The Building Business Value newsletter has one purpose - to assist midmarket business leaders in their never-ending quest to build better companies.
This month we talk about creating a shared vision through a technique called 'Visioneering'. We also give you a few tips on developing Incentive Plans.
We are very conscious that you spend much of your day buried in e-mail, so it is with your permission that we send this newsletter your way.
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Visioneering
You Can't Create a New Reality Until You Create a New Vision
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"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too
high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."
- Michelangelo
The absolutely toughest challenge for leaders is to change the way we think. Specifically, how can we get better at creating that 'vision thing'? Try something we call Visioneering.
Visioneering
Definition: An exercise to help leaders visualize how to get to a place where the company wants to be.
You'll want to paint a picture that gets people excited and shows them just what their company can become.
The question right now is not about how to operationalize your vision - it's not about how many plans or how many people you'll need in order to make the simplest and most obvious (and most necessary) items happen. Instead, you want to imagine the future and see just what your company can be. Later, you will worry about how to turn this vision into a reality. You can't create a new reality until you first create a new vision.
Companies frequently lack alignment between what people are doing and where they really want to go. John Kotter of the Harvard Business School defines leadership as a three-part process - establishing a vision, creating alignment, and motivating and inspiring. Visioneering is part one of that three-step process.
Test both sides of your brain.
Linear-minded folks like finance people or engineers sometimes struggle with the idea of imagining the road ahead, so have them draw images that paint a picture of the future. Typically, people will draw pictures of bridges, rivers, mountains, and even spaceships hurtling through galaxies to depict the direction a company is taking, the means by which it will travel, and what roadblocks and obstacles it will face.
The exercise demonstrates some of the attributes of the future state of affairs, which everybody needs to see, because the company's not there yet!
One company I know created a graphic of the United States back when the interstate system was being built during the Eisenhower administration. Where was the company at that point? On the East Coast. The group knew they'd have to cross the Rockies, ford rivers, go through dangerous territories on their way to the Golden Gate that symbolized the American West on their map. This didn't necessarily mean that the company was starting to market its products in California. It was just a visual metaphor for the idea of growth.
With a metaphor in mind, it becomes easier to discuss questions like what it means to be nationwide, what it means to be global, and what it means to have this new product set?
Somehow, a picture makes ideas more real.
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| Can Incentive Plans Really Motivate?
Ask the Rice Farmer! |
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I had a conversation recently with Ray Schwemmer, CEO of CollabraSpace. Ray and his COO Shawn Davis have been working on a number of new corporate initiatives and as is often the case, the conversation drifted toward incentive plans and whether they really motivate the kind of behavior leadership was looking for.
We talked about the new Malcolm Gladwell book, Outliers: The Story of Success. One of the fascinating stories shared by Gladwell was the work habits of the typical Asian rice farmer. Having grown up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania, I was keenly interested in this idea of work ethic and the farmer. In a nutshell, Gladwell suggests that work can be rewarding to the individual and beneficial to the organization (or society) if it is:
- Meaningful - a clear connection between effort and reward
- Complex - the problem set was sufficiently challenging - Autonomous - decisions are made on your own and coordinated So I suggest that any mid-market leader attempting to build incentive plans ignores these simple rules at his own peril. MeaningfulMake sure your team understands that the extrordinary effort you are asking for will be fairly and perhaps handsomely rewarded. Don't scrimp on this. Make the reward clear, straight forward and as close as possible to real-time. ComplexMundane work will numb the brain. Innovation suffers in an enviroment where the rules can be overbearing. Old market rules that once applied will be followed until either the market dries up or you are run out by the competition. Always encourage your team to be creative in their approach to your business challenges. AutonomousBob Blonchek and I wrote a book called Act Like an Owner with a central theme of creating an ownership culture. Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People calls out six levels of initiative with the final being the ability to act on your own. Teach your leaders the rules of your business and allow them to surprise you. By the way, if you haven't had a chance to read Outliers, it should probably be your next book purchase. Right after you've updated your incentive plans! |
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As a business operator, I have been in a position to lead a company during troubled times. Concerns over the direction of the company, sleepless nights worrying about debt and cash flow, high anxiety over closing a deal or a transaction⎯the challenges seem endless. But I've also experienced the highs of leadership⎯the real joy of meeting client needs, the fulfillment of shaping a team, and the satisfaction of watching a vision become reality. As tough as it can be, there is really nothing quite like being a leader in the midmarket.
It is my sincere desire that this newsletter will support leaders in the midmarket as they navigate their way to building stronger, more valuable companies. I welcome your comments.
Sincerely,
Marty
Martin O'Neill
Corsum Consulting, LLC
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| Marty O'Neill |
Marty O'Neill founded Corsum Consulting, which focuses on one goal: helping companies build business value. He is a frequent speaker and consultant on leadership, corporate culture and building business value and is the author of Building Business Value (Third Bridge Press) and the co-author of Act Like an Owner (Wiley). As a business operator, Marty started and sold a company, positioned another for an LBO, and helped a third sell for a significant premium. Marty lives on the Magothy River in Maryland with his wife and three children.
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Building Business Value: How to Command a Premium Price for Your Midsized Company
by Martin O'Neill (Third Bridge Press)
Hardcover 
List Price: $22.95
Our Price: $15.96 Buy Now
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Act Like an Owner Owner: Building an Ownership Culture
by Martin O'Neill (Wiley)
Hardcover
List Price: $39.95
Our Price: $24.53 Buy Now
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