Speaking in Plain Language

Doogue + George

Ready for some straight talk from your boss? Politicians? The educational system? Anyone?

Here's what happened recently in a New York City courtroom:

"Have a heart," said U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest, as she warned the lawyers at the beginning of the Securities and Exchange Commission civil trial of former Goldman Sachs executive Fabrice Tourre. The federal jury is hearing a case involving nearly $1 billion in losses by investors tied to housing loans ahead of the 2007 financial crisis. 

Due to the complexity involved, Judge Forrest told the attorneys representing both sides in the case to avoid industry "lingo" (group jargon) that might confuse the nine-person jury.  

After all, she said, "These people had the misfortune to have jury duty during the summer." 

Maybe Judge Forrest, herself a straight-talking jurist with an obvious sense of humor, should issue that same "lingo" warning to organizations everywhere, as employees are often required to put up with a steady diet of "babble" (incomprehensible sounds) to get their paychecks.

Who's responsible?

Groups are groups because they share something. Mission. Values. Processes.Policies. Stories.  Myths. Goals. These areas of organizational life, and others, hold together by a common language and understanding. All contribute to and help create corporate cultures. 

From start-ups to centuries-old companies, organizational systems come apart without the glue of shared meaning.  

The problem arises when those in positions of influence start importing and using catch-phrases (core competency, deep dive, game changer) as a substitute for simple and culturally meaningful language. Some feel pressure to join in the fray since not using a similar vocabulary sounds as though you are outside the inner circles. 

It's at this point that distinctiveness starts to melt away as one group, uniquely formed, begins sounding similar to others who are using the same language, but often with different contexts and interpretations.

Without meaning

While it's easy to use buzzwords and slogans, it's hard to articulate a cause or vision in a way that motivates people to give their lives toward its fulfillment. This may explain why there tends to be so much glibness (fluency with insincerity) when leaders speak or write.
 
The list of buzzwords (fashionable terms) is long and getting longer (alignment, big data, collaboration, sustainability, downsizing). 

Incorporation of new terms can sometimes be placed at the feet of consultants and the publishing industry, pushing trendy ideas or theories to sell books (excellence, best practices, incentivize, low-hanging fruit). 

Does anyone really know what buzzwords mean? Do prospects and customers understand what is being said?

Businesses, nonprofits, higher education, the military, and government agencies create "shorthand" to communicate internally — a widely accepted efficiency. Buzzwords become an expedient way to expand an organization's lexicon, but often without adding any contemporary meaning to the purpose of the enterprise (benchmarking, empowerment, value proposition). 

What's annoying is how empty words and phrases become with indiscriminate use (granularity, bandwidth, team, at the end of the day).

Do executives go home and talk like this around the dinner table or while on vacation (pre-plan, going forward, brain shower)?

Benefits of plain language

In the book Why Business People Speak Like Idiots, published by Free Press, Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway, and Jon Warshawsky get right to the heart of the matter by identifying "fear and peer pressure" as the main reasons employees fall into this habit. The need for clarity is pushed aside in favor of corporate trendiness that offers little long-term value. 

The authors suggest that a way out of this trap is by:

-Standing for something and telling co-workers what that is

-Being imperfect since overly scripted messages often fail

-Avoiding the tedium trap with something different

-Using simple stories to underscore your message

On that last point, the authors remind us that Leading Change by John Kotter sold 210,000 copies — theory. Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson sold 14 million copies — a story.

A paradox

Some additional thoughts from a Wiki post on Plain Talk: 

-Plain talk does not forbid jargon

-Plain talk allows for the expression of complexity

-Plain talk does not have to be rough or rude

-Plain talk does not have to be understandable by everybody

-Plain talk does not have to be condescending
 
An example

The goal of plain speaking is to be understood.

Here is an illustration. It comes from the farewell of Lou Gerstner, ending his time as Chair and CEO of IBM in 2002, expressing his gratitude to everyone during an extremely difficult time in the life of this historic company:

"Thanks — 320,000 thanks — to all my colleagues in this magnificent company.  No matter what the challenge — from IBM's own near-death experience, to Y2K, to dot-com mania, to recession, to 9/11 — IBM employees blessed all of us with their grit, their passion, their compassion, and their class.  I'm proud to have served with all of you.  I'm grateful for all that you've taught me, and for sharing with me the business opportunity of a lifetime."

Words are plentiful

Writing in "Psychology Today Online," Donna Flagg makes this observation:

"I find it fascinating that of all the words we have to choose from, we make up even more ... it seems that what we have just isn't sufficient to convey the dynamics of this thing we share called work."

Simple is good

Have sympathy for the jurors in the Goldman Sachs trial in lower Manhattan.  Even though Judge Forrest admonished against "lingo," the opening statements by the lawyers used jargon at times in an attempt to explain to jurors the terms in the case.

If defining terms were a requirement for using buzzwords (which itself is a "buzzword"), maybe there would be less jargon and more plain language in our communications. 

That, in turn, could improve working relationships, productivity, and results as everyone would be "on the same page."  

This, of course, would be a "win-win" for all concerned.  

Strategist.com

© Bredholt & Co.

Getting the Best Out of People

One of my favorite TED Talks is given by Sir Ken Robinson. 

Sir Ken is an educationalist from the United Kingdom (now living in the USA), with an engaging combination of clarity, insight, and wit. It's this last characteristic that in many ways is the most charming. Sir Ken is a skillful communicator appearing at the right time for those ready to learn more about nurturing those around you.

How else do you explain nearly 17 million views on the TED website--and counting?  Add to this an estimated 300-million viewing audience through repeat showings at conferences, according to a recent article in TIME magazine. 

His focus--the relationship between education and creativity.

So why aren't we getting the best out of people?

Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies--far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity--are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences.

"We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. It's a message with deep resonance. Robinson's TED Talk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? "Everyone should watch this."

A visionary cultural leader

Sir Ken led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements.

His latest book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, a deep look at human creativity and education, was published in January 2009.

Here is the link to Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talk ...

https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity?language=en

 Strategist.com

 

 (C) Bredholt & Co.

 

 

Responding to Surprise

Milo Jones and Philippe Silberzahn

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Despite tremendous developments in business strategy over the last fifty years, businesses and governments keep being disrupted by events that they might have seen coming, but didn’t. In other words, they get surprised… and not in a happy, surprise party kind of way. Think of 9/11, the Arab spring, Fukushima, or the launch of the iPhone for Nokia.

 

Such events often have consequences far beyond their immediate environment that make many firms suffer, and require a response that isn’t in anyone’s existing playbook.  The late Steve Jobs – no slouch when dealing with disruption in the marketplace – once replied that his strategy was to “wait for the next big thing.”

 

Should you be doing the same?

 

When confronted by a surprise – however freakish it may be – there is a tendency to rush to action. It’s natural to ask: “What should we do?!”

 

US President Jimmy Carter, for example, was recalled from vacation in the summer of 1979 by the urgent and disturbing news that an elite Soviet commando unit had been spotted in Cuba. What were the Soviets up to? Did this mean a new Cuban Missile-style crisis?

 

US armed forces were put on alert, and Defense Department experts assembled in a War room… until someone reminded the participants that the Soviet commando brigade had pretty much always been there. Indeed, their presence in Cuba had been agreed to by JFK in 1962. In short, a problem did not exist, and the rush to “do something” by someone learning a fact for the first time manufactured a crisis out of thin air.

 

A puzzled Russian ambassador asked his US counterpart: “How am I supposed to explain this to my government?”

 

Nobody wants to be like the (still-unnamed) guy in the White House who acts before thinking, but how specifically should you act in the face of a surprising fact or shocking event? We suggest three simple questions to be your guide.

 

#1 What’s going on?

 

There will always be voices saying “Act, do something, respond”, but nine out of ten times, it pays to explicitly ask the question What’s going on?” and even perform some rapid analysis before doing anything else. In other words, when surprises happen, take a moment to untangle what you actually know from what people are assuming and from what is still unknown.

 

Better still, poll a few other executives for their take on what is going on. Are their assumptions the same as yours? Do they agree on what is still unknown? Do they know someone who could help fill in the gaps?

 

If there really is a crisis, and you’re not facing a Carter-like moment, getting such basic agreed facts written up on a whiteboard in a ’war room’ is the beginning of effective crisis management. If the surprise involves a natural disaster or other crisis covered by TV, we recommend that you keep the TV on, but turn the sound off: news channels will have whoever is to hand (or good-looking and was free to get on a plane) blathering on about this or that rumor, or doing endless recaps of the obvious (preferably with an emotional, ”human-interest” spin).

 

If you’re after information about what’s really going on however, just watch the scene and make logical deductions when the cameras pan out. Is smoke rising from the ruins? Can you see panicked crowds, or do the police look like they’re maintaining control? In other words, interrogate the images to help figure out the first key question “What’s going on?”

 

#2 What does it mean?

 

Once you have some clarity about what you know (and what you don’t know), you can ask the next question: “What does it mean?” Specifically, you can ask “What does it mean for us?” In other words, as the outlines of a surprising event come into focus, you can begin to think through the implications of the event for your firm.

 

Typically, people employ two mental tools to answer this question.  Whether they know it or not, the first tool that people instinctively use is an event cascade. An event cascade is simply a chain of cause and effect, or “If this, then that” reasoning. If there has been a volcanic eruption in Iceland, then the ash may disrupt air travel; if air travel is disrupted, airline profits will suffer, logistics chains may break or slow down, etc.

 

Typically – and again, whether they know it or not – the second tool people use to understand the meaning of a new situation is analogies. Say your industry is crippled by a disruption caused by the Internet. People will often mention a similar industry having undergone a comparable disruption, and then point out the similarities and draw lessons.

 

Here, we recommend that you be careful – analogies can be seductive. You should ask not only what is similar about your situation, but also what is different. Looking for similarities and differences across several analogous situations should tell you a lot about what the present situation means for you.

 

#3 What should we do?

 

Then, and only then, should you ask our third key question following a surprise: “What should we do?” Here, we recommend a couple of techniques to make better decisions. First, like a good chess player, “Think several moves ahead”. Draw on event cascades again and think move/counter move.

 

Second, look at your firm from the outside, and with perspective. Keep in mind President Kennedy’s benchmark during the Cuba missile crisis of 1962: “How will the world judge our decisions when it’s over?” Finally, if you are struggling to reach a consensus about what to do (and no one has the authority or will to impose a decision), try agreeing on the mirror image of this question “What should we not do?”

 

Active discussion about what not to do frequently airs new opinions and prompts further thought about what you should do.

 

Iteration and patience

 

Finally, in thinking about what to do, remember that you always have the option to wait, the option to do nothing. There are situations where, simply put, it is better to do nothing, either because action would be counter-productive, or simply because there isn’t much to do anyway. In that case, you keep working on the first two questions; “What is going on?” and

 

“What does it mean?”

 

If that sounds like a cop out to you we refer back to the late Steve Jobs, who when asked by Professor Richard Rumelt about his strategy in 1998, simply replied: “I’ll wait for the next big thing”. When Jobs then saw it, Apple pounced and came up with the iPod.

 

But in the meantime, in the face of a lot of disruptive change and surprises in the IT industry, Jobs was thinking “What’s going on?” and “What does it mean for us?” It’s no easy task, but when faced with a surprise, real courage is sometimes best displayed not by answering the question most people are asking, “What should we do?”, but by working harder to figure out the other two questions. 

 

Reposted with permission.

The article is also on Forbes.com.

 

Strategist.com

 

© Bredholt & Co.  

 

It Pays to Be Different

It was 20 years ago this May that I gave my first and only commencement address. When the president of a liberal arts college, and long-time friend, extended the invitation his advice was polite but direct--keep it short.

At this same time, I was positively influenced by Charles Handy, the Irish-born, Oxford-educated writer, and consultant. His book, "The Age of Unreason," centers around the idea of "discontinuous change." Instead of familiar change patterns (i.e., the four seasons or hierarchical work), we were entering a period where businesses and nonprofits would see breaks in long-held patterns requiring "discontinuous thinking."

His thesis found its way into our address and has stood the test of time.

Perhaps the most relevant application in the book for today's college graduates has to do with the way work is organized. "How we work and earn a living," Handy said, "will make the biggest difference in the way we all live."

Glancing back

Re-reading my commencement speech I realized this 1993 graduation exercise, held before a polite group of graduates, families, friends, and community leaders, came ahead of email, Facebook, Twitter, and texting.  It took place before a collapse in the tech market, a horrendous economic downturn, and diminishing job opportunities coupled with ever-increasing tuition.   

What would I do differently if giving the speech today? Shorten its length. Update the illustrations. Say a little more about the job market. However, the principles would remain largely in place.

Looking ahead

An address for the Class of 2013 would hopefully benefit from two additional decades of learning.   

The main points might look like this: 

It helps to have a mentor.  You can probably make it without one but it's an advantage to have a person or persons who offer counsel at appropriate times in your life. A mentor provides wisdom drawn from their own character and experiences. Great supervisors sometimes fill this role.  

Build a network--find a job.  Initially, it should include just about every adult you know.  How do you find the better job? Word of mouth. Credible third-party referrals are the best source of jobs.  "It's not who you know--it's who knows you." If you need work then communicate that information to everyone in your network. Be willing to relocate and do whatever it takes to get inside an organization--go from there. 

Develop a global view.  How we see things determines how we're likely to respond.  

Communication, technology, and transportation have made the world a smaller place. You will be expected to function and interact in this environment.  

Opportunities will come along to expand your horizons, often from the least likely places. Travel may be one of the best forms of education anyone ever received. For me, it's been the equivalent of a Ph.D.

Ideas rule the world.  The importance we place on the imagination will only increase in your lifetime.  Facebook, Twitter, iPhone, iPad, Linkedin, and Google are all less than 15 years old. 

An application used to be something you filled out to get a job or line of credit. Now hundreds of thousands of "apps" are gateways to information and entertainment. 

Good ideas, not just great ideas, are in short supply. Believe me when I say there is an enterprise of some sort waiting for a contribution only you can make. 

Keep learning.  I mentioned to a college student recently the value of being a reader. How it makes you a better writer, communicator, and conversationalist. I am referring to something more than 140 characters such as books, newspapers, magazines, e-versions, or hard copy.   

The potential is there for your knowledge and vocabulary to expand significantly. Critical thinking takes on new meaning. 

What I am suggesting may not seem of value in a smartphone universe but to employers, and your job prospects, the skills are priceless.

It's not just the experiences of life that count. It's what you take from the experiences that make a difference. Menial tasks and tough assignments, if understood properly, have a purpose.

No matter what type of leadership or management training programs are offered, you are ultimately responsible for your own development. 

Make it a practice to be near the best people and learn all you can from them. 

It pays to be different. Sameness is a road to nowhere. This is true for an individual or business.  

So when there is a tight job market and parity of talent, something has to separate you from the crowd. 

Such as...

Knowing who you are--self-aware. Being truthful. Honesty in your dealings. Solid character. Showing up on time. Sharing and giving credit. Cooperating with others to get things done. 

Helping others who can't pay you back. 

Combine these attributes with the right basic skills and a graduate can get off to a good start--even in a tough job market.

The payoff for this kind of behavior is over time. Being different tends to exact a price of its own. The upside is that you'll be able to look yourself in the mirror and get a good night's rest at the end of a long day--most of the time.  

Pomp and circumstances

Even though employment may be scarce in certain fields right now, over the long term, there will be opportunities to decide where the depths of your professional commitments should be given. 

Trying different things, especially early on, is a way to discover what's out there. The economy may force this issue anyway. 

Whatever you do choose wisely. Career decisions will shape your passions, relationships, and contributions to the world.    
 

Strategist.com

© Bredholt & Co.  

Integrity of a Brand

What's the world's most valuable brand, and why?

Before answering those questions let me tell you a story.

Some time ago we were on a Delta Airlines flight from Stuttgart, Germany to Atlanta, Georgia, en route to our final destination of Orlando, Florida.

My seatmate on the Stuttgart-Atlanta segment worked for Coca-Cola and was returning home from the Middle East. It was in the familiar exchange, "what kind of work do you do," that we learned about the importance of "Coke Red." 

(C) Recognizable logo worldwide.

The beginning days

According to historical records, the original Coca-Cola recipe was formulated at the Eagle Drug and Chemical Company, a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia. The person responsible for this creation was John Pemberton. 

The first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia on May 8, 1886. Sold initially as a patent medicine for five cents, the soda became popular at the time due to the belief that carbonated water was good for one's health.

An advertisement, the first, appeared that same year in the Atlanta Journal.

Bottle as brand

Coca-Cola was first sold in bottles by Asa G. Candler & Co. at its pharmacy location. Large bottles of Coke were sold by druggists and grocers for 25 cents each. 

The original bottles were from the Biedenharn Candy Company, Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1891. The Biedenharn bottle preceded the "hobble-skirt" design created in 1915 which has since become the main brand or identity of the principal Coca-Cola products of Coke and Diet Coke. 

(C) Coke bottles over the years.

A bottle design contest in 1915 was won by Earl R. Dean of the Root Glass Company in Terre Haute, Indiana. It's reported that the designers were inspired by the cocoa bean and transplanted its vertical grooves to the glass. 

Add to the Georgia-Green tinted bottle (used until 1956) the Spencerian Coca-Cola script and the result was a distinctive product: "Recognizable by component parts, even if broken; a shape that could be identified by touch in the dark; or when submerged in a bucket of ice."

That particular bottle design became a registered trademark in 1960.

When did cans of Coke first appear? In 1955. 

Color as brand

The familiar Coca-Cola Red is an integral component of the classic design. The white cursive text set on a bright red background--or the reverse of white background and red lettering has become ubiquitous in 200 countries.

While there are estimated to be around 290 visibly different shades of red, there is only one Coke Red.

An article posted by Brandcreation says that by walking around with a spectrophotometer one can measure Pantone 185 or Pantone 485 or RGB 235, 45, 46 or RGB 218, 37, 29 or CMYK 0, 100, 100, 0, and more. 

"That’s a result of inconsistent industrial and differing production standards. According to a record at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, there is a ‘Coke Red’ defined as Pantone 484," the author stated.

Coca-Cola Red also has a long-standing connection with Santa Claus. "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" has been featured in its advertisements since the 1920s, according to the official Coca-Cola website.

Back to the Delta flight

In the early 2000s, it was reported that Coca-Cola print buyers, with the aid of color management techniques, had reduced the color appearances of their Coke Red from 20,000 to "only" 2,000 variations. 

Thus the conversation with my seatmate from Coke headquarters. 

This global marketing manager, along with others, was assigned the task of auditing print and packaging colors in different parts of the world belonging to the Coca-Cola brand.  To do this the official Coke Red was loaded into a spectrophotometer which was used to scan print packaging and advertising.

That may be how the company was able to eliminate almost 18,000 variations of red.

Valuable, but why?

Okay, you knew the answer to the first part of the question--that Coca-Cola is the world's most valuable brand.

Under the four-year leadership of CEO Muhtar Kent, the company has improved profits and is once again the No. 1 soft drink in the USA taking the title away from Pepsi. Coca-Cola had 2012 revenue of $48 billion. The positive metrics come in spite of a continued decline in sales of carbonated beverages in its home market. 

Last year Interbrand declared Coke to be the world's most valuable brand worth $77.8 billion.

(C) Muhtar Kent, CEO of Coca-Cola Company. 

But do you know why?

There are at least three reasons...

No. 1:

It starts at the top. Historically Coca-Cola's leadership has paid attention to its brand. The assignment to get the official Coke Red under better management more than a decade ago came from a future CEO, Douglas Ivester, who was at the time president and COO. Ivester confirmed the Coke Red story at a luncheon in Florida.  

Although his term in office was short-lived, about 2 years, Ivester was a stickler for detail.  And for Coke, the color red is no small matter.  It represents in large part who the company is.

(C) Douglas Ivester, former CEO of Coca-Cola Company.

Executives, along with corporate boards, are guardians of everything the company stands for. Day-to-day responsibilities for brand management may be delegated appropriately within the organization but are owned at the top.

No. 2:

The brand is protected.  Legally and in every other way. The name and reputation of the business needs protecting. For Coca-Cola, this includes copyright, the "secret formula," quality controls, product development, marketing, and succession. That protection extends to carefully screening those who are allowed to be "officially" associated with the brands in advertising and promotions.

No. 3:

The brand and reputation match.  What you say about your products and services is one thing.  What your customers and others say is quite another. Social media gives voice (mostly anecdotal) to how people feel about their interactions with brands and employees. The goal is "brand integrity" with reputation and reality matching positively.

Great--not perfect

Coca-Cola had a rough time when in 1985 under CEO Roberto Goizueta it tried to change the formula for regular Coke (before the Internet was commercialized). 

The research was flawed.  It's true that New Coke tasted sweeter than old Coke. However, consumers pushed back having had a long-term relationship with a product that was more than a soft drink. It was a friend of the family. There was an emotional attachment to Coca-Cola, something the taste tests failed to uncover and weren't designed to do.

The company acknowledged the mistake and did away with New Coke. 

As was reported in The Economist in 1999, "The world's most famous consumer brand became embroiled in its worst-ever health scare, when around 100 people in Belgium, many of them children, and 88 people in France suffered nausea, headaches, and diarrhea, some of them seriously enough to be admitted to the hospital.....Coca-Cola seemingly forgot the cardinal rule of crisis management—to act fast, tell the whole truth and look as if you have nothing to hide."

The problems under Mr. Ivester caused a loss of confidence in the Coca-Cola Board of Directors. He resigned in 2000 as CEO after 24 months on the job.   

New Coke. Late response to the European crisis. Failed acquisitions. Errors in corporate judgment. 

All organizations face serious challenges at different times.  Owning up to wrong decisions, especially those of great magnitude, and correcting them, is how leaders build credibility among their brands, shareholders, employees, media--and especially customers who make everything possible.


"Coca-Cola," "Coke," the "Coca-Cola Contour Bottle," and "Coke Red" are registered trademarks of The Coca-Cola Company.

Images are from Google and may be copyrighted.

Strategist.com

(C) Bredholt & Co. 

Leadership Agenda: Siemens USA

The idea of spending time with a chief executive officer (CEO) of a major corporation is appealing to a corporate strategist. 

So when the invitation came from Dr. Susan Bach at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida to attend a reception and speaking engagement with Eric A. Spiegel, president, and CEO of Siemens Corporation USA, we readily accepted. 

Mr. Spiegel has responsibility for the $22 billion USA market which includes 60,000 employees and over 130 manufacturing sites. 

The parent company, Siemens AG, headquartered in Munich, Germany, was recently named one of Fast Company's "Most Innovative Companies" (#21).  Siemens's concentration is in four business sectors--energy, healthcare, industry, and infrastructure & cities.

Up close and personal

It's one thing to read about CEOs or see them interviewed on TV. However, there's nothing that takes the place of being up close as Eric Spiegel made himself accessible to college students and community leaders.

After providing an overview of Siemens's businesses, as well as changes in the marketplace, he touched on an often overlooked aspect of executive responsibility--the leadership agenda. 

What's a leadership agenda?

A leader's agenda is a plan for guiding the organization. It's not a business plan in the traditional sense. An agenda is a set of themes and priorities requiring action and progress in a given period. The agenda includes the main message and identifies critical issues needing attention.  (Briefing for Leaders HarperBusiness)

What are the benefits of a leadership agenda?

1. Clarifies the main message
2. Maintains focus
3. Is a filter for allocating scarce resources
4. Improves organizational health
5. Provides accountability for results

Eric Spiegel's agenda

Wisely Mr. Spiegel has chosen a limited number of priorities to support and complement the Siemens USA business plan: 

• Growth
• People
• Reputation
• Operational excellence 

It's obvious from the presentation that he uses communication, including the above four themes, as a steering mechanism in his role as CEO.  This includes getting feedback from a variety of internal and external sources. 

The evening was a reminder that perhaps one of the most important decisions made by anyone in leadership is the allocation of their time.  

Mr. Spiegel doesn't have any more hours in his day than the rest of us. Therefore while he manages Siemens his executive assistant, Grace D' Alessio, manages him. She is given a share of the credit for whatever success comes Mr. Spiegel's way in leading a large and complex enterprise.

Some questions

Here are a few things to think about from our time with CEO Spiegel:

• Do you have a leadership agenda?
• Is it up-to-date?
• Is the agenda clear, shared, and owned by others?
• Can you be managed?  
• Who manages you?  

Strategist.com

(C) Bredholt & Co.

 

Overcoming Barriers to Mission

What stands in the way of accomplishing the mission of your organization?

Is it the competition?  The right people?  Not enough working capital?  Maybe it's a problem with focus, commitment, or trust.  Is there uncertainty as to what the mission is?  

Perhaps it has to do with some or all of the above.  

After thinking about this I decided to make a list of reasons why some fall short in fulfilling their mission and how these barriers might be overcome. 

The underlined concepts below are drawn from the book, Organizational Culture, and Leadership, by Dr. Edgar Schein, with our commentary. Dr. Schein, an MIT professor emeritus and a guest writer on this site, is regarded by some as having written one of the more influential volumes on management. 

From our book notes, here are seven possible barriers with countermeasures for each:

Barrier No. 1

There is consensus on the core mission but the group does not share common goals.   

In fact, those who make up what is now called a "team" can have widely divergent views when it comes to setting goals.  The absence of commonality comes from different backgrounds, experiences, and world views. 

Nothing new here. 

The challenge for top management is melding these unique personalities and perspectives together to achieve a common purpose. Sharing deeply things of value is a distinct competitive advantage.

Barrier No. 2

The mission is often understood but not well articulated. 

One of the duties of a leader is to explain things.  Telling is easier but explaining requires a deeper understanding of the situation.  Repeating a statement of mission does not necessarily mean that employees and others know what's inside since no message guarantees its own meaning.

The main ideas that cause a business to exist have to be periodically clarified and updated.  Why?  Circumstances change.  The original and current contexts of the business are likely very different.   

 

Employees tend to respond favorably when leaders and managers illustrate the mission in tangible ways.   Nothing wrong with communicating values but knowing the desired outcomes is a benefit to all. 

Behavior may be the clearest articulation of mission.   

Barrier No. 3

The group does not have a common language and shared assumptions on the goals making it difficult to move from the abstract to the concrete realization of something.

Imagine the next time you're on a flight that the pilot and control tower are trying to communicate with each other at the same time using different languages and radio frequencies.  A scary thought. 

So it is with those in a business or nonprofit simultaneously communicating mixed messages on multiple channels.  Another scary thought. 

Communication, including feedback, is everything when it comes to accomplishing something worthwhile. 

A carefully constructed list of internal and external assumptions can be worth their weight in gold.  They are the basis of common understandings and should find their way into conversations and plans.

Barrier No. 4

Not understanding that mission and strategy can be rather timeless while goals must be formulated for what to do next year, next month, and tomorrow.

Part of the problem may be an omission of goals altogether.  There's talk about vision, mission, and strategy, but goals are nowhere to be found.

When properly set, the right goals complete the strategic puzzle.  They provide high resolution to the mission and facilitate implementation, including accountability.  Goals also make it possible to measure progress. 

Yet the real benefit in goal-setting, according to Dr. Schein, "is that the process often reveals unsolved issues or lack of consensus around deeper issues."

Barrier No. 5

Mixing strategy and goals since strategy concerns the evolution of the basic mission--while operational goals reflect short-run tactical survival issues.

Knowing the difference between strategy (set of options and use of available resources) and goals (desired results usually with a timeline) is essential for effective management decisions. 

Taking time to know the proper relationship between strategy and different kinds of goals could be the difference between profit and loss--and the future of the business. 

Barrier No. 6

Lack of clarity on the means by which goals will be met.

Goals need to be set and owned by those responsible for their achievement. They are also the ones to identify the best means of meeting a particular goal.  

If a major goal is to be met someone has to take the lead in communicating the goal, how it was established, and why it's being put in place.  Reaching this goal means what to the organization?

A clear goal, with credible leadership, improves the chances of departments pulling together to profitably make soap or software.  

Meeting goals is a matter of personal responsibility, even in a team environment.

Barrier No. 7

Failing to agree on what indicators to pay primary attention to in order to decide how well the organization is doing and what corrective action, if any, needs to be taken.

Ever notice when staying in a hotel how the Kleenex tissue goes from white to beige with high usage?  The color change is an indicator that the tissue supply is getting low.  Housekeepers are trained to look for this and (hopefully) take steps to keep the box filled.

Does your company have in place agreed upon, and visible, indicators to measure progress and alert everyone to a potentially serious problem?   Only a select list of indicators is of any practical use to management and staff. 

The right indicators won't be full-proof.  But they can go a long way in maintaining health, avoiding or minimizing trouble, and determining a possible course of action if something arises. 

Indicators are worthless if ignored. 

That's a key finding from the investigation into the tragic launch of Space Shuttle Challenger on 28 January 1986 which killed all seven crew members.  The vehicle exploded 73 seconds into the flight.  

Warnings about a flaw in the O-ring seals from as far back as 1977, the primary cause of Challenger's structural failure, were ignored by some NASA managers, according to the Warren Commission report.  The dangers of launching in cold temperatures (31 F/-1C) that fateful morning was also disregarded.

Final thought

No matter the size, history, or success of an organization, there will be obstacles along the way.  However, if the mission is that important, then finding the means to overcome one or all seven barriers listed above, should be a priority on your leadership agenda.  

Strategist.com

(C) Bredholt & Co.