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"Transformation happens right now, not yesterday and not tomorrow - in this very present moment, which is all you really have." - Jillian Michaels
When does corporate reorganization lead to transformation? At McGhee, we believe it's when people get on board. During restructuring, many organizations merge staff, systems, procedures, and responsibilities only to be faced with resistance by their people. Transformation can only truly occur when both employees and leaders are inspired, empowered, and believe in what it is they are working towards. Simply put, a vision without believers is like a coach without players.
Case in point, the Global Curriculum Department at Microsoft realized the power of aligning their team to a common vision when they rolled out an Objective Accountability Program (OAP) after a recent restructuring.
As the group worked through the OAP, they gained clarity around their commitments and were able to more realistically scope their workload. "Because of the OAP, my team was able to collectively make a commitment around an operating paradigm and a vision - and the benefits in terms of getting everybody clicking and working in the same way is huge," said the group's Senior Director, Larry Clark.
The benefits of the OAP extended beyond the leadership team to the greater organization, as the cascade of departmental goals created alignment and an understanding of the impact of every role in the team. Ann Jas, Global Program Manager stated, "We previously had no way to communicate what we were working on and how it supported the vision of the team. This system does that."
Conceptually, it's easy to "talk" about vision and alignment, but achieving it is no small feat. It takes dedication, communication, and a solid implementation plan. Get started by examining the past as a team. Celebrate achievements. This is important to boost morale. Then, learn from the disappointments without judgment and create guidelines for the future which inspire all levels of employees towards a common vision.
Additional exercises and team discussions, offered as part of the Objective Accountability Program, will bring struggling teams into alignment with employee buy-in and excitement. To learn more about the Objective Accountability Program and read the full case study, click here.
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McGhee is growing! We are building our team, including three new Consultants that have joined our firm in 2011.
Philip Martin is an Executive Consultant based out of Washington, DC. Philip’s focus will be to expand our presence in the Mid-Atlantic by bringing our full-suite of offerings to corporations and government agencies interested in taking productivity and accountability to the team and organizational levels.
Danny Bader is also an Executive Consultant based out of Philadelphia, PA. and has delivered hundreds of productivity programs for many leading organizations around the globe. Danny will promote and deliver our coaching, training and consulting programs to corporations in the Northeast region.
Greg McGrath is an Associate Consultant located in Southern California, who is training to deliver our Take Back Your Life programs in English and Mandarin Chinese. He will assist in delivering a global virtual training rollout this fall for Hewlett Packard and develop corporations on the west coast.
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Productivity Tip
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 Strategic Next Actions: The Art of Eliminating Dependencies
by: Chris Liberti, Marketing Manager
Do you ever notice how some things tend to stay on your to-do list for a long time? Perhaps you struggle with actually completing the things you know need to be done, even though you spend time on them? This is often because they are multi-step tasks or projects that depend on something else or someone else for you to complete instead of “Strategic Next Actions”(SNAs).
Strategic Next Actions (SNA), are an important step of the McGhee Productivity Solutions Cycle of Productivity. SNA’s are the actual actions you must take that are linked to your overall Meaningful Objectives. However, creating your list of SNA’s is not as easy as running down a list of items that need to be done and prioritizing them. Creating effective SNA’s requires some depth and thoughtfulness to be truly effective.
The most important note about creating Strategic Next Actions is that they must drive your objectives forward without any dependencies. They cannot be SNA’s if they have dependencies and are not linked to objectives. If actions have dependencies, we call them Tasks. You can only move forward by accomplishing a Strategic Next Action, which is defined as an action that can physically be completed in one, simple step.
Throughout our day we document items that can’t be completed because they are loaded with dependencies. You can’t complete an item that has a dependency. It is particularly significant to understand the distinction between a Strategic Next Action and a Task. Consider the following example of common "to-do" items that have dependencies:
You might have a to-do item called “Prepare Sales Presentation.” However, as you dig into it, it’s not that simple. Rather than sitting down and, in one step, preparing a sales presentation, you realize that there are things that need to be lined up in order for you to complete it. There is information you need from your assistant for the presentation; you need to include the sales numbers from June and you don’t have them; you don’t have the latest power point presentation template. Breaking this project down into tasks will help you focus and drive you to completion.
Another example would be a project that I work on regularly, which is creating this newsletter for our clients. I created a to-do item called “Create July Newsletter.” The problem showed up when I sat down at my computer and realized that there were numerous tasks that had to be completed for me to have a newsletter ready to publish. For example, I had to gather content ideas; get a list of new hires; establish the design and layout; get final approval on content and so on.
Therefore, I went into my to-do list and created SNA’s for the following: I started with “get content ideas and parameters from the Sales Director.” Then I created another SNA for “write list of new hires, and send to Director for approval.” This allowed me to stay on task with making sure the approval process didn’t fall through the cracks. Finally, I created an SNA called “send design, layout and final articles to Leadership Team for approval by June 15.” This prevented me from being stuck in the world of dependencies and focused on getting the task of creating a newsletter accomplished. By eliminating dependencies, I am able to keep projects moving and get them completed.
When planning out my Strategic Next Actions, I always ask myself the following questions:
• Does this action roll up to one of my Supporting Projects or Meaningful Objectives?
• Does this action have any dependencies?
• Does the action start with a verb?
• Is the completion of this action specific and measurable?
This helps me decide whether or not I'm dealing with a Strategic Next Action or a Task. Once I have distinguished the item on my list as a Strategic Next Action, I consider the following five questions:
• What do you need to do to complete it?
• What information do you need to have with you to complete it?
• Where do you need to be to complete it?
• How much time will it take to complete it?
• Does it link to an objective or Supporting Project?
For more information on planning Strategic Next Actions, refer to Chapter 9 in our book Take Back Your Life or order a copy through our website.
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McGhee services offerings meet the needs of every level of an organization from the boardroom to the individual contributor.
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Individual
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Team
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Organization
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1:1 Coaching (PIM)
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Group Seminars (TBYL)
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Objective Accountability Program
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Executive Coaching
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Strategic Team Plan
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Strategic Team Plan
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eLearning
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Accountability Plan
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Accountability Plan
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Customized Protocols
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Customized Protocols
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info@mcgheepro.com
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