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Jeff Colvin
Management Consultant & Founder of Link,
a Management Consulting Group
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Some
of my readers were there many years ago and will remember this story.
Over 100 engineers were seated in a room when after about an hour
their vice president challenged, "Is there anyone in the room
that doesn't believe we can have this wafer fab up in 18 months?"
And with no response, the all hands meeting ended with the public
commitment to achieve the $30 million dollar capital investment
goal.
24 months later and some few million dollars over budget, the wafer
fab began producing its first prototypes. What were the consequences,
why hadn't anyone challenged the goal, who would be held accountable?
It is ludicrous to imagine a single engineer standing up in a public
kick off meeting for a huge project to announce, "I don't think
the goal is realistic". But most of them thought just that.
In fact, after the vice president and few engineers had left the
room, I stood in front of the door on that faithful day and asked
openly of the crowd, "Do you really think we can make the commit
date?" To which one engineer in attendance shouted back openly,
"No way in hell!" Everyone exited fully aware of the challenges
ahead and a question of the appropriateness of the 18 month goal.
The culture of the company was evident through multiple levels
of hierarchy and across departments and personnel. The approach
to commitments can be outlined simply…
1. Accept commitments blindly.
2. Delay the pain of questioning commitments by waiting until they're
missed.
3. Beg for forgiveness after the fact.
The end of the story validates the underlying culture. With the
goal missed, the engineers had delayed any negative repercussions
by nearly 2 years rather than speaking up as a naysayer at any time.
The forgiveness was granted for the numerous excuses that were given
preventing the attainment of the goal. In fact many of the engineers
had changed jobs in the time frame including the vice president
that had pushed for the public commitment. There were no negative
consequences metered out to any engineers for any reasons.
Maybe your business has some of these cultural underpinnings. Are
people in your company willing to agree to anything to be judged
a "team player" and a "committed" employee?
How many of these employees come back with excuses along with the
missed commitment and, although having good intent, did not meet
their goals?
The basic premise of "plan your work and work your plan"
has not changed. People must not only commit with good intent, but
be willing to say "no" when they are likely to be unable
to complete a task or project with available resources. The culture
is yours to evolve. Consider a culture where the behaviors are …
1. Yes, if: where the employee lays out the requirements he/she
needs to be successful in the agreement stage.
2. Use of red flags: warnings are raised when the commitment is
in early jeopardy; far before it is missed.
The Culture of Commitment
Start With Good Intent
- Ensure commitments are realistic and attainable
- Never agree to doing something without believing you can do it
- Don't say no… say yes… if!
Commitments with Requirements
- Make the commitment owned by the individual, not dictated
- Identify all necessary success factors
- Communicate requirements early
Establish a Red Flag Rule
- Raise early warning of missing commitments at first signs of jeopardy
- Rally resources early to assist
- Determine whether the jeopardy is poor planning/poor execution
or both
Model and Reinforce the Behavior
- Demonstrate the positive approach of accepting and meeting commitments
- Provide routine and early reinforcement to those who practice
yes…if, and raising red flags
- Make this culture a ground rule for employees or project team
members
Jeff Colvin (Jcolvin@linkllc.com)
founded Link, a management
consulting group in 1997 whose mission is dedicated to the Systems,
Structures, and Behaviors that make people and companies successful.
Link's bottom line focus on process improvement is achieved through
the facilitation and training of cross-functional teams to address
key strategic goals. Learn more about Jeff
Colvin & Link...
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