Lag and lead indicators...

This is the time of the year that whenever I bump into any of my "sales friends" I can't help but ask how they did last year — I specifically ask if they hit plan. The answer always falls into two categories; either an "enthusiastic yes" or a "sheepish no"... sometimes there is colour commentary and sometimes not, but ultimately the answer is simply yes or no (or in emotional terms, "happy or sad").

If you have ever been in a commercial function (particularly sales) the objective is simple — you are given a sales plan (or quota) for the year with an expectation that by the end of the year you will have achieved that plan (and many times there's an expectation to overachieve). If your plan is $1 M and your final sales are $1.1 M, then you are 110% of plan and a goddess; whereas if the year ends up at $.95 M, you are 95% of plan and there is no such divinity. This of course answers of the question "How did you do?" but it is an after the fact question (a lag indicator if you will), and not particularly helpful if you are in the middle of working to achieve your annual plan.

What you need is something to answer the question "How am I doing?" And this brings us to "Lead Indicators". Lead indicators ensure that when your lag indicator presents itself your status as superstar will be secure.

As the name suggests, a lead indicator is a measure that speaks to how you are tracking to achieve your goal, or in the case of the the sales example above, your sales plan. Lead indicators are those activities that if achieved are a good "indication" that you will be successful.  They can also help identify issues early so you have time to put new activities in place to help achieve your goal. 

When you think of lead indicators you are in effect asking yourself, "What needs to be done to achieve my plan (or goal)". By identify them in a measurable way you increase your probability of success — referring back to the sales example, some lead indicators to achieving plan could be:

• Connect with 20 current customers per week
• Identify and connect with 5 new customers per week
• Attend 1 trade show per month
• Find 3 new opportunities for your opportunity funnel per week
• Connect with 10 customers on Linked In per week
• Achieve your monthly plans

The key is to achieve the lead indicator targets; by achieving these measures there is a greater probability you will achieve your plan by the end of the year. And if you are falling short of your lead indicator targets? It's probably time to seriously look at how you are doing what you are doing.

Depending on the complexity of your goal (or business) the number of lead indicators can become large and hard to manage so it is important to identify what the key measures are to quickly determine how you are doing with respect to achieving your goal — these are affectionately called Key Performance Indicators. (KPIs). Many times you will find colourful "dashboards" that make it easy to see how you are doing at a glance.

I suspect most of my "sales friends" know this because it's part of the job, but it's important to realize that lead indicators apply to almost everything you want to accomplish —

Wanna be a famous actor? What are the lead indicators that you will?

Wanna be a success artist? What are the lead indicators that you will?

Wanna be a CFO in a Fortune 500 company? What are the lead indicators that you will?

Wanna be happy? What are the lead indicators that you will?

Hopefully you get where I'm going with this...

iamgpe

"Risk and reward is real."

One of the best people leaders I have ever met just got a promotion — into the C suite.

quotesgram.com

When I heard about this I just had to send a congratulatory note, and when I received a reply (in classic style) it said, "Risk and reward is real".  As I read the reply I could not help but smile and nod — it still resonates with me.

risk [risk] NOUN — a situation involving exposure to danger: VERB — expose (someone or something valued) to danger, harm, or loss:

re·ward [rəˈwôrd] NOUN — a thing given in recognition of one's service, effort, or achievement: VERB — make a gift of something to (someone) in recognition of their services, efforts, or achievements:

I am certain almost everyone has heard it said, in one iteration or another, that the greater the risk the greater the reward — and although it maybe trite, it's more often than not true. There is certainly a correlation that needs to be considered with everything that we do. 

As they say (and I'm not sure who they are) — "Life is a contact sport".

In other words, this wonderful life we have been given is dangerous — it challenges us, it wants to eat us, it wants to make us sick, it'll take what we have away from us if we aren't paying attention, and for every action we take there is a reaction that may or may not be in our best interest. Life and our actions (which includes non-action) inherently brings risk with it, as well as those associated rewards. Life is simply a series of risks and rewards for about seventy-five years (give or take), so we might as well get involved because staying under the covers really isn't an option.

With risk being an inherent part of life, it then becomes all about mitigating risk or taking on calculated risk — and whether we appreciate it or not, either through innate ability, training, or luck, we become experts when it comes to risk management. Our goal should then be about constantly developing our abilities in this regard, and getting the most out of the risk that comes our way.

It is all about understanding and aligning our abilities with our understanding of the situation — and having the confidence to believe we will be successful.

• Know your abilities and continually strive to expand them — they are the tools that allow you to take on a situation (an intellectual endeavour)
• Understand the situation you need to deal with and align your abilities with it — and then objectively determine if your abilities allow you to be successful dealing with the situation (an intellectual endeavour)
• The confidence to be able to use your abilities and deal with the situation successfully — this is the innate understanding that you can overcome the risk of not being successful (more often than not an emotional endeavour)
• The will power to overcome obstacles, make things happen, and not stop until you are successful (I'm not even sure how to categorize it)

And reward?

This of course can be anything, either intrinsic or extrinsic, and mostly reflects the goals of taking on the situation and risk in the first place. And yes, we naturally gravitate to money as the reward but it can be anything from simply learning a new skill to the satisfaction of doing something never done before. The subtlest reward though, and probably the most valuable, is the confidence that comes with taking on risk and succeeding... which in turn encourages you to take on new situations and more risk (and so on). Until one day you look back on it all and say to yourself, "Look at everything I've done and how far I've come"

Of course none of this happens if you find yourself still under the covers.

iamgpe

The messaging of an idea... working with feedback — PART 5

I thought I would stay with the theme of feedback a little longer for a couple of reasons — I received some "solid feedback" on my last blog, and more importantly, the topic of feedback is so important for an idea to flourish and develop, and that of course supports the evolution of the messaging for said idea.

Feedback will impact the idea, the message, and the messenger. 

I think I will begin with the "messenger" because more often than not it's her idea or at least she has drank the "Kool-Aid", and I want to kick this off with some feedback I received at an annual performance review a long time ago — "Graham," the person said, "You get very defensive when you are given feedback". To that, I got defensive. 

I have come along way since then, and although I'm not perfect, I believe I have developed a valid perspective on receiving feedback as the messenger:

• When receiving feedback check your ego at the door and listen to it.
• Do not categorize feedback as good or bad, or right or wrong, or relevant or non-relevant — again just listen to it and capture it for later.
• We are still human and sometimes the first two points are difficult, so let some time pass before you constructively review the feedback.
• You should never dismiss any feedback until you have constructively reviewed it.
• When you are ready to constructively review the feedback revisit the goals, objectives, and strategies of your idea, your message, and your messaging — this ensures alignment and helps measure validity, efficacy, and relevance of the feedback.
• Not all feedback is created equal — not only because of its relevance but also because of where it is coming from. This is the reason we search out domain experts and experience.
• It is very dangerous not to accept feedback because it doesn't align with your current thinking.
• If you keep getting similar feedback from credible sources there is a very high probability they are right, and you, maybe not so much.

With regard to the idea and the message, well that's simple... just adopt the feedback to make your idea and the messaging better. And if you don't, then you are either not finding the right feedback to develop your idea, or you just aren't willing to accept it — either way, your idea is destined to never go a far as you would like (if anywhere at all).

And regarding the feedback on that presentation in my last blog, I reviewed it with the Principal of Takota Asset Management using the same lens as above, and he's incorporated the feedback into future videos where the alignment makes sense with his strategy, objectives, and resources. 

The feedback (and the process) was greatly appreciated I was told,

iamgpe