business

The saying goes “Culture eats Strategy for Breakfast” Drucker

Posted on by Adam Payne

The weekend of October 22nd I was watching the Austin Texas F1 Grand Prix, this is one programme that everyone knows in my house not to disturb me watching. This weekend Mercedes were all but clear of winning the constructors championship as long as Ferrari didn’t outscore them by 17 points, something in the end that Ferrari couldn’t do. Congratulations MercedesAMGF1!

Now what pricked my ears up was the interview with James Allison at the end of the race, a number of questions were asked around the differences between Ferrari and Mercedes, James (Ferrari man from 2000-2005 and returning 2013-2016 to Mercedes 2017) an absolute professional and held in high regard within F1 would not be drawn on the comparison, but what he did say regarding Mercedes summed it up in 28 seconds of video (click the image below for the interview).

If you look at Ferrari’s take on things in the past few races when things have been going wrong, their behaviour seems to be one of blame and bullet a few people, you would almost say “Manage by Fear”.

As James Allison put, by being Brave to Ultimately Prosper and the culture they have embedded at Mercedes to succeed clarifies the saying “Culture eats Strategy for Breakfast”

Culture is hard to collate, classify, categorise and it’s certainly hard to measure, it also seems one of those things Businesses seem to shy away from, even borderline not accept. It’s the invisible glue that you can’t touch or feel, so we’ll ignore it.

BUT IGNORE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK THOUGH!

Quite often, businesses think culture is some flowery-fluffy stuff that doesn’t make any difference in the end, or even if they think it does matter, they have an excruciatingly hard time describing what theirs is.

This invisible glue that holds the organisation together is probably the most powerful entity you can tap into, it’s part of your businesses DNA, the same as how I describe Policy Deployment, it becomes part of your business DNA. The “How you get things done”

The “How you get things done” drives performance.

Culture is not what we say, but what we do without asking. A healthy culture allows us to produce something with each other, not in spite of each other. That is how a group of people generates something much bigger than the sum of the individuals involved.

So don’t underestimate “YOUR BUSINESSES CULTURE”

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Manage by Fact NOT by Emotion

Posted on by Adam Payne

Sounds simple, but are you doing it. We are all guilty of making a decision by emotion, but is this the exception or the norm for you and or your business? Add to this the old classic “but we’ve always done it that way” ……

Here’s hoping it’s not the norm!

I’ve recently seen a business make 80/90% of their decisions on emotion, and my life had they made some bad decisions. When we took stock, and started to delve into the systems and extract data, boy did the data indicate something different.

When we begin to measure we to begin to understand, when we understand we begin to gain control, when we have control we can now improve. Always ensuring we are measuring the correct output/input, as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) drives behaviour, wrong KPI wrong Behaviour.

Managing by Fact is the notion that real knowledge in the form of empirical analysis of results is the shortest path to the best business decisions. That may seem obvious, yet few companies follow that principle. Many leaders make strategic choices based on nothing more than business fads or the dubious recommendations of advisers who are afraid to challenge the preconceived judgements or the organisational status quo. Quantitative or qualitative data that measures how well the strategy is working is often the last concern. Thus, critical company decision making, relating to acquisitions, restructuring, new product launches, sales and marketing, operations and the like, often takes place in the dark.

Comments, we can’t do that because…our answer should be “then show me why, justify to me why, mange by fact and data to help me make that informed decision” it’s not going to be on emotion and hearsay.

Put it this way, when managing by fact the business I refer to highlighted opportunities worth £1m+, not bad for just making that informed decision.

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Leadership Alignment

Posted on by Adam Payne

Leadership teams still operate in silos. Commercial don’t talk to operations and vice versa, individual objectives are not aligned to the business needs, Quality stands alone. Your business may have a company vision but is this realised/disseminated throughout the organisation and most importantly of all, is your leadership team aligned to it.

Creating a clear company vision is key to your organisation’s success, but how do you make sure everyone on your leadership team agrees? Now this doesn’t mean that your team need to get on together but it does mean they are fully focussed and completely in agreement on what needs to be delivered.

Make sure everyone on your leadership team is on the same page with a crystal-clear vision for your organisation by AGREEING on the answers to these questions. REMEMBER AGREEING AS A TEAM!.

This walk-through helps your team clarify and agree on your company vision and priorities.

 

What are your Core Values?

What are the 3-5 characteristics that define who you are as a company, culture and leadership team?

 

What is your Focus?

What is it your business excels at? What is its core competence? What’s your purpose?

 

What is your 10 year Vision?

What is the goal you are all working towards? What does the finish line look like?

 

What is your Marketing Strategy?

Who is your ideal target market? What are your Unique Selling Points you need to tell to the world? What is your proven process for doing business with your customers? What’s your guarantee?

 

What is your 3 year Strategy

What is the Revenue, Profit and Measurable goals (remembering KPI’s drive behaviour so make sure you have the correct ones)? 3-5 bullet points on what your business will look like in 3 years.

 

What is your 1 year plan?

What IS the plan, what are the 3-7 most important things that must be done within the next 12 months? (Less is More)

 

Quarterly Milestones

What are the most important things your team must do in the next 90 days to ensure they hit the 1 year plan to put you on track to make your 3 year Strategy a Reality?

 

Implement a governance process to ensure execution.

Give time, Space and co-ordination of problem solving so that the organisational barriers are removed.

REMEMBER AGREEMENT AT EVERY QUESTION BEFORE YOU MOVE ON

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