The Chemistry of Strategy. John W Myrna
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Sally, a non-engineer, had asked “why?”
Rule 3: Focus on solving problems rather than placing blame or being defensive
Sales knows exactly what the problem is: “If Bob and his crew in production would get off their butts and deliver what we sold, everything would be fine.” Bob’s response was just as simple and nonproductive. “If the damn salespeople would focus on selling what we can produce instead of making stuff up, everything would be fine.” Wasting time with the two departments blaming each other didn’t get the company any closer to solving the problem of a poorly defined product line. Of course there are problems. The only time a company doesn’t have challenges is when it’s in a stagnant market or not growing. One of the signs of a healthy executive team is how little time is wasted on placing blame and being defensive.
Rule 4: Respect differences of opinion
Each team member brings a different perspective to the table, which is important because strategic issues usually touch multiple functions of the company. An optimal strategy benefits from a 360-degree view of each strategic issue. Bert, the controller, was bragging a bit about how he had improved the company’s cash flow by shifting payment of vendors from 30 days to 60 days. “You’d be amazed how much that’s added to our bottom line.” Carol, the head of production, responded: “Oh? Can that be the reason our vendors no longer give us priority treatment when we need a rush shipment of raw materials? Do you have any idea how much it costs us to priority ship because we had to wait for raw materials?”
The ideal team is a diverse team with members of different ages, with different life and business experiences, different affinities with customers and vendors, and different passions. You must respect the differences of opinion to release the value of that diversity. (You show respect when you solicit, understand, and consider the opinions of people affected by your decisions before you make them.)
Rule 5: Avoid cheap shots
Beyond the obvious negative effects, cheap shots in a meeting can be used to short-circuit decision making. Often, as the team discusses a long-standing issue, a consensus begins to emerge on the action to take. A decision to act, however, will generate additional work and requires personal accountability. It’s fun to discuss a problem as long as you never commit to a solution. When it appears that this time the team is actually converging on taking action, a cheap shot is an effective way to derail the discussion and save everyone from the necessary extra work that a decision would create. The cheap shot-taker can then sit back and think: “Dodged a bullet! I can go back to work as usual and not worry about adding that task to my already burdened work day.”
If you chase two rabbits, both will escape. Strategic planning meetings are about deciding which are the right things to do.
Rule 6: Stay focused
An ancient proverb warns: “If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” Strategic planning meetings are about deciding which are the right things to do. The team needs to focus on what’s most important or the things that will show greater return. Joe Mancuso, founder of the CEO Clubs, retells the story of how one of his CEO members decided to save money and facilitate the strategic planning meeting himself. “He and the team spent half the time talking about the lack of toilet paper in the women’s bathrooms and never did get to discuss their truly strategic issues.” Without strategic focus you will end up going down a rabbit hole while both rabbits escape.
Rule 7: Add only new information to the discussion. Don’t flog a dead horse
“Everything would be better if only we had more salespeople.” Omari was like a broken record. Every ten minutes he would go off on why having more salespeople was important. “Everything would be better if only we had more salespeople.” Then ten minutes later, “Everything would be better if…” Finally, someone spoke up and said, “Does everybody understand that Omari feels ‘everything would be better if only we had more salespeople’? We don’t need to bring that up again.” This rule doesn’t prevent the team from bringing up an issue they have discussed in the past. It just says they don’t need to use up air time repeating it over and over again.
Rule 8: Permit only one discussion at a time
It should go without saying that you can’t listen while you’re talking. No, you can’t listen actively when you’re having a private conversation with the person sitting next to you. You aren’t fully engaged when you’re reading and responding to the emails on your smart phone.
Rule 9: Silence implies understanding and agreement
It’s three months after the strategic planning meeting, and the CEO wants to know why Chuck hasn’t implemented his action steps. “Well, I never agreed with that decision,” Chuck protests. The CEO says in exasperation, “But you were in the meeting and a member of the team. Why didn’t you speak up then?” Chuck shrugs his shoulders.
Life is too short to allow this to happen. Make it clear to everyone on the executive team that they must speak up on a timely basis or forever hold their peace.
Yolanda also hasn’t implemented as planned. When asked why she agreed to something she didn’t believe in, her answer was instructive. “I didn’t understand what you guys were talking about, so I just went with the crowd.” The CEO asks, “Then why didn’t you ask for an explanation?” Yolanda replies: “Well, I was hesitant to waste everybody’s time asking what cash flow was. I thought everyone assumed I would understand since I was on the team.”
The fact is, business is complicated and few people can understand every aspect of it. A healthy executive team appreciates this and has no problem pausing to allow one member to provide a short tutorial from their area of expertise.
Rule 10: Finish with consensus and commit to action
At the end of every discussion ask, “What’s next?” Create, document, and then follow up on an action step that includes who’s accountable for the action and when that action step has to be completed.
Enforcing the rules
Enforcing these rules is crucial and can usually be best performed by the outside facilitator. (When I facilitate meetings I empower everyone to be a referee by actually giving everyone a physical yellow “foul flag” they can toss at the offender. It’s a good way to enforce rules because anyone can flag an inappropriate comment in a light-hearted, yet effective, way.)
Let’s explore how these rules, and the overall process, support essential team relationships and healthy executive team chemistry.
The importance of intimacy
The strongest teams develop a sense of, to use a somewhat provocative word, intimacy. Intimacy is established when you make yourself vulnerable and share something that would be potentially embarrassing if shared with others. A healthy executive team can be open about personal goals, weaknesses, and objectives. They know that their team members will never use that information to hurt them, but will keep it private. They will use those intimate details to better support each other. We periodically ask each executive to share where they want to be in five years. On the healthiest teams, each executive will openly share their personal goals. On dysfunctional teams, they tend to provide empty answers, such as “I want to be doing a good job doing what’s best for the company.”
The importance of trust
The chemistry of a healthy executive team requires that team members trust each other. Trust is built on the three C’s: character, competence, and caring. There is nothing a team can’t accomplish when they can trust each member to have:
