ExecBlueprints-CEO as Manager

7/31/2019 ExecBlueprints-CEO as Manager

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The management experts from the Service Source, Enlightened,

and the Co-operators Group share their insights on:

CEO as Manager:

Holding YourManagement TeamAccountable forAchieving Goals

Louis W. Meeks IIChief Executive Officer, The Service Source

Antwanye FordPresident, Enlightened Inc.

Kathy BardswickPresident and Chief Executive Officer

The Co-operators Group Limited

Accountability and achievement are two sides of the same coin

and achieving business results depends on driving accounta-bility and alignment with the CEOs vision. Vision does not

trickle down on its own: It takes a concerted effort by the CEO totie his or her vision to specific managers and specific metrics anddrive it down the organization. This begins with a clear, concise state-ment of a few goals these must be tied to specific individual goalsthroughout the organization and measured regularly. Once the CEOgives an employee a line of sight to larger corporate goals, thatemployee will feel empowered to find new ways to contribute moreand drive the long-term success of the organization.

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Action Points

I. Developing Company Goals

The management team has todevelop the companys strategic goals.

II. The Bottom Line

The best practice for maintaining

accountability among managers is tyingmanagement and executivecompensation to meeting objectives.

III. Must-Haves for Spreading Vision

Spreading vision depends on clarity,energy, and empowerment.

IV. The Golden Rules for Establishing

Accountability

Align goals throughout the business,focus those goals, and measure

everything.

V. Essential Take-Aways

Vision is effective only when coupledwith clear metrics and accountability.The CEO must have a genuine desire to

link personal passion to the organization.

Contents

About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.2

Louis W. Meeks II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.3

Antwanye Ford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.6

Kathy Bardswick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.9

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points . . . p.11

Copyright 2006 Books24x7. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without the prior written permission of the publisher. This ExecBlueprints document was published as part of a subscription based service. ExecBlueprint

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Books24x7, 2006 About the Authors ExecBlueprints 2

About the Authors

Louis Meeks is CEO of the ServiceSource. The Service Source is abusiness-to-business telemarketing

sales organization located in Adrian,Michigan.

The Service Source offers two servicesto customers. First, it is a reseller forAirborne Express (recently acquired by

DHL). In this business, it calls smallbusinesses around the country that areshipping overnight packages. Its secondbusiness is Officeville.com, a stocklessnationwide office supply dealer founded

in 2001.The Service Source has been recognized

in 2002 and 2003 as an Inc. 500 company.


Read Louis insights on Page 3

Antwanye Ford is the president andco-founder of Enlightened Inc., afull-service IT consulting firm that

specializes in business process improve-ment, Web application development, andcustom software solutions. In its first fouryears, during some of the most volatileeconomic times in the United States,Enlightened has increased its staff to 30people with customers including the U.S.Agency for International Development,Housing and Urban Development, FannieMae, the U.S. Department of Labor, andthe U.S. Army Southern Command. AtEnlightened, Mr. Ford is responsible forcorporate vision and direction, infra-structure (development methodologies,

project management), business develop-ment, electronic content management

and processing, and business processimprovement.

Mr. Ford has worked in information

systems for over 16 years, which helpedshape his lifelong dream to be anentrepreneur. Mr. Ford received an M.S.in information systems with honors in1992 and a B.S. in computer science andinformation systems from GeorgeWashington University in 1987. Mr.Ford started his career at a small defensecontractor and later moved to MCI. Inhis fast-paced career at MCI, Mr. Fordwas recognized four times as Employeeof the Quarter and was awarded theannual Circle of Excellence Award.

In 1994, Mr. Ford moved from MCI

to Intelsat, the worlds largest provider ofsatellite communications. At Intelsat,

Mr. Ford served as a change agent for thecompany. He was specifically hired for hisability to do the hard stuff.

After five years at Intelsat, Mr. Fordleft to found Enlightened. Enlightened hasbeen recognized by Black Enterprise in2001 and by Entrepreneur Magazinein 2003 as one of the Best and Brightestyoung companies in America. It wasalso recognized by Inc. magazine in2004 as one of the fastest-growing smalbusinesses in America.


Read Antwanyes insights on Page 6

Kathy Bardswick began her careerwith the Co-operators Group in1978. Prior to her appointment as

president and CEO of the Co-operators

Group on March 1, 2002, Ms. Bardswickserved as COO of the Sovereign Generaland LUnion Canadienne. From 1998 to2002, she was in charge of operations forthese companies and their subsidiariesunder the umbrella of the Co-operatorsGroup Limited.

A graduate of McMaster UniversitysM.B.A. program, Ms. Bardswick alsoholds a bachelors of science degree in

mathematics from the University ofManitoba.

An industry leader, Ms. Bardswick isa board member of the Institute of

Catastrophic Loss Reduction. Equallyactive in the cooperative sector,Ms. Bardswick serves as chair ofthe International Cooperative and MutualInsurance Federation and as a member ofthe Credit Union Central of CanadasCEO committee.

Ms. Bardswicks corporate boardpositions include seats with theSovereign General, LUnion Canadienne,

Co-operators Investment CounsellingLtd., Echelon, HB COSECO, and Cooperators Development CorporationShe is a member of the executive com-

mittee of the Conference Board oCanada. Ms. Bardswick is also a memberof the University of Guelphs board ofgovernors and is chair of the universityfinance committee.

Kathy BardswickPresident and Chief Executive Officer, The Co-operators Group Limited

Read Kathys insights on Page 9


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Responsibility for Results

Goals the management team isresponsible for are ones that specif-ically relate to their functional

component of the business, and Ifeel it is my role as CEO to beresponsible for all the goals andobjectives of the corporation as awhole. Regardless of whether thosegoals have been met, I am ultimatelyresponsible.

We will only create goals for ourmanagers if the managers can drivethe outcome and results; if not, thatreflects poorly on the CEO whoallowed that goal to be attributedto somebody who had no controlover the outcome. Goals that man-agement should not be accountablefor are primarily defined by situa-tions outside of their control, suchas the outcome of a lawsuit.

Otherwise, our corporate cultureis summed up as, If everyone isaccountable, then no one is. Whatthat means in our organizationis that there is only one person whohas ownership of every goal, becausewe have discovered that if more than

one person is accountable, thatcan lead to finger-pointing andshifting of responsibility.

For communicating goals anddetailing ownership of the out-comes, we have an annual meetingplanning session wherein one of ourobjectives is to define the five mostimportant things the corporationhas to get done for the year. Then,

of those top five objectives, each onehas a manager accountable forattaining it. We take a top-downapproach, wherein those managersare then accountable for relaying

that information to the peoplebelow them, the middle managers,to the assistant managers, and ulti-mately to the sales staff who exe-cute the plan.

Distribution of

Responsibility and Ensuring

Achievement of Goals

In the customer service department,all company directives and objec-tives flow down from the vice pres-

ident of operations. Our vicepresident of operations wouldassign the accountability down tothe customer service manager, whodeals directly with or manages thecustomer service reps, who are onthe phones satisfying our customersand driving the end results.

The annual goals have singularaccountabilities one personis accountable and then we havethe quarterly goals that are also setat the beginning of the year. Wemonitor progress toward thosegoals through monthly meetingswith the senior leadership team, andthen we report on the annualand quarterly goals at our quarterlyoff-site meetings. With respect tothose goals, it always breaks downto the five annual goals the

company has to meet, and then thefive quarterly goals, which some-how relate to attaining the annuagoals. On a monthly basis, the sen-ior leadership team has an all-daymeeting and then we report in. Theperson who has the accountabilityreports in with respect to the quar-terly goals they are responsible for

discusses the progress toward reach-ing those goals, and identifies anychallenges and, if necessary, whatwe can do as a team to ensurethat we get back on track towardattaining those goals. There aremonthly check-ins to ensure thatour quarterly goals are met. Thenat our quarterly off-site meetingwith the senior leadership team, we

Books24x7, 2006 Louis W. Meeks II ExecBlueprints 3

Louis W. Meeks II

Chief Executive Officer

The Service Source

We stay very involved in the progress

of our low-level managers, because we

never want to be surprised.

Leads the business-to-business tele-

marketing sales organization

Company was recognized in 2002

and 2003 as an Inc. 500 company

Company offers two services, one as

a reseller for Airborne Express and

the other via the office supply dealer

Officeville.com

Mr. Meeks can be emailed at

[email protected]


I consider accountability and achievement to beone and the same; either the goals were reachedor they werent.

Louis W. Meeks IIChief Executive Officer

The Service Source


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will also evaluate how we aredoing with respect to hitting ourannual targets.

The best practices for ensuring

success are included in the entireprocess discussed above. Our organ-ization is able to move quickly toidentify a struggling managerbecause we have these regular check-in times where they have to reporton their specific goals. Therefore, wewill know very quickly if a personis in over his or her head, if thegoal is too big to be attained, or ifhe or she is simply not capable ofdoing the job. The best practices are

simply to go through this processand ensure that there is buy-in fromthe managers, and that they haveall the resources necessary to attainthose goals. My job as the CEO isto ensure that a goal is realistic andattainable and that the manager hasthe resources to get it done.

I am a strong believer that thisis a universal application in thesense that we have a small company,only 60 employees, but even com-

plex businesses have to be reduced

down to the small number of themost important things the companyhas to get done. You cant presenta manager with a list of 25 goals toexecute, major projects that move

the corporation forward, becausethat is unrealistic. You need to sim-plify in order to have goals that arerealistic. According to Jack Welsh,he would have his direct managerswrite down on a three-by-five cardthe top five things that have to bedone this quarter and report in onhow they did on the previous topfive. I believe in simplicity inmanagement.

Benchmarking Managerial

Accountability and

Achievement

The managers who have accounta-bility to the top five objectives of thecorporation are required to reportin at the annual planning session onwhether they hit their objective, andat the quarterly offsite meetings, themanager who has accountability for

a quarterly objective needs to stand

up and tell the rest of the seniorleadership team whether they hittheir goal, and if not, why, andwhat they are going to do tochange that. Its a kind of peer pres-

sure. With a good managementteam and a good leadership teamthat is well aligned, there are no sur-prises at the meetings because weare working together as a team toensure that we are not embarrassedat a quarterly meeting or an annuaplanning session. If we have man-agers who simply miss their quar-terly objective on a regular basiswithout justifiable reasons, then

ultimately we have identified per-sonnel who should not be in thosepositions.

We have loose three- to five-yeardirectional goals, but those are verygeneral, such as where we want totake the corporation. In practice, wefind that having a three-year goal isjust a little too far out with respectto the marketplace. To have athree-year goal and hand it toa manager to achieve just doesnt

work. We limit our objectives toone-year goals; with the account-abilities for managers, we havechosen not to have anything longerthan a one-year objective to executeon.

Given the proper resource allo-cation to the manager to achievetheir objectives, over time theyshould be operating at no less thanan 80 percent achievement recordbut the CEO needs to look at it ona case-by-case basis. If there areexternal factors that came throughthe marketplace that strongly con-tributed to a managers not hittingtheir goals, then clearly I am notgoing to hold him or her account-able. If, on the other hand, at theend of the year their goal was notmet and they had all of the


Louis W. Meeks IIChief Executive Officer, The Service Source (continued)

Creating Ownership of Business Outcomes

Define top corporate objectives.

Assign executive ownership of each one.

Have managers cascade these goals in each department.

Regularly monitor goal progress.


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resources they needed, they had allthe team members willing to helpout, there were no external factorsthat changed from the time thatmeeting was set or the goal was set,

then that raises some questions.Did the CEO not do a good job ofdeveloping this person? Is this a fail-ure to properly manage the person?Or does that manager simply nothave the horsepower whetherit is mental, intellectual, oremotional for the task at hand?Given that external factors were nota major issue, the manager shouldbe hitting the goal 85 percent of the

time.When we have our planning ses-sions, we will ask whether a goal is100 percent achieved, 75 percentachieved, 50 percent achieved, or 25percent achieved.

Our executives are involved inthe development of the annualgoals as well as the quarterly goals.We are also in the monthly meetingswhere the lower-level managersreport on their progress toward

their specific goals. Its not our styleto just hand out quarterly goalsat the beginning of the quarter andthen close our eyes for threemonths and hope for the best at thenext meeting; instead, we stayvery involved in the progress ofeveryone in the company.

I consider accountability andachievement to be one and thesame; either the goals were reached

or they werent. With some appli-cations and some specific goals, itspossible to achieve partial success,

but accountability and achieve-ment should go hand in hand.

How Crucial Are theFront-Line Employees?

The lower-level employees play anabsolutely vital role in achieving ourannual objectives, so it is importantthat there is cascading of the mes-sage and the goals. If there is a quar-terly goal related to our sales team,the vice president of sales hasaccountability for communicating itto the sales manager, who will then

communicate it to the assistantmanagers and the entire team. As areminder, we will post it with bigboards around the office, like theUnited Way thermometer, so everyemployee can see exactly how wellwe are doing toward the attainmentof that quarterly goal. If that mes-sage from a quarterly standpoint isnot cascaded down if the peopleultimately responsible for doing theday-to-day grunt work of bringing

in new customers have not hadthose goals transmitted to them

it is very difficult to achieve successHaving a clear understanding atevery level of the organization is

vital.The idea of having lower-leve

employee input on defining man-agement goals sounds very valid onthe surface; however, we set ourgoals from the top down, not thebottom up. Everything starts withwhat the shareholders objectivesfor the corporation are for the yearand then the senior leadership teamevolves the top five things we needto get done on a quarterly basis to

drive that annual target for the cor-poration, and then we push itdown through the organization. Wecertainly utilize our lower-leveemployees and strongly push themto have good suggestions on how tochange a sales script or serve ourcustomers, for example. We payvery close attention to those ideasbut in terms of creating goals for thecorporation, it doesnt seem that itis their role.


Louis W. Meeks IIChief Executive Officer, The Service Source (continued)

Expert Advice

From our perspective, the ROI is defined at one stage above the leadership teamgathering at the annual planning meeting where the shareholders create our rev-

enue goals and our net income goals for the year. My job as CEO is to take thatknowledge of our shareholders net income and revenue goals and translate it into

the top five things we have to do in order to achieve the shareholders objectivesin terms of revenue and net income. If we hit our annual top five objectives and

we hit our quarterly objectives, I know we will deliver on our revenue and incomegoals, which is the only ROI metric that matters delivering performance to theshareholders. A CEO, in my view, has two major responsibilities: to provide finan-

cial growth to the shareholders and to grow other leaders.


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Responsibilities of the

Management Team

The management team has todevelop the companys strategic

goals. It is wise to start off by ask-ing where the company is going andwhere it needs to go. The manage-ment team needs to establish strate-gic goals and make sure thecorporate goals and objectives mapto those strategic goals. At the endof the day, all goals should map tothe strategic plan. Without a strate-gic plan, an organization is like aboat without a rudder.

Executive management needs tocreate the vision for the company,but there are key individuals withinthe organization who should be partof the process. Creating the corpo-rate vision cannot be everyonesresponsibility. However, it is every-ones responsibility to follow thatvision.

Individual staff development isthe responsibility of line manage-ment. As an executive, I may not

know employees exact goals andneeds. It is my responsibility tomake sure the strategic plan mapsto the corporate objectives, whichmap to the departmental objectives,which should map to the individualemployee objectives. If an employeecan see themselves in the corporatevision, there is buy-in for the cor-porate plan.

Communicating Goals to

Managers

Once we develop the strategic plan,we map objectives to the plan. Our

goals and objectives become the goalsand objectives of the various depart-ment heads. For example, specificcorporate goals are given to thebusiness development group. It isimperative that corporate leadershipexplain the importance of thesegoals and objectives and how theyare tied directly to the companysgoals. It is also important thatemployees have formal objectives in

the critical areas of the company thattie to our strategic goals. It is the jobof the manager to communicate thecorporate objectives to their staffand ensure that their staff under-stands the criticality of thoseobjectives.

Management takes a corporate-wide review of the strategic plan.Everyone hears the plan from mypartner and myself. They under-stand that what their managers tell

them is coming from the executiveteam. We try to review strategicplans quarterly among the man-agement team.

Ensuring Goal Completion

In order to track our objectives andgoals, we use a spreadsheet that isevaluated on a monthly basis. We

look at where we are versus wherewe should be. Each individualsobjectives are also reviewed quar-terly so they know where they areversus where they need to be

There are no surprises.Goals and objectives change due

to environmental factors. When theUnited States went to war, we hadcertain objectives to meet from acorporate perspective. Being a gov-ernment contractor, we wereaffected when the budgets for non-defense agencies changed. All of asudden, an agency we were working

Books24x7, 2006 Antwanye Ford ExecBlueprints 6

Antwanye Ford

President

Enlightened Inc.

Lower-level employees have the most

accurate insight into customer wants

and needs.

Has worked in information systems

for over 16 years

Former Employee of the Quarter

and Circle of Excellence Award

recipient while working for MCI

M.S. in information systems and B.S.

in computer science and information

systems, George Washington

University

In 2004, company was number 264

on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-

growing small businesses

Mr. Ford can be emailed at

[email protected]


Executive management needs to create the visionfor the company, but there are key individualswithin the organization who should be part ofthe process.

Antwanye Ford

President

Enlightened Inc.


7/12

with had its budget cut because ofthe war. If we had an objective toget a certain amount of businessfrom that agency, our success wouldhave been impacted by no fault of

the company or the individual.

If we did a straight analysisagainst an employees objectiveswith no review period, we wouldhave no corrective action. We havea review process, and we update thespreadsheet that tracks our objec-tives and gives us an opportunity tocorrect issues.

We have to recognize budgetcuts. If we dont change our goals

to adjust to environmental factors,we will get burned. Strategic goalsshould anticipate environmentalfactors, but they cant always envi-sion every event. For example, wecould not have predicted the eventsof September 11th. However, afterthose events, the entire U.S. indus-try changed and we needed tochange our strategy to adapt.

Maintaining AccountabilityThe best practice for maintainingaccountability among managersis tying management and executivecompensation to meeting objectives.If employees accept theirobjectives, their compensationpackage should be tied to achievingthem. People typically do whats intheir own best interest, so that inter-est should be pushed down to thestaff level.

At Enlightened, there are no sur-prises when its time for a review.We make sure people are aware ofwhere we want them to go. A whileago, we got feedback that employ-ees didnt have the big picture inmind, so we started to communicateand share strategic, marketing, and

financial planning with them morefrequently.

We believe in employees beingproactive in managing their owncareers and objectives. As the exec-utives of the company, we need tomake sure we manage going down.If theres a corporate change andwere behind on a particulargoal, we need to put the resourcesin place to help meet the goal.

Its difficult to manage goals andobjectives only on a yearly basis,because so many things change inour society. We recently updated ourstrategic plan. The challengeoccurred when we needed toaccount for a presidential election,a war, and an uncertain economy.We needed to take all of these

factors and tie them back to ourplan and future.

Rate of Achievement

Among managers, 90 percent is anacceptable rate of achievement forthe goals put forth. If circum-stances change, we have to changemanagers objectives for the yearbecause they cant meet an objectivethat is impossible due to external

factors.

Lower-Level Employees

Lower-level employees have a keyrole in understanding the clientTypically, they are the people on sitewho are supporting the customerand the infrastructure.


Antwanye FordPresident, Enlightened Inc. (continued)

Mapping Objectives

Corporate

Objectives

Departmental

Objectives

Individual Employee Objectives

Creating line of sight to corporate objectives

encourages individual employee buy-in.


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If you can have an open dialoguewith lower-level employees andgive them an opportunity to makean impact on the company, you willget buy-in. It is incumbent upon the

leadership or the CEO to seek outlower-level individuals. Everyone inthe business is a sales representativeand a marketing person; every timethey interact with a customer, thereis an opportunity to make animpact.


Antwanye FordPresident, Enlightened Inc. (continued)

Expert Advice

The events of September 11th affected us drastically. We were focusing on telecom-munications, and the entire industry changed. If an employees objectives were to

develop a product to take advantage of the telecommunications industry, it wouldnthave been fair to hold that person to his or her original goals. We recently com-

pleted building an interface that allows all D.C. criminal justice agencies to talk toeach other. If a terrorist gets arrested and the federal government ties into the sys-

tem we just built, they will get an alert. If we manage our objectives well, we shouldbe able to hit 9 out of 10 goals, even if theyre stretch goals.


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Successfully Articulating a

Vision

A vision is only as good as the exec-utives ability to articulate it. It is a

picture we paint in other peoplesminds a common picture all cansee. Once staff members buy intothat picture and share a sense ofdirection, they will feel ownershipand, notwithstanding the prescribedduties of a given position, thrive ifallowed to contribute in their ownway.

Visions dont trickle down fromabove. They must be clearly, delib-erately, and boldly moved through

the organization. As CEO, I am tire-less in referring to our vision as thebasis for all the decisions we make.I spend a lot of time in front of staffin all parts of our organizationtalking about our vision to promotea shared understanding of wherewe are headed.

Once there is a shared vision,staff should be empowered toidentify and, in some ways,

self-select how to contribute.Organizations excel when staff arefree to contribute in their own way.It may not fit a particular jobdescription, but once they buy intothe vision, staff should have somediscretion over how to contribute tothe project, the team, or the com-pany. This often leads to employeesgoing above and beyond their core

duties, which helps move the visionthrough the organization.

Processes of

Communication

We also spend a lot of timeand energy communicating. Itstarts with individual communica-tion within teams, but we also haveintranet communications where,among other things, we relay cor-porate goals. It is important that thelines of communication be informaland without hierarchy. I spend a lotof my time speaking with staffgroups and soliciting feedback.

Given the right environment andsupport, people want to be theirbest and willbe their best. I needto step aside and let them go, butbe there when they need guidanceor when things are clearly not work-ing. My regular positive feedbackreinforces appropriate focus, behav-ior, and contribution. I set a frame-work in conjunction with my team,

who then execute within a definedlist of expected outcomes.

Goal Setting:

Accountability, Performance

Management, and

Communication

My approach to goal setting isto align goals throughout everylevel of the organization. Individuagoals are tied to departmental goalswhich are tied to strategic corpo-rate objectives. This binds staff atall levels more closely to the overallperformance of the companyit promotes a sense of ownership.

Books24x7, 2006 Kathy Bardswick ExecBlueprints 9

Kathy Bardswick

President and Chief Executive Officer


Communication is the key vehicle to

getting everyone in the organization to

buy into our mission, vision, values,

and strategic direction.

Joined the company in 1978

Board member of the Institute of

Catastrophic Loss Reduction and

chair of the International Cooperative

and Mutual Insurance Federation

B.S. in mathematics, University of

Manitoba

M.B.A., McMaster University

Ms. Bardswick can be emailed at

[email protected]

Kathy BardswickPresident and Chief Executive Officer, The Co-operators Group Limited

My approach to goalsetting is to align goalsthroughout every level

of the organization.Kathy BardswickPresident and Chief Executive Officer


Expert Advice

The piece of advice I find myself giving others most often is to listen to your heart

as much or more than your head. Follow your instincts as much as you follow rea-son and logic. Do not chase positions, titles, or power, because those things areultimately not important. If a person is not listening to what his or her heart is say-

ing, he or she is not going to find balance, quality, and passion. I think is so impor-tant for people to be able to look back on their lives and say, I wouldnt change

a thing.


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Goals should be few and focused;they should be attainable and meas-urable. Of course, these will notalways be financial. Some criticalgoals relate to matters such as staff,

ownership, and customer engage-ment levels, which are more diffi-cult to measure but no lessimportant. Measurability shouldnot get in the way of setting theright goals.

Accountability relies on meas-urement. I have a performanceagreement with each of my teammembers, and all staff membershave a written agreement with tan-

gible goals. A large portion of ourmanagement meetings focuses onstrategic thinking and assessinghow well we are achieving keymeasures of success.

Honesty in assessing andreassessing whether the organiza-tion is doing the right things isessential. Our organization has sixkey areas of strategic focus, whichserve as the framework for all staffperformance agreements, which

document their individual contri-butions and goals. Some parts of theorganization do a better job ofdoing this than others, and I spenda lot of time out in the organizationspeaking to staff to find out howwell their goals are set and how wellthey understand the linksbetween their contribution and thecorporations success.

Heeding Advice

At the executive level, it is criticalto be honest and ethical, as well aspassionate and courageous. Equallyimportant is the ability to have funand laugh at oneself while learningfrom mistakes. A healthy dose ofhumility will serve an executivewell. And ultimately, there has to bea genuine desire to link personalpassion to the organization.

A mentor of mine once told meI should be comforting the afflictedand afflicting the comfortable. That

advice has really stuck with me overthe years. First, I should pay atten-tion and be very much in tune withmy team and the people I workwith. Second, I need to make sure

I am expecting a lot and encourag-ing people to continually stretchto be their very best. And I need toallow them to make mistakes, andreassure them that as long as wereworking toward the same goals, Iam here to support them.

Books24x7, 2006 Kathy Bardswick ExecBlueprints 10

Kathy BardswickPresident and Chief Executive Officer, The Co-operators Group Limited (continued)

Essentials for Effective Goals

AttainabilityFocus

Strategic TiesMeasurability


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I. Developing Company

Goals

The management team has todevelop the companys strategicgoals.

Begin by asking where thecompany needs to go.

The management team mustensure that their objectivesmap to strategic goals.

Strategic goals must cascadedown to individual employees.

Make sure the strategic planmaps to the corporateobjectives, which map to the

departmental objectives, whichmap to the individual employeeobjectives.

If an employee can see himselfor herself in the corporatevision, he or she will buy intothe corporate plan.

II. The Bottom Line

The best practice for maintainingaccountability among managersis tying management and executivecompensation to meeting objectives.

If employees accept theirobjectives, their compensationpackage should be tied toachieving them.

People typically do whats intheir own best interest, so thatindividual interest must bealigned with the corporateinterest.

Make sure people are aware ofwhere you want them to go.

III. Must-Haves for

Spreading Vision

Clarity A vision is only as goodas the executives ability to articu-late it.

Energy

Visions dont trickle downfrom above. They must beclearly, deliberately, and boldlymoved through theorganization.

The CEO must be tireless inreferring to the vision as thebasis for all decisions.

Empowerment Once there is a shared vision,

staff should be empowered toidentify and, in some ways,self-select how tocontribute.

Organizations excel when staffmembers are free to contributein their own way.

IV. The Golden Rules forEstablishing Accountability

Align goals throughout thebusiness.

This binds staff at all levelsmore closely to the overallperformance of the company.

It promotes a sense ofownership.

Focus your goals.

Goals should be few andfocused.

They should be attainable andmeasurable.

Measure everything.

Accountability relies onmeasurement.

Measure regularly, andcommunicate the results of this

measurement to employees.

V. Essential Take-Aways

Vision is effective only when cou-pled with clear metrics and account-ability. Visions must be movedthrough the organization by theCEO.

The CEO must have a genuinedesire to link personal passion to the

organization. Aligning the energyand passion of everyone in theorganization is the main task ofthe CEO.

Books24x7, 2006 Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points ExecBlueprints 11

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points


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Books24x7, 2006 Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points ExecBlueprints 12

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points (continued)

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10 KEY QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION POINTS

What sort of goals should be the responsibility of a management team? Are such goalsthe exclusive responsibility of managers? Why? What sort of strategic goals are notsuitable for management accountability?

How would you go about communicating goals and responsibilities to managers?Would the goals be expressly set out? Through what mechanism?

What apparatus exists within your organization to ensure the achievement of goals in

general? What role do managers play in that process? How involved are managers inthe formulation and implementation of goals?

What best practices are you aware of for maintaining accountability for achievementamong managers?

How would you determine the ROI of efforts to ensure accountability among themanagement team regarding achievement of goals?

After communicating goals to the management team, how accountable would they be ayear later? Is this a reasonable amount of time to see achievement? How muchachievement could be expected after 12 months?

One year into accountability efforts regarding the achievement of managers, wherewould the process be in terms of smooth operation? How should the effort be reviewedafter a year? What would constitute success at this point?

What is an acceptable rate of achievement of goals among the management team?How responsible is the management team as a whole?

What percentage of managers must achieve in order to deem a program of

accountability a success from the executive standpoint? Does the percentage dependon the company? On the industry?

What benchmarks might be utilized in order to measure the success of managers inachieving their appointed goals?

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Documents

ExecBlueprints-CEO as Manager