Presentation to ACS 2014 Technology and IT Conference

Sydney International Airport24th March 2014

Using data visibility to improve business performance

Who is your presenter?

• Not an academic or a scientist

• But a project manager who has had success and failure

When it comes to improving business performance …..

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”- Peter Drucker

What is the relationship between information and culture?

Structure

ProcedurePolicy

Identity

InformationRelationships

Adapted by author from Margaret Wheatley

Having a strategy is one thing, delivering it is another

Using data visibility is one of the keys to delivering

To reliably achieve objectives there needs to be a control environment

Objectives

Commitment

Capability

Measurement and Improvement

What are we trying to achieve

Do we believe in the goal

Can we do it?

How are we going?

Data Visibility

Bringing the pieces together

Structure

ProcedurePolicy

Identity

InformationRelationships

Objectives

Commitment

Capability

Measurement

10 things to do to use Data Visibility to improve business performance1. Be prepared to debate the measures, the definitions and

data sources2. Acknowledge you may not be able to measure everything

perfectly3. Presenting makes people learn the content4. Measure the misses5. Ask why 5 times6. Apply Plan Do Check Act7. Use traffic lights to focus attention8. Getting congruence is very powerful9. Be prepared to pay on the data10. Leaders lead

Be prepared to debate the measures, the definitions and data sources

• Arguing the accuracy of the data and arguing the definition of a measure or target is often the first line of defence

• Many initiatives fail at this point as the organisation lacks the energy or leadership to break through this barrier

• Be prepared to spend time and money on explaining and refining the measures

• Document the agreements and document the follow up actions

Acknowledge you may not be able to measure everything perfectly

Progress in buildinga new process

Measure the inputs

Measure the process being executed

Measure the output

Measure the outcome

“Increase customer satisfaction by responding rapidly to complaints”

Working group% complete

% complaints fully documented

% complaints processedthroughnew process

Average timeto respondto a complaint

Customer surveyresponses to specificquestion

Presenting makes people learn the content

• Teachers make the best learners• Do not make reporting a ‘finance thing’• All managers should report data for their site

or function personally• Senior managers should rarely be allowed to

miss the reporting of results

Measure the misses

Objective is to have 0 customer complaints:• Measure how many complaints

you get• Allocate each complaint to a

category• Use a pareto based on category• Allocate actions to investigate

on a who/what/when basis• Always follow up

Ask why 5 times

Apply Plan Do Check Act

When a measure is not reaching requirements put a process in place to recover or improve the performance

Use traffic lights to focus attention

• Green : clear objectives, resources ok, on track

• Orange : some risk to achievement or unclear objectives or solution

• Red : solution not known, project not resourced, …

• Immature organisations avoid ‘going red’ for fear of reprisal

• Mature organisations use a ‘red’ to call for the organisations help

Getting congruence is very powerful• Encourage teams to prepare before reporting

• It is often unlikely teams will ‘call each other out’ over performance or disagreements on status in public

• However in private preparation sessions they are more likely to challenge each other and come to a consensus view

• This means that when the team is together reporting the good and the bad everyone is aligned around what needs to be worked on

Be prepared to pay on the data“In concert with social needs is the desire to be recognised for personal accomplishments. Motivators include prizes and awards bestowed for outstanding performance.

Fairness and consistency in the recognition process are critical. When employees know that their efforts aren't going unnoticed by management, they take more pride in their work product.

In addition, their coworkers see the correlation between responsibility and reward and may endeavor to set the performance bar higher for themselves.”

Source : Christina Hamlett, Demand MediaBarry Stevenson

Leaders must lead

• Set and example and report some key measures yourself

• Encourage and support nervous presenters

• Don’t judge

• Encourage solutions

• Offer tools and techniques

• Tell stories

10 things to do to use Data Visibility to improve business performance1. Be prepared to debate the measures, the definitions and

data sources2. Acknowledge you may not be able to measure everything

perfectly3. Presenting makes people learn the content4. Measure the misses5. Ask why 5 times6. Apply Plan Do Check Act7. Use traffic lights to focus attention8. Getting congruence is very powerful9. Be prepared to pay on the data10. Leaders must lead

Data Visibility

Using data visibility is a key to improving business performance

Structure

ProcedurePolicy

Identity

InformationRelationships

Objectives

Commitment

Capability

Measurement

and the rewards can be magnificent!

VIVIAN BOHME | CEO, BOHME BOUTIQUE

"My managers are acting like little CEOs. Hallelujah!”