Square One Consulting - A Back Porch MBA!

A Back Porch MBA!

I was visiting with a friend. We were discussing Leadership and Management issues and the future of his organization. He’s is the President and CEO of a company started only ten years ago. He’s built a good company that in the short term has exceeded everyone’s expectations. Next week he’ll announce an achievement that will impress even his most severe critics. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the customers he serves, the industry in which he competes, and the suppliers that have been critical to his success are in crisis themselves. His is a harder market than anyone in his industry has ever faced before. In addition to these challenges, the rules have changed. What his company has done in the past (although significant) cannot carry it into the future. He must reinvent a ten-year old company.

He’s a devotee of the ideas professed in Built to Last (James G. Collins / Jerry L. Porras) and now its sequel Good to Great. I’m a believer in Peter Drucker and Max DePree. Collectively we’ve probably read all of the top selling business books.

In concept, we know every answer. The problem is that his challenge is not a conceptual one. His decisions must be made in concrete terms and actions – he’s in combat and the bullets are getting close. While we theorize about five years out, he’s got major decisions to make, opportunities to capture, and crises to address tomorrow.

To convert his challenge to the vernacular – “when you are up to your ass in alligators, its tough to remember your original challenge is to drain the swamp.”

We were sitting on his back porch. He had to meet with a contractor to discuss a major addition to his home. I had time to do what I do best – not think but observe. His is a modest house sitting on a beautiful, tree filled lot. My only companion during his absence was his dog, Mollie Deux .

She’s a yellow lab or maybe a lab lite – lab genes in a Heinz 57 mix of blood. She certainly is well fit for his big yard – a Chihuahua would probably be snake food. Birds were singing and mosquito hawks were performing aerial acrobatics not 20 feet in front of me. It was peaceful – a simple life. This is why we live here and enjoy, no love, the life we have.

After a morning together, we captured our best ideas over lunch and then further refined them for the next two days via e-mail. Great stuff but would it work. Could these best ideas from Wall Street, Wharton School of Business, and the ivory towers of academia be converted to a practical and actionable plan to meet the challenges faced by my friend and his little company here in the backwaters of Louisiana?

© Square One Consulting (June 2002)

If these ideas could be utilized (and I’m sure they could) would this be the best way to lead and manage into the future. The truth of his and every other organization is that a culture has been established. To lead and manage inside the culture is certainly the ideal. To change the culture is very, very challenging and often impossible.

As we drove back to town I saw a bumper sticker rarely seen but always appreciated in this neck of the woods. It stated in clear and unequivocal terms, “WE DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT HOW YOU DID IT UP NORTH!”

That bumper sticker provided the impetus to realize that Good to Great or Built to Last were powerful tools that could be used to meet my friend’s challenge. On a practical level, however, these were overkill. The addition to his home is beautiful. He had found local craftsmen and artisans to build a den and master bedroom suite that would rival any such additions that could be built by the biggest and best international contractor.

My wheels were starting to turn. He could have found and could have afforded such a mega-contractor but he didn’t. He will have a better addition, more control over the process and result, and more personal satisfaction by completing this project with local talent. People who understand and appreciate a screen porch, coffee, a rocking chair and a lab.

My mind was racing. The answer to his dilemma was not in the pages of any or all the books we discussed, nor in the classrooms of Harvard, or the mahogany Board Rooms of Wall Street. The answers were in the simple ideas we discussed over coffee on the back porch. The same Leadership and Management that had resulted in his acquiring, building and remodeling a house and finally converting it to a home could be used to renovate and if needed create an addition to his company.

Here goes – my best attempt to capture the Leadership and Management Principles I observed on the back porch. Thanks Mollie!

Leadership is about a capturing a dream. It’s about Vision, Values, A Mission, and Standards. To get to my friend’s house you cross a railroad track. There are probably 50 – 60 houses on the single road that is the subdivision. The land was once a sugar cane field so there are no trees except for those that formed the fencerow.

The one exception is my friend’s lot. It has literally dozens of trees. The original builder had vision to plant these trees and my friend and his spouse had the vision and discipline to maintain them when they really were out of place in the subdivision. His yard was and is different in a subdivisions built on sameness.

© Square One Consulting (June 2002)

As you drive down this road you see houses that vary in price from $100,000 to $500,000. Before the addition my friends home would probably be appraised at the bottom third of those in the area. When the addition is complete, his will be the benchmark. What he bought originally was an average house with great potential (a dream). What he now has is a dream realized - priceless!

It’s a two-part dream – one part is the house. The other part is the home. The house is about things – a structure, an asset, a residence, a thing he and his spouse will leave to their children. The home is about people, a lifestyle, a love – how to live and how to die. It’s about what they show / teach their children – yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

In terms of the house the dream that my friend and his spouse saw more that a decade ago has been focused clearly into a Vision that is now outlined and detailed on the architect’s drawing spread out on the work bench. Soon the Vision of the house will be realized. Building the home is an ongoing process.

In terms of the home, the dream that my friend and his spouse shared as starry eyed newlyweds over 25 years ago has been realized in a Vision that is their marriage, their children, and the love they shared yesterday and enjoy today and will share tomorrow. It is realized but not yet complete. It grows as they grow. And the best things about Dreams and Visions are that when we die – they don’t. Visions and Dreams are bigger than one person they can be left to those we choose or those who adopt them.

The conversion of their House and Home Dream to the current reality that exists today and the partially realized Vision that remains did not just happen. My friend and his spouse established a Mission either on paper or in their minds and souls of who (their family – themselves and their children) they would be. To make this Vision concrete and attainable they established Values that they would live by and standards of behavior and performance that would hold themselves accountable to.

This combination of a Mission – the organization needed to achieve the dream, the Values – the absolutes that would drive the people (their X Commandments and Constitution), and the Standards – clearly articulated expectations for performance are the issues of leadership. This is all part of the Vision thing and the plan to achieve it. It’s most important and the dream will never be realized without it. But of equal importance is the implementation and application of the plan – management.

Management is about implementation of a plan, monitoring the results and adjusting performance to assure success in a future of constant change. In a family everyone will manage and will be managed at some point in time. To keep this article short and simple, I’ll only report on my observation of the management techniques used by my friend, his spouse, and children in relationship with another family member – Mollie.

© Square One Consulting (June 2002)

As stated earlier, Molly is perfectly suited for this family, house, and yard. The first absolute established in the relationship between Mollie and the family is the “turf”. This is Mollie’s area of operation. It’s framed by the perimeter of the yard and is limited to the outside of the house – Mollie is a yard dog. To assure Mollie respects this limit and to protect Mollie from herself (if she leaves her turf she may be hit by a car and killed) there is an electronic fence. There is a consequence if she exceeds her authority (turf) – a shock! This is not cruel – its’ necessary. To leave Mollie without boundaries would be cruel and dangerous.

In addition to the turf restrictions the family uses two other simple techniques to manage Mollie. These are the carrots and sticks of her life. Mollie, like the good people in your organizations, must meet certain expectations to remain a member of the family. To be successful Mollie must understand the expectations and be willing and able to meet or exceed these.

To create willingness in Mollie (or an employee) we must motivate them. To establish ability we must train. To assure consistency we must constantly monitor the performance of Mollie and provide the appropriate consequences for behavior.

When Mollie was in training the process was significantly more intense than it is now or needs to be today. Now that her training is complete her motivators are varied. A “carrot” might be as simple a kind word or a pat on the head. Special recognition might include a dog biscuit, playing fetch (providing attention) or a bone. For great performance Mollie may get a piece of steak or have someone scratch her so that her leg twitches.

The “sticks” of her world are equally simple. The range includes everything from a stern NO to a rolled up newspaper across her butt.

Management of the work of employees can be similarly and simply framed. If they are right for the job, what’s their “turf” – what are the roles, responsibilities and expectations of each employee. Once these are clearly defined and the employee is trained and motivated let them run free. Don’t keep them on a leach or confine them in a dog pen (DON’T MICRO-MANAGE).

What training is needed? What are the motivators? Are the managers monitoring performance within the “turf” originally established and providing the appropriate “carrots” and “sticks”? Don’t micro-manage!

Remember we lead people and manage things (work). Leadership is about effectiveness – doing the right things. Management is about efficiency – doing things right. Everyone in the organization needs to fully understand the difference – as people being led your employees need to know and embrace the Vision, Values, Mission and Standards of the organization. If these are not acceptable to an employee they must leave. These protect you as leader, the organization, and the employee.

In the management of their work, all must agree on the roles, responsibilities, and expectations. The organization must be sure the employee is properly trained, motivated and rewarded. The process of management and the implementation of work must be constantly monitored and adjusted to the changing environment. This is simple.

Sit Mollie. Good dog!

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