Dear Reader,
So, for Day 4 of our newsletter anniversary celebration I am rewriting an updated version of the popular series Strategy, Management & Teamwork for 2022. It is incredibly valuable to be able to look back and review past opinions, and if they hold up with the passing of time. Especially in light of present realities. Enjoy😊.
I’ll start with the original 2022 version (with updates), and a 2024 section.
2022 VERSION
Dear Reader,
Whilst writing my business school dissertation, several readers reached out to me with questions like -
“Pls, do you have any nice articles on growth or strategy as it relates to the future and change?”
“I am starting a new role and I have 4 team members reporting to me, do you have any resources on management and strategic planning for a team?”
“What trends do you see for 2022?”
These were great questions that really got me thinking about 2 things.
Every time we talk about the concepts of Strategy, Management, and Teamwork, they are done in isolation of each other. Why not consider them together?
Secondly, at the end of each year we write personal goals and new year resolutions, why not write goals and strategies for our teams for the new year?
Series Introduction
In this series, I would be attempting to consider these 3 concepts, and (practically) answer the questions asked above.
Let’s start with Management, as it affects Strategy (Strategic Planning) and Teamwork.
Management
Ideas are easy. Execution is everything.
I love that quote.
Management is the coordination of people and resources in an organization, towards the achievement of a specific goal. Today, the manager’s role has evolved from that of project management, to empowering teams to be more productive.
The simplest analogy of a Manager I can think of is a sports coach who tells his team what game they are playing, how to win, and how to keep score.
Management: A Brief History
Management spun out of Scientific Management (theory) by Frederick Taylor on systemically measuring production output at a factory. It encouraged an authoritarian approach and was practiced fanatically by Henry Ford.
50 years later came the theory by the Peter Drucker. He proposed a management style that was results-driven but ‘humanistic’, that balances short vs long term planning, informed by data, and places the individual at the centre of execution.
Enter Andy Grove
Management: High Output Management by Andrew Grove
Another significant contribution to management is the work by Andy Grove, the Chairman and CEO of Intel. He wrote the classic management manual High Output Management for the technology industry.
He took management principles from manufacturing to the ‘administration’ and ‘professional’ ranks. During Andy Grove’s tenure as Intel’s CEO, he oversaw a 4,500% increase in intel’s market capitalization from $4 billion to $197 billion.
In High Output Management, Andrew Grove espouses the importance of a manager’s output to his team’s productivity and hence the output of the organisation.
Here are some chosen highlights from this book:
A manager’s output = the output of his organization + the output of the neighbouring organizations under his influence. Note: organization is used as another word for team.
“A manager’s skills and knowledge are only valuable if she uses more leverage from her people”
“Being a manager is about how well you translate your knowledge to the team’s performance and output”
“In order to obtain leverage from your people, a manager must understand that when a person is not doing his job is due to 2 reasons. The person either can’t do it or won’t do it; he is either not capable or not motivated”
Managers can achieve high organizational output by focusing the team on tasks that are high leverage - activities that generate a high level of output.
He also developed the OKR system which was central to Intel’s success in execution and is the focus of this article. It has been adopted to critical success by global organisations such as Google, Uber, Microsoft, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Recommended Resources: High Output Management by Andy Grove, and Measure What Matters by John Doerr (Andy’s prodigy at Intel). Both books are ‘loaded’ – from running effective meetings to conducting one-on-ones (1:1s). I’ll encourage you to grab a copy for yourself.
“OKRs have helped lead us to 10x growth, many times over. They’ve helped make our crazily bold mission of 'organizing the world’s information' perhaps even achievable. They've kept me and the rest of the company on time and on track when it mattered the most”.
- Larry Page, former Alphabet CEO and Google cofounder, in the forward to Measure What Matters.
OKRs
“There are so many people working so hard and achieving so little”
- Andy Grove
OKRs stand for OBJECTIVES (what someone wants to achieve) and KEY RESULTS (the plan on how to achieve that objective).
According to John Doerr, an OBJECTIVE is simply ‘WHAT’ is to be achieved. They are significant, action-oriented, and inspirational.
KEY RESULTS consider the ‘HOW’. Good KRs are specific, time-bound, aggressive, and realistic. Ultimately, they are measurable and verifiable, you either meet the requirements of the KR or you don’t.
At the end of the chosen period (usually a quarter) you should be able to say with certainty if the key results were fulfilled or not.
To maximize OKRs, every team should have 2-5 objectives with around 3 KRs.
A key aspect of the OKR Method is that they can be produced at different levels of an organization – at the companywide level, departmental level, and at the individual team level.
These are then all linked together towards the overarching corporate strategy.
For example, if a company wide OBJECTIVE is to increase revenue by 20% from the previous year, one of its KRs may be to increase revenue through marketing by 20%.
This KR is then cascaded down the marketing development as its own OBJECTIVE. Based on this, the marketing team would then decide the KRs that need to be done to achieve this Objective.
According to Doerr, there are four OKR “superpowers”: focus, align, track, and stretch.
OKR Superpower
Superpower #1 – Focus and Commit to Priorities
OKR helps organization prioritize between different workstreams that are important, and make hard choices. “They are a precision communication tool for departments, teams, and individual contributors”
Superpower #2 – Align and Connect for Teamwork
Each OKR (from the CEO downwards) should be written clearly and shared for transparency. This should be easily understandable to enable alignment across the team(s). This makes it easy to identify dependencies, and when a team requires additional resources or support to achieve their OBJECTIVE.
Superpower #3 – Track for Accountability
“OKRs are driven by data. They are animated by periodic check-ins, and continuous reassessment. And endangered key result triggers action to get it back on track.”
Superpower #4 – Stretch for Amazing
“OKRs motivate us to excel by doing more than we’d though possible”.
They encourage one to be ambitious and think big. “If you’re getting 100 percent of your OKRs done, that’s not good. You probably weren’t aggressive enough.” A good level would be 70 percent.
OKR Examples and Resources
Below are 2 examples of OKRs across Sales and Marketing. You can find more OKR examples across different business functions and departments here.
Here is also a guide for your team: Employee guide to getting started with OKRs.
OKR TED Talk by John Doerr
Summary and Conclusion
Today we have commenced a new series about Strategy, Management, and Teamwork to enable better goal setting, and company execution in 2022. This 1st article in this series is on Management.
The key lessons are:
Lesson #1: Management is the coordination of people and resources in an organization, towards the achievement of a specific goal.
Lesson #2 - A manager’s output = the output of his organization(team) + the output of the neighbouring organizations (teams) under his influence.
Lesson #3 - “Being a manager is about how well you translate your knowledge to the team’s performance and output.”
Lesson #4 – The OKR Method which stands for OBJECTIVES (WHAT is to be achieved) and KEY RESULTS (the HOW that objective would be achieved).
Lesson #5 – Good Objectives are significant, action-oriented, and inspirational.
Lesson #6 - Good KRs are specific, time-bound, aggressive, and realistic. They are measurable and verifiable.
Lesson #7 – The 4 OKR “superpowers” are Focus, Align, Track, and Stretch.
2024 UPDATE
It is interesting re-reading this in 2024, so much truth. The only difference is the world seems more uncertain and ever changing, hence the need to be adaptable.
To get the management fundamentals down, but also be adaptable, and aware of the changing environment. For example, managing a team in a physical office, is very different from a team that is working remotely.
Speaking of fundamentals, a really insightful book on management is The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo.
Here are my top 3 lessons from this book:
Management is mainly about 3 things – purpose, people, and process. “A great manager constantly asks herself how she can influence these levers to improve her team’s outcomes”.
“Your role as a manager is not to do the work yourself, even if you are the best at it, because that will only take you so far. Your role is to improve the purpose, people, and process of your team to get as high a multiplier effect on your collective outcome as you can.” Your job is to be a multiplier for your people.
You should be having regular 1:1 meeting with all your direct reports. “The most precious resource you have is your own time and energy, and when you spend it on team, it goes a long way towards building healthy relationships.”
From all 3 the main question I have at the back of my mind is how can I use the meetings and 1:1 session to be a multiplier and give my team velocity?
That could be for defining a problem, brainstorming a solution, decision making, or just listening to your team. By so doing, learning what is working, and what needs to be improved, or scrapped.
I hope this helps you in your quest to become a better manager in 2024 and beyond. Good luck.
Thanks for reading and bye for now.
Nero
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