A business outcome recipe is a combination of defining, designing and effectively implementing what needs to be done in order to achieve consistent, productive, profitable and sustainable business outcomes.
Hmm. There’s something missing. Shall we have a chat?
Many companies stop short once they have defined and designed their new training materials, their new employee handbook, their new business model and strategy on paper, etc.
After all, they’ve done sufficient work. Hard work, too.
There’s a mis-assumption: everyone should be able to read these beautiful new materials and clearly and consistently comprehend what is being communicated. Everyone should “get it.”
You have all the steps documented. You have all the processes in place. You have your business outcome recipe. Voila! The outcome is a piece of cake.
Successful implementation of the hand-off of strategy for execution is assumed. A piece of well-baked business recipe cake.
There’s really nothing “recipe” about attaining desired business outcomes.
In spite of all of the discovering, defining and implementing, you really aren’t sure that your shiny new business outcome recipe will be achieved consistently.
You stopped short of where you need to be. You made a bunch of assumptions. There is no “wear-wash-rinse-repeat” involved. Your business outcome recipe isn’t fool-proof.
You left out an essential ingredient early on.
The people aspect of your business recipe is an after-thought.
These are the folks who are critical to implementing your business outcome recipe. These are the folks who execute those processes and practices to achieve desired business outcomes.
You sort of forgot to include their input and insight when you defined and designed your business outcome recipe. In fact, many of them are the last to know. Many of them are the folks on the production lines, in customer service and on the loading dock.
They feel marginalized. They feel put-upon. They feel victimized.
Even if you have created a well-conceived plan based on a well-conceived recipe.
The hand-off of strategy for execution is a critical failure area for many businesses.
Business outcomes are achieved because of consistent clarity of communication of strategy throughout the execution and implementation processes.
People are the first ingredient in your business outcome recipe. And not just the folks from certain departments or certain pay grades.
It’s no piece of cake.
That is why you’ve gone through so many consultants and training programs. That is why your rate of employee turnover is high and morale is low. That is why you have inconsistent outcomes every time you bake your business cake.
You stop short because implementing your business outcome recipe is risky. That hand-off takes theory into practice. Implementing those new processes requires developing new habits and mindset and jettisoning biases and baggage from “the way it was.”
There’s nothing cookbook about that, is there?
Business outcomes are achieved because of the quality of interrelationships between the people who implement strategy. These are real human interactions, not simply a matter of reading a To-Do list and following orders.
Take a good look at your current business outcome recipe, if you have one.
My advice: Take the risk to include the breadth and depth of the people ingredient as your first step. That decision makes all the difference in your business outcome.
Photo courtesy of Jacek Nowak on 123rf.com.
Babette N. Ten Haken, President of Sales Aerobics for Engineers®, LLC is a management strategist and team-building leadership coach. She helps companies, teams, startups and small businesses who wrestle with unpredictable revenue streams. She and her clients co-create Playbooks, resulting in more productive, profitable and healthy organizations. Her Playbook on leadership and business strategies, including tools, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com.
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