Performance Management & Strategy Execution Blog: The Glue

Do you have the right MAP?

Yes - summertime is here. Do you remember “back in the day” when your family would go on a vacation? My dad was a huge AAA fan, and for our family road trip vacations, we always had the AAA “TripTik.” It was a customized paper map that highlighted the route, the towns along the way with mileage estimates in between, etc. For you younger folks, no, we didn’t always have GPS devices in the car.

Given your company’s current path and journey, what “map” are you following? Is your map determined by the daily headlines? Is it determined by fluctuations on Wall Street, or by a reactive leadership team?

To reach your goals, whether they’re at a personal or company level, you need to know how you are measuring success, and what action items need to be initiated to change performance. How are you going to change processes or a given set of behaviors?

I like to think of three basic components to setting goals and achieving results. Call it designing your own personal “TripTik” or your MAP: Measure, Action, Performance.

For your given scope of work, day in and day out, what should be on your MAP? The first step is to determine what you are going to Measure. What are the top 3-5 measures that you should examine and track that will provide you with the best indication of how your journey is progressing? If you are a leader at the top of the organization, you’ll be following some “lagging” or broad scope measures like margin or turnover rates. However, you’ll want to dive deeper and identify some leading, or causal measures as well. Ask yourself, what few measures provide us with the best indication of future performance? If you’re in healthcare, maybe it’s your imaging volumes, cardiac procedure revenues, and use of contract labor that provide the best indication of your end of the month or quarterly margin.

Maybe you’ve heard the statement “vision without strategy is called a dream.” Well, measures without action items are just numbers. They do no good if they don’t lead to Action. You now have the top 3-5 measures for your department or your project; each of them should have an initiative or project aligned with them. Something will bring about a change and lead to results.

Once your initiatives are in place, once you’ve applied a strong lever arm to that measure you want to move, you need to monitor and manage the Performance. Did it improve for one month, then fall back to the previous performance level? How are you going to track and keep that measure in control? Consistent reporting with the expectation that the measures will be reviewed and discussed are key components to accountability within your teams (and maybe even for yourself).

Chances are, you’re probably not loading up the minivan to drive aimlessly across the country this summer. (If you are, please call - I want to go.) In today’s economy, you don’t have all kinds of time to reach your destination, so you better have a good MAP.

Miami-Dade Park and Recreation Receives Florida Sterling Award for Organizational Excellence

Rumor has it that deployment interviews conducted by the Sterling Examiner team at the Miami Metro Zoo were what locked in high scores for the Park and Recreation Department. J.J. the gorilla knew the department's vision of "a seamless, sustainable system of great parks, public spaces, natural areas, cultural areas, greenways, water trails and streets." And most of the parrots could recite the "top level" measures for the department with ease.

All attempts at humor aside, congratulations to Mayor Alvarez, County Manager George M. Burgess, and Department Director Jack Kardys on the Miami-Dade County Park and Recreation Department becoming the first such department in the state to receive the prestigious Sterling Award for organizational excellence.

A few of you out there may not know how the State Baldrige-based awards work. Here's a summary:

• The Governor’s Sterling Award process is comprehensive and rigorous, and is the highest award an organization can receive for performance excellence in Florida. 
• Organizations submit a 50-page application that is scored against the seven categories of the Sterling Criteria: Leadership; Strategic Planning; Customer and Market Focus; Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management; Workforce Focus; Process Management; and Results. 
• The Sterling Criteria (like most of the state programs) are based on the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria, which are nationally recognized as the world-class standard for organizational excellence.
•  Expertly trained Sterling examiners independently review the application, and then conduct a substantial five to six day site-visit.
• The examiner team interviews employees at all levels of the organization and analyzes every aspect of the organization and its performance. 
• Next, the examiner team prepares a detailed feedback report highlighting key strengths and opportunities for improvement.
• The Sterling Panel of Judges then selects organizations that have successfully implemented the Sterling Criteria and should be considered role-model organizations.  

It's an impressive process and Miami-Dade residents are impressed, too. All 2.5 million of them have access to 258 properties maintained by the County Park and Recreation Department. The system includes the world famous Miami Metro Zoo (rated one of the top ten zoos), the 444 acre Deering Estate, and signature events such as the upcoming Annual Blue Water Classic fishing tournament.

Residents know their parks are special, but it was the Miami-Dade County Parks and Open Space System Master Plan that blew the Sterling examiners away. This Department not only has a vision, they have a plan, plus a well-developed process to execute it and a proven track record of doing so successfully.

The Miami Dade Parks and Recreation recognition by the Florida Sterling Council gave everyone here at ActiveStrategy quite a bit of satisfaction, too. We've been working with them for over five years and we knew they were great all along (and have the measures to prove it). 

You can read more about the 2009 Governor’s Sterling Award Recipients at www.floridasterling.com.