CONNECT THE DOTS

Steven Cesare, Ph.D.

A business owner from the great state of Texas called me the other day to talk about driving consistency, efficiency, and accountability in his company. Successful across numerous external and internal standards, the business owner expressed frustration when employees periodically lose focus, drift out of their lane, and fail to execute in accordance with the Company’s standard operating procedures.

Look around. I think most of us have been in this classroom before.

This condition is especially irritating when Department Managers are the culprits. Despite being the anointed leaders, role models, and coaches of their respective business units, their wayward manner can impact large swaths of the workforce in a conscious as well as subconscious level.

Perhaps companies have shifted too much attention onto the softer side of business by emphasizing employee relations, organizational culture, and work life balance more than the traditional line of sight. Don’t misinterpret me: I am an unabashed advocate of employee relations (e.g., coaching, development plans, open door policies), organizational culture (e.g., company vision, mission statement, core values), and work life balance (e.g., respecting employees’ personal time off the clock, employee benefits packages, and family needs). That said, I also believe that concentrated effort must be devoted to operational best practices that create consistency, synergy, and success. Especially for Managers, who are frequently confronted with numerous issues on a daily basis that distract them from their operational purpose.

As our conversation continued, I outlined the following five-step plan that I routinely recommend to business owners to help them define the key issues to their Managers in such a way that they can connect the managerial dots with succinct continuity.

As a capitalist, you know I am going to begin with goals. Building upon the premise that there are three types of goals (e.g., empirical, procedural, cultural), pinpoint those goals to the department level, not the company level. We all know that we must be “big picture” thinkers. Thanks for reminding me of the proper impression management response; here’s your gold star for the day. When developing the department goals, focus the SWOT in detail for each respective business unit so the Manager can trace the analytical progression from origin to outcome. That will shift the ownership of the goal process from the executives assigning goals to the Manager, to the Manager actually identifying with the goals.
With the departmental goals now identified, pro-rate them for each month in the fiscal year. Despite what they say, Managers do not think in terms of annual time frames; they think in monthly increments. By distilling annual goals into monthly components, the Manager can begin to connect the dots of short-term departmental initiatives with long-term departmental results. Take the hint: This is why all managerial bonus programs should be established and paid out on a monthly basis.
With the monthly goals now specified, task the Manager to develop an action plan that s/he believes will achieve the goals for each respective month. Do you think your managers have the same monthly goals, priorities, and operational plan in March as they do in November? By getting the managers to write down their anticipated monthly behaviors, you now have a standing agenda framework to drive all of your weekly one-on-one meetings with your managers, for evaluation, editing, follow-up, etc.
Keep connecting the dots by then taking that monthly action plan and allocate those behaviors into weekly installments to drive alignment, communication, and efficiency. To the skeptics: This is not micromanagement; so, stop looking for an excuse to get out of your lane again. This weekly deductive planning model improves resource allocation, prioritized decision making, and communication flow.
You knew we were going to get here. With the weekly operating routine established, the Manager can now define a daily operating routine to ensure tactical accountability for each stated departmental goal. This daily facet now serves as the inductive coaching, training, and accountability feature upon which subsequent weekly behaviors, monthly efficiencies, and annual departmental achievements are built.

By connecting the dots in this manner, managers will quickly realize the dots define the width of their lane, provide detailed direction to their next performance action, and promote personal clarity, departmental efficiency, and company success.

Asking for a friend: I wonder if business owners have ever done this for their entire company?

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