganized and, at times, chaotic activity. This renders senior decision makers with an inadequate view of the real performance of the business, and leaves the implementation teams (managers, supervisors and employees) grinding hard at things without really understanding their value or impact.

Understanding how to prioritize initiatives and projects is just one of the insights Professor Kaplan will be sharing at this year’s BRG Conference on Strategy Execution co-hosted by GIBS and sponsored by STRATX. If resource optimization and project prioritization fits into your scorecard, then this is a day not to be missed. Learn how the father of the Balanced Scorecard and Activity Based Cost Accounting can shed new light on initiative management in your business.

For more information visit //www.brg.co.za/speakers/prof-robert-kaplan/ or call BRG on 0861 B GREAT

**On the 17th September 2015, Harvard Business School, Professor Kaplan, Internationally acclaimed Lifetime Contributor to the Management and Accounting Profession will present a full day programme at The BRG Progress Conference on Executing Strategy taking place at Theatre on the Track, Kyalami Johannesburg. This year’s programme will feature Leadership, Risk, Finance, People and Project priorities.

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Keeping Millennials Happy at Work Drives Productivity

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KEEPING MILLENIALS HAPPY AT WORK DRIVES PRODUCTIVITY – MILLENNIALS ON THE RISE

“On a scale of one to ten, the average score on employee happiness at work is between five and five and a half” – Kerstin Jatho (The 2014 Science of Happiness @ Work™ Conference).

“Millennials are looking for meaning in their work”, says Jatho. The question is: are employers providing the kind of environment where they deem their contributions to not only add to the profitability and success of the organisation, but also have a positive impact on their own professional and personal development?

Leading Neuroscientist, Psychiatrist and MIT Faculty Member, Dr Tara Swart, agrees that it all boils down to meaning and purpose. In order to ultimately get the most out of any employee, leaders need to keep them engaged and earn their trust by ensuring they see the value of their contributions.

Top Tips to Ensure Millennials are Happy and Productive at Work

  1. Remember: Engagement + Happiness@Work = Greater productivity.
  2. Layout and explain the organisation’s goals and/or objectives. Let them feel a part of the direction in which the company is headed.
  3. Give a clear outline of what is expected – this adds meaning to the work they do. Jeremy Kingsley, a leadership expert and author, says that “If you can explain the whole picture, it connects the meaning to the person.”
  4. Outline a progression path – millennials are eager to quickly progress in their careers and are rarely willing to wait too long for promotion opportunities. Set smaller steps to measure & reward advancement rather than lofty goals 3-4 years in the future.
  5. Offer mentorship opportunities and develop a personal connection – this will also have a healthy effect on the company retaining talent.
  6. Create a positive vibe. Companies like Google are inundated with applications – the environment is flowing with positive energy and high spirits. Introduce some fun activities – lunch out once a month, music, interaction with people in the work space: good old fashioned conversations about interests and hobbies works wonders for engagement.

MILLENNIALS ON THE RISE

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that millennials will make up a staggering 75% of the workforce by the year 2030. They will comprise nearly half in only five years’ time, according to a study conducted by PwC.

Profile of the Millennial worker

  • Aged roughly between 18 and 35
  • The most educated generation (34% of millennials hold at least a Bachelor’s degree), yet are plagued by unemployment
  • Diverse in terms of culture
  • Dislike red tape and hierarchies
  • Job hoppers

Millennials are quickly shaping up to be the drivers of the working environment. For them, it’s all about fulfilment in what they do – meaning and purpose.  It is imperative that organisations prioritise happiness at work and understand that this is a major driver of performance.

Karl Moore, a contributor to the Forbes website, says millennials are on a constant search for happiness; “Millennials work for purpose, not paychecks”. If an organisation cannot clearly define their role, thereby giving purpose in their employment, they will actively search for an organisation that will do so.

 

References

Dave Norton in September – Making Strategy Core State of the Art Competence

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Dave Norton says,  “Behind every story of shareholder value, there is another story of value creation. That is the real story of strategy execution.”

Having had the privilege today to proof read the delegate materials for the upcoming Dave Norton Progress Conference on the 11th September, I cannot resist offering a little sneak preview of the 100 plus slides he has prepared for his South African audience.

In essence, he says, strategy must be a core competence and his presentation shows you precisely what you need to accomplish to make it a core state of the art competence. You can be assured of rich content with case studies and real life applications relevant to both the Private and Public sectors. His content flows seamlessly, offering delegates a deliberate journey through which they can contextualise their strategy execution efforts. And behind every success he shares with you he also tells the story of how the value was created.

THE STRATEGY MANAGEMENT VACUUM

First and foremost he will show how management systems have STILL not changed to keep up with the way the world has changed.  This is what he calls a Strategy Management Vacuum. He goes on to reveal his research into why strategies continue to fail and offer solutions to overcome this sadly, prevalent reality.

MAKING INTANGIBLE TANGIBLE

I was fascinated by his take on intangible assets and how describing your strategy begins by understanding the value the intangibles offer. He cites Apple, General Electric, IBM and others and will illustrate how Tom Stewart’s thinking in respect of how knowledge that exists in an organisation creates differential advantage. Dave remarks, “A good strategy focusses on the processes and people that have greatest impact on customer satisfaction.”

CLOSING THE STRATEGIC PERFORMANCE GAP WITH CAUSE AND EFFECT LOGIC

Dave has prepared a prolific set of strategy maps, scorecards and themes that have been applied within leading organisations. He asserts that your strategic theme is critical to create change and value.

“Intangible assets are bundled”, he says. “One initiative is not enough to execute strategy. You require a portfolio of several initiatives that are interdependent and cannot be treated on a stand- alone basis.” And again, he provides real management tools to show you how to include specific ways to define your strategic architecture, create robust strategy maps and tailor relevant strategy themes. In particular he provides delegates with specific Balanced Scorecards to show how they consistently fill the strategy management vacuum

LEADERSHIP IMPERATIVES FOR EFFECTIVE STRATEGY EXECUTION

Dave also says, “It is not a simple process for a CEO to mobilize transformation.” But his content goes on to provide tried and tested leadership essentials for certain success. He shows what is required in terms of left and right brain thinking to build your effective strategy management systems and why leadership issues are most often the dominant barrier to effective strategy execution. Just one barrier cited is how politics, in 89% of cases, is the major factor that prohibits the successful execution of strategy. Enter Dave’s right brain change management techniques and priorities, with ways to break down silos, get politics out of the way and cascade the strategy and scorecards to all key executives, business units and departments with appropriate accountability.

What follows on from there are the left brain change management tools that he has observed and that have been shown to achieve desired results.

MAKING STRATEGY EVERYONE’S JOB

Dave illustrates how Hilton Hotels did just this by linking their Balanced Scorecard to education, personal goals, incentive compensation and communication. Looking forward to how he will unpack this for us on the day.

SETTING TARGETS & FUNDING THE STRATEGY

Be prepared for prolific content and techniques to define your measures and targets and determine adequate funding.

SUCCESSFUL HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT ATTRIBUTES

An annual survey of CEO’s Presidents and Chairman showed that Human Capital Development is the most important issue facing senior management. “People driven strategies counter slow markets and economic conditions. The Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame shows that successful strategy execution begins with Human Capital Development”, he says. And then goes on to share the results of Public & Private sector results whilst showing you which are the key Human Capital Value Multipliers. He will also show us how to develop competency profiles for each essential strategic job family and in particular how to determine the gaps between individual and group level.

THE CHERRY ON THE TOP: BUILDING YOUR EFFECTIVE OFFICE OF STRATEGY MANAGEMENT: THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS

As he insists that strategy is a core competence and that managing strategy is a whole new ball game very different to managing functions, he will show you why new organisation approaches are needed to facilitate cross-functional alignment. He defines the responsibilities of the office of strategy management and suggests the best practices in terms of conducting your meetings and reviews to keep your strategy on course including frequency and structure.

This blog barely scratches the surface or even does justice to what Dave Norton has in store for delegates on the 11th September, but hopefully provides you with some ideas to provoke and challenge your thinking in respect of your strategy execution efforts.

Dr David Norton is the co-creator of the Balanced Scorecard and leading global practitioner in applying the Balanced Scorecard in both the Private and Public Sector. Together with Professor Robert Kaplan, he has been acclaimed by Harvard Business Review for his significant contribution to the management profession in the past 75 years. More recently Thinkers 50 have ranked them in their Hall of Fame alongside Tom Peters, Kenichi Ohmae, Warren Bennis, Howard Gardner, Henry Mintzberg, Charles Handy, Philip Kotler and Ikujiro Nonaka for their mammoth contribution to business management and leadership.

On the 11th September 2014 Dr Norton will present a full day seminar in Johannesburg on EXECUTING STRATEGY IN A NEW ECONOMY – Balanced Scorecard Essentials.

Customer Centric Metrics Rescue Retailers from Strategic Eccentrics

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CUSTOMERS TAKE CARE OF THE PROFITS – HOW INTIMATE ARE YOU WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS?

Tom Peters has long argued the case for Customer Centricity. At the 2011 Progress Conference he said; “The magic formula that business has revealed is to treat their customers like guests and their employees like people.” So what is his 2013 take on strategy and leadership? Think of this as “Tom Peter’s Balanced Scorecard”.

Leaders “Do” People

You take care of the people.

The people take care of the service.

The service takes care of the customer.

The customer takes care of the profit.

The profit takes care of the reinvestment.

The reinvestment takes care of the future.

Now, hold that thought.

In The Execution Premium, Dr Dave Norton and Professor Robert Kaplan evidence the magic of Tom’s winning formula. The book cites a case study of how a large retailer, Store 24, turned around their failed strategy by applying what their CEO Bob Gordon, called their Customer Intimacy programme as a key scorecard metric.

The Store 24 strategy, which was called “Ban Boredom”, seemed like a great idea and a sure fire way to differentiate them from their competitors. The original “Ban Boredom” plan was an exciting strategy providing an entertaining atmosphere with fun promotions and frequent themes. This gave store managers permission and discretion to find ways to execute on the strategy. They dressed up in costumes consistent with themes and holidays and activated imaginative promotions with great displays.

NOT EVERYONE WANTS “DISNEY” MAGICAL MOMENTS – CUSTOMER CENTRIC METRICS SAVED THE DAY

Unfortunately this “Disney” approach had an adverse effect. It seemed that while executed with good intentions, the result was failing on the customer intimacy metric.

It was most fortunate that this strategy was predicated on their “customer intimacy” programme. And by getting “up close and personal” with their customers, they were able to quickly abandon the “Ban Boredom” Programme after two years and replace it with a new strategy.

What their “customer intimacy” programme showed was that the customers valued their traditional strengths of good product selection, quick service and a clean environment. They did not value, AT ALL, the experience they were trying to create. Customers were unhappy with the inattentive store employees dressed in costumes and distracted by the ever-changing displays in store.

METRICS ARE KING

You get what you measure! It’s an old adage and one that could not have been truer for Store 24. Using the Balanced Scorecard approach, the retailer was able to assess customer satisfaction quickly. Not only were they able to change direction quickly, they were also able to identify interesting elements for a comeback strategy.

COMEBACK STRATEGY – “CAUSE YOU JUST CAN’T WAIT”

Their comeback strategy, called “Cause, you just can’t wait”, was wholly based on customer feedback. They realised that flawless execution was essential and further research showed the negative relationship between low skilled employees and operating profit. They were able to show consistently that strategy implementation was only effective when done at stores with high skill crews. They realised, too, that the ability for them to implement their come-back strategy relied heavily on employee satisfaction.

BACK TO TOM!

Which brings us right back to Tom Peters, “Treat your customers like guests and your employees like people. You take care of the people. The people take care of the service. The service takes care of the customer. The customer takes care of the profit.” Most readers will acknowledge that this is very much the Disney leadership model – the difference, however, is that it doesn’t mean that every customer wants a “Disney moment”. What does ring true is that if you get the people right, the service will follow. Get that right, and the profits are a natural result.

Having acknowledged the metrics, Store 24 brought back their traditional strengths as a key driver of their customer value proposition and replaced the “fun, entertaining experience” strategy with speed and efficiency as their new value proposition.

BALANCED SCORECARD WINS THE DAY

Had Store 24 not had a Balanced Scorecard in place, they may well have pursued their quirky “Ban Boredom” idea for many more years, with inexperienced and dissatisfied store crews having “fun” at the expense of their customer and profits. Scorecard metrics not only determine how organisations measure up on people, products, processes and resultant profits; they also provide a direct link to customer satisfaction.

Dave Norton urges companies to use an “employee-customer-profit value chain model” as their main management system.

Are you measuring the right things? Do you scrutinise the “employee-customer-profit value” cause and effect relationships? If you did, what might that value chain reveal and offer you in terms of a new strategic opportunity with a high execution premium?

Dr David Norton is the co-creator of the Balanced Scorecard and leading global practitioner in applying the Balanced Scorecard in both the Private and Public Sector. Together with Professor Robert Kaplan, he has been acclaimed by Harvard Business Review for his significant contribution to the management profession in the past 75 years. More recently Thinkers 50 have ranked them in their Hall of Fame alongside Tom Peters, Kenichi Ohmae, Warren Bennis, Howard Gardner, Henry Mintzberg, Charles Handy, Philip Kotler and Ikujiro Nonaka for their mammoth contribution to business management and leadership.

On the 11th September 2014 Dr Norton will present a full day seminar in Johannesburg on EXECUTING STRATEGY IN A NEW ECONOMY – Balanced Scorecard Essentials.

Strategic Execution Succ-Essentials

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CREATING YOUR UNIQUE STRATEGY AND EVEN MORE DISTINCTIVE SCORECARD TO ACHIEVE UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS.

What do the world’s most acclaimed thought leaders have to say about strategy execution and why so many strategies fail to achieve their desired results? Professor Michael Porter, Dr Gary Hamel, Michael Hammer, Professor Robert Kaplan, The late CK Prahalad, Dave Ulrich, Ram Charan, Dr Dave Norton and Tom Peters’ thinking on Strategy Execution.

Tom Peters offers his 2 golden rules to guide your strategy – Rule # 1:  You can’t beat Walmart on Price. Rule # 2: You can’t beat China on cost. In essence he says, “You can’t be remarkable by following someone else who is remarkable.”

Inside OR Outside Strategic Thinking

Michael Porter is globally acclaimed for his strategic insights and in particular his  5 Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy. This model calibrates the attractiveness of an industry and benchmarks your outcome against that of your competitors to shape your new strategy. This is external analysis that on its own, fails to consider the internal factors, processes and people needed to execute and achieve your desired success. This does not imply that Michael Porter is a non-believer in internal strategic triggers as he also notes, “Operational effectiveness and strategy are both essential to superior performance… but they work in different ways.”

Dr Gary Hamel argues that some of the best strategies come from employees within their organisations. This inside-out strategy is based on the premise that they are close to technologies, processes and customers. The late CK Prahalad studied and believed in co-creating unique value with your customers; an outside- in approach. Professor Dave Ulrich is obsessed with designing strategy from the Outside-in with customers defining your future HR strategy. Michael Hammer’s business process re-engineering has been applied by many organisations to improve internal processes that deliver superior performance.

P’s & Ham 

In this instance, Peters, Prahalad & Porter’s insights offer you an external approach to shape strategy while Gary Hamel & Michael Hammer’s insights recognise the significance of internal processes. That said, they all acknowledge that these management interventions and ideas cannot stand alone. Michael Hammer has long been acclaimed for his innovative approach to improving internal capabilities and yet he concurs, “High performance operating systems are necessary but not sufficient for enterprise success.”

Today Strategy is EVERYBODY’S EVERYDAY Job

Ram Charan says that in the majority of cases (70%) the real problem isn’t bad strategy – strategies most often fail because they are not executed well.

With this wealth of wisdom and thought leadership, why are companies still failing to execute strategy?

Inside AND Outside Strategic Execution

Professor Robert Kaplan and Dr Dave Norton say that while there is a plethora of great strategic implementation tools out there, companies fail to integrate external and internal triggers that measure the cause and effect hypotheses in respect of the 4 key drivers of value in their business. A successful scorecard will show you how improvement in one area may be achieved at the expense of another. It breaks down silos and has a key shared understanding among all employees.

You can’t use a rugby scorecard for a cricket match |The “what to measure” dilemma

Traditionally people have tracked their performance against established standards and then taken corrective action. Exclusive reliance on financial measures as a management system was causing businesses to do the wrong things. These traditional measures offered lag indicators as they only reported on outcomes. Your scorecard should provide you with lead indicators – drivers of future financial performance. In a recent interview Norton confirmed that companies still rely too heavily on the quarterly report and use this as the life-cycle in their organisations.

A good balanced scorecard should tell your visionary strategy story

Norton and Kaplan confirm that companies also fail to execute their strategy when they fail to create a unique scorecard that is discernible and relevant to their business. Your strategy should be distinctive to your “do-well” existing and future capabilities. On Kaplan’s visit to South Africa in 2012, he was asked why companies, who widely publicise and communicate their scorecards, so liberally, do not fall prey to prying predatory competitors.  He said, that in all of his years observing Balanced Scorecard interventions, he has failed to see competitors achieve success by simply adopting another company’s scorecard. Your scorecard becomes your organisations’ unique DNA, it captures the hearts and minds of the people who co-create it. Nicola Tyler, the CEO of Business Results Group and sought after strategic facilitator, has long argued that the closer a person is to the origination of an idea the more likely they are to act on it.

And if your strategy and your scorecard are not unique and distinctive, remember Tom Peter’s earlier words, “You cannot be remarkable by following someone else who is remarkable.”

July 2014

In 2014, BRG & GIBS will present Dave Norton – Live and in Person: Executing Strategy: Balanced Scorecard Essentials. The 2014 programme includes the latest findings and experiences in strategy, measurement, leadership, human capital and cross functional priorities and solutions with tried and tested Balanced Scorecard essentials. In a recent interview Dave Norton highlighted that although he is comforted and assured of the effectiveness of the Balanced Scorecard by the 100 plus companies in The Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame who have evidenced success using the Balanced Scorecard correctly and in its entirety; there are still 100’s of companies out there just doing it wrong.”

Dr Dave Norton has most recently been honoured by Thinkers 50 in their Hall of Fame sharing this acclaim with Tom Peters, Warren Bennis, Howard Gardner, Charles Handy, Philip Kotler, Henry Mintzberg, Kenichi Omae, Ikujiro Nonaka and his colleague Professor Kaplan, for their mammoth contribution to business management and leadership. Harvard Business Review recognised the Balanced Scorecard as one of the most influential management ideas in the past 75 years.