I recently attended Keith Cunningham’s 2-day course, ‘Plan or Get Slaughtered’, with a few of our leaders. What an informative and thorough experience we all had. Keith is regarded as one of the world’s foremost authorities on business mastery. As the Chief Executive Officer at Apex Filling Systems, it is my job to get clarity on where we’re going, and allocate the resources to execute. I know it is essential to have and operate a ‘plan’. Planning;
· Provides clarity on Critical Drivers
· Allows you to see the inter-connectedness
Planning needs to look at offense and defense. Our planning needs should include risk. Common mistakes of not planning for risk include: executing on an idea, not a plan; excessive optimism, irrational exuberance; faulty assumptions; ignored risk. If we have an implemented plan, we can compare where we are to where we thought we would be throughout the year. Our job is to anticipate the unforeseeable environments. It is crucial that we understand the difference between Oz and the plan, meaning, if you can’t describe the plan, you have no idea what you’re doing.
Critical drivers are critically important factors that cause an increase in value or improvement to your business. They are leading indicators. What has to happen to get to your KPI’s.
If/when critical drivers are executed correctly, you will achieve the desired effect. Achieving such desired outcomes is dependent on your clarity of critical drivers. Wherever the effect is that you’re wanting is missing, so is the cause. Whenever the outcome you want is missing, so are the critical drivers! Identifying and monitoring key drivers are crucial to boosting profitability.
Keith taught on a concept referred to as “The Triangle of Death.” There are three moving parts: Time, Price/Cost, and quality. A big mistake that companies make is attempting to be all things to all people. Software engineers will tell you to pick two. This will always mean placing less significance on the 3rd. It is impossible to find a business that delivers the highest quality, in the shortest period of time, at the lowest price, and has a world-class customer experience process! The reason is because that is not a formula for scaling a business or for being profitable, rather, a formula to try and please everyone and, as a result, going broke.
I took so much away from this 2-day course! A few of my take-a-ways I would like to share;
Get absolute clarity on the gap between where we are and where we want to be.
Boldness has power and genius in it. If you want something…commit!
Learning doesn’t happen until something changes.
Growth happens in stages. It’s not linear. What got you here, will not get you to where you want to be.
Everything you want lies on the other side of fear!
Your job, as a leader, is to create a clear, sustainable path to profitability.