Mike Russell

If your answer is “yes” … congratulations!  You have managed to do better than most businesses, as most businesses face uncertainties during the year that will already have caused turbulence for the original plan.  And a warning:  are you sure there are no changes needed to the plan?  If your business is in a changing market or environment, then following the original plan on cruise control can be a dangerous thing.  Make sure you are really looking for potential change both now and down the road.

If your answer is “no” … congratulations if you are dealing with reality of change around you and making changes to your plans as you go.  Remember that planning under uncertainty results in plans that are more assumption-based than fact.  Execution of the plans and quickly testing assumptions will help you correct the trajectory and stay on a profitable path.

If your answer is “no” but not because of external factors or plan assumptions, then what is causing the change?  Are business operations chaotic or unpredictable?  Then do the work to establish consistency.  Without a sufficiently consistent baseline, making improvements or executing plans will be practically useless as there is no way to tell if any of the improvements or plans made any difference or if results are merely due to inconsistency.

If your answer is “I don’t know” … then quickly find out.  For most businesses, markets and other factors can change faster than the old annual or semiannual or even quarterly review of the annual plan.  Set up processes to get the data you need to see how the currents and winds are moving around your business ship and adjust accordingly and more frequently.

Think about this now as time flies!

 

By Mike Russell

Don’t like agility, feedback, and change?

Here are some pointers for maintaining or increasing your organization’s rigidity in the coming year, updated for 2016:

1. Don’t learn anything from last year.
2. If you think you did learn something, don’t apply it or tell anyone else.
3. Certainly don’t change any plans you have already made, even if conditions have changed since the plans were made.  And do not make any changes during the year, either.  That would give the impression of fallibility on your part.
4. Make 2016 plans are completely detailed for the entire company … who will do what and when throughout the year.  There should be no independent actions at any time.
5. Do not include employee development in the 2016 plan.  Development implies change, and we do not want change.
6. Base all performance plans on the detailed annual plan, with no provision for changes if anything unanticipated occurs.
7. Include only individual goals and work plans in performance plans, not team or joint goals.
8. Have everyone focus only on results for their area, not the overall value provided to customers or total financial results.
9. Check your HR systems and policies to ensure each employee competes against other employees for raises, bonuses, etc.
10. Make sure all employees are 100% utilized during the year.  Better to focus on activity and be doing busywork to keep them out of trouble.  Do not focus on results … doing so could lead to change.
11. Demand innovation but don’t reward innovation or anyone taking risks.  Punish anyone who does something that was not in the 2016 plan or efforts that are not perfect the first time.
12. Also ask employees to make improvements, but do not allow any “normal” time for making the improvements … and make sure everyone knows that “normal” work comes first.
13. Hire for the past, not the future, and especially look for “yes people” and those without initiative.
14. Use narrow, very detailed job descriptions and only allow people to work on what is in their particular job description.
15. Allow the possibility of change but make the change process so complex and difficult that nothing of consequence will actually be approved.
16. Leaders should be models of desired behavior.  Therefore, make sure you model command and control, rigidity, and close-mindedness at every opportunity.

By Mike Russell

“Training” in most companies is viewed as a one-time learning event.

However, we advocate some form of follow-on activities for improved retention and, most importantly, actual effective application of the training.

Why?  Research and practical experience has shown that follow-on assistance in applying learning after the training event provides dramatically better ROI.  Like 4 TIMES (the “4X” in the title) better returns if coaching is provided after the training.

Is most of your company’s internal training single-event focused?  If so, consider how follow-on activities might dramatically improve your ROI …

Otherwise, your training may be largely ineffective and, as colleague Leigh Quinn puts it, delivering merely “entertrainment.”

 

By Mike Russell

From the opening of the book Wrong Until Right – How to Succeed Despite Relentless Change:

 

Relentless.

Accelerating.

Disruptive.

Turbulent.

Unprecedented.

All these descriptions – and more like them – have been used to describe change in today’s world.  And no more so than in the business world.

That level and type of change brings with it uncertainty and risk, reducing our ability to confidently and preemptively determine what we must do to succeed.

In the past, business leaders have been accustomed to being able to predict what actions were needed – to be “right” in their decisions and how they lead.  Unfortunately, this mindset is becoming increasingly ineffective in today’s world.

To succeed, leaders must now change their approach from “right until wrong” to “wrong until right.”

“Wrong” in this context does not mean poor judgment or action.  “Wrong” means that despite trying well, we still may encounter errors due to high rates of change and not enough knowledge to determine what will be “right” at the time our product or service reaches the marketplace.  Rather than sticking to some pre-determined path, we make incremental corrections and use interim “wrongs” to eventually get to “right.”

“Right until wrong” … “wrong until right” … sound like subtle word play but represent the difference needed to win in today’s business world.