Last month we talked about PSE Day 2 which introduced the Strategy and People legs of our three-legged People-Strategy-Execution stool. This month we’re going to dive into PSE Day 3, which continues that focus.
We’ll start with a review and discussion of PSE Day 1 and Day 2 work.
We’ll review each tool and answer any questions you still have about them as well as understand how they have been working for you over the past 30 days. Which tools do you need a refresher on? Which tools are working well? How can we continue to improve those execution muscles?
Then we’ll review your Key Accountabilities Chart one more time and start to take a more proactive approach by creating your Talent Plan. This is simply the future extension of your Key Accountabilities Chart for one year, two years, and three years from now. What seats will you need as your company grows?
This helps you to be more intentional about who you add to your company. You’ll decide first which seats you’ll need in the future and then you can be proactive about finding the right people for those seats well in advance of needing them. A benefit that can’t be taken for granted in today’s labor market.
Growing your talent requires effective feedback.
The ideal outcome would be that internal candidates will be ready to step into the growing roles on the Talent Plan. But that won’t be possible unless you and your leaders are able to give effective feedback to your staff. And each other for that matter.
People cannot improve if they don’t get feedback, both good and bad. We firmly believe that great companies are built with great people, but people only become great if they get the feedback they need to grow and develop. As a manager, it’s your job to provide everyone with clear performance expectations. And then clear feedback about how they are performing against those expectations.
Positive feedback tells people what to do more of. Critical feedback tells them what to stop doing or what to improve.
A good framework for giving feedback is Kim Scott’s model of Radical Candor. She tells us to care personally and challenge directly.
If you are able to care personally, you’re proving to that person that you trust them, you care about them as an individual, and you sincerely want to help them grow and improve. And if you’re able to challenge them directly you can give them the honest and straightforward feedback that they need in order to grow.
One does not work without the other. People have to trust you before they can really hear and act on your feedback. And you have to give honest and straightforward feedback for people to know that you really do care about their success as a person.
Once you’re experts in giving feedback, we’ll finish filling out your PSE One Page.
This is the two-sided document that captures all the important information about your company so that everyone knows where to find it and can refer back to it on a regular basis. On PSE Day 2 we covered Core Values, Core Purpose, Core Competence, Ideal Client, and Value Proposition. On Day 3, we will pick up with BHAG and complete the rest including 3 Year Goals, Annual Goals, and Long Term Parking.
“A goal should scare you a little and excite you a lot.”
That’s a quote from Joe Vitale. And it couldn’t be more true. Your BHAG should be something so grand and amazing that you’re not one hundred percent sure that you can reach it. But it should also be something so energizing and exciting that you can’t wait to try.
The BHAG, a term coined by Jim Collins, is a long-term 5 to 25 year goal. It’s a stretch goal that will take a lot of work and focus for you to actually reach. It should set a clear and compelling focus for everyone and it should also have a clear finish line. Your BHAG serves to get everyone on the same page and rowing in the same direction. It should be tangible, energizing, and engaging.
Your company’s BHAG will give everyone a common goal to strive for. A goal that will take the concentrated and collaborative effort of the entire company to achieve. Something that is so important and game-changing that everyone will want to hop on board. It helps to focus the team and make sure that everyone is on the same page.
Once you’ve set your BHAG, we’ll then set your 3 Year Goals.
That BHAG is your beacon in the distance. Your 3 Year Goals are going to make it a little more tangible. Still setting the course for you for your long-term plans, but helping people better connect to that future reality.
What do you need to accomplish in the next three years to reach your BHAG? Take the time to identify the big levers that are going to help you get to your BHAG. And focus on moving those. This gives people slightly more concrete objectives, but these goals will still be a little more on the abstract side given that they are still three years away.
You’ll answer questions like: What revenue will you be bringing in? How much profit will you be making? How many employees will you have? What will your team look like? Where will you be located? The goal is to create a distinct vision of what the company will look like in three years so that everyone has a clear picture of where you’re going.
Then you create your Annual Goals to help get you started.
Your Annual Goals break your 3 Year Goals down into a specific and concrete road map for the next 12 months.
What do you absolutely have to accomplish in order to have a great year? What do you need to accomplish in the next year to reach your 3 Year Goals? And start bringing that BHAG into reality.
These goals are much more concrete. They are the three to seven most important objectives for the next year. And just like your Rocks, each one needs to be written SMART: Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Time-bound.
The last section of the PSE One Page is your Long Term Parking Lot.
You don’t want to ignore problems and you don’t want them to slip out of view, but you also can’t let them take up valuable space in your brain. So you have to make sure that you capture them somewhere. Then you can return to them at the right time to solve them. That’s what the Parking Lot is for.
This is a running list of all the long term problems that your company’s facing. Long term meaning anything that does not need to be solved in the next 90 days. They tend to be more strategic type problems that you do need to solve, but not this week or even this month. These problems are generally important, but not urgent.
After we’ve completed the last of the PSE One Page, we’ll Wrap Up.
This starts with deciding if there are any Cascading Messages that need to go out to the rest of the company for those that aren’t in this room and reviewing To Do’s.
As always, the final step in wrapping up is a Go or No Go decision. After each of these days together you have the option to continue on in the processor to stop right there. If you choose to Go, we’ll meet again in 30 days for your first Quarterly meeting. If you choose No Go, we’ll make sure you have everything you need to use what you’ve learned in the PSE Days and wish you luck.
The PSE Method can help get your company unstuck and moving towards your goals again. It is singularly focused on helping your company run more effectively and efficiently.
If you’d like to learn more about the PSE Method, give us a call today.
