Many businesses today have a similar focus on outcomes for the performance measures used to assess how well they are implementing strategy. This focus can create problems in either diverging from strategy or by ignoring issues in the value chain. The Eastern Ontario Chapter of CMC Canada hosted a series of discussions to support CMCs in helping their clients understand if their organizations are set up to successfully implement strategy and to achieve targeted results.
These sessions will be of interest to management consultants and to heads and executives of organizations in all sectors.
Now available FREE on the CMC Canada YouTube channel, a series of three online sessions explore how businesses can improve overall effectiveness with a balanced approach to measuring organizational performance. While this series will be of great interest to consultants, it is designed to also be of help to executives in all sectors.
Session 1: Input Measures. What are Input Measures and Why do they Matter? View Here.
Most organizations are successful. And yet, things go off the rails more often than they should. Often it is difficult for leaders to understand what happens after decisions are made? Why are decisions often not implemented at the front line or implemented poorly.
Organizations can be more successful by shifting their focus. In almost all organizations there are ongoing inefficiencies and irritants that aren’t deal-breakers, but they get in the way of organizational effectiveness.
This is because there is a tendency in organizations to measure success based on outcome measures while ignoring what’s happening within the organization that is necessary for success. The typical questions are: how can we produce more? how can we reduce costs? how can we do more with less?
These questions and associated measures, while important, ignore the internal disruption (in some cases dysfunction) that reduces productivity. These include unclear delegation, lack of an accountability and authority framework, inadequate organizational design, poor flow of work across the organization, the growth of silos and cross functional conflicts, and governance structures. Removing these disruptive factors can contribute significantly to improved results achievement.
This session will present and discuss a model for a balanced approach to measuring performance and achieving improved results. Participants will be encouraged to discuss and compare their experiences and solutions.
Speaker: Dwight Mihalicz, CMC
View the free YouTube video of this session here.
Session 2: Metrics vs Strategy. A Common Pitfall in Business. View Here.
The reason most strategies fail is because they focus on results without an equal focus on input measures. Input metrics are essential as these metrics are leading indicators of your eventual output metrics and results achievement. A focus on the results often comes at the expense of understanding issues on the input side of the equation.
Many businesses today have this problem. They have a significant tendency to focus on outcome metrics instead of their company strategy. Yes, the metrics do show the progress the company is making towards its strategic goals, but that focus on metrics can result in inefficiencies that will disrupt the ability to attain the strategy.
In fact, this focus can actually undermine the success of an organization. For example, if you evaluate employees in a call center based on how fast they are moving from one call to the next, you’re essentially inviting them to cut calls short and provide inadequate service to the customer. You’ll fulfill the goal of increasing the specific metric of more calls, but the cost can be deep customer dissatisfaction. It’s simply not worth it.
For an extreme example, think Wells Fargo, and the Canadian Bank scandals of 2017 (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-there-a-wells-fargo-like-bank-selling-scandal-breaking-in-canada-2017-03-15) No CEO or executive said “ let’s use fraudulent sales practices to improve business”. But the unrelenting focus on measuring the sales metrics led to front line people doing what they felt they needed to do to meet their targets. With disastrous consequences.
This session will focus on finding a balance and the internal factors that need to be addressed by organizations to be fully successful. Dwight will demonstrate how to focus on integrating input measures into performance agreements with necessary links to change processes and accountability frameworks. Attendees will be encouraged to participate in the discussion.
Speaker: Dwight Mihalicz, CMC
View the free YouTube video of this session here.
Session 3. Panel Discussion: Outcome Measures, Input Measures, Balanced Approach. View Here.
In this session we will take a deeper dive into the various perspectives of input and output measures.
The facilitator will moderate a discussion of panelists taking different perspectives and approaches to performance metrics. They will share their client experiences, and the approaches they take in their practices.
Questions and comments will be taken from the audience to better understand the various approaches that can lead to optimal client results and results achievement. Engaging discussion and sharing of experiences by all will be a priority of the moderator.
In the wrap up of the discussion, an overview of the balanced approach will be detailed.
Speaker: Dwight Mihalicz, CMC
Panelists:
Dwight Mihalicz will chair the session and moderate the discussion.
Murray Kronick, CMC, FCMC, Vice President, Strategy and Operations Practice. SME, Performance Management, BDO Canada
https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-kronick/
John Bourke, President of The Business Excellence Institute, Research Associate at Henley Business School
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jobourke/
Sandy Moir, FCMC, Managing Partner at Goss Gilroy Inc.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-moir-ce-fcmc-cmp-79919a13/
View the https://youtu.be/8rRGpE1zNgUfree YouTube video of this session here.
If you would like to learn more about using this techniques in your organization, contact Dwight via email by clicking this link.
