The Need for Focus

[Editor's Note: Over the years we have found that the strategic planning processes for companies in the middle market vary widely and some are counterproductive. There are some common issues that are listed in this article. Do you recognize any of them? -dpm]

Too many strategies and initiatives

Often we see plans that have numerous strategies and initiatives. In one $60M revenue company, there were 17 major initiatives and strategies - so many that all of them couldn't be listed on an 11x14 sheet. When we asked the senior managers to list the top 3 priorities, we got a different answer from each of the managers. An organization can't tackle that many priorities at once. Not surprisingly, this organization had a history of not completing projects. 

Shiny Rocks - moving quickly from one idea to another                              

Sometimes the CEO has one great idea after another and overwhelms the team by abandoning one strategy or initiative to move to another. In these companies, strategies are never fully executed. There becomes a tendency for employees to just duck their heads down and wait for the current "new project" to blow over. There is little commitment to the "strategy du jour." These companies have flurries of activity, yet few accomplishments.  

No "what we are not going to do now" list

As important to narrow the focus of a company's strategic priorities, it is important to develop of list of things that the organization won't do. This is the most difficult task for companies. No one wants to move worthy projects or initiatives to this list. However, if an organization is to accomplish the top priorities, the others must be tabled - at least for the current cycle.  

No agreement on the priorities 

In some organizations, the plans are developed but there is no agreement among key functions and managers about the priorities. These organizations fail to mobilize to necessary resources to execute well.

Developing strategies that the organization cannot execute well

Many organizations develop strategies that either the market won't accept, or that the company does not have - nor can get - the resources or talent required to execute. I tell a story (somewhat tongue in cheek) about a mythical meeting at Kmart where some manager recommends a strategy to emulate the Nordstrom model. No matter how much money is spent, there is no way the market will accept Kmart adopting a Nordstrom model.

The Power of three 

We believe that for lower middle market companies, there should be no more than three major strategies undertaken in a planning cycle. When companies execute two of these strategies +well, they will be very successful.

What are your thoughts? Is your organization as focused as it should be?

We can help. The Mead Consulting Group has been helping companies develop and execute focused Strategic Growth & Execution plans for many years. Check out our website for descriptions of some client success stories.

If you would like to discuss how we might help your company begin the process of adding value and moving your company to the next level of performance, please contact us for a free consultation.

Lessons My Mother Taught Me

As we approach Mother’s Day, I am preoccupied with thoughts about my mother. While Mom passed away over 20 years ago, not a day goes by that I do not actively think about the lessons I learned from her. While my mother was not a business person, she was the best manager I ever met. While raising six children she was able to maintain a myriad of interests – from potting and ceramics, to becoming a world-renowned hybridizer of daylilies. 

Here are some of the lessons in no particular order – and if you knew my mother, you’d know it certainly is not a comprehensive list.

•     Always leave it better than you found it - make a difference
•     Treat others the way you want to be treated
•     Never ever give up
•     The Lord helps those who help themselves
•     If you keep your mouth open long enough, something unfortunate will come out   
•    Do your best and, if you keep trying, you’ll be the best
•     Do the important things first … and the less important will take care of themselves
•     Do what you know is right
•     Birds of a feather flock together
•    You are judged by the company you keep
•     There are no boring jobs, only boring people
•     Always do more than is expected
•     Never let a “wrong” go unaddressed
•     Learn something new every day
•     If you teach a person to fish, he’ll never be hungry

Feel free to comment on your experience.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms!

Best regards,

Dave Mead      

Benefits of a Strategic Business Coach (Why you may need one more now than ever)

 [Editor's Note: In these uncertain times, business and personal decision-making is very difficult for CEOs and senior leaders. We can never predict the future, yet we must make the best possible decisions, maintain a positive culture, and be adaptable and agile to changing conditions. This is especially true in the current uncertain environment of inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain issues. I hope you find the following article useful about the importance of strategic coaching.      - dpm]

We have been doing strategic business coaching for many years.

For many years, helping company leaders execute and grow as leaders has been a core part of our DNA. Our entire consulting practice is built around helping companies reach the next level - helping them to get results. Leadership, communication, strategic thinking, setting priorities, motivation, team development, alignment, accountability, and personal development are all part of the process. These are developed through close interaction with our clients’ leaders. We refer to it as CEO coaching or strategic coaching, but in truth, many times it involves the entire senior team.

 

My personal education with a strategic business coach. 

A recent conversation with a client brought back to mind my personal situation - when I was thrust into the CEO role by the death of the Founder. My best strategic coach was one of the Board members who took me under his wing. I was 27 and he was 73. He had lived quite a life, from growing and selling businesses to failed partnerships, lawsuits, large acquisitions, employee issues. He had forgotten more than most people ever experience. He was an irascible cuss and didn't suffer any fools. I was able to leverage his failures and successes and his incredible perspective. He helped me achieve my personal and business goals and made sure I was prepared for almost any situation that came my way. He also reinforced the importance of learning from mistakes. He was the person who helped me understand the importance of developing and focusing on strategic plans that can actually be executed.

 Benefits of a Strategic Business Coach

                           · You gain a needed confidante

· Strategic Business coaches force you outside your comfort zone

· You get personal attention from someone who knows your business.

· You hear the hard truth - that people inside your company sometimes won't share.

· You get objective, unbiased opinions.

· You learn how to turn your ideas into reality... Or hear why you are chasing too many shiny objects and need to focus

· You are held accountable for getting important things done - focus on strategic issues not what shade of mauve the office furniture will be.

· You get exposed to a huge external network

· You gain confidence in your decisions and actions.

 

Why Pick Mead Consulting for a Strategic Business Coach for your lower middle market business:

·         Experience – We’ve been in your shoes - Not only have we each grown multiple businesses, but we have been coaching business leaders like you across many companies for more than two decades.

·        Lower Middle Market Focus – we understand the issues unique to growing and scaling businesses of this size.

·        Strategy – we have proven strategies that work; we help you focus on the strategies that matter

·       Accountability – we hold you accountable to accomplish the desired results we outline together

 

If you want more information about how we help CEOs and business leaders continue to grow and accomplish their goals, please contact me

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The Mead Consulting Group helps dozens of companies and organizations -like yours - every year with both strategic planning & execution, and strategic business coaching. These processes have helped our clients consistently outperform their competition.

 If you would like to discuss your situation, please contact me to set up a complimentary meeting. David Mead at (303)660-8135 or meaddp@meadconsultinggroup.com

 Remember - our consultants have been experienced business owners, CEOs and senior executives who have been in your shoes. Our consultants have all been through uncertain economic times before – many including periods of inflation - and can help you best position your company to thrive through these next years.

 

The Continuing Quest for Accountability Part IV - Top 5 Accountability Pitfalls

[Editor's Note: True Accountability can be the biggest impediment to strong results in a company. In Parts I and II in this series , we asked the questions: "Is a Lack of Accountability a Problem in My Organization?" and "Am I Part of the Accountability Problem in My Company?" In Part III, we addressed "Starting Down the Path to Greater Accountability"  In this issue, we outline the top 5 accountability pitfalls that can kill company performance. I hope you find this useful. -dpm]

The Continuing Quest for Accountability - Part IV

Top 5 Accountability Pitfalls

When people are held accountable - to themselves and their stakeholders - good things get done. According to Steve Tobak of Moneywatch, here are the top five "accountability" pitfalls that business leaders and executives typically experience. Some of them don't even appear to be accountability-related on the surface, which is why they're so insidious. If you want a high-performance management team, make sure you avoid them:

Unclear responsibility. Misalignment of Goals. This is probably the most common pitfall. Show me an organization and I'll show you managers with misaligned goals and vague responsibility. Two people shouldn't have exactly the same functional responsibility or own the same goal. If you do that, you're asking for things to fall in the crack. That doesn't preclude "matrix management"; the trick is to ensure goals and responsibilities are properly aligned. It can be done.

No follow up. Poor execution. This is practically an epidemic in organizations. Executives are great at coming up with goals, strategies, even metrics. Unfortunately, they're also notoriously bad at following up. I don't care how driven and entrepreneurial executives are; without follow up, nothing good happens. Companies must have a relatively objective and, sorry to say this, strict process for both setting and scoring management performance metrics.

Compensation plans that reward poor performance. Closely related to the "no follow up" problem, most companies have terrible executive compensation plans. Maybe 1 in 10 actually rewards the right behavior and has enough teeth to foster accountability. The problem? The bar for making gobs of money is set too low, and there's not enough difference between success and failure, plain and simple.

Management bad behavior. When it comes to management behavior, most executives and boards just look the other way. That lack of accountability plays a key role in business failures because dysfunctional leadership results in bad strategic decision-making and poor employee performance and execution. Granted, coming up with metrics for this sort of thing is challenging, but I think "360s" are pretty effective. 

Flawed company strategy. This is rarely seen as an accountability problem, but it is. When company executives push a flawed strategy, two things inevitably happen. First, smart people in the organization call them on it - publicly or privately - word gets around, and management credibility suffers, big-time. Second, folks will start covering their behinds, pointing fingers, acting passive aggressively - all sorts of dysfunctional behavior that wreaks havoc with organizational performance. Not surprisingly, I find that management teams at consistently successful companies make accountability a priority and, therefore, avoid these pitfalls. It take a real commitment of precious management time and resources. But not only is the payoff worth it, it's a necessity in our hypercompetitive business world. 

________

Plans Without Accountability Will Fail. This may sound strange coming from a firm that stresses strategic growth and execution, but it will do little good to establish strategies, action plans, and metrics without accountability. Because - without accountability, the results will be more of the same - disappointing results. The data shows that companies with true accountability greatly outperform those with a lack of accountability. Don't let another year go by. Neglecting the next steps in your company's growth and maturity can be very short-sighted. The next downturn is coming - possibly starting as early as Q4 of 2023. Get prepared. You need to have your company firing on all cylinders. 

We can help. The Mead Consulting Group has helped many companies achieve greater accountability...and better results. Contact us to discuss how we can help you do things a bit differently this next year.

If you would like to have a conversation about this, please contact Dave Mead at (303)660-8135 or meaddp@meadconsultinggroup.com.

The Continuing Quest for Accountability Part III - Starting Down the Path to Greater Accountability

[Editor's Note: True Accountability can be the biggest impediment to strong results in a company. In Parts I and II in this series , we asked the questions: "Is a Lack of Accountability a Problem in My Organization?" and "Am I Part of the Accountability Problem in My Company?" In this issue, we explore how to start down the path to improve accountability at your company. I hope you find this useful. -dpm]

 

The Continuing Quest for Accountability -Part III

Starting Down the Path to Greater Accountability

Over time, as organizations grow, certain norms become ingrained into the culture. In early stages, decision-making can be centralized in a few hands with key people wearing many hats. This is essential to being successful in small early-stage organizations. As organizations grow and people are added, decision-making, "ownership", and accountability need to change as well.

A culture of losing - If decision-making, ownership of decisions, and accountability doesn't change, it can lead to a culture of losing. What happens if decision-making, ownership of decisions, and accountability doesn't change? We see this with many Mead Consulting clients. Many times the senior people (including CEOs and business owners) have difficulty letting go. They are the "smartest guys (gals) in the room." They continue to want to influence all decisions, not trusting those lower in the organizational structure. Over time the middle managers and employees become conditioned to "delegate decisions upward." Decisions, projects, new products, etc. are not owned by individual employees, but become the province of the senior managers. Some of the symptoms are micro-managing, lack of commitment to goals, missed deadlines, poorly designed products, missing sales forecasts, and a general apathy among employees. 

Performance in these companies suffer, strong performers leave. In a number of these companies, a fatalistic culture of losing ensues. No one really feels that they have the power to change things. Ouch!

Cultures take about 3 years to become reinforced. We saw this during the 2008-2013 period when companies hunkered down, rewarded cost-cutting, and became risk- averse. When the economy started to rebound many company cultures had become so risk-averse that they missed opportunities - or were too timid to take advantage.

When belief biases have set in, it can be very difficult to get employees to buy into change. With companies with a culture of a lack of accountability, there are significant headwinds encountering change. Some of this is related to "Belief Bias." Because people have not seen positive change, they do not believe it is possible. Certain negatives have become accepted beliefs or truths over time. Some examples of belief bias in product companies are: "you can't accurately predict what customers want in a new product - it's a crapshoot"; "You can't plan production;" "Downtime is a fact of life"; "Management doesn't care/doesn't listen"; "We can't make money doing this"; "Oh Boy. Here comes yet another initiative"; "We don't know how what we do matters." When belief biases have set in, it can be very difficult to get employees to buy into change.

Changing Beliefs How can you begin to change a culture of a Lack of Accountability? It isn't about words, or slogans. You have to begin to change beliefs - with positive experiences that actively demonstrate a new way of operating. It starts at the top - with you - and the senior leadership. Pick a couple of problem areas and get started (Some of these are listed in Part II- Am I Part of the Accountability Problem in My Company?). You have to create new, positive experiences that build the accountability culture. It requires commitment and repetition, repetition, repetition. Remember, they have probably heard hollow words or seen abandoned programs or initiatives before, so it will take time before the employees believe in the new ways.

Don't waste time strategic planning or planning for next year. It will do little good to establish strategies, action plans, and metrics. Without accountability, the results will be more of the same - disappointing results. The data shows that companies with true accountability greatly outperform those with a lack of accountability. Don't let another year go by. Neglecting the next steps in your company's growth and maturity can be very short-sighted. You need to have your company firing on all cylinders.

We can help. The Mead Consulting Group has helped many companies achieve greater accountability...and better results.    Contact me to discuss how we can help you do things a bit differently this next year.

The Continuing Quest for Accountability Part II: Are You Part of the Accountability Problem in Your Organization?

 Editor's Note: True Accountability can be the biggest impediment to strong results in a company. In this issue, we continue to explore why accountability may be lacking in your company. -dpm]

The Continuing Quest for Accountability -Part II 

Are You Part of the Accountability Problem in Your Organization?

As leaders of businesses and organizations, we typically think of ourselves as ultimately accountable for the results and success of the organization. We likewise think we hold managers and other leaders in our organizations accountable as well. But...is it possible that the culture we have created actually results in a lack of accountability?

Consider the following behaviors and ask yourself, not only how well you do these, but also, how well you encourage these behaviors in your business?

• Do you actively obtain the perspectives of others?
• Do you communicate openly and candidly?
• Do you actively ask for and offer feedback?
• Do you learn from both successes and failures?
• Do you act on the feedback you receive?
• How well do you align each employee's work with the key results?
• Do you value loyalty or tenure more than performance from employees?
• How is the collaboration across functional boundaries in the organization?
• Do you always do the things you say you'll do?
• Do you track progress with reporting that is proactive and transparent to the organization?
• Do you actively build an environment of trust?

Setting up and Tracking Metrics is not enough. Some business owners think that setting up and tracking metrics from their managers is accountability and do not acknowledge the importance of the above list of attributes. Some business owners or CEOs we have worked with respond with automatic "Yes" responses to these questions. Some suggest that this is "Management 101." The truth is that we find at least several of these behaviors or attributes lacking in many companies and in many business owners or CEOs. In order to get the best results in your organization, every employee needs to feel personal responsibility and accountability for the results. Can you say that exists in your organization?

Submit yourself to some self-reflection. Ask your managers how they honestly think you score on these questions. You might be surprised that others perceive you differently than you perceive yourself.

If you want to change the results in your business, you need to change to a culture of accountability. How does that change start? 

In the end...it all starts with you.

Don't let another year go by. Neglecting the next steps in your company's growth and maturity can be very short-sighted. You need to have your company firing on all cylinders. The Mead Consulting Group has helped many companies achieve greater accountability...and better results.   Contact me to discuss how we can help you do things a bit differently this next year.

 If you would like to have a conversation about this, please contact Dave Mead at (303)660-8135 or meaddp@meadconsultinggroup.com.

Best regards,

Dave Mead      

The Continuing Quest for Accountability Part I – Is a Lack of Accountability a Problem in Your Organization

 [Editor’s Note: The last article focused on Barrier#6 to successful planning and execution – Lack of True Accountability. With issues related to remote work, reduction of middle management at many companies, employees feeling disconnected, accountability has become a bigger concern. I thought it might be useful to address accountability in a series of articles. A lack of accountability may impede your progress.              – dpm]

 The Continuing Quest for Accountability

Part I – Is a Lack of Accountability a Problem in Your Organization

Speaking with a new client recently, the CEO asked me to identify the most frequent problem we see with our new clients. I responded, “Lack of true accountability.”  He seemed skeptical and suggested that we wouldn’t find that to be true at his company. So, I asked him, “Does every employee feel responsible for the company’s success and know what their role is in ensuring that success?”

It occurs to me that people have become numb to the meaning of the word, accountability, and that it always seems to apply to everyone else, some other department, etc.  –“They need to be more accountable for results.”

Look closer. Do any of the following look familiar?

· Unclear Vision and Direction: Employees do not know the keys to company success –or they all have different views as to what they are.

 “We keep adding initiatives, projects and never take anything off the list.”

· Micromanaging or Command and control: Employees do not feel they have control over how to deliver results

· Lack of Job Understanding or Training: “I have never been shown what is expected”; “I didn’t receive any training”; “I don’t know where to go for help”

·  Undervalued: “No one cares about my opinion.” Employees do not feel their opinion is valued – that is, every employee

·  People do not feel comfortable delivering bad news: "The project is behind schedule.” “We have a major quality problem.” So, they ignore or sugarcoat things.

·  People do not feel trusted:   

“I am not confident my efforts will be rewarded”

“I suspect that my manager (the company leader) may take advantage of me”

“I question my manager’s (the company leader’s)motives”

“I am sure they will take credit for my accomplishments”

· Departments do not cooperate with each other; "We constantly practice the blame game”

· Employees are Not Engaged - Employees do just enough to get through the day

Be honest. Do you recognize any of the above in your company? On the long personal and organizational “to do” list, accountability should be at the top of the list.  

 

Impact on an organization: A lack of accountability can paralyze an organization and prevent it from moving forward.  Establishing strategies and action plans is a waste of time without a team that is accountable for results.

 

Take action: If you recognize any of the above in yourself, your current leaders, or your organization, you should address it immediately. A lack of accountability is like a cancer in an organization.

 

We can help: The Mead Consulting Group has helped many companies identify and address accountability issues, developing recommendations for improvement and coaching the company through execution.

If you would like to have a conversation about this, please contact Dave Mead at (303)660-8135 or meaddp@meadconsultinggroup.com.

Best regards,

Dave Mead