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Archive for the ‘bottom line results’ Category
Monday, October 25th, 2010
 “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner,” is a successful advertising campaign with concept of incorporating beef into a healthy diet. I’m one who enjoys a nice steak dinner so this advertisement and concept easily catches my attention. Currently, my brother is working for a company that produces naturally raised beef for the food service industry. At a recent family dinner, we discussed the true cost of a steak.
After some back and forth discussion and analysis using business acumen, we wound up agreeing on the following: Most retail outlets price their steaks by the cost per pound. This is their way of representing the true value of a steak. However, after discussing this information and challenging each others perspectives a bit, we came to the conclusion that the best valuation is not the cost per pound, but the cost per edible portion. Steak contains water, fat, and bones that may be cooked off or not consumable. Ultimately, you are paying a price for a piece of meat and should want to consume as much of it as possible. Now, I realize that this is not the only way to value a steak, but is the best overall representation of its true cost and value.
I share this simple analysis with you, because if organizations can get managers and employees to think and speak the language of business, it will pay dividends to the bottom line. The way information in business is represented can be tricky and confusing when talking about finance, economics, and strategy. By developing business acumen skills, more people will begin to understand and identify the true costs and understand how these decisions can greatly impact the bottom line.
Next time you’re involved in a purchase or assessing how viable an initiative is for your company, take a step back, process the information and ask the question “what is the true cost”? It might surprise you.
Tags: bottom line, business acumen, project cost analysis, understanding the bottom line
Posted in bottom line leadership, bottom line performance, bottom line results, business acumen, finance | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
In a previously posted article, Scorekeeping and Leaderboards to Drive Performance, the author discussed how measuring for performance cannot build fear and negativity into employees. Driving bottom line performance with the right measurement will engage people and get people excited and committed to push performance levels. Our experience with a retailer in Columbia, SC. proved that the right incentive can create a culture ready for the challenge. In this case a large part of the company’s business plan was to increase their sales per guest visit. The effort was a grass roots effort in which each employee picked a small, inexpensive item of the week that they would promote throughout the day. At stake for the company was a goal of 2% overall increase in sales based adding an item of the week to one out of fifteen customer visits. At stake for the employees was a pair of tickets to an upcoming NASCAR event. It’s important to point out here that, for many folks from Columbia and points south, NASCAR is life.
 To keep score they painted a miniature oval on the floor in the back office. Each person got to choose a miniature car with the number of their favorite NASCAR driver. Once the dust settled over who was going to get #3, Dale Earnhardt’s old number, the race was on.
Each time an associate sold their item of the week they got to advance their car one length. The first ‘car’ to the checkered flag won.
It was a raucous week. Lot’s of fun, lots of incremental sales, and the store increased its sales for the week by over 6.5% which was an unqualified success.
In addition to making the scorecard fun by picking a game board that the team related to and had an interest in, this team captured the essence of effective scorecards as motivators. To be effective, a scorecard:
• Has to be about what I do
• Has to “talk” to me
• I Have to touch it and own it to believe it
• At some point is has to make me feel successful, whether it is hitting a target, showing improvement, or reinforncing my contribution
Simple, daily profit focused scorekeeping can be and should be fun.
Leave a comment telling us what was the most unique or innovative score keeping method you have seen in your company or another?
Or read this example of a poorly done scorecard: Scorekeeping and Leaderboards to Drive Performance
Tags: How To Increase Profit Margins, Increase Profits, score keeping, scorecard, scorekeeping in business
Posted in Increase Profits, bottom line leadership, bottom line performance, bottom line results, productivity, profitability, results based leadership, score keeping, scorecard, scorekeeping | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 27th, 2010
Okay, we just closed out another quarter in business business year. Sometime early this year, you hopefully took time to set some S.M.A.R.T. business goals, such as to help the company achieve its yearly objectives. You wanted to make sure your contribution to the bottom line would make a difference and stand out from the crowd.
So, when was the last time you looked at those goals? Have you met any of the milestones that you had set up? Are you on track to meeting those goals? What needs to be done between now and your next performance review to be on target to meeting those goals? Are you taking advantage of the various business opportunities that have come your way?
As you know, today’s increasingly competitive business climate demands that we maximize each and every business opportunity. Energetically work to ensure goals are met. Unfortunately we just seem to focus on narrowly defined opportunities, responding to challenges and opportunities within a specific business sector. Important? Yes, but at times, these challenges and narrow opportunities often take us in a direction that is away from the specific goals we have set up.
You may not want to be tied firmly to a specific goal when an opportunity presents itself. But by applying a consistent approach as one assesses these opportunities, then develops strategies, and execute plans to address them, one can drive performance for their products and services to levels never before achieved; making a significant contribution to the company’s bottom line; improving relationships with customers and increasing your value to the organization.
 There is a six-step approach that one can follow so as to identify, assess, and maximize business opportunities and still keep specific goals in front of you. You set them, now let’s make sure you achieve your goals. As you review the six-step approach for success, note your response to the thought provoking questions.
1. Identify and Quantify Opportunity
a. What is the opportunity or challenge?
b. Can the opportunity be quantified? If so, what is the potential?
2. Develop Strategy
a. What is the primary strategy to leverage the opportunity?
b. What resources are needed?
c. Who are the primary stakeholders, and what are their roles and responsibilities?
3. Communicate Strategy to Stakeholders
a. How was the opportunity and corresponding strategy introduced to the stakeholders?
b. How are ongoing updates and progress reports communicated to stakeholders?
4. Incent/Ensure Accountability
a. How is consensus developed?
b. How are internal stakeholders motivated?
c. How is accountability maintained?
5. Implement Program
a. What is the implementation plan?
b. What are the key action items/deliverables for each stakeholder?
c. Who is tracking the program’s progress?
6. Provide Feedback
a. How is success measured?
b. Did the program meet its objectives?
c. What can be shared from this experience?
As you follow this six-step approach you to can maximize your business opportunities, achieve your goals and make a significant contribution to your organizations BOTTOM LINE!
Tags: bottom line leadership, bottom line performance, Leading for bottom line results, S.M.A.R.T. Goals Help To Improve Productivity, S.M.A.R.T. Goals Help To Improve Productivity - Smart G, smart business goals
Posted in bottom line performance, bottom line results, goals & goal setting, performance | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
“When performance is measured, performance improves; when performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates.” –Thomas S. Monson
While working in the publishing industry Thomas S. Monson discovered that when workers were kept in the dark about their job performance they frequently became average performers, and for some workers less than average. But when workers were provided timely, relevant, and easy to understand information about their performance, many became superior performers.
 As Marshall Sashkin explained in his book Performance Appraisal, annual performance appraisals can actually be a disincentive or de-motivator, rather than the panacea they are often held up to be. Sashkin observed that when workers’ performance is only “reported back” annually, they often become suspicious and distrustful of the entire measurement and reporting system. In a private conversation Sashkin once observed, “A manager would be better off with no appraisal than only an annual appraisal, because from a performance perspective being in the dark might be preferable than being surprised, shocked, disappointed, or even angry.”
Monson’s quote has been used for decades to explain why workers become more motivated when they are told how well they are performing. The trick in management is finding appropriate methods to not only measure, but also “report back” employee performance. Regrettably, left to their own devices, far too many managers give either vague or critical feedback on workers’ performance. And when the majority of feedback workers receive is unsupportive, untimely, unspecific, and uncalled for, the result can be poor performance at the best, or trouble performance at the worst.
Formal evaluations, such as performance appraisals, often measure job positions in subjective terms, such as, “Meets Job Requirements.” In today’s business climate do you really want an employee who merely meets expectations, or do you want an employee who smashes beyond “Meets” and consistently hits homeruns?
One of the reasons why annual performance appraisals can create more angst among employees than motivation is the subjective nature of the categories in which employees are measured. Workers’ performance must be thought of as scorekeeping, not as a measurement. We measure something to see what is wrong; we keep a scorecard to track what is correct. When employee performance is tracked with a scorecard that visually displays what went correct, the employee can connect his or her behavior with what is needed to win. By contrast, when employee performance is measured to find what went wrong, the employee may or may not be able to connect behavior with results.
Creating a scorecard system to “report back” performance must include ten essential characteristics.
1. The employee must have psychological ownership of his or her scorecards. People believe and trust what they own, not necessarily what is imposed upon them.
2. Scorecards must be based on specific measurable results for which that employee is paid. Traditional job descriptions are constructed with generalities that don’t include specific measurable results.
3. Scorecards must be posted near the employee’s work area. Scorecards place bottom line performance at front of mind awareness, not something that is discussed infrequently, or even annually.
4. Scorecards must be updated by the employee every day, or at the least every week. Scoreboards in stadiums are updated each time the score changes; likewise, scorecards must be updated as frequently as is practical.
5. Scorecards must include an agreed upon performance line. The performance line tells the employee how he or she is doing against an agreed upon standard.
6. Scorecards must include an agreed upon goal line. The goal line tells the employee when superior performance has been achieved and celebration is deserved.
7. Scorecards must include a way for the employee to compare his or her performance against past performance. An employee must be able to see in a glance how he or she is doing now verses yesterday, last week, or last month.
8. When a scorecard shows performance below a performance line, an action plan must be connected to the scorecard. An action plan is necessary for performance below the performance line, and it is optional when performance is above the line.
9. The employee’s coach must pay attention to scorecards and give daily, or at the least weekly, feedback and coaching. Scorecards must become the reason for coaching: supportive coaching for good performance, and corrective coaching for substandard performance.
10. The employee must feel a sense of celebration when his or her scorecard performance exceeds the goal. A goal achieved is worthy of celebration by the employee, coach, and possibly the entire team.
“When performance is measured [with effective individual scorecards], performance improves [because they become an incredibly strong motivational force]; when performance is reported back [through scorecards that adhere to the ten principles described above], performance accelerates. [Employees tap into discretionary performance when they believe their performance is being scored fairly and will make a difference].”
Tags: annual performance appraisal, balanced scorecard, employee performance, employee performance appraisal, live scorecard, scorecard
Posted in accountability, bottom line leadership, bottom line performance, bottom line results, performance, productivity, results based leadership, score keeping, scorecard, scorekeeping | No Comments »
Monday, September 6th, 2010
Innovation starts with leadership. The foundation of growth, increase profits and productivity are a clear vision, a prepared and enabled workforce, a culture of accountability, appropriate rewards systems and an environment that fosters creativity while preserving the values of the organization. Leadership that gets results is leadership that knows the way, shows the way and has prepared their team so they, as leaders, can get out of the way. Are you doing the same thing you have always done and expecting different results? Consider the story below and see if it sounds like behavior and processes in your organization today:
Two Bears: A Story About Change And Obsolescence
(An adaptation based on a story by Father Anthony de Mello)
A guide friend of mine tells the story of two hunters that came up to Alaska from the lower 48 to partake in their annual bear hunt. There are few roads to access prime bear hunting territory in the Agoolawok region, so a guide with a plane fit for the task is essential. A favorite aircraft for bush pilots in the region is the DE Havilland Beaver; a twin engine, amphibious plane that is capable on land, water or snow.
The two hunters hired out an experienced guide to take them in for a 6 day excursion. He dropped them off with their gear in the heart of bear country promising to pick them up at a designated time and place at the end of their outing.
It was a successful week and each hunter had bagged a decent size brown bear. They had field dressed the animals and, as agreed, the guide was at the meeting place to pick them up. Looking over the load including the two bears the guide suggested that the load was too heavy and they would have to leave one bear behind. Somewhat taken back one of the hunters proclaimed that the guide they had last year was very willing to take them out with the same load; the same two hunters with the same gear and two bear about the same size. Hesitant, the pilot looked the load over and did a little math.
“Are you sure it was the same load with about the same size bears?” the pilot asked.
“Yep” persisted the hunter. “Same stuff. I may have put on a few pounds in a year” he joked “but otherwise all the same”.
“Same aircraft?” the pilot wanted to be sure.
“Yep, DE Havilland Beaver” the hunter replied.
The pilot finally gave the ok. “Load ‘er up”.
They loaded up the plane and took off. Sure enough, about a mile out the aircraft didn’t have enough lift to get up over the next hillside. Fortunately the pilot was able to set the plane down safely in a clearing. It was a bit of a rough landing but no one was hurt and there was no damage to the plane. The two hunters climbed out and scrambled up the hillside to get their bearings.
“Where do you suppose we are?” one hunter asked the other.
“Best I can tell, just about a mile from where we had to set down last year!”
 Are there instances in your organization where you are loading the “same two bears” over and over and expecting different results? Look at your business and see what processes, behaviors and routines are standing in the way of improving your bottom line profits. Get your leaders and your people involved and focus on driving business results.
Tags: being an effective leader, Increase Profits, Leadership That Gets Results, productivity, Two Bears: A story about change and obsolescence
Posted in bottom line leadership, bottom line performance, bottom line results, leadership, problem solving, results based leadership | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 26th, 2010
Developing and testing new business simulations at CMOE is always a lot of fun. It’s a time when the CMOE staff gets free lunches, prizes, and the opportunity to meet countless new people we ask to join us. So in addition to creating or reworking our products, we create a culture of fun.
This past week I was assigned to pick up the food for a volunteer test group. I went to get Pizza and as I was standing at the payment counter, I noticed a computer screen on this wall. In big, black, block print, it read “LEADERBOARD.” I was immediately excited to see this. As I was waiting for my order to be finished, I was trying to identify what was being tracked by the “leaderboard” and how it worked. It was obvious that the leaderboard was networked with other stores and I quickly noticed that the store I was purchasing from was second from the bottom. This piqued my interest further. I decided to speak with the manager to understand how it worked.
 Me: I noticed your leaderboard on the wall; it looks interesting. It appears to be tracking certain success factors and percentages. Do you get rewarded when you hit certain levels of performance? The reason I ask is I work for an organization where we use effective management, measurements, and scorecards to drive bottom line profitability.
Manager: Yeah, it tracks just about everything in the store from the time a phone call was placed to the time the order leaves the store for delivery. Corporate can pull up data on just about anything in the store.
Me: It doesn’t sound like you believe it’s a good thing by the way you are speaking. Do you get recognized or rewarded for hitting certain levels of performance?
Manager: No, it basically indicates what you have to do as a minimum to keep from getting fired.
The manager continued to explain that this tracking system was to help employees have higher levels of customer service, reduced mistakes, and shorten production times, among many other things. While those are great focus areas, I was emotionally deflated by the way he explained it. This employee was telling me that the “Leaderboard,” this scorekeeping system, was the worst thing about his job.
If organizations are to succeed against strong competition and have higher levels of profitability, measurement cannot build fear and negativity into employees. Driving bottom line performance with the right measurement will engage people and get people excited and committed to push performance levels. By using our piles of data, managers can help employees sort out measurements that drive individual results.
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Tags: balance scorecard, Drive Business Performance, Leaderboards, rewarding teams, scorecard, scorekeeping, scorekeeping in business
Posted in Increase Profits, accountability, bottom line leadership, bottom line performance, bottom line results, results based leadership, score keeping, scorecard, scorekeeping | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
The game of golf continues to grow in popularity. I personally enjoy the game and try to play often. I love competing against myself and the game makes me be better both physically and mentally. Whether I play it on my own or with someone else, I always find a motivator to make me want to do my best. I track my effectiveness on a scorecard provided by the clubhouse. It lets me know how well I’m doing.
Some scorecards are very detailed and can inform you about the unique design of the course and about each hole so that each golfer can play to their own abilities. Scorecards in golf provide a lot of beneficial information. The score is the ultimate measurement of your ability as a golfer, but that is just the beginning. I have also seen golfers use score keeping to track not only their score, but track every single stroke they make. The serious golfers track the tee-shots ended in the fairway, how often they reach the green in regulation, how close to the hole their “approach shot” lands, and how many putt’s they make on each hole. There is plenty more, but the purpose is to evaluate and improve their game.
In the exact same way that scorecards are used in golf, they can be used in business – to improve your game! A personal score card in business is the perfect way to track an individual’s performance and contribution to the organization. Let’s draw some lines between the two.
Golf:
At the end of a golf round, I know if I am shooting above par, at par, or if I played really well, then I’m hopefully under par. If I’m under par, I’m winning.
Business:
Much like golf, at the end of the day in business a personal scorecard tells me if I’m winning and how I have contributed to the bottom line. It will tell if I’m making money for the business or if I am spending it.
Golf:
When I track all of my strokes in a golf round on my score card, I know where to focus my attention the next time I go practice at the range.
Business:
When I track my individual performance at work, I can see where I need to focus my attention the next day, week, or month in order to be more successful. If you are not tracking strokes at work, how can you improve your long or short game? You must have a personal score card that speaks to you. You need to know how many strokes you are taking to get your work done. Just as you need to know if your tee-shots are hitting the fairway. You need to know if you are hitting your goals or not. Remember, the least amount of strokes in golf means you are getting the most out of each stroke. There is the same focus in business….do more with less!
Golf:
A common phrase in golf is you “drive for show and putt for dough.” (Dough is referring to money or cash). This means the winners don’t just hit the ball far, but they also have a refined skill to make the precision shots that are so important to their game.
Business:
In business, you have to know if you are “putting for dough.” You need to know what it is that you do that creates profit for your business. Developing your business acumen and using a scorecard is critical to individuals and organizations that are looking to up their game.
Tags: balance scorecard, balanced scorecard concept, scorecards, scorekeeping in business
Posted in bottom line results, performance, scorecard, scorekeeping | No Comments »
Monday, August 16th, 2010
Recently, I had the opportunity to hear Rudolph Giuliani speak about his experience as the Mayor of New York City during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and what he has been doing since that time. I particularly enjoyed hearing about his experience as a mayor and the lessons he learned and now applies them in his life.
Mr. Giuliani spoke about how he was able to reduce the crime rate in New York City. Mr. Giuliani said, “Tracking and finding the areas that need improvement is the first step.” He implemented a system for tracking where, what time, and what type of crimes were occurring in the city. Using this data he was able to identify the areas where more law enforcement was needed and know what time of the day demanded the largest number of law enforcement personnel in the city. Through having the right number of law enforcement personnel in the right areas, at the right time, he was able to reduce the crime rate in New York City by 60-70%. New York City is now considered to be one of the safest large cities in the United States.
Mr. Giuliani then spoke about how he was able to decrease the number of people in NYC on welfare. He began by looking at how the case workers were being compensated for their work. He found the case workers for many years were being paid according to the number of welfare clients they had. Therefore, it was more lucrative for the case workers to have people remain on welfare. He decided to make a change and pay based on the number of jobs the case worker helped find for their welfare clients. Through this change, in a span of 4 years, the number of people on welfare decreased from 1.1 million to 550,000. A decrease of 50%! This improvement in saving the tax payers tens of millions of dollars.
 Many times businesses “leave” money on the table because they are working ineffectively, like the New York City was with law enforcement, by not knowing where their people should be and when they should be there. Often they are scared to make some of the simple changes because they have been working the same way for so long, just like the case workers in NYC who were being paid and incentivized to keep their clients on welfare. What if your employees tracked the information that made them successful? What if they not only tracked the information, but understood and used the information as feedback to identify what they could change to be more successful? What if your employees were compensated, motivated, and/or driven to do those things that would add to the bottom line profits of the business? What would be the increase in profits? What would be the decrease in costs and spending?
Bottom Line Leadership is specifically designed to address these questions. It is created to have immediate and long-term positive influence on the bottom line profits of your business. It will increase motivation in your employees by helping them answer the question, “What is it that I do, what do I get paid for?” It will offer the leadership in your organization a better understanding and utilization of key fundamental leadership skills to drive the changes. This program is a “game changing” business solution and for some companies an overall intervention. It has been so successful in providing a Return on Investment that it is guaranteed to pay for itself by the time the program is done. You truly have nothing to lose!
Tags: bottom line leadership, Improved Results, Leadership That Gets Results, Leading for bottom line results, results based leadership
Posted in bottom line performance, bottom line results, leadership | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 9th, 2010
Of those people who work an average of 45 hours per week, approximately 17 hours of their week is considered unproductive. It’s not just one nation or geographical area, but this occurs globally. The Personal Productivity Challenge conducted by Microsoft in 2005 sampled over 38,000 people in 200 countries, in 29 languages about their productivity. The study was based on 18 statements about their working environment and has some unsettling findings.
• People work an average of 45 hours a week; they consider about 17 of those hours to be unproductive.
• More than half the participants, 55 percent, said they relate their productivity directly to their software.
• People spend 5.6 hours each week in meetings; 69 percent feel meetings aren’t productive.
• Only 34 percent said they are using proven scheduling tools and techniques to help them gain more free time and balance in their lives. Likewise, 60 percent said they don’t have work-life balance, and being unproductive contributes to this feeling.
• Women had an average productivity score of 72 percent, compared with 71 percent for men.
• The most common productivity pitfalls are unclear objectives, lack of team communication and ineffective meetings — chosen by 32 percent of respondents overall — followed by unclear priorities at 31 percent and procrastination at 29 percent.
(Source: Microsoft Personal Productivity Challenge)
 If you are responsible for Profit & Loss, top line growth, cost management, or higher productivity, this study should have your attention. What type of impact would it have on your organization if you could reclaim the 38% of vanishing productivity? Most organizations would be able to increase profits, drive down costs, and simply get more done with existing fixed costs and resources. Surprisingly, organizations can do this by implementing the right tools and processes that:
• Clarify and communicate goals of the organization in a way that is relevant to each individual. This requires commitment, results based leadership and is the responsibility of leaders, managers, and supervisors.
• Links the contribution of employees to organizational goals and helps them see why they matter to the organization.
• Use communication, feedback and coaching to build motivation and commitment all while helping employee see how meaningful and engaging the drive for increased profits and productivity can be.
Develop your people to be more productive and performance focused.
Tags: cost management, Increase Profits, measuring worker productivity, productivity per worker, results based leadership, Worker productivity
Posted in Increase Profits, bottom line performance, bottom line results, productivity, profitability | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
I believe there is a correlation between employee happiness, customer satisfaction, and increased profit margin. We all know in order for a company to stay in business it must produce profits. Too often though, the focus is centered around profits and not enough on the drivers of profits, the employees. Employees tend to treat the customers, whether internal or external, to the extent to which they are satisfied and happy with their current position. The question becomes how does a leader create enthusiasm and ensure job satisfaction for their team members.
Most satisfied employees feel empowered. This means they must have the tools, support, training and ability to make decisions. In addition, a leader needs to become more of a coach than a “teller” or dictator. Coaching creates an atmosphere of collaboration, trust, and confidence, where constructive and sincere feedback is accepted. Remember, “The worst feedback is no feedback”.
Employees need to understand how their job function contributes to the bottom line of the organization. Employees will tend to work harder if they feel like their work is meaningful and adds value. My first job in high school was at a dry cleaner. I staffed the front counter taking in clothes, entering the information into the system and creating an invoice for the customer. The job was not exciting and every day I wished for the fewest customers possible. When a customer came in I would get the order entered as fast as I could and get back to doing nothing but wait for the next customer. Looking back, I imagine that not everything was entered properly and those mistakes, although small, cost the company some profits.
 I wonder if it would have been different if the manager took some time to explain how my work added value to the company through something simple like a scorecard. What if we created a scorecard review of my key functions so I could see the importance of the work I was doing. Even the “front counter” employees need to understand how important the work is that they are doing.
If employees are happy, customers are happy. When customers are happy, they come back and tell others of their experience. Repeat business and referrals equal greater profit. Sometimes we need to step back and look at our own performance. Are we focusing solely on the profit and forgetting about the people driving the profit? Are we creating an atmosphere where employees are coached or are we a dictator? Do the employees know how important their job function is? Do the employees feel empowered and find their work meaningful? Are we tracking the important functions that help build profit? We need to look at these questions often as we lead for greater profit.
Tags: employee feedback, employees and profits, happy employees, importance of employees
Posted in Increase Profits, bottom line performance, bottom line results, motivation, results based leadership | 5 Comments »
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