Exeeding Investor Expectations: How To Demonstrate Organizational Effectiveness (Part 1 – Management Effectiveness)
Nov 30th 2009 · by Roxanne Allaire
Because the growth potential and risk factors associated with your company are two key measures investors use to predict their profitability (and yours), the successful growth of your organization will absolutely hinge on your company’s organizational effectiveness – your company’s top-down ability to consistently achieve organizational goals!
It’s critical to always be assessing, developing, and measuring your organization’s effectiveness at achieving organizational goals in five core areas:
- Management
- Marketing
- Sales
- ‘Customer’ Experience
- Executive Leadership
Part 1 of this article focuses on managerial effectiveness.
Demonstrate Organizational Effectiveness with your Management Team!
Although important, go beyond the track records and professional experiences of your management team and closely examine their managerial talent: their proven ability to increase the amount of profitable behaviors in your company. Right now, can you make a list of all the profitable behaviors that take place in your company?
If you are a manager, ask yourself these additional questions:
- How am I effective at increasing the amount of results-driven behavior within my company, team or department?
- How have I been able to achieve and show measurable results that directly impact the strategic direction of my organization?
- What is the strategic direction of my company?
- When have I provided clear, strategic direction for my department?
One of the biggest challenges your management team will face is creating an environment where people are excited to perform for the results of the organization! Managerial talent is proven through effectively…
- Leading in response to a variety of situations
- Setting goals to establish direction, define actions, and measure results
- Turning solutions into goals, and goals into actions
- Achieving Production, People, and Time Management Goals
- Planning with a clear and communicated purpose
- Making decisions employees can become committed to achieving
- Getting desired results from people
- Communicating in a way that cultivates knowledge and acceptance
- Dealing with negative behavior vs ignoring it or upholding its root cause
So how does your management team rate in managerial talent and effectiveness?
If there’s room for improvement, consider adding these concepts to your annual or quarterly performance appraisals, OR ask your management team to rate themselves in each of the above competencies prior to their reviews. Follow-through with setting goals to improve and develop your team.
Sound like a lot of work? It is! That’s why the best companies are the best. They’ve earned it. Again…we have choices!
Only talented managers can create a profitable environment that demonstrates organizational effectiveness, and thus presents less risk to investors!
4 Responses to “Exeeding Investor Expectations: How To Demonstrate Organizational Effectiveness (Part 1 – Management Effectiveness)”
Leave a Reply
Roxanne Allaire is a Strategic Life-Business Coach and President at Roxx Consulting Service Inc. She helps high technology-focused professionals face growing business complexity head on by helping them improve their effectiveness as CEOs, Managers, Sales Specialsits, individuals, and as leaders! Roxanne can be reached directly at Roxx Consulting Service at 866.455.5552.
Ms. Allaire’s article hits the nail in the first paragraph – top down. Organizations do best when those at the top set good examples -in business practices and behavior – for members of the organization to follow, Profitable behaviors are contagious, and result in a positive attitude, positive results and a positive “story” transmitted outside the organization, to stakeholders, customers, vendors, competitors, et al.
Dennis Dean
Managing Partner
Dean Group Media
Roxx,
I couldn’t agree more. The behavior/attitude that exists from the top down flows like gravity…good or bad. The experienced results are a direct result of the intangible input from the top executives that flows down to the management level and then further down. It affects, as you said, all stakeholders, both internal and external. An imaginary mirror in the offices and cubicles of all involved in the organization is essential for the process to work smoothly.
Well said.
Martin Jennings
Twenty two years of experience in several levels of management allow me now to say that this article is in the scope of “must read” articles at any type of management school or other MBA. Top to bottom practices and leading by example are the ABC’s of managing anything, yet I also believe that bottom-to-top practices are of equal importance.
Management must be willing to listen and learn from even those employees who are at the very bottom of the pyramid for they have the direct contact with the customers and the suppliers, they have their finger on the pulse of what’s really going on in the company. I have experienced on more than one occasion situations where management was sure they knew the answer to a certain problem but changed their minds completely following a discussion with an employee.
There is a Hebrew saying “A guest for a minute sees all faults”, meaning that someone from the outside usually sees things that are not seen by those who have been in the company for a long while and have gotten used to things the way they are. A CEO from and Israeli company I worked for, used to invite every new employee to a meeting after a week of employment to ask what has been learned and where the faults of the company might be.
And finally, one thing investors usually do not look for is what experience do members of management have in crisis situations. A true leader is measured according to her ability to stay profitable when profits seem like the farthest thing from reality.
Excellent comment about taking initiative to listen to employees for insight into a problem. Especially an organization’s sales people; they have a broad perspective into how internal operations are affecting their ability to do their jobs, as well as how an organization’s effectiveness is affecting customer behavior.
Also, what a great reminder to consider management ability in crisis situations. Seems as though this should also be a key measure for investors, and a key measure for hiring top managers.
Thanks Dennis, Martin, and Ophir for your thoughtful comments!