This morning, I attended the December breakfast of Success North Dallas and the speaker was Glenn Bodinson, founder and CEO of BaldrigeCoach, a consulting firm that helps organizations become more productive, profitable, and fun places to work in by harnessing the power of performance excellence through the Baldrige Criteria.  All I can say is, WOW!  Here are some excerpts from my notes and they will be continued in tomorrow’s post…

Please answer the following statements with:

RARELY  /  SOMETIMES  /  OFTEN  /  CONSISTENTLY  /  ALWAYS

1.  Major decisions are guided by a clear vision and set of values that describe what we want our organization to be and how to get there.

2.  Each employee knows what the vision, values and top objective are for the organization.

3.  Each employee knows what the vision, values, top objectives and goals are for their department and their processes.

4.  Accountability for achieving goals and getting results is clear at each level within the organization.

5.  Through their behavior, our senior leaders serve as role models in reinforcing the values and achieving performance excellence.

6.  We have a long-term plan that addresses new technology, sustainability, and the expectations of our stakeholders.

7.  There is clear agreement among our leaders about what the top priorities are to accomplish our goals, objectives, and vision.

8.  Leaders at all levels have the necessary leadership skills and technical knowledge to accomplish our goals, objectives, and vision.

9.  Our relationships with our customers build trust, loyalty, repeat business, and positive referrals.

10.  We measure, analyze, segment, compare, and take action to improve customer, financial, operational, and ethical performance.

If the majority of your answers to the ten questions above are “RARELY” or “SOMETIMES,” it is characteristic of processes at this level to be (typically) un-documented and in a state of dynamic change.  They tend to be driven in an ad hoc, uncontrolled and reactive manner by users or events.  This state provides a chaotic or unstable environment for the processes and YOUR BUSINESS.

• Organizational implications:

(a)  Institutional knowledge tends to be scattered (there being limited structured approach to knowledge management) in such environments, not all of the stakeholders or participants in the processes may know or understand all of the components that make up the processes. As a result, process performance in such organizations is likely to be variable (inconsistent) and depend heavily on the institutional knowledge, or the competence, or the heroic efforts of relatively few people or small groups.

(b) Despite the chaos, such organizations manage to produce products and services. However, in doing so, there is significant risk that they will tend to exceed any estimated budgets or schedules for their projects – it being difficult to estimate what a process will do when you do not fully understand the process (what it is that you do) in the first place and cannot therefore control it or manage it effectively.

(c) Due to the lack of structure and formality, organizations at this level may over-commit, or abandon processes during a crisis, and it is unlikely that they will be able to repeat past successes. There tends to be limited planning, limited executive commitment or buy-in to projects, and limited acceptance of processes.

“If you watch what is occurring today, people are acting like the sky is falling,” says Cisco CEO, John Chambers.  But, he has learned through numerous economic downturns- 1993, 1997, 2001, and 2003- that it’s entirely possible to come out stronger than you were before.  “Every time, we have gained market share, and two years later, our customer and employee satisfaction was greater,” he says.  Here’s his advice for facing tough times…

• “Focus on what we can influence, and not over-or underreact to things we cannot.  It’s a question of living in the world as it is, not the way we want it to be.”
• Assess the damage externally- vendors, customers, colleagues.  “In 2001, we went to our customers n energy, manufacturing, and automotive, to name a few.  We asked, “How are you handling this?”
• Ask yourself, “Is this a market-driven phenomenon or did we do it to ourselves?”  Based on the answers you get, formulate a response.  “In 2001, our strategy was working extremely well before the downturn, and it seemed to be working fromt he customers’ side, so we said it was 90-10.  That turned out to be about right.”
• Make a determination of how long this will last and how deep it is going to be.  “Prepare yourself for it to be longer and deeper than you think.  And then build flexibility to adjust quickly if you need to.”
• Get ready for the upturn.  “What’s our vision for where this industry is going with or without us?”  That, he says, is a five-year horizon.  “What is our differentiated strategy within that vision?”  That’s a two- to four-year plan.  “How are you going to execute in the next 12 to 18 months?”

Taken from December 2008 / January 2009 edition FAST COMPANY  magazine

From Jim Collins, Good to Great:

Assembling the right team is nothing new… however, you must first get the wrong people off the bus and the right people on the bus BEFORE you try to figure out where to drive it.  The key point is the degree of sheer rigor needed with regard to people decisions in order to take a company from good to great.

The good-to-great leaders understand three simple truths.  First, if you begin with “who,” rather than “what,” you can more easily adapt to a changing world.  If people join the bus primarily because of where it is going, what happens if you get ten miles down the road and you need to change direction?  You’ve got a problem.  But, if people are on the bus because of who else is on the bus, then it’s much easier to change course if necessary: “Hey, I got on this bus because of who else is on it; if we need to change direction to be more successful, fine with me.”  Second, if you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away.  The right people don’t need to be tightly managed or fired up;  they will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating something great.  Third, if you have the wrong people, if doesn’t matter whether you discover the right direction or not.  You STILL won’t have a great company.  Great vision without great people is irrelevant.