The goal of any organization is to make money. Regardless of what type of product or service the organization may be providing that may or may not have a meaningful impact, that impact has a price, and customers are willing to pay for that. As a leader, you are measured by the results you deliver and those results should be aligned to the organization’s bottom line, or else you are measuring the wrong thing. Similarly, measures are a way of determining progress and determining if your team is working on the right projects.
This past week, I had a feeling of being trapped in quicksand – I felt like I was failing myself, I was failing my boss, and in turn, failing my organization. Despite having many great achievements this past week and there were some pretty impressive successes, I could not shake this overpowering feeling of disappointment. It definitely doesn’t help that I am chemical unbalanced right now and all my insecurities have taken me to the frontlines ready to strike down anyone that encroaches on my territory. Pushing past my current biological state, there was a remarkable insight into what I am feeling combined with having started the book, The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt, I am realizing my team is not delivering results fast enough and my attitudes justifying the timelines should just be acceptable regardless of what is being compromised. Am I starting to become complacent, am I falling into the trap of accepting the status quo mentality that seems to plague the pessimists in my organization!?! What feels clear to me, I am not doing a good enough job keeping myself organized and on top of all the activities/projects my team is working on. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to establish the perfect to-do list (I am possibly not giving myself enough credit as I do have a large cross-functional team) but more importantly, how am I measuring mine and my team’s performance on a daily basis against the goal of the organization!?! What does a good day look like!?!
At a high level, I have several objectives that align with the business strategy that is then broken down into projects and corresponding measures. These projects turn into SMART goals for each team member and thus they are held accountable for the timelines and deliverables. Every month, I report the performance of each objective and put together countermeasures for less than stellar performance. But brightly green stop light charts are meaningless unless the actual impact is being delivered – so fluffy presentations won’t fool any seasoned executive.
So here is how I am planning on re-calibrating my approach (by the way, constant re-calibration is normal to keep you fresh and growing):
First, getting my entire team to provide me a four-up chart on all the projects they are working on and their current state. Because my team spends much of their time firefighting amongst other things, getting a picture of a day in their life will help me better understand all the ad-hoc activities. I have a great team that oftentimes is so nice they will step up and do the job of other groups which turns from a one-time deal to ongoing added responsibility. The second thing I need to do is free up my calendar as much as possible to spend time working on the key projects. If you were to look at my outlook calendar, I am lucky if I can fit in a bathroom break or time to feed myself. I need to do a better job at deciding if my presence is really required – will I add value, can this meeting be delegated or can I be brought up to speed with a meeting summary!?! I also need to carve out time for the team members that report to my leadership team. Giving them dedicated time with me will help me to further connect with them but also giving them the platform to be candid which I know they filter or shy away from when I ask, how’s it going – after all, I am the boss. The third thing which is focused on my credibility is to ensure the performance I am reporting are hard savings and tangible benefits that are consistently being realized. Anyone can be a one-hit-wonder, but I want staying power if I want to progress in my career and that requires consistency and always delivering indisputable results.
Reference Material:
https://www.rdpusa.com/delivering-results-on-time/
