Sync’Em (Part III): The Amazing Power of Tandem Action
People make business plans for all sorts of reasons — to attract funding, evaluate future growth, build partnerships, or guide development. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these plans are usually out of date by the time the printer ink dries. Business moves fast: the product’s features morph, new competitors emerge, or the economic climate shifts. When these changes occur, many people just throw their business plans out the window. For a plan to be truly valuable it needs to evolve with your company and stay relevant in the face of uncertainty. Amy Gallow, Keeping Your Business Plan Flexible, Harvard Business Review
“When you think about a business plan, think about the distinction between a snapshot and a moving picture,” says William Sahlman, the Dimitri V. D’Arbeloff – Class of 1955 Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and author of How to Write a Great Business Plan.
Writing a plan makes you feel in control of things you can’t actually control. Why don’t we just call plans what they really are: guesses… When you turn guesses into plans, you enter a danger zone. Plans let the past drive the future. They put blinders on you. “This is where we’re going because, well, that’s where we said we were going.” And that’s the problem: Plans are inconsistent with improvisation… You have the most information when you’re doing something, not before you’ve done it. Sometimes you need to say, “We’re going in a new direction because that’s what makes sense – today. Give up on the guesswork. Decide what you’re going to do this week, not this year. Jason Fried, author of Rework, Founder of 37signals
“This downturn has changed the way we will think about our business for many years to come,” says Steve Odland, Office Depot’s chairman and chief executive.Walt Shill, head of the North American management consulting practice for Accenture Ltd., is even more blunt: “Strategy, as we knew it, is dead,” he contends. “Corporate clients decided that increased flexibility and accelerated decision making are much more important than simply predicting the future.” Strategic Plans Lose Favor, the Wall Street Journal January 25, 2010
I spent several hours this week with the founders of a $12 million company who literally papered the circumference of their board room with a linear 5 year business plan – believing they’ve anticipated every decision and investment required to scale 10x current revenues by 2016. I’ve encountered similar CEOs over the past year who have driven their strategic stake into the ground without considering the necessity of maintaining tandem action with their inner circle so that they can remain maneuverable by focusing on the right priorities that are relevant – today!
Entrepreneurs fight a daily battle for survival. They’re immersed in a war that bombards them with a poor economy, increasing regulations and crippling taxation. Without alignment between CEO and inner circle on the right priorities they are swimming upstream against the Class 6 Niagara rapids to meet objectives. Instead of suffering through the perils of misalignment the team can DAT (Decide, Align and Track) in tandem, working with seamless synchronization on critical issues in the battle. I love this final scene from The Last of the Mohicans when Hawkeye and Chingachgook pursue their enemy Magua not as individuals, but as a single fighting unit in tandem with each others movement and strategy.
Our company has observed that tandem action requires continual assessment of internal alignment as well as a trusted decision process that forms the backbone of an effective corporate culture. When CEO and inner circle are aligned and in sync on the 3-5 top priorities for corporate growth, they can engage in the business equivalent of the “Mohican” tandem action that Hawkeye and his father achieved to defeat Magua and survive.
When tandem action occurs on a leadership team it’s an amazing and beautiful thing to behold.
Sync’Em (part II): This is what Happens When…
I’m sure you’ve heard, or stated, the following anecdote: This is what happens when cousins marry…
Let me rephrase that statement in several different contexts with similar, but no less severe, outcomes.
This is what happens when an inebriated college student beta tests his idea for a new sport which requires the nuanced skills of a figure skater, a rancher, and a matador:
This is what happens when a cool family has far too much money to spend at Walt Disney World:
And this is what happens when the leadership team of a regional insurance company is out of Sync (alignment) on allocating resources to develop a new product:
The CEO and Inner Circle disagreed on investing in a new product. Often when a company enters the fringes of No Man’s Land the team is confused and the CEO becomes bored; he/she “escapes” to a new idea that siphons energy and resources from the company’s core value proposition. At this point the company can become distracted enough to fail in it’s inability to fund future growth.
… when alignment is lacking, new programs run a high risk of external failure and typically fall into disuse overtime. Also, without management’s support and consistency, employees’ commitment to quality will usually deteriorate, their individual objectives will take precedence, and their morale and productivity will diminish overtime.
Bob Frost, Director of Measurement International
Misalignment is a superb example of the age-old physics rule: error increases with distance. I will miss the target completely if I’m shooting at 100 yards and my site is off less than a millimeter. CEOs and inner circles can easily migrate out of sync on critical issues, imperceptibly at first – ultimately off the “same page” altogether. Companies fail when leadership is out of sync and lack a trusted decision making process.
This (failure) is what happens when companies are misaligned; but it’s not difficult, or time consuming, for a CEO and Inner Circle to get on the same page when they decide to do so. Sync’Em – it’s the most important action to align and execute on the right priorities.
Just think what might have happened if the Skaterranchador would have Synched with his inner circle and stayed focused on his successful iPhone app?
Sync’Em: How to Drive Alignment on Critical Priorities, Part I
Is your leadership team on the same page when it comes to critical issues your company will face in the next 90 days? Or do you feel like you’re stuck in the above conversation with your inner circle – trying to convince them that “Caesar Romero was tall”?
My firm has worked with over 200 CEOs and their inner circles over the past 14 months. We often start our interaction with clients with a short online assessment that allows them to respond to statements regarding
- Their Market (Value Proposition)
- Their Management (Are the right people in the right positions?)
- Their Economic Model (Will the company make money at higher volumes?)
- Their Money (available capital for future growth)
Without exception the results are similar to this sample summary:
I’ve stated before that over 95% 0f our clients are severely misaligned on their company’s value proposition. Why is alignment so important to an emerging company? How can misalignment effect growth, strategy, execution and momentum as we finish the tumultuous 2010 and as we enter the potential maelstrom of 2011?
I’ll delve more into the severity of misalignment in the next post; but allow me to start the process by offering the best definition of culture Ive ever heard – provided by my partner, Doug Tatum:
In case you’re wondering – here’s the secret sauce to sync your team if you’re in the hunt for the “same page” on critical priorities: create a trusted decision making process.
Romero was tall. Just sayin’.
Brent Sapp
