Execution - Erase "MAYBE" from your lexicon...

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

If you know anyone who has come out of the General Electric "machine", you will have undoubtedly heard of, and/or experienced a "Workout". The original workouts came into being as Jack Welsh, the CEO, was working to right General Electric; they went something like this*. A team (without the leader) would meet to review all the issues that needed to be answered to progress various projects, mandates or agendas forward. The leader would then join them and systematically answer their questions with "YES do it", or "NO don't do it", or "I will get back to you with a YES or NO answer in a week". This implemented action.

There is a "truism" regarding effective execution - All action is derived from either the word "YES" or the word "NO" -  any other word will lead to a vast array of inaction. As a quick illustration**, lets look at the manual outlining what to do if you see a strange "flying saucer like thing" in the air. I'm sure it doesn't read like this:

• "YES" push the red emergency button. (action)
• "NO" don't push the red emergency button. (action)
• "MAYBE" push the red emergency button. (what exactly do you do with this?) 

If you look at any process map or decision tree, there is never the option to choose "MAYBE"... it is very hard to know what action to dive next when you hear the word "MAYBE" (or any derivation of it). About now, someone may be saying, "Wait a second, sometimes you have to say "maybe" because of a lack of information, poor timing, lack of resources, etc". These reasons, really justifying saying "NO", with a perspective as to what action is needed next to stop what is being done, or to garner a YES decision. "YES" and "NO" drive the process forward... "MAYBE" keeps everything in a holding pattern - Spinning and spinning.

"YES" and "NO" are also great data points to measure execution effectiveness. The more you find "NO" being used as part of the decision making process, the greater chance you may have skill set issues, resource issues, time management issues, misalignment with goals, risk tolerance issues or a culture that struggles to drive action - If you hear "MAYBE", you can guarantee you have one or all of these.

There is also an ambivalence that comes with the word "MAYBE"... it will insidiously compromise decisiveness, which is so important in good leadership and will also feed the emotion of regret; the words "woulda, shoulda, coulda" will stick to you.

So throw the word "MAYBE" away! It will serve you well. Things will get done.

gpe

* I have not experienced the original "Workout" but have been involved in many of its "workout cousins" ... sometimes affectionately called a "deep dive".  I've also simplified this and taken a little artistic licence to stress the point. 

** This flying saucer sighting example struck me funny. Apologies if you didn't think so.

Execution... some more thoughts.

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

Believe it or not I am actually going to start with telling the story of my garage door opener (GDO) and meander my way through some thoughts on execution - And maybe something else, that at first blush may seem counter intuitive, but is worthy of consideration. Let's see how I do; with great appreciation for your patience in advance.

A typical garage door opener... the gear in question is on the top

For those of you who are not familiar with a garage door opener, it is fair to say it's probably up there as one of the greatest inventions ever. Well, mostly for anyone who owns a car and has a garage to put it in. It works something like this... as you approach your garage, you push a button that magically sends a signal to a box hanging in your garage and upon receiving the signal, turns a chain that pulls the garage door up. Once you are in the garage, you push the button again and the box reverses the direction of the chain and the garage door closes. Nice and easy. You can see why people with cars love them, particularly in the northern climates. With this said, one day I pushed the button and the GDO sounds like it is doing it's job, but the door is not moving! After a quick assessment of the situation, I could see the gear that moves the chain had sheared off.

Now I have a problem and it's winter, so this is particularly inconvenient... I mean, now I actually have to lift the door manually. It quickly becomes apparent that I have three obvious options: A) don't fix the GDO and open it manually (like a million other people do), B) just buy a new GDO, and C) replace the gear that had been sheared off. Plan A became my current default and was workable for the short-term, but since the GDO also acted as a lock it wasn't a long-term fix. Plan B was easy but probably the most expensive, and Plan C, which most likely was cheaper but I was not sure if repairing it was possible. I would investigate Plan B and C in parallel. (First Execution thought - Investigate the situation and identify the problem(s), as well as develop a series of prioritized possible solutions. This is where you have to start.) 

Off to my local hardware store I went to understand how much a new garage door opener would be and also investigate if they had the part to repair my current one. What I found out was a new GDO would cost about $200 and that I could get the part I needed, but directly from the manufacturer which usually was expensive. As I was speaking to the clerk, he suddenly said, "follow me" and I did. Soon he was showing me a non functioning demonstration unit exactly like my GDO, which was destined to be scrapped - $20 later I was the proud owner of the demonstration unit with the coveted replacement gear inside. I had decided to go with Plan C, repair the GDO. (Second Execution thought - Develop an understanding and feasibility of your plan (s), as well as acquire the resources needed. Once you have decided your direction, focus all your resources on it).

So now, in my mind, it's just a matter of taking the gear out of the $20 demonstration unit and replacing the broken one with it. Out come my tools - I quickly dismantle the demonstration unit, retrieve the replacement gear, and then dismantle the GDO and remove the broken gear. To my surprise, there was a big cog on the broken part but not on the replacement part... no worries, I will just switch the cog over to the replacement part and then I am set. It didn't take me long to realize that I couldn't get the cog off and I needed the right tools to do it, which of course I did not have. It did cross my mind that maybe I should just go buy a new GDO. (Third Execution thought - Problems have agendas of their own, and more often than not they are not in alignment with yours. Don't assume that solving problems will be easy. Also, stay focused on your plan and don't let the other possible solutions distract you. Shame on me for even thinking about buying a new GDO)

I needed a machine shop; a quick Google search and a short drive later, I was telling a machinist my troubles. Ten minutes after that, he had moved the cog over to the replacement part and I now had my replacement gear all ready to be installed. He didn't even charge me saying it was a favour. The reassembly was straight forward and soon enough I had my functioning GDO back up and running. (Forth Execution thought - more often then not, you need a team to solve your problem and execute on it. Look to those people and resources you need to solve the issue; resource management is key to your success. As I have mentioned, problems have their own agendas and usually aren't straight forward or easy; sometimes the universe sends a favour your way... so don't forget to repay it in kind somewhere else.) 

So there you have it - Ultimately I was able to repair my garage door for $20 plus the time it took to do it, as opposed to just buying a new one for $200. As I look back on my little "handy man" adventure, I am struck by something else, something counter intuitive. Maybe we shouldn't necessarily look to that which is easy, as we learn and grow from challenge and adversity.

We naturally look to that which is easy, comfortable and known, while conversely we shy away from that which is difficult, unknown and perceived to cause pain and discomfort - But maybe we should look to that which is difficult. Looking at my GDO situation, I could have just bought a new GDO and installed it easily, and although it was $200, it would not have broke me. However with deciding to repair the GDO, which in comparison was not as easy, I expanded my knowledge base, made new connections, developed some new skills, challenged my thinking process, and ultimately saved $180. I gained so much more by not buying a new garage door opener. 

Easy... while being "easy", does not really allow you the opportunity to learn, develop, master adversity and grow; also as we look back at my story, the easiest solution was not the best economic route to take. As much as we may want it all to come easy, it is actually in our best interest to embrace the adversity and the challenges that comes our way. 

So when you are looking at your possible solutions to execute on, don't instinctively default to what is easiest; it may not be good for business, and most definitely will not help you grow. And one last point, and I think it's an important one, doing what's easy tends to be the result of familiarity and having done it before - So doing what's easy runs in the face of doing things differently - And we know how important different is.

gpe 

The Business Gnome

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

It's been a little over 90 days since I have been blogging under the unicorn banner of GPEStratagem and I wanted to quickly say, "Thank you for reading". I also wanted to take a moment to ground us as to what I story tell about - Specifically, I am interested in out of the box thinking as well as creative problem solving, particularly in the areas of sales and marketing; this of course can run the gamut including situation analysis, planning, problem solving, leadership, execution, process improvement, organizational behaviour and of course the customer. With all of this said, it is probably time to mention the rarely seen, but very much believed in, Business Gnome.

I've heard the business Gnome looks like this...

A very dear friend of mine, who I hope is finding great fun and adventure at the moment, introduced me to the Business Gnome a number of years back. For those of you who are not familiar with the Business Gnome, it is a genus of "mystical individuals" who get things done when people don't think of it, assume it'll will get done, don't want to do it, or don't know how. The Business Gnome falls into a number of different species, such as the "Technology" Gnome, the "Marketing" Gnome, the "Clean up your mess" Gnome (which has a domesticated cousin), and so on. Business Gnomes, like "tribbles" (yes a Star Trek reference), are cute and cuddly, but if they get into the machinery they will totally mess up effective execution and most definitely impact your customer's experience.

Let me offer you an example of what I am talking about - A small company was sponsoring an event which involved developing a process to sell the event tickets online and went live with it. It turned out when a customer went to order a ticket, the only option available in the drop down menu was zero. After that was fixed, it became apparent that there was no electronic ticket that was actually sent to the person who had ordered... just a receipt indicating that their credit card had been charged. In all of this, it is obvious that someone looked to the "Technology" Gnome to ensure it all worked when they set up the process. It was a good thing the company was so customer oriented as they caught this with the first order and fixed the situation. They went on to have an amazing event and the Technology Gnome was conspicuously absent. 

As you can appreciate there are two camps regarding the existence of the Business Gnome and I don't want to spend time debating their actual existence but instead spend a little time on the "people and company cultures" that do believe in them... or at least act as if they do. 

People (and cultures) that don't take the customer's perspective in what they do are big believers in the Business Gnome, and look to them to ensure that all of their initiatives and processes work smoothly. To this point let's use the situation with the event tickets above - If, before they went live with the ordering system, someone had said, "Let me pretend I am a customer and see how this works", they would have discovered very quickly that they had some "gaps" in their process, and ultimately in the customer experience. Those who think like customers don't believe in Gnomes.

There also seems to be a correlation with people not knowing the systems and processes that they use and their belief in Gnomes. Many a time I have seen a brilliant idea come crashing into reality because of the limitations of the systems and processes that are available... somewhere, somehow, someone must have had faith in the "Operations" Gnome to make it all work. As an extension to this, there are people who are miscast for the task ahead but "do it anyway", without soliciting help and the resources needed to make it happen. They must be big believers in the "Hope and a Prayer" Gnome. 

And lastly, the biggest playground for Business Gnomes that I have seen is where there is a culture of assumption... Assuming it will get done, assuming the resources are there, assuming the skill sets are in place, assuming the customer thinks like you, assuming there is someone to pick up after you, assuming the system will do what you want it to do, assuming your pilot project will scale - Hopefully you get my drift, and if you find too much assumption going on, you most likely have a deep seeded belief in Gnomes. 

Of course, encouraging Personal Leadership, Ownership and an understanding that everything is connected can create a culture of accountability... dispelling the mythology of the Business Gnome. 

Let me know if you have seen a Gnome, and do remember that "Car Key" Gnomes are very real.

gpe