Consulting Tips and Tools

For many of us, early January is a time of reflection and renewal, accompanied by the resolve to realize more of our potential and dreams in the coming year.  What keeps resolutions alive as we return to desks, drawing boards, and existing commitments?

One answer lies in identifying how you will measure and track progress toward the results you want.  When developing New Year’s resolutions (or any other type of planning targets), many people skip this step.  Why bother?  Here are three convincing reasons to use the magic of measures:

** Measures make you pay attention, on a regular basis, to what you want.

Expressing what you want in specific, positive, and measurable terms with a definite due date focuses attention and action toward desired results.  For example, we have created a set of desired customer results, with associated success measures.  These measures include the total number of organizations and individuals served in 2009, repeat business (the percentage of all purchases or contracts in 2009 that come from customers who purchased during the previous three years), and the percentage of customers offering referrals, testimonials, or sponsorship for new opportunities.  Each of these success measures has a target for 2009 and a baseline established using corresponding 2008 results.  Regular review of these results reminds us of what we want to create this year.

** Measures reveal movement toward or away from target results.

This gives you (or your project team) early warning if a change is needed in the action plan you have established. As you monitor progress, you will learn which of your planned activities “grow corn.”  If planned activities are not contributing as expected, tweak the plan and invest associated resources in more promising pursuits.

** Measures can be motivating.

When you are working on long-term projects, recognizing milestones or increments of progress can be especially helpful.  Don’t wait for a quarterly review to enjoy and communicate evidence of success.  Celebrate each customer referral or new contract, and let your attention to success build the forward momentum.

It’s No Mystery:  How to Choose Measures That Promote Success

1.  Measure what matters to you:  You may wish to establish measurable results for health and well-being, family and relationships, investment and growth, or giving back, as well as for your business success.

2.  Decide what evidence will tell you that you are on track to success.  Make sure that you can collect the data you need easily and at the accuracy and frequency that enables you to monitor progress.

3.  Establish targets for your measures.  The success measure can be as simple as a “yes” or “no” indicating that the result exists, or you can specify an expected level of achievement on a 0 to 10 scale, or the target can be a percentage or number.

4.  Set a baseline or benchmark that describes where you are now.

5.  Establish responsibilities for collecting and recording data, and a calendar for review of results to-date.

Measurement systems are now “Go!” for your success.  Happy New Year!

Randy and Susan

© Aligned for Results, LLC

Interest in SMART job objectives to guide staff performance is growing in both public and private sector organizations.  Over the past two years, Randy and I have provided training to more than 1,500 people who have moved into pay-for-performance systems.  This experience has convinced us that the organization’s Strategic Plan can be critical to the successful development, use, and impact of SMART job objectives in performance management.

Here are three points to consider if you are asked to assist the development of a SMART performance management system:

1.  SMART job objectives can be a great tool for communicating results that individuals are expected to produce, and for making sure that supervisor and staff member share common expectations about how these results are to be measured.  When individual objectives are clearly linked to the team or division mission, and when this mission is directly tied to achievement of the company’s strategic goals, people can see how their contribution enables success for the company.  This can be motivating for individual employees, and can provide a rational basis for rating and rewards.

2.  Clear and well-communicated strategic goals at the company level are the foundation for success with SMART job objectives.  Having these strategic goals enables leaders of divisions or work teams to define operational results expected from their group over a given time period.  Knowing these operational targets enables individual employees to  develop or understand their own job specific objectives.  If employees cannot link their job priorities to team mission and company goals, it’s tough to develop SMART objectives.  Therefore, it can be a good move to define measurable strategic goals and operational targets at the company and team levels BEFORE asking individuals to write their own objectives.  This can be done through facilitated planning meetings with leadership.

3.  The “M” in SMART stands for measurement, and the ability to measure achievement of objectives is key to the success of this performance management method.  If an objective is not measurable, there is no way to gauge progress or verify achievement.  Choosing meaningful performance indicators based on accessible data is essential.  This can require developing or modifying data collection and storage systems within the organization.

So… the first step in establishing an effective performance management system may be to clarify and communicate the company’s strategic goals and/or work unit operational targets for the coming year.  When Randy and I facilitate strategic planning meetings, we often include a component that explains results management in practical terms, so that planning teams can develop SMART targets.  When these SMART targets are in place, training for employees and supervisors on SMART job objectives is much more productive.

You can find more information on our training related to SMART Job Objectives by clicking here.

Susan

© Aligned for Results, LLC

Strategic planning has become an annual ritual for many organizations.  The value of this effort seems obvious:

In a quickly changing global environment, organizations need a systematic check on environmental conditions and trends, customer needs, and their own ability to meet those needs.  Based on assessment of past results, current trends, and future opportunities, leaders can affirm or re-define top-level outcomes and goals, and re-align resources to achieve desired results.   Strategic plans form the framework for operational and business plans that set target objectives for a given period of time, and describe how the organization intends to achieve these objectives.

So what’s wrong with this picture?  In the words of an anonymous military leader:
“Strategy is like rain in the desert:  It evaporates before it hits the ground.”

Despite significant investment of leadership time, staff energy, and organizational resources, a high percent of strategic plans will sit on the shelf after development.  Execution of the plan is the critical issue.

What characterizes plans that work (those that support effective execution and guide on-the-ground action toward strategic outcomes)?  In the process of facilitating a wide variety of strategic planning sessions with government, non-profit and business organizations, we have found that five elements must be present:

(1) Customer Outlook and Alignment

The strategic plan must clearly define and align organizational strategy with customer needs and priorities. As companies evaluate their vision. mission, and goals in light of current realities, the customer’s voice is an reliable guide.  Organizations that tether top-level priorities to what their customers want build relevant plans that are more likely to produce effective action.

(2) Organizational Insight and Alignment

Assessing organizational capability and re-aligning resources to  achieve strategic outcomes is key to success.  A well-structured planning process enables participants to develop internal business and operational plans that support and enable execution of overall strategy.  This process includes specification of SMART objectives as targets for operational plans.  Target objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Aligned, Resourced, and Time-bound are the cornerstone for:

(3) An Effective Feedback System

Without feedback, a complex system can quickly get off track.  Building metrics, tracking tools, and a check-in system into strategic and operational plans enables progress reviews and greater flexibility in identifying and meeting challenges during implementation.  This keeps all contributors focused on how to best achieve operational targets and strategic goals.

(4) People Power

The people who will carry out the plan must be committed to its success.  People Power is the energy that puts plans into action.  Engaging stakeholders from all levels of the organization in plan development can build investment in implementation.  Additional benefits of participatory planning include front-line perspectives on customer priorities, organizational procedures, and resource needs.

(5) Continued Leadership Commitment and Focus

If the organization is to harvest the full pay-off of strategic planning, leaders must maintain their commitment and focus during execution.  When new priorities or requirements surface, it is critical to weigh investments and anticipated reward of on-going Plan initiatives against the benefit of change.   In many instances, new operational priorities can be aligned or coordinated with the efforts already underway.

Want to learn more about how to develop a plan that guides action and gets results?  Go to http://www.aligned4results.com and select “Facilitate Plans and Team Achievement” for information on how we link team development to a systematic, results-based strategic planning and implementation process.

Susan and Randy

© Aligned for Results, LLC