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MMS Consultant Mike Manes strives to facilitate change, communication, learning, and positive results. To that end, Manes has written this powerful, substantial document. The IMMS Management Center will post it in three installments. Used singly or in combination, these documents will help you build your skills and achieve your goals.
The organization, you the leader, and the team will now begin practice. The reason? It’s the price you pay to become a great performer, and someday each of you will be there without a net.
Each performer has a specific task that contributes to the whole. The separate tasks complement each other and create synergy — a whole greater than the sum of its parts. The expertise, experience, style, and substance needed in each task is different. The impact of success varies. The reality is, however, that even the simplest task done wrong can create a failure for the entire system.
What specific teams do you need?
- Infrastructure — Administration, IT, Finance, Accounting, Human Resources
- Relationships — Sales, Marketing
- Innovation — Research, Development, Communications
What specific results do you need from each team? Do the members of each team understand this? Have the team members committed to the plans you developed earlier? Are they passionate about new things? Are you and all of your team members vigilant? Are you certain that no one will consciously or unconsciously try to sabotage the plans in order to protect the status quo?
We use turnbuckles to tighten the wire on either end or both ends. These are the monitoring and adjustment processes. Too much tension and the wire could break; too little and we could loose balance and fall. It must be just tight enough. The wire and the turnbuckles aren’t just things; they’re critical processes that you must manage and maintain.
On the starting platform is today: the status quo. This is about internal, organizational issues. On the finishing platform is tomorrow — a changing environment — the marketplace you serve.
You need tension to balance the wire. Become too aggressive and you’ll stress the systems — demanding more than your team can handle. Become too passive and you’ll fail to challenge and motivate your team to achieve excellence; they won’t be competitive.
You can adjust each turnbuckle. The lower the number, the easier the initiative: one is passive, two is moderate, and three is aggressive:
- Efficiency — a change in the things you do (infrastructure)
- Effectiveness — a change in the people doing things (relationships)
- Innovation — doing new things, or old things in new ways (change)
You can tighten the wire to a total of four. If you want to be conservative on one side of the wire (a one), you must be aggressive on the other end (a three).
As the leader, you must challenge your team and the system, while simultaneously giving them some freedom and control over their destiny. Remember that they’re on the wire and at risk; they need to be involved and committed. Since they’re all at serious risk, trust is critical.
THE PROCESS
Each unit has specific responsibilities for internal issues (infrastructures) and external issues (relationships, marketing). Each unit must establish a goal to maximize its contribution. Once the units, the leader, and the entire organizational team agree on a desired result the units can begin their practice — their processes. Their first task is to tighten the wire. Be passive on one end and aggressive on the other.
Which two results (one internal, one external) do the unit members believe will provide the greatest contribution to the organization and all of its constituencies and stakeholders? Are they within the vision, values, and mission of the organization? Do these complement and supplement the results contributed by other units? Are you utilizing the turnbuckles properly? Did you make it across the wire?
- If no, what went wrong? Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start over again.
- If yes, what went right? Were the unit members conscious of the process, or has it become unconscious?
Once you know the results and you’ve consistently performed the process to perfection, remove the net!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
The net is down and you’re halfway across the wire for the first time. The spectators are holding their collective breath. The silence is awe-inspiring. You’ve become unconscious of your competence.
You don’t want to be distracted from the flashbacks you’re enjoying. Your mind is racing back and forth — from that first circus of your youth, to that day in your office when you committed never to be boring again. You’ve traded 'snoring' for 'soaring and adoring.'
The applause brings you back to reality. You grab the hand awaiting you on the landing platform. You look down and see the crowd standing, wildly acknowledging your accomplishment. You hear the ringmaster say, 'Ladies and gentlemen! Let’s hear it for this great performance!' You built the system by asking questions; you’ve earned the right to answer them!
- Are you meeting the needs of constituents, stakeholders and your community? Yes
- Are you making money and having fun? Yes
- Was it a challenging process? Yes
- Was it worth the effort? Yes
You’ve arrived. You’re the Best of Class. Congratulations!