“While I am very numbers focused, you can’t change a business with numbers. Numbers are the end result. You change a business by changing the behavior of its people.”
– Dick Brown, former CEO of EDS, in a vintage “Fast Company” article from October 2001
Scoreboards are, you see, important at sporting events. But they’re important for one thing, and one thing only, and that is displaying what has already happened. And change is a windshield, rather than a rear-view-mirror undertaking.
Of course we need an understanding of what came before, for education purposes. By focusing that understanding on the behaviors that produced them, a clearer indication of what change, and where it needs to be enacted becomes apparent.
The article is fifteen years old, and thus one can argue, as with most leaders, Brown’s long-term success at EDS. In fact, one can argue that about most leaders, given the benefit of hindsight. What is more difficult to argue is the impact of the change that Brown enacted on a huge (and, at the time, hugely dysfunctional) business. And, despite the slight yellow tone the copy in my “Leadership” folder has taken on, it is difficult to take too much issue with Brown’s six “catalysts for change.” (Here’s another link to the story. I bet you’ll dig it…just sayin’…)
“The straight stuff, straight from the top:” Every other week, Brown communicated directly with all 128,000 employees about how the firm was doing. 128,000 could, and were invited to, reply directly to their CEO.
“Go offsite and get close-up:” Three times annually, senior leaders went offsite for a three-day session. “Leaders learn how to team by teaming,” Brown says.
“No where to run, no where to hide:” Monthly, the top leaders participate together in a one-hour accounting of their business unit’s performance, delivered by the CFO. Transparency and accountability are served.
“Money doesn’t talk, it screams:” Top performers are paid materially better than laggards.
“Color Coded Clients: Go, Caution, Crisis:” This is one of my favorites, and I’ve used it for 15 years. As our kids learned in safety school at age 4; “Red on the top means “stop, stop, stop!” Yellow in the middle means “slow it down a little;” Green down low, means, go, go, go!” That stoplight / dashboard approach to clients serves a business very well, and makes responding more likely than reacting. It also adds / assures focus.
“Here’s Your Coachable Moment:” Real-time feedback. Making feedback, supportive and constructive, a part of everyday behavior cements the “A” in The Heston Group’s REELAX Guide To Leadership — Accountability that is constant, consistent and that runs up, down and across the organization. Difference making stuff.
Ultimately, the scoreboard will tell us whether we won or lost, and the numbers will tell their story. That said, the scoreboard is never sufficient for the story on the game, and the story the numbers tell will never be a complete account. Changing behavior — the key to growing our business.
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