Great Project Managers Make the Best Integrators

In our February Newsletter, AJC announced that we are offering the NEW service of “Fractional Integrator,” and last month in our March Newsletter, we described what a Fractional Integrator is.

In this article, we discuss how you know if someone could be a terrific Integrator (Fractional or otherwise).

Have you ever been part of a great project team?  Everyone knew their responsibilities, and what their particular scope was.  Team members communicated regularly and collaborated on solutions.  Everyone got their action items done on time, and felt comfortable asking for help when they were stuck or behind.  People helped each other and the final product, solution, or implementation was delivered on time, right the first time, and with enthusiasm by all team members that they had accomplished something great, and were each a valued member of the team.

Think back to how this was possible.  Who was at the helm of this type of project?  Who kept the ball rolling, kept people focused, and paid attention to the details? Was there someone who made sure that what people said they would do was documented, discussed both in team meetings and offline, cleared roadblocks, and followed up until work was complete?

Probably that person was the main Project Manager.  

Great Project Managers know how to facilitate, delegate, discuss the “elephant in the room,” and have an experience-based instinct for knowing what it takes to get work done.  These selfless people know that the real heavy lifting is done by “Subject Matter Experts,” and they dedicate themselves to serving those people for the sake of the greater cause.

This is the mark of a terrific Integrator.  I like to tell people that EOS is like “Project Management, on steroids, for a business.”  Just as at the helm of most successful projects is a good Project Manager, at the helm of a successful business will be a good Integrator whose characteristics, behaviors, and methods parallel that of a good Project Manager.

Integrators will tend to be Servant Leaders; they will find a way for amazing work to be accomplished and lift others up who do it.  This will be deceiving if the Visionary or Leadership Team is looking for a strictly charismatic leader.  That may happen, and it may not, to me it is not the essential ingredient in an Integrator.  Look instead for the person who brings people together, who listens to all sides of any discussion or debate, who finds a way to help others clarify their responsibilities and complete them in a timely manner, and who others say they enjoy working with.  So often that is a terrific Project Manager, who has the potential of being a truly great Integrator.

If this makes sense to you, and you would like some help evaluating current personnel for their skillsets as an Integrator, finding a full time Integrator, or working with a Fractional Integrator in any way, the first step I would recommend is to discuss with your EOS Implementer.  He or she will be able to best advise you on this course.  If you do not have an EOS Implementer, be sure to check out the online resources for Integrator searches, and if you are in the Portland, OR area, please feel free to reach out to AJC. 

What the Heck is a “Fractional Integrator” Anyway?

clipart courtesy of http://clipart-library.com/

Last month in our February Newsletter, AJC announced that we are offering the NEW service of “Fractional Integrator.”  

What the heck is a Fractional Integrator anyway?

If you’ve read Traction or Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman, you probably have a decent understanding of what an Integrator is.  This is the complement to your Visionary – the person who quickly and intuitively “gets” the big picture Vision of the company and can clearly communicate that to all leaders and team members internally; ensuring they are not only on the bus, but driving in the same direction to effectively execute all the work that needs to be done in order to realize the Vision. 

For example: If your Vision is to be the easiest company with which your tech-savvy customers do business, but you don’t yet have an inventory database system (ERP) or e-commerce option; this may mean researching, negotiating, and implementing the appropriate back-end systems, then following up with tying the system to a front end e-commerce platform that will meet customer expectations for fast and simple transactions. 

Another example: If your Vision is to have a productive workforce where everyone feels they are being fairly treated and knows where they stand in the organization, but you have not yet put in place a straightforward and consistent Performance Management program; this may mean aligning your values into the People Analyzer “Get it, Want it, Capacity to Do it” (GWC), training managers for evaluation, piloting with the leadership team, developing a reasonable review cadence, communicating with team members, and rolling out your regular performance management program across your organization.

(As an aside, the People Analyzer exercise will often have the side consequence of identifying who is not the right fit for your organization’s Accountability Chart.  This can be very painful for everyone, though if separations are done as fairly and empathetically as possible, it will truly leave both the individual(s) and company in a better place in the long run.  It is often helpful to have a Fractional Integrator help you work through this, rather than a full time employee, as will be discussed further below.)

Hopefully these examples help shed light on a role that can be ambiguous to understand concretely.  Below are some generic bullet points that also describe the role.

• Maintain accountability for your Rocks and EOS Implementation
• Facilitate your Pulse meetings (L10s, Quarterly - if no formal Implementer)
• Help design, organize, and effect your Accountability Chart
• Ensure your Scorecard is in place and being tracked with the proper cadence
• Orchestrate the effective implementation of your People Analyzer process
• Generally: Ensure that you EXECUTE to your amazing Vision!

If I were to offer a “steel man” argument to having a Fractional Integrator, it would be that an Integrator sounds like a role that should be a full time employee (FTE).  Shouldn’t this person be in the business every day working with the team and providing leadership and face time?

These are very good points, and the answer (as always) is “It depends.”  A Fractional Integrator, like the fairly common models of Fractional CFO or Fractional CMO or VP of Sales, are likely sufficient to provide the catalyst needed to effect change and maintain accountability.  Additionally, a very good Integrator – someone experienced who is able to walk the fine line between holding team members “hard line” accountable and knowing when to back off and correct course – will likely be expensive and/or hard to find.  Finally, the risks for a “bad hire” are greater in the case of an employee than a contract Fractional position; often the employment agreement will have severance or equity stipulations and the HR aspect will need to be handled differently if the hire does not work out. Terminating a contract is, by comparison, fairly straightforward.

On the other hand, if the business is able to get by until an FTE Integrator is found and interviewed for fit, can afford the salary, needs the HR component of the Integrator’s leadership, as well as really believes the daily face time is very important, then a Fractional Integrator is probably not the right choice.  A potential hybrid model could be to get someone fractionally as interim, even up to full time hours, until the right full-time employee can be selected and trained.

As alluded to above, one final consideration for a Fractional Integrator is in regards to the People Analyzer implementation and ensuring the right people are in the right seats of your Accountability Chart.  Integrators promoted from within may have a challenging time objectively assessing the right roles and fit for where the company is going to meet the Visionary’s desired future state.  And if a new Integrator is hired as an FTE, s/he will likely have direct HR reports, and probably will want to build rapport with his or her new team for the long term.  This may delay pulling the trigger on some very tough “Right Fit” decisions which may need to happen sooner than later.  A Fractional Integrator – not an employee and therefore without HR reports, also by definition “temporary” in some fashion, may find it easier to maintain objectivity in regards to these decisions and help the company and the employees by identifying those needed changes relatively quickly.

If this makes sense to you, and you believe that your business will benefit from a Fractional Integrator, the first step I would recommend is to discuss with your EOS Implementer.  He or she will be able to best advise you and help you find the right Fractional Integrator in your area.  If you do not have an EOS Implementer, be sure to check out the online resources for Integrator searches, and if you are in the Portland, OR area, please feel free to reach out to AJC.

Read this article and more on AJC’s blog, and sign up for our newsletter online at: Read this article and more on AJC’s blog, and sign up for our newsletter online at: https://andreajonesconsulting.com/contact.aspx. 

Rocks - Explained

Biggest Rocks First (c) Andrea Jones Consulting, LLC 2019

If you are familiar with the Entrepreneur’s Operating System (EOS), you probably have heard of Rocks.  In Rocket Fuel and Traction, Gino Wickman credits the concept to Stephen Covey in his 1994 time-management book First Things First.

In the EOS world, Rocks are the “Most Important Things” that a business needs to accomplish in the next 90 days.  I think of them as prioritized activities that “absolutely, positively, HAVE to get done” in the quarter.  Rocks should not only be articulated as a specific activity, but also given an “As Measured By” result – a concrete means to ascertain whether or not the Rock is actually done.  That way, ambiguity on Rock completion will be minimized, and owners will know exactly how they will be evaluated in regards to Rock Closure.

As I’ve now implemented Rocks in a few businesses to date, here are some of the more frequent concerns that arise in the “real world.” (Disclaimer: These are my opinions based on my actual experience, and may or may not represent what a Certified EOS expert would say!)

1.       Do Rocks need to be set to align with the company’s actual fiscal quarters, or should they just be 90 days from whenever you decide to start them?

Rocks should be aligned to your company’s fiscal year quarters – especially as they are part of the weekly L10 meetings with the Scorecard, and this is typically how companies evaluate progress (i.e. on a fiscal quarterly and annual basis).  My recommendation is to create your first set of Rocks to either:

a.       Be shorter than the quarter, just ensure they are realistic for that shorter period; good idea if you have 11-5 weeks left in the quarter

b.       Stretch to the end of the next quarter; likely only a good idea if you have 4 or fewer weeks left in your quarter so that the 90-day mental cadence is maintained

c.       Use the time in the current quarter to establish L10 cadence, To-Dos, Scorecard, and V/TO values, waiting until the next fiscal quarter to actually set Rocks

2.       What about bigger projects that really just cannot be accomplished in 90 days? (i.e. ERP, major customer or supplier negotiations, implementation of a capex project, etc.)

Just like any good Milestone-based Project, these Rocks can be broken into chunks that are manageable in the next 90 days.  Often, the group will have a feel for approximately how many overall quarters the project will take, and can ascertain the “As Measured By” completion point for the end of each quarter to set as Rocks.

3.       How many Rocks is “too many?”

This is the million-dollar question; and the answer is (unsatisfyingly) “It depends.”  It really depends on the magnitude of the Rock and the normal workload of the Owner during that quarter.  For example, I worked on an all-important tight-timeline ERP implementation project over 2 quarters.  In order to ensure this project happened in addition to everyone’s “day jobs,” the ERP Core Team had only ONE Rock each – to implement the ERP to the next milestone step for their area of responsibility by the end of the quarter.  That said, 3-7 is the rule of thumb in Traction, and acting as an Integrator, I’ve exercised a lot of “realistic optimism” to pressure Leadership Team members to focus on lower quantity, but more value-add Rocks for the company, to ensure that these things actually get completed.

4.       Can you set some “stretch goals” that everyone knows may not be able to get done in the quarter?

Yes… and No.  In his book Measure what Matters, John Doerr describes how some companies such as Intel and Google, would set “Objectives” (highly akin to Rocks) in a way that only 70% of them were anticipated to complete in the time frame allowed.  At the outset of setting the Objectives, leaders did not know *which* of the goals would not be accomplished, they only recognized that about 30% would not. This was a way to get everyone to “stretch” themselves in the period, and if they missed their goal, they would have to articulate to the Executive Team *why* they missed it, which apparently is not pleasant.  My philosophy is to set challenging, yet realistic Rocks.  They also should be around things that align to the company’s strategy, vision, and values – and that really truly NEED to get done in 90 days in order to continue growing / improving.  The idea is to live constantly pushing the boundaries of the “Learning” zone, but not to jump into the “Fear” zone. 

A helpful analogy is that of a marathon.  We are not Olympians, sprinting a full marathon at a 4-5-minute pace; however, we are not walking either!  The team is running at a clipped, and sustainable, 8-9-minute mile pace – fast enough to get us there quickly, but not so fast that we risk burnout.  If the Rocks, or high priority activities, get done well, I believe that the place for stretching the boundaries is in the numbers.  Eric Kish, author of From 5 to 50 to 500: How to Build and Run Scalable Organizations, describes establishing a “Balanced Scorecard” with demarcations for “Threshold” results (below which is failure), “Target” results (up to which is expected/passable), and “Stretch” results – above which would be phenomenal.  If the goal is to increase revenue, set up Rocks that represent controllable activities aimed at increasing sales, and measure it with financial thresholds in these buckets.

5.       How do you know if you are “On” or “Off” each week for sure?

Great question!  If you feel that you can still get the Rock done by the end of the quarter in any given L10 meeting, you are ON!  Certified EOS Implementer Eric Albertson, told me that he allows people a one sentence update on their Rocks if needed (either they want to give one, or others want to hear it); when we implemented this, the meeting felt a little more comfortable.  However, as Integrator, if the sentence turned into a paragraph, or there were questions; I dropped the Rock to the IDS and allowed for a more thorough update and ensuing discussion there.

6.       What if something comes up mid-quarter that is more important than the Rock?

The first thing to do is add the “something” to the IDS list, and Issue Discuss it in the next L10 meeting.  If the Solve execution is a 1-2-week action item, or few action items, then the issue will be resolved that way practically immediately.  If it is bigger than that, the team needs to determine if it can wait until the next quarter or not.  If so, put it on the Parking Lot so it doesn’t get lost, and make a note that it is a STRONG candidate for a next quarter Rock.   If not, then the next part of the IDS needs to be around ownership and how/what that means to the current Rock list.  Ideally, people are pretty well loaded with their normal “day-to-day” activities and their current Rocks.  I have found that it is helpful to leave the Leadership Team a 10-15% bandwidth in their average utilization during the quarter for the “gravel, sand, and water,” so sometimes the new “URGENT” Rock can be absorbed.  However, more often than not, adding a new mid-quarter Rock means displacing another Rock that was already agreed on for execution – and my advice is to avoid this unless the whatever it is might shut down your business before the quarter ends.  (Note: There are some legitimate items for Rock displacement such as Safety, a major Recall or customer compliant, bad publicity or new tariffs, vendors going out of business, etc. Use your discretion.)

7.   What if a supervisor, leadership team member, or Executive team member asks for additional work to be completed in the quarter that would take away from time spent on Rock completion?

Put it on the IDS list in the next L10 and see the previous response.  Theoretically, any team member who has “Rock” accountability will be in an L10.  If the L10 in question is a Departmental L10, the Manager in that L10 who also sits on the Leadership Team can escalate the concern, if it truly could affect company-wide Rocks.  Hopefully, however, the issue can be resolved in the L10 for which the priority concern arises.

8.       What if the Rock does not actually get done (to the “As Measured By” objective) by the end of the quarter?

There are three options for Rocks which do not get done. 

1.       Turn into Action Item(s) if there is not much left to do (i.e. 90% done, only a few 1-2-week actions left).

2.       Reassign the Rock to a different owner and carry it over (sometimes can be the same owner, but he or she had better have a plausible plan for getting it done this quarter when he or she couldn’t last quarter; Integrator needs to play arbiter here and call BS if necessary.)

3.       Close it anyway – if it is no longer one of the most important things for the business, it should be closed.  Don’t fall into the trap of finishing “for the sake of finishing.”  I used to do this when reading books; even super boring books that I could barely stand to read, I tried to finish just to say I did.  This is ridiculous if the book is terrible or doesn’t hold my interest; it just keeps me from reading something more valuable.  Drop it if it needs to be dropped, and have the courage to admit that either the window of opportunity has passed, or the Rock is not the most important thing any more.  Use it as a learning experience for next time.

9.       Should Rock completion be tied to financial compensation?

I tried searching for this one on the official EOS Blog, and could not find an answer.  My personal opinion is NO.  If you tie Rock Completion, as in “You have to get X% of your assigned Rocks completed each Compensation Review period or your pay (up, down, same) will be affected,” this is a recipe for disaster.  It sounds good – after all, why wouldn’t you reward people for completing the most important things to do each quarter?  However, my strong feeling is that this will lead to gaming in the long run.  People will naturally gravitate towards setting “lob Rocks” (my term); things that they know they can accomplish easily.  This is not to be confused with setting challenging, yet realistic Rocks as described before; no one wants to feel they are being set up for failure.  However, there are always possibilities of “stuff” coming up outside of one’s control which may prevent Rock completion.  If someone is consistently worried that his or her compensation may be negatively affected based on situations over which they have little control, they can easily lose motivation.  Rather, use the People Analyzer to assess performance – this is much more flexible as it takes into account the whole picture of the business, the person’s behaviors, and his or her capacity to do the job he or she is accountable for as per the Accountability Chart.  

Do you have any other questions about Rocks?  Feel free to leave a comment and I will address them in a future article!

Read this article and more on AJC’s blog, and sign up for our newsletter online here! 

What is Your 2019 Word of the Year?

"Growth in Gravel" - (copyright 2019 andrea jones)

The Wall Street Journal tells us this week that the “Global Boom, Barely Begun, May be Over.”  Very motivational headline to start the new year.

Articles like this highlight fast transitions and short-lived trends.  How does this pertain to you personally, professionally, internally and with others?  What should you do to succeed with volatile stock market and consumer sentiment trends, and an increasing cultural value of immediate gratification (1)? 

The first chart below show the last month of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 4-hour high/low point spread,, and the second depicts decades of the Consumer Sentiment Index, with an 8-point drop in the past month from December 2018 to January 2019.

Figure 1:Reference: Trading Economics with the last month of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Wednesday 1/23/2019

Figure 2: Reference: University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment report with 90.7 in January 2019 versus 98.3 in December 2018 as reported in Advisor Perspectives January 18, 2019

In light of all this - What is your Word of the Year?

Last January, I published AJC’s Word of the Year for 2018 (Learn).  We have had a Word of the Year since 2015 and find that it focuses our year on a theme.  We’ve asked the question of you as well – with the underlying assumption that every person and/or organization will have a different focus. 

This year we’re going to challenge that.

AJC’s Word of the Year – personally and professionally, internally and with others is: PERSEVERE.  

Could this word be yours too?

Persevere (verb) according to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary is: to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement.

In this world of turmoil; the ups and downs, the reactionary sentiments, cultural phenomenon of immediate gratification, to persevere is not fast, sexy, interesting, or cool.  Yet it stoically remains.  There is one way to get things done in this world – things that are consistently meaningful over time.  Persevere.  Keep going, don’t give up, try again, maintain discipline, execute and adjust.  Anything worth having is something worth fighting for, and rarely will come easily.

What do you think?  Will you Persevere this year?

(1)  Wertrz, Jia. “Why Instant Gratification Is The One Marketing Tactic Companies Should Focus On Right Now.”  Forbes, April 30, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jiawertz/2018/04/30/why-instant-gratification-is-the-one-marketing-tactic-companies-should-focus-on-right-now/#7b9e04f8e91b

Read this article and more on AJC’s blog, and sign up for our newsletter online at: http://andreajonesconsulting.com/blog.aspx 

Saved by “Plan B:” The Importance of an Effective Project Manager

Saved by “Plan B”
The Importance of an Effective Project Manager

By: Jessica Foote

As the saying goes, “A stitch in time saves nine.” This story from one of AJC’s clients shows how an effective project manager can save more than nine stitches in time, particularly when Plan A doesn’t go according to plan.

A client with a rapidly growing business engaged AJC’s Julie Bryan to help with a new technology upgrade to their order fulfilment system. The client had already selected a vendor for the new system, so they urgently needed a project manager to help phase out the old system while also making sure their facilities and employees were prepared for the new system.

Anticipating and effectively preparing contingency plans

The original plan had a short four-month timeline for completion.  Within a few weeks of starting the project, however, vendor testing proved to not be as smooth as anticipated, resulting in a projected two-month delay. 

As Julie assessed the situation with the technology vendor, she realized that the client needed to consider the possibility that the delay would very likely be more than two months. Meanwhile, sales were increasing, and the old system was straining to keep up with the orders.

“We didn’t know when- or if- we would get the new system,” explained Julie. “We needed to go to Plan B. We needed to help our client use their existing system to meet customer demand, particularly as they faced the upcoming increase in sales volumes.”

Julie interviewed employees at the company to seek input and she outlined her recommendations regarding the steps the client needed to take to continue for several more months with their existing order fulfilment system.

“Companies need to understand the risks of timelines slipping, and what the backup plans would be if they don’t meet that timeline,” Julie cautions. “At what point do we hit a date when the project absolutely must be complete? A project manager needs to determine that deadline, and work backwards from that date to determine when a company would need to reevaluate and potentially switch gears or start putting Plan B in place.” 

Keeping project budgets on track, even when timelines shift

After Julie delivered her recommendation, AJC offered to pause Julie’s engagement for a few months while the vendor fixed the technology.  This helped the client avoid incurring costs for a project manager during this window of time.  Upon re-engaging on the project, AJC budgeted a 20% buffer on PM work up front to cover any additional unexpected needs.  Ultimately, this buffer allowed Julie to provide an additional six weeks of support at the end of the project to ensure a smooth transition.  Even with the increased duration of the project, AJC did not need to use the entire buffer budget.

Maintaining objectivity amidst competing options

When Julie returned to the project, the new technology was ready to be delivered. However, the company still needed to ensure that operations could continue during cut-over to the new system. As new information came to light with the vendor, the entire team was considering changes to the installation plan at the client’s site.

Julie explained that at this critical point, her task as the project manager was to evaluate different layout options for how the current system could be replaced within the existing warehouse footprint. Julie worked with points of contact from each team in the company to go through the status of the project, taking into account any concerns they had about how the transition would impact their department.  In her recommendations, she provided pros and cons and cost estimates for each of the four scenarios.

In the end, the transition to the new technology was successful, thanks to Julie’s careful planning and flexibility.

Three Reasons to Hire an External Project Manger

1. Experience anticipating and preparing for contingencies: While an internal project manager may be immersed in the weeds of daily operations, an external project manager brings a high-level view to anticipate potential outcomes and prepare for contingencies. An external project manager can determine hard deadlines to trigger a shift in plans for Plan B when necessary.

2. Objectivity: An external project manager isn’t influenced by internal politics, giving them the ability to provide an impartial perspective that can be critical when organizations are planning systems that will fundamentally change their business processes.

3. Saving time and costs: An external project manager will save time and keep budgets on track, particularly when timelines shift due to external factors and flexibility is required.

What Work Gets Done in the “Down” Season?

What Work Gets Done in the “Down” Season?
by AJC Senior Consultant Janell Hosch

Many companies experience seasonality in their industries.  Upon conclusion of that peak time, do you ever take the opportunity to reflect on what could be improved before the next peak occurs? 

Project Prioritization:

The first step is to gather your key team members and collect everyone’s thoughts about issues or inefficiencies they have encountered.  Then, discuss specific projects that could be done to address these issues.  This list may be too long to reasonably tackle in the amount of time or with the resources available, and that is where Project Prioritization comes in.  We recommend using the AJC Project Prioritization Matrix.  When performing your own Project Prioritization, you can easily customize the approach to fit your specific needs.  Determine which evaluation categories are most applicable to your current situation, (e.g., cost impact, production volume impact, time line for implementation).  You can further modify the method for your specific situation by applying the appropriate weight to each category.  If reducing costs is your primary concern, give that category a higher weight that the others.  This is a very objective approach to determining which projects will benefit your particular situation the most.

AJC Case Study – Project Prioritization & Execution

The following is the story of a client who AJC helped guide through the Project Prioritization process from concept to implementation. These efforts resulted in vast cost and efficiency improvements during their next seasonal peak. After you have prioritized the projects and determined which ones to execute, how do you begin to tackle these projects? Develop a project team for each one and get started by laying out all of the milestones necessary to get from where you are today to full implementation. A dedicated project manager to oversee all of the projects works well to ensure continuity and resource balancing. The project teams can then create detailed schedules for their projects, assign owners for each task and associated timelines. Task owners can get started immediately on project execution. 

We encountered some challenges during the implementation phase, as is common with efforts such as this.  One issue was that many of the projects required IT support, and this additional work overloaded the IT department.  They were unable to support their daily obligations and the additional workload from the projects.  This required specific priority and timeline setting within the IT department to ensure they were providing reasonable and achievable timeline commitments to the project teams.  We were also working with project team members across multiple geographic locations.  This required a structured approach to file sharing and communication, as well as video conferencing for effective team meetings.

The AJC client that was going through this process also wanted to develop in-house project management expertise.  As part of this project, AJC provided project management training to an internal employee while actively managing the projects.  As the project teams were making progress, the AJC consultant slowly transitioned PM responsibilities to the internal PM and was able to phase out of the project over time.  Getting the PM fully trained and all of the teams executing per the project plans was the end point of the project for AJC.  The internal PM carried the project through to completion and the next peak season was vastly improved over the previous one.

Our advice to you is, after the peak season has concluded, take the time to brainstorm with your team about what didn’t go well and any possible fixes to improve your processes before the next peak occurs.  If this list is too long to tackle all at once, use a Project Prioritization Matrix to determine which projects will have the biggest impact and can be implemented the quickest.  If the team collectively rates the projects, the best projects will rise to the top of the list.

Read this article and more on AJC’s blog, and sign up for our newsletter online at: http://andreajonesconsulting.com/blog.aspx