Defining Objectives – THE 6:8 LEADER GROUP

What Are You Measuring?

January 18, 2016

“Success is built on your ability to do your job, the wisdom to spend your time on the issues which are important, and the skill to communicate your results.” Jac Friz-enz

So where should you spend our time? There are three basic options when it comes to measuring for success.

Spend your time making things as cheap as possible, and measure costs.
Spend your time making things as fast as possible, and measure time.
Spend your time making things as good as possible, and measure quality.

In my mind, “quality” is a lot more important than “fast” or “cheap,” but it can be difficult to measure. Measuring time or cost is easy, you simply count them. Measuring quality, on the other hand, is much more difficult because it cannot be counted, it must be judged.

If quality is important, and I hope it is, you need to be ready to make a judgement about whether the thing you do is great or not. And you do that by knowing what great looks like. So, make quality the driver by knowing what high quality, the best quality, looks like, and then measure against that standard.

Where to Invest Your Resources in 2016

January 4, 2016

“Like the New Testament parable of the talents, your job is to invest your resources where the returns are manifold, where you can have success.” Peter F. Drucker

We all understand the importance of having clearly defined objects and how they provide a way for us to make sure our organization’s mission and annual projects are in sinc. But what exactly do great objectives look like?

Clearly defined objectives are the part of your plan that provide you with the qualitative targets–what you value, how good you want to be–you need to make the best use of limited resources and move you to levels of success you’ve never seen. Looking for a place to start? Try the following on for size and start changing the world for the better.

Superior Performance: Results and efficiency in delivering on your mission

Distinctive Impact: Work done with such excellence that it would not be easily replaced by any other institution

Strong Connections: Lasting partnerships, great flow of ideas, well funded programs

The Missing Link

September 7, 2013

How do you create a link between your organization’s mission and the projects that will actually get you there?

The critical link that is often missing between a meaningful mission and meaningful projects is a breakthrough objective.

A breakthrough objective answers the question “What are the most important things you need to do as an organization in order to survive, thrive, or improvise?” Breakthrough objectives tell your organization and others what you need to look like? They are the tools you use to communicate the qualities that define what is important and the path you have chosen. Your strategic plan can be focused on a single breakthrough objective or a critical few, but it will seldom be more than four or five no matter how large the organization.

Breakthrough objectives will be the part of your strategic plan that provides you with qualitative targets for your organization — the targets that tell others what you value and how good you want to be. (Quantitative targets, on the other hand, are things you can count, and they will show up in your projects.)

How do these three connect? First, you will never be able to clearly articulate your breakthrough objectives until you have a clear understanding of your mission — your destination as an organization. Second, you will not be able to identify the right projects until you have clearly identified your defining objective— your value targets. Mission first, breakthrough objectives second, projects last. So, clarify your mission, state your objectives in qualitative, not quantitative terms, and find the projects that fit those objectives and drop all those that don’t. If a project does not fit an objective forget it or table it until it does.

A clear mission ensures you are working on the right objectives. Clear objectives ensure you are working on the right projects. Working on the right projects ensures you get the right things done. It is that simple.

Building a Leadership Team Playbook

July 19, 2012

Your team needs to build its own Leadership Team Playbook to serve as a guide for how you will communicate, decide, and lead. Here are five things to include:

Section I: Member Strengths

Begin building your Playbook by identifying those areas of strength where your team members will make their greatest contribution. Include insights gained through the sharing of Personal Histories and results from individual team member MBTI®, FIRO-B®, and TKI assessments. Personal Histories are shared in a team meeting. The assessments are taken on-line at The 6:8 Leader Group/SkillsOne web site, and are shared through individual interpretive reports. This section may also include results from other individual assessments such as Stand Out™, StrengthsFinder®, or Belbin Team Roles.

Section II: Clarifying Questions (See Post: Measuring Your Organization’s Health)

This section comes right out of Patrick Lencioni’s playbook (see his book The Advantage). It includes your team’s response to the six critical questions leaders must answer to give employees (and volunteers) the clarity they need to create a healthy organization. The six questions are as follows:

Why do we exist?
How do we behave?
What do we do?
How will we succeed?
What is the most important, right now?
Who must do what?

Section III: Strategic Plan (See Post: Strategic Planning with Hoshin)

Through the use of a Hoshin Plan, you will identify the Strategic Breakthroughs and related Projects that will help you plan and execute your strategic, organizational objectives. Hoshin Planning provides a process whereby everyone in the organization knows what direction to go and how you plan on getting there. The Hoshin Plan is a one page strategic project portfolio.

Section IV: Operational Measures (See Post: Visualize Your Performance with a Dashboard)

Operating objectives can be tracked using an organizational dashboard. An organizational dashboard is an executive information system. Like a car’s dashboard, an organizational dashboard provides decision makers with the input necessary to “drive” the organization. It may be designed to display summaries, graphics (e.g., bar charts, pie charts, bullet graphs, etc.), and gauges (with colors similar to traffic lights) in a portal-like framework to highlight important information.

Section V: Succession Plan (See Post: Succession Planning)

Succession Planning is the process of identifying a plan for the considered replacement of key employees. The key to successful succession planning is to establish systems that make it possible for the organization to go on when a key individual leaves. Systems, not individuals. And that goes for all key staff—the CEO, and any other critical positions.