Bounce Back: Survive and Thrive in a Business Crisis by Richard Mowrey

Author:Richard Mowrey [Mowrey, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Groundhog New Media
Published: 2020-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

MANAGE WITHOUT EXCUSES

In the end, critical objectives are either

realized or not!

I t is widely understood that uniform tracking of operating results is the fundamental function of all business reporting systems. That is never more important than in the middle of a crisis. You must know where you are and keep working on getting to where you want to be!

This function provides assessments of the results and reports the changes and balances in various accounts. There is always some delay in this monthly reporting. To assure that you are making progress, it is important to track a few key indicators. Make a short list of the drivers that deliver the desired results for customers and assess them daily or weekly. (Use a trending reporting system for every critical operating measurement. A trend reporting discussion can be found in Appendix A.)

Management accountability should be based on the variance of operating results from the original targets. This should be accomplished with uniform measurements. This approach is required to systematically recognize success and failure in a manner that immediately prompts analysis, acceptance of responsibility, and actions to foster improvement in real time.

When times are difficult, you do not want nor can you accept substandard performance. For example, if a company’s total sales or regional sales do not meet its objectives, someone must be “accountable” for the actions or lack of actions that should have been taken to mitigate the variance from the sales for the period. There should be no attempt by managers to assign poor results to a declining economy or to a competitor’s introduction of a new product. They should accept responsibility specifically for the variance from the planned sales results. Management’s job is to produce the needed (planned) results … period! (In bad times, management should step up and find solutions!)

Reporting on the circumstance of any variance is just that—it is not an analysis and not a way to off-load responsibility. If any part of your management team does not fully recognize and accept the responsibility for the company’s results, they will always be looking for ways to assign away the variance instead of aggressively and creatively seeking corrective actions.

Never view management’s job in such a manner that any performance gap can be ascribed to “uncontrollable forces” outside the company. Justification dilutes accountability and hinders the development of required new knowledge. One cannot view management’s job as partly passive when it is convenient.

What counts, and the only thing that matters in the end, is the answer to this: Were the required objectives, especially in planned weekly cash flow, met or not? If not, why not? And what has and is being done to ultimately achieve the target performance objectives and recover the variances?

It must be understood that the lack of timely actions or the wrong actions is too often the basis for performance deficits. In the discussion here, if management knew or should have known that the economy, market, or customer preferences were changing, then it was their responsibility to react and act to still realize the planned objectives.

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