Tag Archives: business results

Management Skills for the Effective Manager – Drucker’s The Effective Executive – 2

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Peter Drucker's The Effective ExecutiveIn Peter Drucker’s The Effective Executive, he outlines eight management practices in the introduction that are the core skills of the effective manager:

  • They asked, “What needs to be done?”
  • They asked, “What is right for the enterprise?”
  • They developed action plans.
  • They took responsibility for decisions
  • They took responsibility for communicating
  • They focused on opportunities rather than problems.
  • They ran productive meetings.
  • They thought and said “we” rather than “I”.

But, before really getting to work on these he takes on some very interesting foundational issues. First, “… the executive is, first of all, expected to get the right things done. And this is simply that he is expected to be effective.”((1))  

What is effectiveness? Continue reading →

Footnotes:
  1. All quotations in this posting are from pp. 1-24. Here is an early example of how the style, and many of the examples, in The Effective Executive are quite dated. The pronoun “she” never appears in the book. When he wrote the book in 1967, women in management were extraordinarily rare and their was only a nascent awareness that women could and should play a full role in our economic and social institutions [↩]

Manage Your Business As Processes

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Many business owners and managers are frustrated by the poor results achieved by some portion of their business. They diligently track their business using metrics like sales, profits, customer perceived quality, on time delivery, etc. These are obviously some of the most important results any business needs to produce. Why doesn’t attention to these important metrics produce better results?
Unfortunately none of these metrics are actionable nor controllable as objects of management focus. No amount of teeth gnashing about inadequate sales will generate a single additional sale. No matter how intensely you beat on your operations to improve on time delivery will this lead to improvement.  
 
Why is this so? 
 
Let’s examine on time delivery as an example of the problem. On time delivery is an end result of a process, a series of ordered steps, activities, that are your production operation. This process may not be delivering adequate on time delivery to your customers. But, you cannot understand what is causing this process to be out of control without examining in detail, through what is commonly referred to as root cause analysis, the causes of this failure. Here is a brief list of some of the more common causes: 

  • Part shortages  
  • Machine down time for poor maintenance  
  • Production bottlenecks  
  • Poor part quality  
  • Lack of labor  
  • Poorly trained labor  
  • Poor scheduling  
  • Inadequate customer requirements specifications

 
The lesson here is that in order to improve on time delivery you really need to first determine the cause, second set improvement tasks that eliminate the cause, and third measure improvements in that function until you achieve a controlled state of adequate  
performance for on time delivery. 
 
The fundamental mind set is to see your business as a system of processes. Your task is to make sure the processes are well defined and operate in a controlled state to produce the desired results. The method for achieving in control processes is to determine the root causes of failure, set tasks to eliminate the cause, and track metrics that measure the reduction of the causative element.  
 
Now you might be in a service business and say to yourself, “My business does not produce widgets. How can this apply to me?” 
 
Services are also produced through a series steps. In many cases these steps are not well-defined and are further complicated by the frequent direct interface with, and frequently the participation of, the customer. It is not as easy to “see” the steps in services production as in widget production. You don’t have the machines and parts moving around with a sequence of physical transformations.  
 
Here is a list of typical causes of poor service quality: 

  • Bad service design  
  • Mis-managed customer expectations  
  • Inadequate information resources in the hands of the frontline service provider  
  • Poor training of the service provider  
  • Unclear decision making scope and authority for the service provider

 
Learn to see your business from a process perspective. Then, apply process control techniques to drive to better results in sales, profits, customer retention, and whatever else is important.

Great Questions about Business Coaching?

  • My coach yelled and screamed at me in high school, do I need that?
  • Is business coaching touchy feely – therapeutic stuff?
  • You don’t know anything about my business. I have been at this for xx years, how can you help me?
  • How long before I see results?
  • Do I need to meet with you every week?
  • Am I signing up for a long contract?
  • This must be expensive
  • I’m not a business owner, just a manager, is this for me?
  • What about start up businesses?
  • Do you work with management teams?

  • My coach yelled and screamed at me in high school, do I need that?

    Business coaching is all about you and not about the coach. I will challenge with questions that will help you think more clearly and anew about your problems and opportunities. My coaching is successful when you state the best solution, then it is your solution not mine. I measure my success by how little I talk and how much you produce results.

    Is business coaching touchy feely – therapeutic stuff?

    Business coaching is about business, about getting the right things done. Sometimes this touches on the way in which you listen and communicate with people, or, your focus on facts and not emotions. But, always, our discussions are about your business results and how to improve them.

    You don’t know anything about my business. I have been at this for xx years, how can you help me?

    There is an element of truth in this. If you really need help with a specific technical issue, business coaching is not the solution.

    experienceOn the other hand, every business is about customers, products, services, employees, sales, profits, capital, marketing, sales, operations, product development, quality, and more of these basics. It only takes me an hour to ask enough questions to know the basic shape of your business, to provide me a platform to engage you in productive discussions of how to push you and your business forward.

    And, another key role for me is to help you establish the short list of tasks to work on each week to drive ahead. I provide the constant reminder of how day-to-day work connects with the big picture goals and the tactical accountability for getting the work done.

    How long before I see results?

    You will see results in your personal management approaches and skills within a few weeks. Business results typically take longer, three months is a good timeframe, though it depends on the cycle time of the business issues you are tackling.

    The results speak through my retention of clients. Since they can fire me at any time if they are not happy with the results of the coaching work, they simply say “goodbye”. My retention rate is very high. Many who leave me come back when they start a new venture or enter into a new phase of their management careers.

    Do I need to meet with you every week?

    Most clients find it valuable to meet every week. It keeps up the pace of the work, makes for better, more immediate feedback on progress and problems, and maintains better self-accountability for the important future-building tasks. On the other hand, some clients find every other week to work fine. We just need to identify what works best for you. 

    At the outset of a new relationship, I insist on at least two months of weekly meetings. This gives us the opportunity to really dig in and accomplish something important and useful. It also assures that I have a sound understanding of how you work and the important facts about how your business works.email now for a free coaching session

    Finally, most clients really look forward to talking with me. I am the one person they speak with each week who will listen with interest to whatever they say, not be judgmental in anyway, and be supportive through good questioning and sound advice.

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    How effective is telephone or computer based coaching?

    tele-coachingI have been working via telephone and Skype for four years, after years of face-to-face consulting. To my initial surprise, I have found the telephone to be better in many ways than face-to-face meetings. 

    When I sit down to talk, I am totally present and focused on the person on the other end of the line. I am listening to every word. And, not being required to provide visual focus, I can process the conversation and think of different questions to reframe the issues or bring up new avenues to explore very consistently. I can hear the body language through the audible cues given during a conversation. There are no visual or aural distractions because the two of us are listening intently to the voice in our earpiece and nothing else

    Sometimes we need to talk about financial management issues or other document based topics, then, we can turn to our computer screens and refer directly to the facts in question. Some clients keep detailed notes and create an agenda for every meeting. I print this out in advance and I let the client manage our meeting as they see fit. Other clients come to the meetings with topics that are pressing on them that day. For them, I have to be sure that I bring up the tasks from the previous session so that we close the loop on their progress.

    Am I signing up for a long contract?

    No. My contract with you includes a clear statement that either party can cancel the engagement on a one week notice.

    This must be expensive

    Most clients budget $250 to $500 per month. This means that business coaching that will produce significant results, measured in sales dollars, increased profitability, more customers, and a more productive, happier you, the business owner or manager, costs on a par with your CPA. So, when you think of adding a new senior manager to your staff, this looks outrageously inexpensive.

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    I’m not a business owner, just a manager, is this for me?

    If you manage people, have a budget, and are responsible for results, business coaching can help you be more effective.

    What about start up businesses?

    I work with start ups regularly. In fact I have a discounted rate for start ups. Go to this page for more about how I work with startup companies.

    Do you work with management teams?

    Yes. This is where a Skype videoconference works really well. Unlike working with individuals, I do need to see everyone so that I can effectively manage the group and keep everyone involved.

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