SENALOSA

There was a good article in the Wall Street Journal today titled "How Understanding the Why of Decisions Matters." In it the author notes the importance of involving people in decisions to increase their buy-in and support for the issue at hand. Noting that it's not always possible to involve every employee in a decision, however, he goes on to suggest that the next best thing is to make employees feel as if they were involved by clearly communicating the "why" and "how' of a decision.

While this may seem like common sense, in practice many executive teams fail to follow this simple advice, often to their detriment. Some executives may feel too busy or overwhelmed to take the time to share every facet of a decision with employees, thinking in the end the conclusions should be obvious. This is definitely not the case. When it comes to the Balanced Scorecard all employees will be wondering first and foremost, why? Why the Balanced Scorecard and why now? The executive team may have taken considerable time and effort answering this question, examining the dynamics of the market, their place in it, and ultimately determining that a strategy execution tool is critical. However, until that is clearly communicated to an often skeptical and change-weary employee base it's just another corporate office rule to be blindly followed.

If you're looking for a more straightforward reason to share decisions with employees look no further than the most flourishing vegetation in any organization - the grapevine. If you don't take the time and energy to provide a concise and convincing answer to "why" you're pursuing a particular course you can be sure the more creative of your teams are more than willing to fill the void, and let's just say they're probably not going to be quoting the company line. Remember, first "why", then "what." 

Standing in line for a flight last week I overheard two people behind me talking about recent job experiences. It didn't take long for either to note some pretty significant weaknesses with their previous employers. Of course the usual suspects were bandied about: pay, benefits, and working conditions, but for one of them it was the people running the ship that caused him to make the leap to greener pastures. As he put it, "They didn't know what they were doing....there was no leadership, literally. They called themselves "Leadegment," leadership and management. Any time you have to make up a word you know how Dilbertesque the situation is!"

As a consultant for the past 10 years or so, and a long-time corporate employee before that I thought I'd heard it all, but "Leadegment!" Never before, and I hope never again! I'm sure this... what should I call them, leadership/management team had their hearts in the right place when they concocted this unique moniker, but to their employees it was probably seen as just the latest in a long series of smoke and mirrors attempts to keep them utterly confused.

Today more than ever I believe all of us want less confusion and more clarity - in messages, in language and in behavior. Business in the 21st century is complicated enough without re-writing the management dictionary. The same applies to your Balanced Scorecard efforts. When creating Strategy Maps of objectives and Balanced Scorecards of measures keep the thesaurus under lock and key and focus on plain and simple language everyone in your organization can understand and act on. If you don't, I might just have to inform your leadegment!

Thanks very much for visiting my new site, which just hit the net this past weekend.

In my books and consulting work I focus on clarity and simplicity, cutting through the clutter to provide the information busy people need. Those attributes were exactly what I had in mind when I re-created the website. I hope you'll find the new and improved Senalosa site clear and easy to navigate, while still providing the content you need to learn more about performance management and the Balanced Scorecard.

My hope for this Blog page is to provide insights and commentaries on all things "performance" related. And of course, I hope you'll participate as well, providing your thoughts and letting me know what you'd like to see here, elsewhere on the site, and in my published works.

Thanks again for visiting, and I hope to hear from you soon.