From plans to reality

There’s something that’s been lost over the last few decades.  It probably started back when ‘strategy’ was coined in the 1960s, and quickly after that consultants in strategy popped up like weeds in a field after the rain. (Businesses were doing strategy way before it was a ‘thing’, it was just called ‘doing stuff that makes sense given who we are and where we are’.  But that’s another post.)

The thing that’s been lost is the converting of ideas, or intentions, or plans into actual work.

By actual work, I mean the assigning or agreeing of what will actually be produced.  To use terminology of Elliott Jaques, tasks are  a quantity of things of a given quality, delivered by a certain time, done for a purpose, with resources and within limits, and all within a context.

A bit of a mouthful.  We can also just say ‘what-by-when‘.

But this is the often missing element between the lofty ‘strategies’ and the people who actually produce things that in the end make customers happy.

It’s not much use saying ‘by 2018 we will better understand our customers‘ and leave it there.  At best, this fits the purpose part of the Jaques definition.  For work to happen, people need to know the actual task, the actual deliverable, the thing that needs to be produced that will lead to the result we need. Read more…

Why do you use this ‘requisite’ stuff?

“So you’re telling me you want to help me to get my 1,500 people to align behind delivering the strategy I’ve put in place and you’re going to use thinking from the 1950s?”

It was a fair point!  I’d known Mary for a while, she loved to learn by challenging.  “Let me ask you this.” I ventured carefully.  “Would you say gravity existed in the 1950s?”

“Yep”

“And would you say it’s a relevant principle to be observed by those doing work that involves things falling?”

“Yep”

“And do you know when Newton first put forward his concept of gravity?”

“Well I know it wasn’t yesterday” said Mary.  “When was it?”

“It was the late 1600s.” I answered.  “So anyone using gravity is using principles that were first written about over 300 years ago.  And they are still using them today.  So I wouldn’t call that an old theory, I’d be more likely to call that a well-founded and useful theory”.

“But Einstein showed that a lot of Newton’s work wasn’t quite right didn’t he?”

“Sure….if you’re getting near the speed of light Newton doesn’t hold up so good.  And particularly if you’re Neo and you swallow the red pill.  But remember, when we’re choosing principles, it’s about which ones work best in terms of explaining and predicting what’s going on.  And Newton’s law of gravity does a pretty good job in most cases.”

“OK….so what’s this got to do with the price of eggs?”

“Well, let me go back one more step first.  Did gravity exist before Newton?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, were things floating around all over the place until that supposed apple happened to hit Newton on the scone, then suddenly he wrote stuff down and things stuck to the ground?”

“I see what you’re getting at.  Connect the dots for me”.

“The principles we use explain why organisations are going the way they are and predict how they are likely to go in the future in terms of letting their people deliver effectively and allow them to use their full capabilities.  The principles were always there.  A guy called Elliott Jaques pieced a lot of it together, others such as Gillian Stamp, another researcher named Luc Hoebeke and countless more all combine to uncover the principles of how human capability works within organisations, and how to arrange and organise things so people can do their best work.” Read more…

No therapy required: How to get your people working together

Have you, or are you about to, invest money in getting your people to work better as a team?  To get them to get along, to understand each other, to form closer bonds so work will truly flow across your organisation like the ball moving from defence to attack?

Your motives are pure.  You want your people to work better together.

But there’s something you need to do first.  Here it is, the biggest piece of obvious you will have read for quite some time:

To get your people to work better together, tell them how their roles work together.

That’s it!

Are you laughing?  Does this seem too simple to you?  Well it is simple.  A better word for it is foundational.

Would you agree that it’s a foundational condition for effectiveness that people in roles have an understanding of how their roles fit together?  That things are easy when people ‘know where they stand’, when they know who can ask who to do what in terms of their core jobs,  the reason they are there?

We need this sorted.  Your people need this sorted.

So you have a choice.  You can invest in friendship training, and then hope that your people can figure out for themselves how their roles fit together.  They might even do so.  And if you can afford the coffees and the lunches and your competitors and/or customers are happy to wait….sounds great.

Here’s the other way.  Decide, then tell them how their roles work together.  Here’s some examples:* Read more…

Next instalment…Cross-functional relationships: Start with one!

Helping_guiding_through_cross_functional_relationship_steps_high

Ethan was focussing on the cross-functional relationships of his Quality Engineer. We’d established the role was accountable for engineering standards being met such that all work passes inspection from government regulators and any other external audit functions we may choose to bring in.

“Each role relationship attaches to an accountability” I explained. By setting up a clear role relationship for each accountability, we can give your Quality Engineer the authority they need to get their work done.”

“Wish I’d had that years ago” Ethan smiled. “Let’s do it then. What’s the role relationship?”.

“A couple more questions for you and we’ll be there”. Read more…

Continued…Cross-functional relationships: Start with one!

Cross functional relationships step by step guide

Ethan was ready to start making life better for his people by sorting out how their roles fit together across the organisation. I suggested he start with the role of Quality Engineer. He reached for the phone.

“Don’t do that” I jumped in. Ethan looked surprised. I continued; “it’s not up to your Quality Engineer to decide the work system, it’s up to you. We’re going to get her input for sure, but first, tell me what you are ultimately holding her accountable for”.

Ethan didn’t answer.

“We’ve found our starting point.”

“OK….” Ethan said. I needed to explain;

“Work occurs because someone gets someone else to start doing something, wait before doing something, or stop doing something.”

“Sounds reasonable”.

“And why do they do this…why does it happen?” I asked.

“Because…it’s their job?” Ethan ventured

“Yep. Or to get right to the bottom of it, they feel they are accountable for a particular thing happening or not happening, so to make sure they can do what they believe they are accountable for, they go and talk to someone else”. Read more…

The buried leadership fundamental

Running a business planning a kids party

The volume of stuff out there on leadership has buried a fundamental.  Amongst the personality-based fads and need to become motivational, inspiring (or resilient and courageous as the latest additions), we’ve buried what leadership actually is –  the act of getting of group of people to work collaboratively and effectively together toward achieving a goal.

And in burying this, we’ve buried that the key contribution from anyone in a role that requires leadership (which applies to all managerial roles), is to develop plans that will successfully get the group to where it needs to go.

The military is not to everyone’s taste, but it can be agreed that leadership tends to be a no-nonsense matter in a situation where people can actually be killed.  General DePuy, US Army leadership trainer wrote:

“Concept of operation is the supreme contribution of the commander to their command and to success”.*

Think about that term – concept of operationRead more…

Cross-functional relationships: start with one!

Map out cross functional relationships by starting with one

Ethan was enthused and exasperated at the same time.

“OK, I can see there’s this model for sorting out our cross-functional relationships.  Tears, tars or something, and a lot of words like audit, monitor, coordinate and stuff like that.  All sounds great.”

“You don’t seem to think it’s all great” I offered.

“Well it’s not.  We’ve got a million of these relationships.  Everyone talks to everyone, and to go through and work out every role relationship in the place would take a decade, and wouldn’t it just turn us into a bureaucracy anyway?”

“Sure would”.

Ethan looked surprised – “but you’ve seen this stuff work before”.

“Yep”.

“So what do I need to do”?

“We fix one“.

“One?”

“Yep, one”. Read more…

How to take the confusion out of your people’s career development

Crowd cheering

There is a simple way to sort out the career development of your own direct reports – stop doing it!

Asking a manager to take accountability for both the output and behaviour of their people as well as considering their future aspirations is asking a lot.   But….people knowing that the organisation has someone concerned with their future beyond their current role (even if it means not leaving the current role)  is a key part of creating the trust that ultimately sees people being willing to provide their full commitment.

So who is that someone?  We use the Manager-once-Removed, put forward by Elliott Jaques in a number of his works.   The Manager-once-Removed, or MoR is your boss’s boss.  Your skip-level manager.  We make each MoR accountable for building the pool of talent that sits below their own people,  that is their skip-level reports.   Read more…

The question for managers to answer

Watering pot

“What do you want your people to do?”.

That’s the question I often ask when I’m helping managers with their accountability to lead their people (not optional by the way):

I usually get pretty good answers of the activity variety – the various things that solid employees would be seen doing as they go about their work.  Things like “liaise with customers, build relationships, deliver sales, plan projects”, and the old chestnuts of “deliver a framework” or “develop a strategy”.  Which is why I then ask this question:

And if they do a fantastic job, what does the company get?”. Read more…

Pay grades – how to make them work

Pay gradesASO4, APS2, PSO3…and countless other classifications are all around the world, denoting the different gradings that determine what someone is paid.  Government is a common spot where this is found, but in no way is government alone.

The concept itself is fine.  The original work of organisational scientist Elliott Jaques studied pay levels and the findings were clear that it was believed to be fair that those doing more complex work receive higher levels of pay..

So why is it the case that government departments have the reputation for bureaucracy, frustration and an inability to deliver? Read more…