FIVE WAYS TO CHANGE THE GAME ARTICLE JASON FOX

Transcription

1 FIVE WAYS TO CHANGE THE GAME ARTICLE JASON FOX

2 Five ways to change the game Jason Fox April 2014, Company Director Magazine

3 The Australian Institute of Company Directors is a member institute for directors dedicated to having a positive influence on the economy and society by promoting professional directorship and good governance. Company Directors delivers director development programs, information and advocacy to enrich the capabilities of directors, influence the corporate governance environment in Australia and promote understanding of, and respect for, the role of directors. With offices in each state of Australia and more than 34,000 members, Company Directors represents a diverse range of organisations, from the top ASX 200 publicly listed companies to not-for-profits, public sector entities and private companies. Disclaimer The material in this publication does not constitute legal, accounting or other professional advice. While reasonable care has been taken in its preparation, Company Directors does not make any express or implied representations or warranties as to the completeness, reliability or accuracy of the material in this publication. This publication should not be used or relied upon as a substitute for professional advice or as a basis for formulating business decisions. To the extent permitted by law, Company Directors excludes all liability for any loss or damage arising out of the use of the material in the publication. Any links to third party websites are provided for convenience only and do not represent endorsement, sponsorship or approval of those third parties, any products and services offered by third parties, or as to the accuracy or currency of the information included in third party websites. The opinions of those quoted do not necessarily represent the view of the Australian institute of company directors. Copyright Copyright strictly reserved. The text, graphics and layout of this guide are protected by Australian copyright law and the comparable law of other countries. The copyright of this material is vested in the Australian Institute of Company Directors. No part of this material can be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval systems without the written permission of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Australian Institute of Company Directors Published in September 2014 by: The Australian Institute of Company Directors Level 30, 20 Bond Street Sydney NSW 2000 T: F: E: publications@companydirectors.com.au W: Text design Kirk Palmer Design 2

4 Introduction As the director of a mid-size organisation we recognise that you have a particular set of challenges as you aim to take your business to the next level. With tighter resources and a tough competitive environment you need to find smarter ways to harness and manage the levers of growth and constantly refresh your business agenda. To address these challenges, Company Directors, in conjunction with KPMG, has created the Directing Growth Program, a year-long blended learning and networking program. It brings together the latest thinking, industry experts and a community of like-minded directors to explore the spectrum from governance to growth strategies. It uses a mix of real world and digital modules and updates to help each business owner and director achieve the key outcomes they individually require and to progress their skills and career as a director. This ebook series is designed to deliver the most pertinent information across a variety of topics of specific value to business leaders of mid-size businesses. Of course, it is not business advice but rather intended to be helpful to your director development. 3

5 Five ways to change the game Jason Fox provides five ways in which directors can change the game when someone else is in charge of the controls. If you re a director without executive powers, it can be frustrating to watch the glacial pace of progress and development. But there are some simple motivation design elements you can encourage and implement. These will not only serve to enhance the level of productivity and progress in your organisation, but can also boost engagement in the boardroom. 1. Get visibility of progress Making progress, growth, change and development happen is hard work, regardless of the level you are working at. Uncertainty is the burden all leaders must accept when on the path to progress. This uncertainty, however, often results in lower levels of effort and ingenuity in organisations. When people aren t sure if their efforts are contributing to progress and when directors can t see how things are being progressed effort may reduce and resentment can occur. This is an incredibly important thing to reverse. In 2010, the No. 1 breakthrough idea from the Harvard Business Review was research by Professor Teresa Amabile and Professor Steven Kramer, The Progress Principle. They found that a clear sense of progress was more inherently motivating to people than incentives and rewards, clear goals and recognition of good work. This makes a lot of sense. Why would we invest effort into something if we re not sure if it will go anywhere? If we have worked towards goals before, only to see the targets shift arbitrarily, it s very likely 4

6 Five ways to change the game 5 that we ll reduce the level of effort we continue to invest. The key to getting more effort, more productivity and more momentum is to provide a clear sense of progress. Yet, at the board level, this can be buried in overly wordy reports and highly complex figures. What we want is a way to see instantly how things are progressing. Some organisations can convert complex data into beautifully visualised data. They can also generate project streams at various contextual levels (from big picture through to mid-level detail). But it doesn t have to be this fancy a simple Gantt Chart on a whiteboard can be enough to communicate a clear sense of progress. 2. Frequency trumps duration Next, we want to short-circuit feedback loops. Put simply, most board meetings are simply too cumbersome, long and irrelevant. It is a vicious cycle. Agendas can be lengthy, so not all items are covered and things get delayed to the next meeting. In the meantime, more tasks are added to the meeting. The next meeting grows, and so on. The solution might be to meet more often, but most directors are busy people with a lot happening in their lives. If you can increase the frequency of your meetings, while shortening the duration great! But if that s not feasible, then integrating a shared space online that exists as a thread in between meetings could serve you well. Just reduce the latency between decisions and feedback, in other words, short-circuit feedback loops. A collaborative platform like Basecamp or even the use of secure Google Hangouts could keep people productively engaged with progress. Marry this with a visible structure, like a high-level Gantt Chart (or Basecamp s in-built timeline) and you ll have an environment where people will want to invest effort towards progress. 3. Think in terms of projects Enough with the long-term S.M.A.R.T. goals and fixed key performance indicators (KPIs). The view that steering a company through these times requires much more agility and detailed planning beyond a year or two is increasingly an exercise in fallacy. Rather, think in terms of quarterly projects. Choose three projects that matter each

7 6 Five ways to change the game quarter the three things that will contribute the most to progress and growth. And then play hard. 4. Conduct experiments Projects trump goals because they have a clear and fixed outcome. They have a deliverable. And, as such, it is a lot easier to measure and see progress in projects. But part of the paralysing nature of this is that some projects fail. How your board responds to failures is a key indicator of its attitude to progress, change and growth. The path to innovation is often non-linear and fraught with failure. The key is to fail fast, fail safe and fail forward. Some more enlightened organisations celebrate both success and failure, yet punish apathy. You see, if you re failing it means you re exploring and trying new things. But if that s a bit too heavy, think of it like this in science there s no such thing as failure, only disproven hypotheses. So, avoid trying to come up with the perfect strategy or plan in isolation. Instead, conduct more experiments. Unpack the results in your board meetings and let strategy become more emergent. 5. Build the narrative There are two main spectrums that surround any idea abstract to detailed and logical to emotive. When contributing to any business, it s important to be strong in both big picture and detailed logical thinking. But don t forget the emotive side of things the story that you are contributing to; the hero s journey of the company you represent; and when all else fails, it s meaning that people will rally to. These five simple, high-level ways will help you weave a better motivation strategy and design into the companies you represent. But remember the house always wins and games always favour their maker. There s always a game at play, but with a bit of design savvy, we can make anything work better. For more growth and strategy resources w: companydirectors.com.au/resource-centre