CHAPTER 8
Bringing Everything Together: From Thinking to Acting to Winning
How do you get ahead? How do you win? From 1981 through 1995, every one of General Electric’s more than 100,000 employees knew exactly how to do it: Make sure your product or business held the number one or two position in its market. If it did, you won. You were helping make GE the most competitive global enterprise in the world. If not, you lost. Your product or business got sold or shut down.
That was Jack Welch’s vision for General Electric when he was CEO and transformed the company from a lethargic, underperforming aggregation of dissimilar parts into a dynamic, cohesive, purpose-oriented global icon. Jack Welsh knew that powerfully communicating to every corner of his vast worldwide organization was a make or break factor. And he knew he had to start with something that was both simple and basic. He had to start with a statement that answered the question: How did GE intend to win with its businesses?
It had to be clear and easily understood, and it had to come to life and guide all employees every day they came to work. And the GE vision did just that in unaltered form for nearly 15 years with one simple statement: GE would be the most competitive enterprise in the world by being number one or two in every market—by fixing underperforming businesses or selling or closing them if they couldn’t be upgraded to a top rank.
Communication brings everything together. Once we’ve gone through the entire TTW process and once we’ve completed our top to bottom hourglass venture, the critical part of the journey begins—transforming thinking and plans into actions and accomplishments. As Lee Iacocca, the former chairman of Chrysler, once said: “You can have brilliant ideas, but if you don’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.”
The best-laid plans are worthless unless they’re communicated and understood. And not by just a select few, but by everyone. This means that they must be communicated with a loud volume and with great frequency and repetition.
Key Messages Frame Everything
Let’s see where the communications process begins. It starts with key messages that frame everything we’ve done. The three elements in each message answer three basic questions: What’s going on? What are we going to do? What will be the result? Or, said another way, each key message must contain the situation, action, and impact so understanding is both quick and certain.
It’s important to underscore the elements that make a best-in-class key message. Obviously, since we are communicating—attempting to gain the attention, awareness, and understanding of another person, team, large group, or total organization—our message must be compelling. It must hook our intended audience. All too often, we find key messages couched in grandiose language that have a high-sounding tone to them but that don’t communicate.
Without a sense of urgency, messages usually don’t break through and register. In today’s world where we confront such an information overload at home, at work, and even in what used to be our leisure time, messages must grab our interest. Take a situation statement (element 1 of key messages) that says: We’re in third place in the widget market. We want to get to second place.
That sounds like a nice thing to do, but what does it mean to me? And why should it go to the top of my list and become a priority item? But when the sense of urgency and relevance are present, the impact is real and the priority is likely to be very high as in the following phrasing of the situation: We’re in third place in the widget market. If we don’t get to second place, our business will be shut down and our jobs will be lost. We need action now by all of us.
So a sense of urgency is important to convey. But if we’re trying also to get action (element 2 of key messages), then we also have to be specific and concrete. Again, a statement that is filled with high-sounding generalizations won’t get people lined up to act: As we start our march to number two in widgets, we must be bold in our thinking, fierce in our assault, and persistent in our follow-through until our goal is achieved.
But phrasing that is concrete and ties back to our SWOT will provide understanding and also be a confidence builder that will generate action: We will enter new niche markets by using our strength in widget design, and we’ll strengthen our customer service by improving our already strong just-in-time delivery performance.
By providing specifics that relate back to our SWOT and by focusing on a vital few initiatives rather than a rambling laundry list, we create a sense that our mission is very possible.
Since our key messages also provide a sense of the impact of our action (element 3 is what the result will be), the scope of the outcome is important. In our widget illustration, widgets are just one of 25 divisions of the Global Manufacturing Corp. Elevating the widget division to second place will be very meaningful at a divisional level, but is not likely to move the share price of Global. Defining the right scope is important in each of the three elements of key messages.
Situation, Action, Impact
Let’s now look at a few illustrations of some key messages that we think do an excellent job of communicating: A small northeastern chain of upscale supermarkets found its sales slipping as market dynamics changed. Here are key messages:
Situation. Our upscale positioning is losing its appeal as consumers are demanding local sourcing of nutritious, organic food for themselves and their children. Our continued existence rests on our ability to change our positioning and meet our consumers’ needs.
Action. We will increase our organic locally sourced produce, meat, fish, and other fresh items by 50 percent, which we will highlight in a new marketing campaign. We also will conduct workshops and in-store information and education activities for our shoppers.
Impact. Our projections call for a sales increase of 5 percent in year one and 4 percent in each of the following two years.
A company that specialized in direct selling of home goods faced sharply declining sales as a result of the recession and competition from new discount-priced retailers:.
Situation. Our declining sales and profits present a serious threat to our company. Because of the economic slowdown, our customers are looking for low prices and are migrating to discount retailers and online sellers. Our marketing and product development groups don’t have the relevant knowledge and aren’t working closely enough with our sales representatives to address the issues.
Action. We will bring our marketing and sales groups together to close the knowledge gaps and strengthen our product development efforts. We will build a product portfolio that addresses our customers’ needs in the economic downturn. And we will create a strong e-commerce sales presence.
Impact. Our revenues will increase by 12 percent in three years by expanding our consumer base, improving our product portfolio, and increasing the engagement level of our sales representatives.
Research showed a fashion accessories company that its previously cutting-edge designs were losing their market appeal:
Situation. Our accessories are being attacked by a hot competitor. Our current product development process must be updated so we can maintain our “first-in-the-market” leadership position. Otherwise we are in danger of losing our “cool factor.”
Action. Our product development process will be overhauled, and new marketing concepts, covering PR, new media, and product placement, will be created. We will invest disproportionately in high-growth, developing markets such as China and Brazil.
Impact. Our accessories will regain their leadership based on our speed to market with innovative products. Strong growth in large developing markets will help propel sales growth of 15 percent in two years.
Showing the Pieces as One
With the key messages as a guide, we can now move to something we call plan-on-a-page that gives a bird’s-eye view of all elements of TTW from visions and goals to strategies and initiatives. The plan-on-a-page fosters alignment and encourages collaboration since it shows the interrelatedness of the different pieces that make up the whole.
As we can see from Figure 8.1, the plan-on-a-page does just what it says. It lays out a full annual operating plan complete with the vision and goals that are guiding it, the strategies that propel it, and the specific initiatives that will achieve them. Presenting the plan in this format makes it very understandable to a team, unit, or organization. A common problem and complaint within companies is that one function has no idea what another function is doing or how the two functions should relate to each other. With plan-on-a-page, all the initiatives are shown, and the linkages are evident.
FIGURE 8.1. STRATEGIC GROWTH: PLAN-ON-A-PAGE.
Gaining alignment is much easier when all the elements are clearly laid out and easy to grasp. And the plan-on-a-page breathes life into a document that often is barely acknowledged except in mandatory reviews and almost never referenced for guidance. It underscores the importance of a plan being a living document, not a static oversized binder or spreadsheet. The exercise section at the end of this chapter has activities that show how to use the plan-on-a-page.
Making Visions Come Alive
Effective communication must be all inclusive. So let’s look at what’s important at different levels. At the broadest level, we must gain everyone’s understanding of the vision we developed in the top of the hourglass. Visions are not just an important part of the TTW process to generate our initiatives and action plans; they also are a critical factor in communicating and executing action.
As we saw in Chapter 5, visions aren’t just nice words and platitudes. They must be unique, engaging, compelling, and concise. They must be so memorable and so accessible that all associates throughout a company, regardless of their title and level, will know and can effortlessly describe what the vision is, what it means, and how it relates to their individual jobs.
As Jack Welsh says in his book Winning (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), leaders have to “make visions come alive by being certain they contain no jargon, no noble but vague goals and no targets that are so blurry they can’t be met.” The leader’s direction, he says, “has to be so vivid that if you randomly woke up one of your employees in the middle of the night and asked him, Where are you going? he could still answer in a half-sleep stupor, ‘We’re going to keep improving our service to individual contractors and expand our market by aggressively reaching out to small wholesalers.’”
As Dave Moran of Keurig Green Mountain noted (see Chapter 5), “The clearer the statement [vision] is, the simpler it is, the more compelling it is, and the more memorable and more inspiring it will be.” And Keurig’s vision captures all those qualities: A brewer on every countertop, a beverage for every occasion.
Again, from Dave Moran: “One of the key things that has driven our success is the tremendous clarity around our vision of how we would approach growth. We boiled it down to one sentence that everybody could remember. And then we made sure it was understood by all. Everyone . . . knows that sentence and knows exactly what we are trying to achieve.”
Doug Conant, the retired CEO of the Campbell Soup Company, goes even further in describing the importance of projecting messages and communicating at all times. In his book TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011), which he coauthored with leadership expert Mette Norgaard, Doug describes a typical situation in which a leader, trying to finish a proposal that is critical to his department’s future, is interrupted by a knock on the door from a team member who needs help with a problem. Doug asks: How do you respond? With irritation and a brush-off or by stopping and helping?
“As a leader, you make those choices all day, every day. The ‘knock on the door’ happens over and over again . . . all with questions to answer, concerns to address, problems to solve and fires to put out. Some days it feels as though the information age has morphed into the interruption age.” But if you step back and look at all these interruptions with a different perspective, each one could be a relationship-building, communications moment.
“Each of the many connections you make . . . is an opportunity to establish high performance expectations, to infuse the agenda with greater clarity and more energy, and to influence the course of events,” says Doug, who is now chairman of Avon Products, the Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute (KELI) at Northwestern University, and Conant Leadership. “Each is a chance to transform an ordinary moment into a TouchPoint.” And Doug’s track record at Campbell’s, where he reversed a precipitous decline in market value and employee engagement, is evidence of the power of this practice.
Throughout his career, Jim Kilts, who headed Kraft, Nabisco, and Gillette, had a very straightforward vision: “Build total brand value by innovating to deliver consumer value and customer leadership faster, better, and more completely than our competitors.” That’s a simple statement, but Jim made countless speeches, presentations, videos, and town hall talks and held informal coffees to explain the meaning and intended impact of each concept and phrase. The vision became very real and immediate.
Aligning Compensation with Vision
Regardless of their clarity and everyone’s understanding, visions won’t succeed unless compensation is aligned with them. Again, Jack Welsh notes that if you want people to live and breathe the vision, you must show them the money—with salary, bonus, and significant special financial rewards. “Vision is an essential element of the leader’s job. But no vision is worth the paper it’s printed on unless it is communicated constantly and reinforced with rewards. Only then will it leap off the page—and come to life.” And by “leader,” we mean leaders at all levels within any organization. If we want to win, we have to communicate our visions.
Projecting Messages Through Every Channel
Communication isn’t just about e-mails, video speeches, and PowerPoint presentations. It must be infused within every aspect of an organization’s day-to-day activities. Messages must be projected and reinforced through every channel and in every mode that’s available.
As Harvard Business School Professor John P. Kotter says, key messages and visions must be worked into a leader’s hour-by-hour activities. They must be part of a discussion about a business problem by describing how solutions fit into a bigger picture. In a performance appraisal, an associate should know how her behavior helps or hurts the vision. A quarterly review shouldn’t just talk about numbers; it should describe how the division’s actions are contributing to the key messages. Even simple question-and-answer sessions should have answers that tie back to the vision. In short, Professor Kotter says that all existing communication channels should be used to broadcast the vision. Even management education courses should be replaced with courses that focus on the vision. “The guiding principle is simple: use every possible channel, especially those that are being wasted on non-essential information.” (“Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail,” Harvard Business Review, January 2007).
Kotter’s description of the steps and elements essential to transforming a company apply to our concepts about excellence in communications and the entire TTW process. He describes eight stages. The first involves establishing a sense of urgency that discusses crises and potential crises as well as opportunities. Then comes forming a powerful guiding coalition, which means assembling a group of people who will assist with the communication—people who also have enough power to lead change around the vision.
The next two steps involve defining a clear vision and developing the all-out communications strategies to get it known and understood. For the communication to enable action, obstacles to change also have to be eliminated by changing the systems and structure that undermine the vision and short-term wins that show the vision’s potential must be underscored. As the process continues, more improvements and changes will be implemented and communicated. And finally, linkages between new behaviors and the vision are communicated to help anchor the vision. (Our next chapter is all about the anchoring change concept, so we discuss it there in detail.) Also, take a look at the material quoted below in which Professor Kotter outlines the pitfalls of his process. They have a direct relevance to our TTW process.
Communicating Management Style
Former Gillette CEO Jim Kilts took his efforts to communicate about his expectations, his accessibility, his style of management, and even his idiosyncrasies to another level. Within a matter of days of assuming a new position, Jim would distribute a simply worded, bullet-pointed message that covered dozens of issues and topics—everything from the importance of integrity (Do what is right and you’ll never go wrong. Integrity is the starting point for all business decisions.) to how to behave at staff meetings (Pay attention: no sidebar conversations or secondary tasks. When talking, stick to the subject.) This full document, which is very instructive, appears at the end of the chapter.
Leading Memorably from the Front
“I believe communication is a critical element in changing culture and behavior,” says former Procter & Gamble vice chairman Ed Shirley. “I learned very early the importance of being out there, leading from the front and communicating the message. If the leader isn’t a good communicator, no one knows where they are going. The Think to Win framework allowed me to communicate in a systematic way. It’s ingrained in how I think, and how I lead.”
Ed used the TTW process to develop a clear and forthright appraisal of the situation he found when he joined P&G from Gillette. “Coming in as an outsider, I looked at things through a different lens. Even so, I was able to quickly gain people’s trust. The first thing I did was to prepare a very transparent situation assessment. It was thorough and comprehensive, and I communicated it in a straightforward manner, so we could let the facts drive our decision making.”
Getting every one aligned on the situation assessment allowed Ed to put forth his recommendations. “I was very clear, especially with the board,” he says. “I framed the situation analysis as reality, and our plans as hope. ‘Here is how I see things,’ I said. ‘Here is our reality; here is what we’re going to do about it—the choices we are making, and this is why I believe it’s going to work.’”
He also used an imaginative device to communicate with his board. To reinforce the concept of looking at the international sales of P&G’s personal care products from the consumers’ perspectives, Ed brought in two cutout figures, one male, one female, as props for his presentation. He then pointed out which body parts were being overlooked in major markets around the globe.
“For men, in most parts of the world, we are capturing the face and beard only. For the rest of him, we have zero,” he explained. “We are not winning in many of these markets because we are not addressing enough body parts. We are not meeting a woman’s deodorant needs in Brazil, nor her moisturizer needs in India. If the consumer really was the boss, we’d be meeting more of her needs.”
Ed’s key messages were rooted in TTW, and he found a memorable way of communicating them to the board. It was the beginning of a new companywide effort to market to the “complete man” and “complete woman” in several key developing markets.
Building Blocks of Execution
Communication is fundamental to the process that propels execution. Within a company, execution starts with the annual plan that defines goals for the year. But the building blocks are critical to their attainment, and communication is critical to each of the blocks.
Let’s look at some of the frequently used building blocks. Often these will involve weekly postings that relate both accomplishments and issues or difficulties. These postings are shared widely among all functions, divisions, and units within the company so that awareness is high about what’s happening. Since no unit or function operates independently of others, this sharing is essential to ensure a connectedness and alignment as initiatives move forward or midcourse corrections occur.
All too often the separate silos created by a lack of communication are the reason execution stumbles. Weekly postings provide a base level of communication that will be complemented with meetings and other communications.
These postings are accompanied by weekly meetings that set the agenda for the following week and, again, ensure alignment for all the participants. The meetings should be kept short. They aren’t a time for grandstanding or pontificating. They should provide dialogue on what happened last week, what went right, what went wrong, what’s being done to address issues, and what’s planned for the week ahead.
Beyond the weekly activities, there are quarterly priorities with quarterly meetings to track progress, identify issues, and make necessary adjustments or corrections. The quarterly priorities provide an opportunity for rating performance so all team members know how they are doing and what parts of their game have to be improved.
The quarterly priorities tie directly to the annual plan, which provides the basis for the key messages. The entire approach represents constant communication—a continuous loop that yields clarity and alignment.
That’s how communication brings everything together. It’s one very important element in transforming thinking and plans into actions and accomplishments.
Chapter Summary
Once we’ve completed our top to bottom hourglass venture, the critical part of the journey begins—transforming thinking and plans into actions and accomplishments.
Key messages frame everything. The three elements in each message answer three basic questions: What’s going on? What are we going to do? What will be the results? Each key message must contain situation, action, and impact so understanding is both quick and certain.
Plan-on-a-page gives a bird’s-eye view of all elements of TTW from visions and goals to strategies and initiatives. Plan-on-a-page fosters alignment and encourages collaboration since it shows the interrelatedness of the different pieces that make up the whole.
Visions are a critical factor in communicating and executing. They aren’t just nice words and platitudes. They must be unique, engaging, compelling, concise, and memorable. Everyone must know what the vision means and how it relates to their individual job.
Execution starts with the annual plan that defines goals for the year. But weekly and quarterly building blocks are critical to their attainment, and communication is critical to each of the blocks.
The following is excerpted from Doing What Matters by James M. Kilts, John F. Manfredi, and Robert L. Lorber (New York: Crown, 2007).
The Real Deal—A Complete List of Horrors
I started my . . . presentation [to the Gillette leadership team] by reviewing the conclusions distilled from my weeks of research, discussions, and trade contacts. I told them that the Gillette Board of Directors would be given the same presentation. So everyone would know they would be hearing the real deal, not something specially crafted for this initial meeting.
I started by talking about Gillette’s formidable strengths—iconic brands, high growth, high margin product categories, unmatched technology and product innovation and a great global presence. The group nodded their assent. As I went through the weaknesses—flat sales and earnings, consistently missed profit targets, declining market shares, decreasing ad spending, increasing overheads, soaring capital expenditures, and across the board weak financial metrics—I could sense both unease and defensiveness.
Always Confront Reality
Throughout the discussion, my message was that we would confront reality. There would be no more top-down dictums; no more setting of targets that couldn’t be made; or making of promises that couldn’t be kept. Outstanding performance would be expected from everyone, but we would be working against reality-based, achievable objectives.
We would cut no corners; integrity mattered big time, across the board—morally, ethically, and legally. In all, this day 1 session gave my new senior management team a total immersion in my views on managing, business, and people. Let me go over some of the areas covered:
My style might be described as follows:
Open; straightforward; what you see, is what you get. I play no games and have no hidden agendas. I say what I mean; there is nothing to read between the lines.
Action oriented—fair, but somewhat impatient. I value action and accomplishment; I dislike rationalizations and excuses.
Want no surprises. If the sky is falling, tell me. I don’t want to learn about it by reading a newspaper.
I use no gotchas, games, or tricks.
Will avoid “gotchas.” No games; no tricks. I judge people based on performance.
If something bothers you, I want open dialogue. I am not a mind reader. Let me know if you think something is wrong.
Expect excellence, reward the same. I am demanding, but I reward excellent performance—probably at a level that will surprise you.
Like and accept challenges. I spent my life building brands and running consumer businesses. My greatest satisfaction comes from dealing with tough issues.
Save a tree. Avoid memos, if you can. When you can’t, keep them short.
Ask my advice early. I’ve had more than 25 years of experience. Give me a chance, and I probably can help you.
Often wrong, never uncertain. I never equivocate. I make quick decisions. So when I’m wrong, let me know . . . quickly.
My Management Philosophy
It’s all about building total brand value
Superior marketing driven by consumer and customer understanding
Competitively advantaged products and cost structures
Believe cost and quality are compatible. I want lowest costs, but insist on no compromise of quality.
Strongly believe in keeping things simple:
Organization structures
Communications
Process
Priorities
Clear and full accountabilities. Believe in matrixed organization. Organizational matrices facilitate performance, but individual responsibility is essential, which means that one person must be accountable for ultimate results.
Never Over Promise; Always Over Deliver
A promise made is a promise kept. Never over promise; always over deliver. I’ve lived by these words throughout my entire career.
Believe in alignment and linkage—operating managers working together with strong staff input make the best decisions. The 8 to 10 days spent at quarterly offsites, plus weekly staff meetings, plus weekly reports are all designed to reinforce and assure linkage and alignment.
My key function is to set direction, allocate resources, and provide support. Your key responsibility is to get the results agreed upon in objectives and priorities. I want it to be clear that my managers have a lot of autonomy to act and complete accountability to achieve.
Level the Silos, Increase the Sharing
The more communication, cooperation, and support, the farther and faster we will go. If sharing is increased, silos leveled, and alignment improved, great results will follow.
Innovation must be applied in all aspects of business; innovation must define how we think and act.
Good Ideas Are Easy to Come By
Good ideas, well executed, make the difference. The two elements must come together in order to be meaningful. Good ideas are easy to come by; they’re meaningless unless they are well executed.
Finally, although not really part of my management philosophy, I feel so strongly about it that I include it: I hate anyone saying: “Jim said” or “Jim wants,” or “the board said” or “the board wants” as the reason for doing, or not doing, something. Things are done, or not done, based on rigorous assessments and considered deliberations. I have experienced firsthand how disruptive and demoralizing top-down dictums can be, especially when no explanation accompanies them.
My Expectations of You:
Outstanding performance. Promises must be kept: we make our numbers; we do what we say we will do. This is another precept that underscores the need for excellence and accountability.
Support decisions once made; contribute before decisions are made. Nothing is worse than someone who sits silently during a decision-making process and then, after the fact, seeks to undercut the action. I don’t tolerate efforts that subvert.
Help each other work out problems. Sometimes it’s pride, or fear of losing authority and standing, but peers are often reluctant to seek help from each other, even though they all are part of the same team. I do everything I can to break down that attitude.
Untangling Tough Issues—Think Back to Parents and Teachers
Integrity—moral, ethical, legal. Integrity is the starting point for all business decisions. I always say that you can resolve the most difficult and entangled issue if you just “do the right thing.” Always be guided by the law. But also think back to what your parents, teachers, minister, priest or rabbi told you. Do what’s right and you’ll never go wrong.
Be leaders of your business, function, and your people. Upgrade your organization continually. Since I wanted Gillette to be the best consumer products company in the world, I needed a team of top performers—leaders who would be the best at running their business units or functions and in managing and developing their people. Continual dissatisfaction must characterize the leader, which results in continual improvement and upgrading throughout his or her operation.
No Room for Leakers
Appropriate confidentiality—both internally and externally. Gillette was one of the most porous companies I had ever encountered. I was not used to leaks, which often signal low morale and a disenchanted workforce. While I intended to work on the root causes, I wanted everyone to know that “leakers” would not be tolerated.
Don’t want competition among functions, or the senior staff. Anything that even hints at it is counterproductive. If the top people in the company are sniping at each other, or appear to be, the impact is corrosive throughout.
Don’t Make Smart Mistakes Twice
My policy on mistakes:
You . . . don’t make dumb mistakes
I . . . don’t punish smart mistakes
You . . . don’t make smart mistakes twice
An omission mistake is just as bad, or worse, than a commission mistake.
I do not want a risk-averse organization. But I also won’t tolerate slipshod preparation and thinking that lead to failures. When the right process and thinking do not succeed, that’s fine, but learn from failure. Whatever you do, never say: “I’m not to blame because I didn’t know that X, Y, or Z would happen.” You should have known, believe me.
Appropriate discipline and fact-based analytics must be used in assessing businesses, infrastructures, and growth opportunities. The more facts that you have and the better analysis that you can do, the more likely you’ll make the right decision.
Great Freedom, but Not Complete Autonomy
You should involve me in major strategic and operational decisions. I give my managers great freedom to act, but not complete autonomy. I must be fully consulted and engaged in all major decisions.
I need enough information and insights, not just data, so I can understand what’s happening and why. (One of my first actions at Gillette was to discontinue a series of monthly reports that resulted in several thick binders of data that provided no real insight or understanding about what was happening in the business, or why.) Quality, not quantity matters.
Weekly Staff Meetings:
Why weekly meetings?
Want firsthand update on the business
Business conditions warrant it
Helps assure alignment
Share what’s going on so you can do your job and gain full executive communication.
Resistance Precedes Experience
Resistance to weekly staff meetings almost always precedes experiencing them. Concerns about the time spent is always overcome by the understanding and insight received about other parts of the business, and also about the impact on the individual’s own unit.
Attendance required; on time; no substitution without prior Jim Kilts’s approval. I want the point understood that I take the weekly meetings seriously, and so should everyone else.
Weekly, Monday, 10 a.m. to 12 noon; can be extended, as needed.
Suggest items and requested time needed to CFO by Wednesday preceding meeting; indicate if significant action/decision desired at meeting
Agenda reviewed by Jim Kilts and issued by Thursday
Weekly staff meetings provide an opportunity for full executive team review and decision on an issue in a timely fashion; no waiting for monthly or quarterly session.
Confidentiality
No gossip
Reinforce with your assistants and others
(By underscoring the importance of confidentiality, we had virtually no issues. In fact, a group of about a half dozen top senior executives managed to keep Gillette’s merger talks with Procter & Gamble confidential for several months, a remarkable achievement.)
Always Consensus, Often Unanimous
Decision process
Consensus—all views heard.
Final decisions by Jim Kilts, as needed.
In my five years at Gillette, we always reached consensus on key decisions—often with unanimity. There was no time that I recall having to override a decision made by the team.
Behavior
Pay attention: No sidebar conversations or secondary tasks; really listen
Stick to subject
Openness
Prework: Preparation when needed
Jokes, fun are okay
Discipline, focus and engagement are things I expect from all people at all times, and weekly staff meetings are no exception. However, I realize that fun, jokes, and humor are often the best way to create bonds and bring the group together.
Minimizing Grandstanding
Once around the table process
Limited to three minutes each
Items requiring more time to be on agenda
I like to give everyone an opportunity to be heard; the three-minute limit keeps things focused and keeps anyone from grandstanding.
Other Housekeeping
One-on-ones; your call. Since I manage by walking around, I drop in on my direct reports, and many others, plus have lots of telephone conversations. However, I do not have regularly scheduled one-on-ones with my direct reports other than our quarterly review of priorities. If anyone feels the need, I welcome them.
Only your administrative assistant sets meetings with me through my administrative assistant. A process for scheduling meetings helps keep control of what easily can become a chaotic calendar.
Impress with Accomplishments, Not with Number of Meetings and Memos
Less is more
Meetings, paper, attendees
Some managers believe they impress you with the number of memos and plans they send and meetings they schedule. I want to make sure that weekly staff meetings serve their purpose, which is to limit the need for interim communications, meetings, etc.
No such thing as a “casual meeting” with outside stakeholders such as investment analysts, bankers, shareholders, etc. Most senior managers know how risky meetings, even supposedly off-the-record meetings, can be with outsiders who easily can misinterpret and misuse the information provided. I believe in having specialists deal with specialists.
Chapter 8 Exercises
Mastering Communication
Communication means much more than providing information. The message must be easily understood and compelling to ensure both interest and retention. When delivering your message, concise is best. TTW provides two powerful tools; each of which distills your message down to a single page.
Mastering the Key Message Template
Key messages are very important. They focus the audience with a brief and compelling statement that is both easy to understand and easy to recall. Our key message template helps you structure the answer to the question, How do we communicate succinctly? A key message has three basic components:
Situation: What is going on?
Action: How are we going to address it?
Impact: What will the result be?
Exercise: Creating Your Key Message
1. Review the content of your work
2. Create three to four bullet points for each of the following components:
a. Situation: What is going on—summarizes what you know. Think: Top half of the hourglass—seven Cs analysis drilled down through the key issues and implications—what is the most important issue?
b. Action: What to do about it—summarizes your intent. Think: Strategies
c. Impact: What you’re aiming to get out of it—what will the result be? Think: Goals and measures (3Ms)
3. Consolidate on one page:
a. Review for clarity
b. Discuss for additions/changes
c. Align on key messages
The deliverable is a key message page. The purpose is to summarize and map out the issue being solved in a very simple manner that is easy to understand.
Typically, key messages have three to four bullets points for each area. Key messages look backward—they need to be completed at the end of the TTW process. You should be able to quickly and clearly tell anyone the essentials of what you’ve been working on. If you have trouble formulating your key message, it may be a sign to go back to make sure you’ve not left out any steps.
Mastering Plan-on-a-Page
The plan-on-a-page, as shown previously, is a visual road map that serves as a catalyst for communication. On a single piece of paper or computer screen, it answers the question, How will we win? The plan-on-a-page makes the line of sight clear; from your analysis of facts on the ground, to goals and objectives for the future, to strategic priorities and programs and initiatives to deliver them.
Begin with your key messages. Map each element against the plan-on-a-page template. Each element and detail should connect with the next. Hone your presentation down to the fewest possible words to summarize each segment in the clearest, most succinct manner.
Exercise: Creating Your Plan-on-a-Page
1. Review the contents of your work
2. Consolidate on one page:
a. Review for clarity
b. Discuss for additions/changes
c. Finalize the plan-on-a-page
Refer back to Figure 8.1 shown earlier in this chapter.
Organizational Assessment
Use the following table as a checklist for identifying TTW principles and practices. This will help you to better understand where you and your team need to focus your energies. To get an idea of where you believe your organization stands, read through each statement and jot down a rating:
Review individual items. Look for items where you scored lower (3 and below) and think about the following questions:
What do I believe is driving the score?
What do I need to stop, start, or continue doing?
What do I hope the result to be?