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Question 2 of 12 — What’s the problem context?

April 13, 2021 by Bill Welter Leave a Comment

All business problems evolve in the context of their external and internal environments. Department problems lie within the business and business problems lie within the industry. And, surprise, internal stakeholders are NOT aligned. Goo problem definition requires that you look out into the larger environment and pay attention to what’s happening on the inside.

We are offering a free 60-minute webinar addressing a dozen questions you must answer if you are going to resolve your complex business problems. Since this is a webinar and not our full workshop, the session is high-level, but valuable.

Also, it is not an infomercial!  

The webinar will provide an overview of the 12 questions and the knowledge and skills you need to answer them. You can learn more and enroll HERE.

Thanks for reading. It’s lonely out here in the blogosphere. (Wow, it that an old-timer word.)

Filed Under: pragmaticstrategist, problem solving, Uncategorized Tagged With: complexproblems

QUESTION ZERO

February 24, 2021 by Bill Welter Leave a Comment

Last year Oliver Cummings and I created a free mini class for managers who are called upon to implement big-picture, organizational strategy. We approached this challenge by asking ten questions that had to be successfully answered if they were to succeed.

Then we realized that there is almost always the “unasked” question, which we refer to as Question Zero. It’s in the back (or front) of every manager’s mind but it often goes unasked and unanswered.

Ready? Here it is.

How will I make the time to implement the strategy?

You have to make time – you will never “find” it.

Now, I already know what you’re thinking. “He just doesn’t understand. I have to do my day job AND take on this new task.”

Sorry, but, as they say, “I’ve been there and done that.” So, let me be blunt – you will make time or you will have more problems than you want. You can’t keep adding items to your “to-do” list. Something has to drop off and it’s up to you.

Want to see the other ten questions we asked? Go visit the mini-course. You can fine it HERE. Sign up, watch a couple of videos, take the quiz and get going. Time’s a-wasting.

Filed Under: pragmatic leadership, prepared mind, Uncategorized Tagged With: executingstrategy, strategy

Good thinking – 9 – Think like an outsider

February 15, 2021 by Bill Welter Leave a Comment

Thomas Edison had no standing in the (gas) lighting industry when he started to create a lighting system.

Outsiders have the advantage of not knowing what “can’t” be done. 

Look at your business through the eyes of an outsider. What’s weird? What’s wrong? What’s cool?

Outsider Thinking

When I look at my business with outsider eyes, I see:

Things that are weird:

  1.  
  2.  
  3.  

Things that confuse me

  1.  
  2.  
  3.  

Things that need to be changed

  1.  
  2.  
  3.  

Filed Under: pragmaticstrategist, Thinking, Uncategorized

Don’t be a Dapper Danny

August 2, 2020 by Oliver Cummings Leave a Comment

By Oliver Cummings

“Make hay while the sun shines” describes a farmer’s reality.

The sun came up hot on hay-bailing day and the dew was off the grass very early. By 8:00 I was throwing up wind rows of hay mown two days earlier and left to cure in the field. The side-delivery rake was just the right tool to pull behind the little red-belly Ford. Dad wasn’t far behind on the John Deere, pulling the bailer that produced 70-pound rectangular bales of alfalfa hay that would feed the cows and horses come winter. As the morning sun climbed the scent of the new mown hay gave way to the smell of dust kicked up by the raking and baling processes.

About 9:30, Johnnie and his hay-hauling crew pulled into the field. A couple of days later, we would move the whole operation to Johnnie’s farm to take in his hay crop, too.

Johnnie’s crew was his son, Jerry, just turned 17, Danny, one of Jerry’s high school buddies, and Bobby a 14-year old buddy of mine from school. All three were buff; strong. Jerry and Bobby, farm boys, a little rough around the edges. Danny was slicker, a town boy.

As they pulled into the field, Jerry and Danny dove off the wagon and started walking alongside the vehicle, now crawling along between two rows of bales. Jerry picked up a bale by the seagrass strings that bound it. He walked it to the wagon and heaved the bale up to Bobby, ready to start meticulously laying out the stack so the loaded wagon could move across the rough field without the load shifting. By the time Bobby got the bale positioned, Danny pitched the second bale on the wagon from the other side.

This ritual was repeated, with Bobby placing bale upon bale overlapping the so that one layer locked the next layer in place until they had five layers high and a tie-bale row down the middle, the length of the wagon.

Now they were thoroughly soaked with sweat, covered in hay dust, and ready to make the slow ride from the field to the barn, hoping for a breeze along the way. Johnnie turned the tractor over to Jerry to drive the half-mile to the barn for unloading and started walking home. He would be mowing the rest of the day on his own property a mile away.

The barn was a large central hallway flanked by stalls on either side. The hayloft was the second floor covering the main hallway and the internal stalls. It was cavernous today because last year’s hay crop had been almost totally fed out.

Jerry and Bobby climbed into the hayloft to carry back and stack the hay. Danny had volunteered to pitch up the bales from the wagon. With a light breeze at his back the outside work wasn’t too unpleasant. He would pitch a bale onto the hayloft floor; Jerry would hook it with the hay hook and drag it back to Bobby to stack. The hayloft was hot and stuffy.

All went well until the load was about two-thirds in the barn. Danny bucked a bale up and, more or less, pushed it into the door to the loft. With that, Jerry said, “Don’t strain yourself, Danny Boy.” Danny shot him a look and said, “Hey, I gotta go to the toilet.”

Jerry, short curly red hair glistening with sweat in the sunlight, jumped down onto the wagon and started bucking bales up for Bobby, now having to both drag back and stack. By the time Danny finished his toilet visit, the other boys had the wagon unloaded and were ready load number two. Danny trotted out to the road and jumped onto the wagon as they headed to the field. It was going on noon.

The second load went much as the first until half way through the unloading process, Danny got something in his eye and had to go to the house to see if Mom could get it out for him.

On the third load, it was a splinter in his finger that disabled poor old Danny, yet again.

Danny was a “goldbrick,” a slacker. Johnnie tolerated Danny on the crew because he was Jerry’s friend. But, when it came time for Dad to put a crew together to help Johnnie, Danny was not among those considered.

Goldbricks in Business

In the business world there are many ways that people exhibit slacking behavior.

Cyberslacking applies to employees who use company Internet connections and time for personal activities. However, there is a more subtle form of goldbricking in business that is a problem for managers and may result in personnel actions that the goldbricker may not expect.

As a young manager I hired a clearly talented person, I will call her Malinda, to evaluate training programs. In the first year she quickly became a good on-site evaluator.

I noticed, however, that on courses where she had some apparent investment (e.g., personal interest in the subject matter) she did a superior job. But, on assignments where she perceived the content to be boring, or the client to be “difficult,” her work output and the clients’ ratings of project quality were significantly degraded.

Over a period of three years Malinda’s performance was up and down, from excellent to below average.

I documented and discussed her performance on a project by project basis, summarized it during mid-year and annual reviews, and discussed it in career coaching sessions with her. The behaviors, however, persisted in a pattern that became predictable.

Toward the end of her third year, in spite of the negative feedback and coaching I had given her in the various venues, she apparently expected to be considered for a project lead position in the department. When I told her she would not be considered for the position, and that her performance was too inconsistent, she acted surprised and offended. Shortly thereafter she resigned, “to pursue other interests.”

The moral of the story.

Every employee needs to have some expertise that they are “known for.” This is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for being really successful in a career. To be successful on a job you must also be known as a steady performer, willing to take on every assignment with a clear intent to do it to the best of your ability.

Filed Under: Leadership, Learn from the past, stories, Uncategorized

A Middle Managers Guide to Finance

May 2, 2020 by Ken Vermilion Leave a Comment

What is Financial Management?

Today’s post for A Middle Managers Guide to Finance provides middle managers a quick outline of financial management.  And, hopefully, in a manner that is relatively painless.  Feel free to comment at the end of the post!

I’m going to guess that as a middle manager, you probably await finance reports that signal to you and your manager how your part of the business is performing.  These reports may come from the accounting department and report current performance data compared to some sort of budget/plan and last year.  I’m also going to guess you probably dread the annual planning/budget exercise.  And when your CFO talks about the company’s performance, “What did the CFO just say?” is the question of the day. 

Just what is Financial Management and how much do I need to know about financial management to do my job?  Isn’t all that finance stuff the CFO’s problem?

Financial Management starts with Financial Managers and their high level Goals/Responsibilities.  In a general abbreviated format, financial managers have the following responsibilities:

  • Financial Planning and Analysis – These responsibilities refer to activities related to forecasting future business results, ensuring company goals can be achieved and putting pencil to paper to measure whether or not forecasted goals were actually achieved.  Financial management professionals also kick the tires on new endeavors; again ensuring the returns fit company expectations.  A great deal of accounting data supports these activities.
     
  • Asset Management – Here, Asset Productivity could be the description as well.  Financial management looks at the returns being generated on the investment in assets, e.g. cash, inventory, people, technology, equipment and buildings.
     
  • Overall Financial Structure – The financial structure refers to managing the amount of cash and debt the company uses to operate.  This activity also determines how new assets, e.g. buildings, will essentially be paid for or financed. And whether or not new equity (shareholders money) should be raised in lieu of borrowing additional cash. 

Your company’s financial reports are rooted in accounting data and reports subjected to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). These principles are generally accepted set of accounting principles. Standards and procedures issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). GAAP and FASB exist to bring reporting standards of financial data in such a way that enables comparisons to be made between company’s reports and to provide clarity and consistency. 

To be a successful middle manager, you must have a grasp of fundamental financial management concepts in order to “walk the talk” about financial performance levers under your control. Understanding the fundamentals of finance help you ask the right questions if performance is either too good, on target or slipping. Understanding the fundamentals also helps you make business adjustments where needed. 

Key pieces of this financial foundation include performance analysis and asset management.  Yes, mathematics is involved! Financial concepts involving the time value of money, ratio analysis, cost of capital, return on investment, profitability, valuation, price elasticity, etc. will be covered in future posts. 

So, what does this mean to middle managers? Breathe easy. You won’t be asked to develop spreadsheets to augment your decision-making tool kit or to develop the metrics for valuing the purchase of new equipment or additional inventory.  Financial professionals will perform these activities.  

But you need to possess a high-level understanding of financial management concepts, especially when preparing budgets or requesting additional resources.  Financial managers want to know resources are being applied efficiently in your business and are producing expected returns, all based on how they measure productivity and performance. And guess what, you want to know, too! My goal will be to provide you this understanding foundation as we move through other financial management posts.

If you can’t demonstrate an understanding of basic financial management concepts, you will be left in the dust. Another middle manager who can engage the finance department will make off with your resources while someone else reorganizes your operations. Enough said.

Reflect back on the post related to cash for a minute.  If you were able to follow through with the Career Momentum suggestion at the end, you better understand the connection between the people and activities under your supervision and their connection to cash sources and uses.  Plus, you now are on a first name basis with your new best friend, the financial manager attached to your business-operating unit. (Seriously, having the finance manager on your side is invaluable!)

A final word about reporting. Typically, there are internal financial reports, external financial reports and management performance reports.  Each serves a different audience and therefore contains different types of financial data. Most meaningful to you will be understanding the genesis and underlying financial concepts related to management performance reports used to evaluate your business’s performance.  

Career Momentum Builder 

Ask your supervisor to share with you their point of view regarding the keys to their management performance reports, usually produced by the accounting department monthly or quarterly.  What’s most important? How does your operating unit fit into these reports? Are there performance targets to be attained this period? How can you be more helpful in attaining these targets? Is there a role you can play during the next planning cycle?  

Filed Under: Finance, Middle management, Uncategorized Tagged With: GuideToFinance

Business models in the era of COVID-19

March 17, 2020 by Bill Welter 5 Comments

Background:

I co-authored The Prepared Mind of Leader, which was published in 2006. The book focused on the skills leaders need that will prepare them for the future.  The context for using these skills is a model that I referred to as the Sense-Response Cycle™.

I’ve used this model in hundreds of workshops over the past fifteen years to organize and prioritize thinking about strategy for organizations, large and small.

The perimeter (Sense >> Make Sense >> Decide >> Act) identifies the four responsibilities of anyone in a leadership role.

The “punchline” is that leaders must consider industry evolution and then run the cycle fast enough to keep up with the evolution – or their organization becomes irrelevant.

COVID-19

Although the cycle is closed-looped, the natural starting point is the upper left corner, Sensing the Signals of Tomorrow. As you can see, I use the metaphor of a mental radar screen and its three zones:

  • Reaction Zone – deal with today’s problems and opportunities.
  • Adaptation Zone – take advantage of irreversible trends.
  • Anticipation Zone – prepare for an uncertain future.

One of the questions I ask in every workshop is simple: What’s on the edge of your radar screen and is moving in fast?

Your Mental Radar Screen

Governments, businesses and thought leaders have been aware of a potential pandemic for decades yet have done little because it was on the edge of the radar screen and only of intellectual, not tangible, interest. Ebola and SARS caught our attention, but then disappeared into the background.

Oops! It looks as if this came into the reaction zone much faster than expected.

Business Model Considerations

Here’s the Business Model Canvas, from the popular book Business Model Generation.

Consider the seven components which impact an organization’s cost structure and revenue streams. It’s pretty clear that all seven can (will) be affected by the current pandemic. Consider some of the current changes.

  • People are panic-buying food, water, face masks, toilet paper, etc.
  • Events worldwide are cancelled.
  • Workers are told to work from home, if that’s possible.
  • Italy has essentially closed all businesses.  
  • Free video conferencing services are being overloaded.
  • The cruise industry is in serious trouble.
  • Airlines have dramatically cut scheduled flights.
  • Universities have cancelled in-person classes and assume that education can be done online.
  • Supply chains are broken or running late.

And, perhaps most importantly,

  • 2019 value propositions are temporarily irrelevant in the short-term. Major or minor changes will be needed in the long-term.  

If the pandemic is controlled soon, most businesses will be tempted to “go back to normal.” However, our position is that the current pandemic will bring the need to change value propositions (and business models) for most organizations – there may be no “going back” to normal.

Example: Learning and Development

I’ve spent most of my education career in the face-to-face workshop/classroom world. Wow! Is that going to change for some organizations! Colleges and universities may or may not have the technology needed for remote learning and most faculty are ill-prepared to teach remotely. But there really is no choice. (Remember my earlier point; change as fast as your industry is evolving or become irrelevant.)

But what about businesses? Well, some of our clients are well equipped to shift to remote learning models, others are not. Some have the technology, others do not.

So, what are some of the options, especially for business?

  • Continue with in-person workshops.
  • Use webinars.
  • Use facilitated asynchronous workshops.
  • Use un-facilitated asynchronous workshops.
  • Encourage self-study and employ certification exams to assure competency.

In summary

Business learning and development needs are not going to go away. However, the on-going shift to online, remote learning is inevitable. Think about what’s best for your workforce and consider the rest of the Sense-Response Cycle. You’ve sensed the need to change because of the pandemic.

  • Make sense of your situation (Think critically about your short- and long-term learning challenge.)
  • Decide on a course of action (How much risk are you willing to consider?)
  • Act and learn (You will not get it perfect right away, but experimentation is needed.)

MindPrep Resource Center has some free tools that my help you think about the future and some of the decisions you will be facing. We have some existing free mini-courses and a few workshops. More are on the way. Visit us at www.mindprep.com

Bill

Filed Under: Leadership, Uncategorized Tagged With: Change, SenseResponseCycle

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