Archiv der Kategorie: Management

Here you find topics like planning, organization and leadership.

The right moment

Looking at issues is a form of reflection. We become aware of triggers, flows, dependencies and effects. While a measure is being carried out, we attentively take care of the current step. That way, we lack at that moment the required distance from what we are doing. It obstructs our look at connections and indirect or long-term effects. In addition, a lot of time is wasted in discussing needless issues. It takes place beforehand, rarely during, and rather, in retrospect, to find the person responsible for the failure. The best time to learn something is at the end of a section. It does not matter whether it is an era, paradigm, initiative, step, or work package.

The amplitude and duration of a passage are not as uniform as ideally depicted above. Each wave follows its amplitude and takes different durations at each round. As a result, at least one activity ends at any time. These milestones are either the end of an undertaking or the transition to a subsequent step. At this point, all activities are completed. All that is missing are the medium and long-term effects that evolve on their own. There is no better moment to look at a completed action. Whether we believe that the past repeats or not does not make a difference. In retrospect, we have sufficient distance to see the connections. In any case, aspects become visible that are valid for longer terms. The duration of a project and steps can quickly be months or years for social and economic initiatives. An agile project performs a sprint in four weeks, and a military strike force happens within one night. At the end of all activities, it makes sense to look back at what happened and what resulted. The experience can still be easily recalled in the memory. Participants remember the execution shortly after that, what was to be done, how it took place, and what to learn. They could draw insights from the activities and results at the end of every workday to improve the next day. However, regular short-term deadlines put a strain on work time. Therefore, we should set sufficient milestones, but no more.

These After Action Reviews give us the following advantages:

  • Fail early
    The earlier we see that we are off the beaten track, the sooner we leave the dead end. This saves time and money. It avoids efforts on something that will never be used. Not to mention the unnecessarily coordinated links to parallel activities that also become obsolete.
  • Learn early
    As individuals, we are constantly learning subconsciously. We ameliorate what we do as soon as a hurdle appears and find a solution that avoids the problem. When it happens again, we adopt the work-around we found into our routine.
  • Adapt early
    Since lean management, everyone is looking to Japan. The employees can stop the production line whenever they find an error. In no time, the source of the error is identified and corrected. This prevents failures from multiplying and, as a result, rework costs from exploding.

Bottom line: Milestones do not arise by themselves. They are established. Every effort needs its milestones with a specific frequency. Ideally, the activities have made sufficient progress when, with the retrospective, unnecessary mistakes can be avoided in the future. At the same time, all participants are brought up to date. The conclusion of a step is the right moment for this. Participants are still available, and the memoirs are more vivid than sometime later

When targets get tangled

Our body is a good image for a company. A body is not a messy heap of cells but a coordinated whole. The various systems (such as the cardiovascular system, respiration, digestion, nerves, skeleton, muscles, and skin) have only one goal – the survival of the indivisible. It does not work without each other. The designed economic division of labor lacks this coherence due to self-interests. It already begins with how biz is divided: according to functions, hierarchical layers, or regions. “Do one thing and don’t let the other” is the mantra of the undecided leaders. When dividing, for instance, into ten functions, three levels, five regions, it creates up to 150 units with their own and common intentions. In addition, an inscrutable net of relationships emerges from professional and personal commitments. In contrast to the body, these fragmented units and overlapping responsibilities lead to self-made chaos. This becomes visible in tangled targets that hinder and neutralize each other and undermine the purpose of the enterprise.

In addition to departments, layers, or regions, the following perspectives increase the formal hullabaloo.

  • Direction
    We cannot assume that the official goals relate to the area described. It would be advantageous to know whether corporate, career, or private intentions are hidden behind them. It becomes difficult if the feigned company aspiration serves personal development or private intentions, such as leisure time.
  • Roles
    The assigned roles influence the perspective of target makers. Bystanders assume that decision-makers have their responsibilities in mind. Or the influencing stakeholders care about their sphere of influence. Or the performers confine themselves to their tasks. But what does it mean when leaders have the mindset of an employee? How do we deal with stakeholders who pretend to be in charge? What are the real concerns of the employees?
  • Territory
    Goals are given to the entire company, divisions, projects, and individual employees. It is the responsibility of the decision-makers to ensure that the targets are consistent. Even in large line structures, it isn’t easy to ensure coherence because of the overlapping measures. It is impossible to untangle the constantly changing interdependencies in an agile format or a matrix structure and maintain a consistent overall picture.
  • Temporality
    Goals are assigned for the present year. Unfortunately, measures do not adhere to the corresponding calendars: tasks cannot be completed in the current year; projects often run across the year’s boundary. When long-term plans come into play, the result is a jumble of old and new costs and outcomes that is difficult to track. This confusion cannot be reliably tracked with an elaborate reporting system (even if this is often suggested). Goals are only partially achieved or not achieved at all in such an environment.
  • Criteria
    Skillfully formulated targets already include metrics when they are prepared that can be used to gauge progress and the degree to which they have been achieved. Most goals are formulated too vaguely, which makes it impossible to evaluate their fulfillment. And sometimes, qualitative goals are pursued, which can only be estimated and subjectively evaluated.

Bottom line: Those responsible are deluding themselves if they think they can achieve consistent goals through elaborate goal-setting that is coordinated over weeks. They oversee the fact that the real alignment is not visible in the target. The roles deviate away from the corporate goals with their interests. Goal setting occurs at different levels, making it difficult to achieve consistency. The mixture of short-, mid- and long-term goals further blurs the overall picture. Setting early on measurable indicators for target achievement helps all participants. However, reconciling metrics increases the effort required to set goals. If we consider the resulting complexity and interdependencies, we understand why tangled targets cannot be realized.