Wrapped Around Your Finger

We all know the type, the one who wants to do everything; on his own. We know the type so well, and apparently there are quite a few out there, we even gave the type a nickname — Control Freak.

He has to know, every second, what everyone is doing. He has to be involved in every matter. He wants to know about stuff when stuff happens and if you update him after the did is done, oh my. And he trusts, mostly his own self.

Don’t let the ‘he’ misguide you — women also can be freak out of control.

On the other hand, he is a gifted entrepreneur, an expert in his field, the number one sales person of the product or service he created. And it’s not a coincidence he is sticking his nose in everyone’s affairs. The clients always ask for him, want him to be personally involved in their project and the investors also demand him at the helm, as CEO, as COO and as Head of Sales.

It’s not easy being a one-man-show.

The hubris sometimes raises its head and the talented man who decides and does everything on his own wishes he could clone himself, since it is only he who could bring in the thunder (these are the thoughts that go through his head.) And there are times that this feeling of ‘only I can prevail’ gets reinforcements; an employee makes a mistake that costs the company a great deal; a client calls to complain about the account manager; a potential investor finds mistakes in a financial statement made by the accountant… see? He exclaims in silence, is it any wonder I insist everything will go through me?

Push, Push, Push!

After the chips have been cashed, and the realisation of the heavy toll that this scenario is taking on the company sinks in, the way to let go of the control and to start trusting more is by performing a dramatic chance in the flow of data in the company. The data should reach the CEO at the right moment, meaning, before the fire erupts. To give him the chance to quickly slide down a poll and race forward in a red truck to rescue, not summon him after everything is scorched and the only thing left to do is list the damages.

The CEO must know where each assignment stands, what is the status of each and every project, how Sales are performing, how satisfied the clients are, what’s shaking with R&D — and all this data should, need, must be pushed to the CEO.

Data that is being pushed to the CEO, at the right moment and in the specifications that he defined, provide the CEO a much needed peace of mind. He knows that the assignments he marked as important for achieving the strategic goals are moving forward as expected or that, his help is required. In any way, he’s got his finger on the pulse and there is nothing CEO’s like better than hearing the heartbeat of a company forging forward.

Balance That Scoreboard

In 1997, The Harvard Business Review declared the Balanced Scoreboard strategy performance management tool as the most important development in business in the last 75 years. Nothing that happened in the 15 years that have passed since poses any threat to the validity of this claim. So we can update the claim and say: the Balanced Scoreboard is the most important development in business in the last 90 years.

The methodology was first presented by Robert Kaplan and David Northon in 1992 — an iconic piece of business trivia. The Scoreboard provides tremendous added value to the CEO and the organisation as a whole by providing precise, concise and relevant data. One of the great achievements of the methodology is the ability to secure a balance of budgetary allocations for short-term goals on the one hand, and resources for long term goals on the other. A focused and in-control management of the Scoreboard allows the CEO to better communicate his vision through translating the strategy to measurable goals, and follow-up on performance by defining clear performance expectations from all ranks.

After everyone is clear on definitions of roles and performance, it’s time to implement a system that holds the company’s goals and sets KPI’s for every management team member (EMaaS anyone?) From now on the CEO can login to the system and immediately see the successes and failures, the status of every goal. The control is still at place, sans freak.

Roll Up the Sleeves

• In order to be in control without controlling the CEO should perform managerial routines:
• Personal work meetings — face to face, over the phone, video chat, or any other forms of communications practiced in the company
• Fixed and effective management meetings
• A performance management system that allows the push of data

Also, the CEO should communicate clearly at the beginning of every quarter / half / year the company’s goals for the upcoming period in four spheres:

The financial sphere — “In order to succeed financially, how should we present ourselves to our share holders?”

The marketing & sales sphere — “In order to achieve our goals, how should we present ourselves to our clients?”

The in-company procedures sphere — “In order to satisfy our clients, in which procedures should we excel?”

The growth and learning sphere — “In order to actualise our vision, how would we keep the ability to chance and improve?”

And so,

The Balanced Scoreboard translates strategy to measurable goals. All employees and operational arms get clear KPI’s. The CEO’s vision trickled down and reached all the troops.

A system that holds the company’s goals and personal KPI’s allows the CEO the be up-to-date on every task and goal, without driving the team nuts by micro-managing the hell out of them.

Data that is pushed to the CEO, at the right time and in the specifications that he defined, is giving him the power to manage and the confidence that everything is in control — basically, with the finger on the pulse.