How to Succeed When It Counts
Posted by Mike Lambert on September 25, 2009 under Management | 
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If there is a big opportunity or a big problem the best way to deal with it is to operationalize(1) the actions that will produce the desired outcome. Good ideas and plans are the first steps in moving departments and companies ahead but implementing(2) them comprehensively and consistently is where the heavy lifting gets done and results are achieved. Solutions may include a level of specificity so that people know what to say (use specific phrases), and what to do (with specific actions).
Examples of operationalizing a big opportunity and a big problem follow:
A Big Opportunity
Ford Motor Company’s new CEO Alan Mulally(3) has been given credit for a number of strategic, smart moves and changing the leadership culture of his team. His move to cut the platforms for cars and trucks nearly in half while increasing the variants of the platforms is certainly a bold strategic move. He could have told his top executives to implement actions necessary to make it happen. But instead he operationalized the “what” and “how” to get it done and made implementing the plan his daily focus.
For instance he changed the former reporting structure from 6 or 7 people reporting to Bill Ford to the managers of Ford’s four profit centers plus all of his functional managers, in total, 18 executives. He holds a weekly meeting with this large group to status all planned projects and solve problems as they arise. He said, “There are no pre-meetings or briefing books.” He outlawed BlackBerries and having more than one person talking at a time at these meetings. Mulally states “everyone knows that I have removed vice presidents because they couldn’t stop talking.” Most importantly by accepting bad news with a don’t kill the messenger set of behaviors and asking for the plan on making it better he has focused his top management group on solutions not good individual reports.
He changed the way the organization worked from a product and management perspective.
A Big Problem
In the last few years commercial airlines’ good safety record is partly due to very few incidents caused by pilot error. The reason for this is that here are two pilots in the cockpit, the Captain and First Officer. This redundancy is designed to provide the highest safety probability. However, in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Outliers”(4), he points out that until recently the benefit of this redundancy was not working properly. Incidents of crashes due to pilot error when the first officer flew a leg of a trip were almost zero. Almost all accidents occurred when the Captain was flying the leg. Strangely enough, passengers where safer when the First Officer was flying the aircraft.
Why? Captains correct First Officers when the First Officer is the pilot in command and the Captain sees a problem that the First Officer does not see. There is a lot of evidence (cockpit recordings) showing that when First Officers point out problems to Captains it was generally ignored.
A classic example of this problem was the crash of Air Florida into the Potomac River in Washington DC during a snow storm killing almost all onboard. The airplane was one of many delayed on the ground at National Airport due to a snow storm. After an initial deicing there was a long period waiting for clearance. The First Officer had hinted three times to the Captain that the plane had an icing problem. The third time the First Officer suggested they should take a look at the icing on the plane’s wings. The Captain never responded to the First Officer regarding his icing comments, received clearance to take off and crashed less than a minute later in to the Potomac River.
As a result of many investigations during a 15 year period every major airline has training designated to teach junior crew members how to communicate clearly and assertively. For example many airlines teach a standardized hierarchy of statements for copilots to challenge the pilot if he or she thinks something is terribly awry.
“Captain, I’m concerned about…” Then, “Captain, I’m uncomfortable with…” And if the Captain still doesn’t respond, “Captain I believe the situation is unsafe.” And if the Captain does not respond the first officer is required to take over the aircraft.
According to Gladwell this procedure as well as other similar training initiatives accounts for the extraordinary decline in airline accidents in recent years.
The Core of Operationalization
The steps to take when faced with a big problem or opportunity should be comprehensively different than a simple action plan. Instead, your plan should have significant focus, action, review, formalization of the actions to be taken and follow-up.
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References:
(1) Dictionary definition: Implement: To put into practical effect; carry out(2) Dictionary definition: Operationalize - to define a concept or variable so that it can be measured or expressed quantitatively; to make operational; put into operation
(3) Outliers – the Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html
(4) FORTUNE – May 25, 2009 – “Fixing Up Ford” http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/11/news/companies/mulally_ford.fortune/index.htm