EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT
Tracking ‘ Busyness ’ or Results ?
By Joseph P . Truncale , Ph . D . Contributing Editor
Often times , I ’ ll ask organizational leaders a simple question : “ How ’ s business ”? The most common answer ? “ We ’ re busy ”. It seems like a positive response and why not ? It ’ s good to be busy , right ?
Much has been written and discussed about the need for organizations to monitor , measure and manage business activities . The enduring challenge of measuring what matters most often results in senior leaders tracking what amounts to busyness . While there is much to be said for working hard , activity alone may not be the most effective measure of success .
While no one is advocating for employees standing around with nothing to do , leaders would do well to rethink work-flow , processes , systems and people ; how they are structured , organized and deployed in the direction of organizational success . The issue is systemic and impacts even the best performing organizations .
I recently met with the leadership team of one organization trying to understand why they struggled to get invoices out sooner . While interviewing members of the accounting department , one particular process ( among several ) was identified as redundant , time consuming , and unnecessary . When asked why these steps were being followed , the response of the manager was telling : “ It fills my day ”. So that ’ s the objective now , to fill someone ’ s day ?
The classic article “ Staple Yourself to an Order ”, ( Shapiro , Rangan , and Sviokla ; Harvard Business Review , June , 1992 ) is as relevant today as it was when written more than thirty years ago . The authors highlight the many insights to be gained by simply tracking customer activity from order entry through delivery and invoicing . Try it and be prepared to be surprised , and not in a good way . You may find , poor sequencing , needless steps , bottlenecks , delays and simply too many hands in too many departments with a piece of the process .
This challenge of “ busyness ” is not confined to one area of business activity . Consider the IT department . Ask the person in charge how things are going and you will probably be told of a backlog of pending work , strained resources and people . Senior leaders are equally frustrated .
Working with the leadership team of a fast-growing company , we decided to take a
Adding technological upgrades to a clearly defined workflow will add productivity and have a monetary impact .
fresh look at this enduring challenge . We created a grid as a way or prioritizing IT “ tickets ”, work requests from internal colleagues for technology projects . We identified a list of criteria , then prioritized these items with a focus on how they would impact the business . Three surfaced to the top of the list : Investment cost , time required to complete the task , and the estimated dollar impact it would have on the business in real , measurable cost savings and / or additional revenue .
Attempting to estimate the monetary impact on the business is not an exact science . Nevertheless , it ’ s a useful exercise that gets the team to focus and can carry-over into decision making processes throughout the enterprise .
Organizational structure is another area that is often overlooked in assessing the efficiency of the enterprise . In their seminal work , Strategic Organization Design , authors Nadler and Tushman identified solid reasons why so many businesses are structured to fit an operating environment which no longer exists . Examples include IT services and the human resource function which often reside in the finance / accounting department . Why ? For many companies early in their growth path , the first software investment was probably accounting-based . Payroll processing and benefits administration , two HR functions were likely handled by the accounting staff . But as IT needs grew to become more strategic and company-wide , different organizational structure and reporting lines were required . Same for the HR function , which has increased in strategic importance as businesses large and small place a greater premium on attracting , hiring , and retaining top talent .
For more information including tools you can use to identify and track meaningful metrics for better business results , contact me at
joe @ ajstrategy . com .
Joseph P . Truncale , Ph . D ., CAE , is the Founder & Principal of Alexander Joseph Associates , a privately held consultancy specializing in executive business advisory services .
He is the former CEO of the Public Relations Society of America ( PRSA ), the world ’ s largest public relations organization . Prior to joining PRSA , Joe was President & CEO of NAPL , a business management association representing leading companies in the printing , graphic communications , mailing , fulfillment and marketing services industry .
Joe specializes in strategy , customer analysis and organizational effectiveness .
He is a graduate of Monmouth University and he holds a Masters ’ Degree from Rutgers University . In 2011 , he earned his Ph . D . in Media , Culture and Communications at New York University and was the recipient of the Prism Award for Academic Achievement . His dissertation was a ground-breaking study of the leadership styles of highly successful entrepreneurial business executives in the graphic communications industry .
Joe served as Co-Chair of the New York University Board of Advisors and is an adjunct faculty member at NYU teaching graduate courses in Executive Leadership , Financial Management and Analysis , Finance for Marketing Decisions , and Leadership : The C Suite Perspective . He resides in Colts Neck , NJ .
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