What would you say if I told you that a dose of disruption is a good thing?

In a recent article published in American Executive, we argue that a disruptive force is positive for business. We offer five steps to provoke innovation, keep your ideas fresh, and ensure your stakeholders are on their collective toes.

1. Establish the boundaries of the system that needs disrupting
2. Choose a large ambitious outcome (without specifying the path)
3. Assemble a team with a charter and necessary authority to realize the outcome
4. Create and publicize the short-term supporting goals
5. Sponsor focused events that force collaboration, integration, and perturb the team and the organization (closer to the goal)

If you’re interested in hearing more, check out the article and get in touch.

American Executive – Disruptive Forces

http://www.americanexecutive.com/current-issue/current-departments/7561-best-practices-disruptive-forces

In August, I attended an industry meeting where the author of the new book published by John Wiley & Sons “The HIP Investor: Make Bigger Profits By Building a Better World”, R. Paul Herman, was the keynote speaker.

HIP stands for Human Impact + Profit. Paul has developed a framework to invest in socially responsible and sustainable business practices. He created the HIP 100 Index, which takes the S&P 100 public companies and reweights them based on HIP criteria across five categories: Health, Wealth, Earth, Equality and Trust. Paul describes these criteria as drivers for attractive long-term financial performance. HIP’s research shows that the 100 top companies from a HIP perspective could outperform the S&P by approximately 4% per year, and even did so in the first year of the HIP 100 Index (for the 12-month period ending July 31, 2010): HIP was up 13.4% and the S&P 100 was up 9.4%; full details and disclosures are at www.HIPinvestor.com

Aside from the enhanced returns, I was impressed by the specific metrics Paul used to rate a “HIP” company’s current operations. My ah-ha was that these metrics could also be effective for any company that seeks to turn a profit. Below are a few of the metrics used in the HIP 100 rating:

Health

• Customer satisfaction
• Employee satisfaction and retention
• Wellness programs for all stakeholders
• Employee safety
• Supplier safety
• Stakeholder and community health

Wealth:

• Provisions for employees’ future savings and retirement
• Level of employee pay relative to industry peers
• CEO compensation relative to average staff compensation
• Cash amounts charitably invested in the community

Earth

• Waste re-usage
• Water efficiency
• Energy efficiency
• Greenhouse gas emissions

Equality

• Customer diversity
• Board diversity
• Employee diversity
• Supplier Diversity

Trust

• Transparency through direct interviews
• Third-party certifications
• Legal actions
• Lobbying

Through the HIP Scorecard process and eventual alignment with HIP practices, organizations are making choices that can benefit their bottom lines, their workforce and the larger eco-systems.

As part of our approach we lay out five steps to restore confidence and rebuild trust. If your organization is not ready for all five steps, yet you want to develop a greater sense of integrity and purpose now, then steps #1 and #2 are worthy to consider executing.

(Step #1) Define your organization’s purpose
(Step #2) Articulate the organization’s values that will drive success

Take a look at the article and let me know your thoughts.

Read the full Confidence Restored article

Thanks,

Charlie

Regardless of how your company emerged from last year, we all have an opportunity to start fresh in 2010. Preparing for a fresh start now will put your organization in place to leverage an expanding market and improving economic opportunities ahead. It will also enable you to get back to basics and rebuild a foundation for success.

A 2010 Fresh Start plan (courtesy of The Moss Group) includes two sets of activities: 1) Confirming your organization’s culture and strategy and 2) Aligning planning and performance management processes with strategy. Below, I will describe the first activity. A description of the second activity will follow soon.

To confirm your organization’s culture and strategy:

1. Reaffirm your organization’s purpose. Purpose is your reason for being, why you are in business. Unlike a mission, a purpose is forever pursued but never realized (e.g. Merck: To preserve and improve human lives, Patagonia: To be a role model and tool for social change.). Your employees and stakeholders need to understand the organization’s purpose beyond making money. This understanding will help them feel more connected to what the organization delivers and a deeper alignment with their role in the overall effort.

2. Validate or articulate your organization’s values. Think about 3-5 things your organization needs to believe in to be successful both today and in the future (e.g. Walt Disney World: Safety, Courtesy, The Show, Efficiency; Dell: Sustainability, Accountability, and Community). Alternatively, think about the beliefs that have allowed your organization to be successful to this point. If you already have a strong set of values, then begin 2010 by re-communicating your values to clients, employees, owners and other key stakeholders.

3. Confirm your organization’s mission. I agree with Jim Collins that an organization’s mission is the mountain you hope to climb. Examples of an organizational mission statement are Google – Organize the world’s information and make it accessible and useful; Kaiser Permanente РProvide affordable, high-quality health care services and improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. A lot of companies create a mission statement, only to let it collect dust in a binder on a shelf. Now is the time to review your company’s mission and recommit to realizing it, or agree to a more specific mountain your organization intends to climb in the years ahead.

I recently came across an appropriate quote from Peter Drucker in Harvard Business Review (“What Would Peter Say” November 2009):

“When things are in flux, a sense of purpose and set of common values enable people to work together effectively.”

What are your thoughts on the lessons of 2009? And how will your organization prepare for 2010?

Article Synopsis:

Organizations can change and become far more effective if they are willing to follow a formalized planning practice that rests on a strong, values-based culture. Through execution of seven specific activities, a company can build a strong, high performing organization that delivers on its promises, succeeds in the marketplace, and provides employees pride and enthusiasm about their work. Through our efforts to build high performing organizations we developed the Seven Step Process. This process represents The Moss Group’s attempt to simplify and demystify strategic planning and to help young organizations turbo-charge their business through the use of a structured planning framework founded on a strong values-based culture.

For a new team, business unit, start-up, or existing organization, the seven steps listed here describe how to build a foundation for sustained success through culture-based strategic planning.

1. Agree on a purpose and mission for the organization;
2. Agree on a set of values that drive the organization’s success;
3. Agree on a vision that inspires the organization;
4. Build a roadmap to execute the vision;
5. Set aggressive 90 to 180 day goals and priorities for the organization;
6. Set aggressive 90 to 180 day goals and priorities for key individual roles;
7. Agree on regular performance-focused meetings to drive accountability.

The Seven Step Process may sound like a standard approach to running an organization. Where companies encounter trouble, though, is in demonstrating the necessary discipline and follow-through. Companies fail to execute consistent processes that drive accountability and when senior leaders fail to demonstrate their commitment to follow-up and execution, the whole organization suffers.

Through the Seven Step Process, building an organization’s future to realize the leadership team’s vision is realistic. The journey of building a strong, high performing organization can begin when leadership team takes its first step and articulates the organization’s purpose.

Questions for discussion:

1) How would you define and what examples do you have of a strong culture?

2) How would you define and what examples do you have of a high-performing organization?

3) To what extent do you agree or disagree that by following The Seven Steps you will be able to build a strong, high performing organization?

4) Other comments or suggestions for improving The Seven Steps will be absolutely welcomed…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119543240896797405.html

The November 19th Wall Street Journal article, says that virtues such as persistence, attention to detail and efficiency score higher than “softer” strengths like teamwork, flexibility or enthusiasm for successful CEOs.

I feel that the headline is provocative but if you go below the emotion and look at the author’s definition for “success,” the conclusions seem to be consistent with accepted business management views.
Regarding the highest scoring virtues, I would love your thoughts on:

1) What did the article bring up for you?

2) Are there any behaviors that you want to demonstrate more or less frequently in the next year?