Getting a Seat at

the Table

For the past 22 years…

What does this mean to me?

How can I use this idea?

What can I do right away?

How does HR earn a seat the CEO’s strategy table?

When you add so much strategic business value

that I cannot have a meeting without you there!

What strategy is not…• More, better, faster is not a strategy.• Effectiveness and efficiency are necessary… but

not sufficient.• Superb execution of fundamental business

processes… is expected.• Being extremely good at what you are

supposed to be good at… gets you no extra credit at all.

Effective Strategy =

Valued Differentiation x Execution

Key Point: Strategy is INTERNALas well as EXTERNAL

Zappos 98 = 0 08 = 1.2 Billion

Looking back, a big reason we hit our goal early was that we decided to invest our time, money and resources into three key areas: customer service (which would build our brand and drive word-of-mouth), culture (which would lead to the formation of our core values), and employee training and development (which would eventually lead to the creation of our Pipeline Team).

Even today, our core belief is that our

Brand, our Culture and our Pipeline are the only competitive advantages we will have in the long run. Everything else can and will be copied.

Gartner Research: 443 Global Company Leaders

Major Obstacles to Strategy Execution1. Inability to overcome internal resistance to change.2. Trying to execute a strategy that conflicts with the existing

power structure.3. Poor or inadequate information sharing between business

units/people responsible for strategy execution.4. Unclear communication of responsibility and/or accountability

for execution decisions or actions.5. Lack of feelings of “ownership” of the strategy or execution

plans among key employees.

Five Foundations of Effective Strategic Thinking

Business Acumen

Personal Experience

Pattern Recognition

Strategic Insight

Disciplined Execution

The Four – I’s

• Ignorance• Inflexibility• Indifference• Inconsistency

• Aggressive external market focus.

• Ridiculously high level of customer focus.

• Keep the “Main Things” the main things.

• Bullish on knowledge sharing and learning.

• Teamwork is mandatory – not optional

• Passion and commitment at all levels.

• Foster a healthy paranoia.

• Revel in change.

Southwest

One type of planePoint-to-point

Fast turnsLow fares / no frills

Friendly staff

Dell

BTOJIT

Inventory turnsLogistics vs. Technology

VOC

100,00ELP

NO FRILLSLOGISTICS

Southwest – Dell – Walmart What is the pattern?

• Extreme Efficiency

• Minimize Costs to as close to zero as possible – w/o negative impact

• All focused on delivering customer value

Good to Great:1,483 to 11400 – 700%15+ years

10 year study of 160 top companies

40 distinct industries

200 management practices

Winners, climbers, tumblers, losers

Winners had an average Total Return to Shareholders

of 945%... The Losers only averaged a TRS of 62%

From: What (really) Works by Joyce, Nohria, Roberson 11

The Four Primary Practices:

1. A sharply focused, clearly communicated and well-understood strategy for growth.

2. Flawless operational execution that consistently delivers the value proposition.

3. A performance-oriented culture that does not tolerate mediocrity.

4. A fast, flexible, flat organization that reduces bureaucracy and simplifies work.

From: What (really) Works by Joyce, Nohria, Roberson 11

The Secondary Management Practices:

• Talent = find and keep the best people.• Key leaders show commitment and

enthusiasm for the business.• Embrace strategic innovation.• Master the power of partnerships.

From: What (really) Works by Joyce, Nohria, Roberson

(T+C+ECF) x DE = Success

Talent

Talent + Culture

Cecil Van Tuyl

“It is all about people, people, people. You can kid yourself about a lot of things in your business, but at the end of the day it will always come down to people.”

The level of highly satisfied and engaged EMPLOYEES in your business.

The number one factor in increasing the level of highly satisfied and engaged

CUSTOMERS in your business is…

Not Engaged Engaged

En

gag

ed

Not

En

gag

ed

Job Engagement

Org

an

izat

ion

al E

nga

gem

en

t

50%

9%

Benchwarmers

7%

Free Agents

34%

Stars

Disengaged

22%Actively Disengaged Employees…

Financial Performance

Quality P&S&

Customer Relationship

EmployeeSatisfaction

Empowerment High Standards

Long-termOrientation

Enthusiasm, Commitment,

Respect

Training &Development

Fair Compensatio

n

CR= 104.12% increase in profits

CR= .404

CR=.334

CR=.277

CR=.275CR=.249

CR=.280 Coaching

CR=.285

CR=.371

CR=.365

CR=.191

CR=.247

TolerateNothing

Less

From: Practice What You Preach by Maister

Global study:16 countries529 companies15,589 respondents

100%

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

Extremely Dissatisfie

d

SomewhatDissatisfie

d

SlightlyDissatisfie

dSatisfied

Very Satisfied

Zone of Defection

Zone of Indifferenc

e

Zone of Affection

Loyalt

y

Customer Satisfaction

Terrorist

Evangelist

A 5% increase in loyalty among your best customers…

Can produce a profit increase of 25% – 85%

I hate you

I don’t care about you

I love you

Actively disengaged employees can reduce revenues by up to 22%, while highly

satisfied and engaged employees can drive profits up by as much as a 189%

What do engaged employees look like?1. They give more discretionary effort.2. They consistently exceed expectations.3. They take more responsibility and initiative.4. They receive better customer service ratings.5. They offer more ideas for improvement.6. They promote and model teamwork.7. They volunteer more for extra assignments.8. They anticipate and adapt better to change.9. They persist at difficult work over time.10. They speak well of the organization.

1 - 10

The key elements of a strong culture

Positive Culture

Fun

Family

Friends

Fair

FreedomPride

Praise

Meaning

Results

1- 10

Focus me

Know me

Care about me

Hear me

Help me feel proud

Equip me

Help me see my value

Help me grow

Help me see my importance

SBA

1,300,000 interviews: Basic 4 + 1

Goal Setting

TrustAccountability

Communications

RECOGNITION

Page 8

Extreme

Customer

Focus

6. Extreme Customer Focus

VOC

VOCSurveys

Focus Groups

Customer Panels

Comment Cards

Complaints Employees

Competition

Advisory Board

Website

Social Media

How do the Best Companies Deliver Superior Customer Service?

• From a study of more than 3,000 companies — narrowed down to the top 101 companies that profit from customer care — here are the Top Six Factors that were the fundament tactics used to build and manage extraordinary levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

1 -10

They listen to, understand, and respond (often in unique and

creative ways) to the evolving needs and constantly shifting

expectations of their customers.

Own the VOC

1. Extreme Customer Focus

They establish a clear vision of what superior service is, communicate that vision to

employees at all levels, and ensure that service quality is personally and positively

important to everyone in the organization..

2. Shared Customer Service Credo

3. Process = Repeatable success

• They create systems, processes and protocols to ensure that service delivery is flawless… without stifling the creativity and initiative of their employees.

They establish concrete standards of service quality and regularly measure themselves against those standards,

guarding against the “acceptable error” mindset by establishing as their goal

100% customer satisfaction performance.

4. Clear Standards + Accountability

Measure & Post

MPS Margin Per Sale

Talent

Customer Service

Customer Retention

They hire the best people, train them carefully and

extensively so they have the knowledge and skills to

achieve the service standards, then empower them to work on behalf of

the customers, whether inside or outside the

organization.

5. Customer Focused Employees

They recognize and reward service accomplishments, sometimes

individually, sometimes as a group effort, in particular celebrating the success of employees who go “one step beyond” for their customers.

Deal decisively with mediocrity

6. Reward and Celebrate Success

10 – 15 %

What Inhibits Execution?National Survey of 4,000 Senior Executives

4. Inability to work together (21%)

3. Company culture (23%)

2. Economic climate (29%)

1. Holding onto the past / unwillingness to CHANGE (35%)

In other words…

• In order to succeed you need a high-performance team that embraces a strong culture of disciplined execution and accountability while being nimble, agile and adaptable to changes in the marketplace.

Vision+

Values

Strategy

Commitment

Alignment

Systems Communication

Support

Adjust /Innovate

Reward /Punish

Where are we going + how will we behave on the way?

FocusDifferentiation“No”

Stakeholders + guiding collation

Vision + ValuesStrategyPlansGoals / ObjectivesTactics / Actions

Procedures / ProtocolsRepeatable Process

Clear / consistent / relentless @ Execution

Training +time / money /

supplies / people

Measure Track & PostTransparency

Renewal

Praise + Celebration Eliminate Mediocrity

9 Steps forEnsuring

Effective Execution

If you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to send a note or call. My email address is: john@johnspence.com

My twitter address is: @awesomelysimpleAlso, you might find value in the ideas I share in my blog. You can sign up for it at:

www.blog.johnspence.com

Lastly, these slides have already been uploaded to:

www.slideshare.net/johnspence

Thank You