Business at the Speed of Now

I just finished reading "Business at the Speed of Now," by John Bernard. Wow, this is a good book.

I know of John because I worked with him on a small project about a year ago, and I saw a lot of the things he writes about first-hand.  Needless to say, when I heard he was writing a book, I could hardly wait to read it.  Now that it's available, I recommend you pick up a copy right away.

This book is designed to help you create an environment or culture within your business that aligns people for execution, then empowers people to make a difference.  There are some great stories in here comparing and contrasting "Now" cultures with much slower, more bureaucratic ones - some of those really hit the mark for me, and will stick with me.

The book also includes a number of tools to help you assess where your business's thinking is currently, as well as tools to help you take deliberate action to move toward a Now way of doing business.

According to this book, management must provide the rest of the company with 5 critical pieces of information for them to function in the now:

1. Context ("Where are we going?")
2. Accountability ("What role do I play?")
3. Skills ("What abilities must I possess?")
4. Facts ("What data must I access to make decisions?")
5. Authority ("Do I have the freedom to act without fear of reprisal?")

From my experience, #'s 4 and 5 are the hardest transition for control freak organizations.  Fear not, there are some good tips & tools in this book to help in all of these areas.

Guidance when you need it

I read the book all the way through, and it went quickly.  Going forward, I plan to use this as a reference guide to help me focus on what I believe is the "hottest fire" in whatever situation I'm experiencing.  If you scan this list, it not only helps you pinpoint specific challenges, it also guides you to the right chapters to find the help you need.

If you're anything like me, examples and stories are among the best ways to learn. Not only does John share stories he's learned through working with companies, he also uses a ficticious company known as "BearPaw" to show you how some of these ideas work in practice, as well as show you how to create a tracking and alignment system that keeps everyone in the business on the same page about what is important.

The most important thing?

Want to get something done? Use this book to create your "Breakthrough Plan."

I got a taste of this while working with John, and he tells you how to create one in this book.  A breakthrough plan keeps you focused on a specific objective and provides triggers to ensure that resources & dependencies are identified and dealt with,  This is one of the highest-leverage activities in this process, in my opinion (and it isn't as hard as you think).

My favorite part

Yes, I liked the part about Breakthrough Plans.  But I must admit, my favorite chapter in the book was Chapter 8, in which we're exposed to the "Seven-Step Problem Solving" approach.  This is a fantastic model to guide you through a data-driven process to get everyone on the same page about the problem, the desired outcomes, the approach you'll take, and how success will be measured along the way.  Of course, a big part of the formula is accountability, which is well-handled.

If you want a taste of the book, they are offering a sample chapter of Business at the Speed of Now at the author's site. If you really want to jump into the Now, you can click one of the following links to order it on Amazon in either hardcover, or Kindle formats.

"You - call 911!"

In times of great change, as in times of crisis, leaders sometimes need to jump into "directive" mode.

That's what I realized during some chatting today with fellow managers.  You see, we were talking about how managers and leaders can be more effective in times of change and uncertainty, as part of a discussion about 'situational leadership' and we reckoned that even experienced employees often welcome specific, unambiguous direction in times of crisis.  This is sometimes difficult for managers with experienced teams, as we often think the best thing is just to stay out of their way because they'll figure it out quickly enough.  In reality, even experienced employees can stall out and panic during these times of great change.

This rang true for me, and reminded me of my first aid / emergency medical training.  In that training, they tell you that when someone is having a medical emergency, one of the worst things you can do is trust / hope that 'someone' will do the right thing.  In medical emergencies, they tell you to take charge, look at a specific person and say to them, "You - call 911!" so you don't have to leave things to chance.  In other words, give a specific person a specific thing to do so they can focus on what's required of them.

In times of organizational upheaval or uncertainty, the same principle holds true.  Rather than hope that everyone gets back to work and figures out what to do next, many people look to company leaders to jump into "take charge" mode and start giving specific instructions.  "You - go work on x, and get it done by the end of the week."  This gets people working again, gets them focused, and takes their mind off the chaos.

I've been in uncertain and rapidly changing situations quite a bit in my life, and there are a lot of changes going on in my world right now.  Maybe it's time for me to be more directive to get people focused and moving forward.  What about you?  Any of this sound familiar?  Share your thoughts, please.

Team up - business lessons learned from volleyball

I was watching one of my daughter's volleyball tournaments this weekend and I made a few observations that I think will apply to our work teams:

• Know (and play) your position:  In volleyball,  everyone expects that their teammates will play their position and know where they should be on the court.  When this doesn't happen, it results in a lot of dropped balls.  The same is true in our work teams - people expect you to know your position and not drop any of the balls you're responsible for.
• Talk to each other:  One of the key attributes of a successful volleyball team is that they are constantly talking to each other on the court.  If there is any doubt who should grab a ball, one of the players yells, "Mine!" and everyone else on the team backs off and lets them handle it.  At work, if there is any doubt about who owns what, someone needs to overtly take responsibility for the commitment in question and everyone else needs to back off and let them handle it.
• Celebrate the "aces":  When the server on the volleyball team serves the ball and the other team is unable to return it, the "ace" gets celebrated immediately.  And not just by the players on the field - the ones on the bench celebrate, too.  In our work teams, we should recognize wins as they happen and everyone on the team should have the chance to celebrate - even if they weren't directly involved in the win.
• Reassure and support each other:  When someone screws up, let them know it's OK and move on to the next point (if it's appropriate, tell them what they could've done differently in a constructive way).  In our work teams, the same concepts apply - remember, it shouldn't be personal - it should be about how to recover and learn from mistakes.
• Ask for help when you need it:  On a volleyball team, the setter works really hard - they have to move all over the court and their job is to set up the ball so the "hitters" can make a big play and get a point.  However, sometimes, they just can't get to the ball in time.  The moment they notice that this is the case, a good setter yells, "Help!" or something similar, signaling to their teammates that they need someone to cover their responsibility.  In a team, this kind of behavior is also necessary.  The moment you realize you can't meet your commitment, you need to ask for help - it's much better than a dropped ball with no warning.
• Don't let your attitude wreck the team's attitude:  I've seen huge performance variations between one game and the next in volleyball.  The pivotal difference is often the attitude or confidence of one or two girls on the team - if they are "on," they bring the team up; if they are "off," they bring the team down.  In work teams, never underestimate the impact your attitude and confidence have on the others on your team.  Don't let your negative outlook spoil the team's chances for success.

These are just some of the parallels I drew from watching volleyball.  Hopefully, they will get your juices flowing and help you be a better contributor to your team.

Who's on your "founders list'?

A friend of mine asked me an interesting question: If you were starting a new company, who would be on your "founders list"?  In other words, among the people you know, work with, etc.  who would you want with you if you started a new company?

An interesting twist on this question:  Which of the people in your current company or team would make the list?  Are you doing enough to let these people know you value them, and to keep them engaged?  More importantly, have you asked them to be part of your core team or "inner circle"?  These are the people who are likely making the most positive difference in terms of moving your business or mission forward - shouldn't you be spending more of your energy on them?

And another, more sobering, question:  Would any of these people want you on their "founders list"?  What can you do -- now -- to increase your value to the people you value?

Choices and forcing functions

I'm going through a strategic planning process right now.  It's very liberating - you can start to redraw the boundaries, constraints, and reassess the pre-existing conditions of your business.

One of the challenges is not trying to commit to doing too many things.  A long time ago, I realized something that seems counterintuitive, at first glance:

Sometimes you have to limit your choices to expand your opportunities.

What I mean is you need to force yourself to focus on fewer things so each one of your focus areas receives sufficient investment to allow it to succeed and thrive.  One of the mistakes I see companies make (lots of them, not just mine) is to spread themselves too thin.

We often think of a "shotgun" approach as hedging our bets.  In a way, that's true, but dividing your organization's attention across too many different initiatives more often results in frustration and failure.

So, what can you do?

Some techniques can help:

• Drive to your top 5. You have lots of options, and you probably have a group of people you need to get on board with your priorities and commitments.  Getting a group to agree on a short list is challenging, so your first step should be to try to get to reasonable alignment with five target areas.
• Get clear on your top 3. This will take a while, but if you can get the group to agree on the top 3 areas of focus, that is real progress.
• Drop the bottom 2. Now that you know your top 3, it's time to say "no" to everything below those.  It will be a test of your mettle, but it's important.
• Pick your #1. You've got a list of 3 important things - now, pick the one that is the most important.  It will be your cornerstone.
• Align your resources to your #1. Allocate at least 67% of your resources, time, etc. to your #1 priority (that's a minimum - allocating more to #1 is even better).  The remaining 1/3 of your resources can be budgeted to the remaining 2 items (the mix there is less important, as long as you don't ever allow your commitment to #1 to drop below 67%.
  • I realize you may not be able to make the shift all at once, but give yourself an aggressive deadline, then plan and execute to have the resource shift in place by the deadline.
• Hold the line. The old saying, "No pain, no gain," holds true here - it will be a difficult transition but well worth it in terms of focus and execution.

This transition can be a very liberating one, if you do it deliberately.  There is huge value in setting clear guidelines to drive decisions of what's in, and what's out - especially when it comes to how everyone in the organization spends their precious time and the company's precious money.

Anything to add or challenge from your experiences? I'd love to hear it.

Bare Knuckle People Management

I got an early copy of "Bare Knuckle People Management," this week from one of the authors, Sean O'Neil. Sean, along with co-author John Kulisek, have created a fantastic resource for managers.  I started reading it on a cross-county flight this morning and couldn't put it down.

The subtitle of the book is "Creating success with the team you have - winners, losers, misfits, and all."  Their focus is to help you identify the traits, strengths, weaknesses, etc. of the folks on your team and then come up with individualized management / coaching approaches that map to each person's strengths and weaknesses.

The book is written in a very direct, "in your face" style that is clearly rooted in real-world experience.  What do I mean?

What's your Cast of Characters?

The authors discuss people in terms of 16 "Character Profiles" that I clearly recognize from people I've worked with.  For example, one of the "people types" they talk about is "Needy Ned," described as follows:

"Although he has the tools it takes to make the starting lineup, Needy Ned's anxiety and constant need for approval and assistance keep him on the bench.  He has an insatiable appetite for your attention, is afraid of everything, and requires kid glove treatment in order to avoid a display of tears.  If you can manage his anxiety and resist the urge to kill, perhaps you could boost his productivity."

I know that guy - I used to manage one back in the 90's, and I thought of them as "high maintenance" (or more politly, "high touch.")  The other 15 types conjured up specific people in my mind, as well.

This book not only helps you identify the types of folks you are dealing with, it also offers good, practical advice on how to better manage them, tap into their strengths, and manage around their weaknesses (which will help you and them in the long run).

It also deals candidly with the subject of whether you should really try to coach them, or just manage them out of the team.  And yes, there are some comments on whether you are really a good manager if you can't get more out of some of these folks - worth thinking about, for sure.

Get the Team right

Another thing this book does well is discuss team dynamics.  For each of the 16 Character Profiles, they discuss who you should (and shouldn't) pair people up with, with regard to helping both individual and team effectiveness.

The book gets you to think in terms of:

• Your "Starting Five," which are your go-to people for "wow" results.
• Your "Utility Players," which are predictable - the bedrock of the team.
• Your "Benchwarmers," who have potential but should be coached up or out.
• Your "Trading Block Candidates," that really ought to be off the team.

This model helped me frame my thinking very clearly and I like how it's discussed in the book.

The last section of the book is more about the chemistry of teams, and how to use your team of Characters most effectively.  There is a good discussion of 5 team types, ranging from awesome to has-been, and I picked up a lot of good tips along the way.

This book is a great tool box for managers.  Some of my team members are actually combinations of the 16 Character Types, but I have some practical, immediately applicable tools I can use in my next coaching sessions.

My Recommendation

I recommend "Bare Knuckle People Management" to anyone who's responsible for managing a team, but especially to those who are new managers or have just inherited a new team.