Commit to goals and deliverables not priorities

The economy is causing many executives to drive their teams harder to produce results. With competitors aggressively chasing after fewer bucks there’s more pressure than ever for the businesses to change sales/marketing approaches and even to tune product strategy. That leaves department heads with the impossible task of having to deliver on prior commitments while accommodating requests from above on new initiatives. The only way out is to talk goals and deliverables not priorities. Here’s an example:

What if you only got agreement on the priorities and not the specific goals and deliverables? It would be very easy for the boss to change priorities or add new priorities because there’s not an obvious tie to the business in terms of outcomes. So instead, what if the Marketing VP were to “contract” to the goals and deliverables” above?

Naturally the Marketing VP can’t control all the elements in these deliverables but it will help tremendously if you could align peer VPs along concrete goals and deliverables. It’s in your interest to align your peers because your success will depend on it and your boss will value that far more highly than reacting to priorities du jour.

Talk tradeoffs not task lists

So going back to Richard’s predicament on handling changing priorities, a short list of deliverables helped him handle new requests by describing the impact on prior commitments. He asked his boss “So would you say that launching product XYZ by February 1 is worth slipping the website project by a month?” His boss didn’t like the parental technique of laying down options but understood better the implication of his requests. Richard now has a “plan of record” with concrete deliverables laid out for the next year. Anytime a significant new request comes along, he can now have a rational discussion on trade-offs to the current plan. He's in a much better position to negotiate a win/win.

Communicate results not activities

My friend, Walt Thinfin, CIO of Visioneer, said that he is like Richard in many ways because his boss, the CEO, will place new demands on him while expecting results from prior commitments. He’s practically being asked weekly what he’s done for the business lately. Walt’s solution is communicating results often. No one is ever remembered for having executed their priority list. Rather, executives are seen as heroes for having achieved specific goals and deliverables. Go back to the table above and ask yourself which ones would have a bigger affect on a performance review, bonus plan, or even just recognition among the executives? The key then is to keep your boss apprised of bi-weekly on progress on these goals and deliverables.

Please submit your comments and thoughts on how to handle a tough boss. Your peers will really appreciate your inputs.

Timely post, Sridhar, as we're all working on 2009 objectives and dealing with the realities of the current economic situation.

I'd like to add that the results and deliverables you suggest also need to be closely tied to business goals. Too often, I've seen marketing teams submit objectives that measure ACTIVITY success but are several steps away from business success.

As one CEO said, "the day I get paid on the number of people who attend a webinar is the day I will care." Business and sales objectives tend to change less, so anchoring marketing to these often results in a more focused and stable environment.

I'd also invite marketing VP's to open up to the possibility that they actually CAN do less with more. I've been through a number of downturns - some externally caused (like this one) and some internally caused (re-orgs, for example). I've also done a fair amount of purposeful re-engineering. Some people would be shocked to discover how much fat really exists in their departments.

It takes a brave soul to strip down to what is really core. Can we get rid of the flashy e-newsletter that ends up in the spam filter 90% of time? Do products on their death bed really need a full complement of collateral, sales tools and web pages?

Clearing out cherished dead wood not only helps the bottom-line today but opens up beautiful white space for exciting projects when things get better.

Posted by: Kathleen Schaub | January 6, 2009 1:39 PM

Dear Kathleen,

Thank you for your thoughtful comments! Agree with you 100% on the need to focus on business goals...did a separate post on that. And, yes, less is actually more when it comes to focusing on what's core. Love your optimism in these tough days, Kathleen.

Sridhar

Posted by: Sridhar Ramanathan | January 6, 2009 4:01 PM