making - Blog - Global Risk Community2024-03-28T21:13:24Zhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/makingAre You Aware of the 3 Obstacles to Overcome while On-boarding Senior Executives?https://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/are-you-aware-of-the-3-obstacles-to-overcome-while-on-boarding2020-11-20T20:08:51.000Z2020-11-20T20:08:51.000ZMark Bridgeshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/MarkBridges<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8219691654,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8219691654,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8219691654?profile=original" width="350" /></a>Mediocre people occupying senior <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/stream/leadership">Leadership</a> positions is one of the chief reasons for the fiasco and humiliation that organizations like Enron and WorldCom faced. The practice of recruiting average people at the top is omnipresent and often goes unnoticed until the results begin to surface, which is typically too late for any intervention.</p><p>Smart people decisions matter a lot in achieving profitability. Research indicates that a return on average human asset of 5% is typical in many industries. However, a senior executive selection of 2 standard deviations below the average yields -15% return on asset. An executive selection with 2 standard deviations above average causes 25+% return, which is 5 times the average. Increased investment in finding and hiring the best senior executives fetches returns to the magnitude of 1000%.</p><p>Attracting and selecting the best people for senior leadership positions isn’t a small feat. The future of organizations depend on it. However, not too many organizations succeed in getting the right people at the top. The reason for this failure is attributed predominantly to 3 critical obstacles that hinder in making the right recruitment decisions at such a crucial level. Wrong <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/executive-selection-5346">Executive Selection</a> decisions due to these 3 obstacles bring about losses and negative returns:</p><ol><li><strong>Obstacle of Rarity</strong></li><li><strong>Obstacle of the Unknown</strong></li><li><strong>Obstacle of Psychological Traps</strong></li></ol><p><a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/executive-selection-5346"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7608" src="https://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ex-Selection-Obstacles.png" alt="" width="1002" height="752" /></a></p><p>Let’s talk about these obstacles in a bit of detail.</p><h3><strong>Obstacle of Rarity</strong></h3><p>The first barrier to finding outstanding executives for senior positions is their scarcity, as excellent executives are a rare breed. Sophisticated skills that make an executive standout aren’t common. They are distributed in a given sample.</p><p>Outstanding people perform at a much higher level than that of their peers, particularly at the top positions. A blue-collar executive with 1 standard deviation above the mean translates to 20% more productive individual than an average executive. With increasing complexity of job, the difference between the top performer and an average performer increases considerably.</p><p>Appointments at the senior positions do not go without assessment errors, which can prove to be extremely costly. Even an accuracy level of 90% in executive assessment isn’t satisfactory. This results in a number of mistakenly categorized top performers and rejection of outstanding candidates.</p><h3><strong>Obstacle of the Unknown</strong></h3><p>Another barrier to the Executive Selection process is the predictive assessment of candidates on the skills and attributes required and the actual delivery capabilities of the individuals. It is difficult to assess the unknown.</p><p>Competencies at the junior levels are easier to define, but it gets difficult to pinpoint the skills required at the top level. The skills required at the top keeps on changing due to the evolving political, technological and economic landscape. The skills required today get obsolete over time. In case the exact requirements for a position are fully known, it isn’t certain whether a candidate meets the requirements in their entirety.</p><p>Accurate assessment of the candidates’ behavior and competencies is difficult but worth investing efforts and resources. “Soft” skills—e.g., leading people, coaching and developing teams, teamwork, and managing <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/stream/transformation">Business Transformation</a>—are what differentiate the senior leaders, but gauging these skills necessitates thorough evaluation and considerable time, which is difficult at senior levels.</p><h3><strong>Obstacle of Psychological Traps</strong></h3><p>A number of psychological traps are associated with cognitive biases in humans that hinder the decision making abilities in people and incapacitate the hiring process. 8 types of psychological traps are most common in individuals:</p><ul><li><strong>Procrastination</strong></li><li><strong>Assuming incorrectly</strong></li><li><strong>Impulsive judgment based on first impressions</strong></li><li><strong>Discounting the warning signs</strong></li><li><strong>Covering mistakes</strong></li><li><strong>Bonding with familiarity</strong></li><li><strong>Emotional anchoring</strong></li><li><strong>Tendency to follow the majority</strong></li></ul><div class="aside">For more information on selection and hiring “the best of the best,” take a look at the Fiaccabrino Selection Process (FSP) at Flevy. </div><p>Interested in learning more about the 3 critical obstacles that hinder right Executive Selection? You can download <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/executive-selection-5346">an editable PowerPoint presentation on <strong>Executive Selection</strong> here</a><u> </u>on the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse">Flevy documents marketplace</a>.</p><h3><strong>Are you a Management Consultant?</strong></h3><p>You can download this and hundreds of other <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/frameworks">consulting frameworks</a> and <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/consulting">consulting training guides</a> from the <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library">FlevyPro library</a>.</p></div>Nudging Executiveshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/nudging-executives2020-10-20T00:05:39.000Z2020-10-20T00:05:39.000ZBryan Whitefieldhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/BryanWhitefield<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8219694881,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}8219694881,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" width="420" height="213" alt="8219694881?profile=original" /></a>Senior leaders love to be challenged, when you prove them right!</p><p>Unfair? Yes. There are plenty of great leaders who truly want their staff to speak up. However, even some of these may suffer from measurement blindness.</p><p>When it comes to numbers and decision making there are three positions people take.</p><p><strong>Believers</strong></p><p>These people believe measurement enhances decisions. They will ask for measurement and readily listen to the numbers being presented, they will look to see if there are any abnormalities and when satisfied, they will trust the numbers.</p><p><strong>Swingers</strong></p><p>These are the people that like the numbers when it suits them and not so when they don’t. They will accept data that affirms their position, and they will reject data that goes against their conclusions.</p><p><strong>Gamblers</strong></p><p>These are the gut feel decision makers. The ones that follow the mantra that there are three types of lies: “Lies, damned lies and statistics”. They simply don’t believe what comes from a “black box”.</p><p>When <a href="https://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/blog/nudging-the-cfo/" target="_blank">nudging the CFO</a>, presumably they are believers in measurement. When nudging other executives, it is important to understand if they are a believer, a swinger or a gambler.</p><p>For believers your mantra should be “If you can observe it, I can measure it, but I’ll closely consider the cost of measurement along the way.”</p><p>For swingers and gamblers, your mantra should be “I can give you some further insight to help you with this decision.” That is, don’t talk data and measurement, talk insights. The marketing insights teams worked that one out many years ago.</p><p>Stay safe and adapt – with better measurement!</p><p></p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028269661,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028269460,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="360" height="120" alt="8028269460?profile=original" /></a></p><p><br /> Bryan's new book teaches you practical methods to cut through with your advice and make the impact you want to make. Available on Amazon or order <a href="https://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/product/wcbook/" target="_blank">here</a> now.</p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028259276,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028259276,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="357" height="119" alt="8028259276?profile=original" /></a></p><h3><strong>YOUR DECISIONS DEFINE YOU.</strong></h3><p>Available on Amazon or order <a href="http://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/product/decide-how-to-manage-the-risk-in-your-decision-making/" target="_blank">here</a> now.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Bryan Whitefield works with strategic leaders across all sectors to help organisations harness uncertainty – uncertainty is the strategic leader’s best friend. He is the author of <em>DECIDE: How to Manage the Risk in Your Decision Making</em> and <em>Winning Conversations: How to turn red tape into blue ribbon</em>. He is the designer of the <a href="https://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/experts-need-advocates-whitepaper/" target="_blank">Risk Culture: Build Your Tribe of Advocates Program</a> for support functions and the <a href="https://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/persuasive-adviser-program/" target="_blank">Persuasive Adviser Program</a> for internal advisers. Both can be booked individually or in-house. For more information about Bryan, please <a href="http://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/about-bryan/" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.bryanwhitefield.com" target="_blank">www.bryanwhitefield.com</a></p><p></p><p></p><p></p></div>Experiment to Stretch Your Teamshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/experiment-to-stretch-your-teams2020-03-31T03:25:33.000Z2020-03-31T03:25:33.000ZBryan Whitefieldhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/BryanWhitefield<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028312680,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028312680,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" width="340" height="205" alt="8028312680?profile=original" /></a>It is wonderous how adaptive we are and I as I wrote last week, <a href="https://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/blog/its-time-to-slide-back-down-the-curve-a-bit/" target="_blank">adaptative leadership</a> is key right now. Top of the list of my tips for exercising adaptive leadership is to experiment. Now I know we are all experimenting at the moment, one way or another, just to get by. However, with our incredible ability to adapt, you and your teams are adjusting at a pace that many will be surprised by. So, now that much of the mad scramble to adjust to new ways of working has happened, let’s start thinking about experimenting to stretch you and your teams.</p><div class="post_content"><p>There are three key components to experimentation:</p><p> • <strong>Drivers</strong> – The goal(s) you are seeking.</p><p> • <strong>Design</strong> – The well-established principles of sound experimentation.</p><p> • <strong>Decision</strong> – The interpretation of the results and the action you take.</p><p>First is drivers. The purpose of your experimentation will naturally be driven by your challenges right now. You have challenges of ensuring your teams are safe and well, that they are re-planning their delivery of your strategy and that they are productive. Whether it is all of these or just one of them, get very clear on the purpose of your experimentation. Then get moving, get productive and set up your online collaboration for the experiment. Here are some tips from my friend, colleague and productivity expert Dermot Crowley on <a href="https://adaptproductivity.com.au/staying-productive-when-working-remotely/" target="_blank">working with online tools in the current environment</a>.</p><p>Second is design. The purest and most successful form of experimentation is the scientific method. It maximises the utility of the experiment by minimising the chance the results are misleading. It requires some effort, however, these are times to lean in, not shy away. If you and your team are not skilled up on how to run reliable experiments, there are some great online resources such as <a href="https://explorable.com/conduct-science-experiments" target="_blank">Explorable</a> and <a href="https://www.dummies.com/education/science/designing-experiments-using-the-scientific-method/" target="_blank">Dummies</a>.</p><p>Finally there is decision. For this, I can’t go past my <a href="https://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/blog/bryans-blog-working-with-our-tendency-for-impulsiveness/" target="_blank">MCI Decision Model</a> to help you here. M is for <em>motivation</em>, C is for <em>clarification</em> and I is for <em>implementation</em>. In short. Don’t go straight to implementation. Clarify the approach you are planning. What are the obstacles to overcome and what are the potential unintended consequences? And finally, just check that the motivation is right. Are you answering the right question? If you have done a fine job with step one, confirming the drivers that determines the purpose of your experimentation, you should be able to answer yes to this question. For more information on the MCI model, you can access a short paper on it <a href="https://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Think-it-through_BWC.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>Stay safe.</p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028269661,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028269460,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="360" height="120" alt="8028269460?profile=original" /></a></p><p><br /> Bryan's new book teaches you practical methods to cut through with your advice and make the impact you want to make. Available on Amazon or order <a href="https://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/product/wcbook/" target="_blank">here</a> now.</p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028259276,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028259276,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="357" height="119" alt="8028259276?profile=original" /></a></p><h3><strong>YOUR DECISIONS DEFINE YOU.</strong></h3><p>Available on Amazon or order <a href="http://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/product/decide-how-to-manage-the-risk-in-your-decision-making/" target="_blank">here</a> now.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Bryan Whitefield works with strategic leaders across all sectors to help organisations harness uncertainty – uncertainty is the strategic leader’s best friend. He is the author of <em>DECIDE: How to Manage the Risk in Your Decision Making</em> and <em>Winning Conversations: How to turn red tape into blue ribbon</em>. He is the designer of the <a href="https://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/experts-need-advocates-whitepaper/" target="_blank">Risk Culture: Build Your Tribe of Advocates Program</a> for support functions and the <a href="https://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/persuasive-adviser-program/" target="_blank">Persuasive Adviser Program</a> for internal advisers. Both can be booked individually or in-house. For more information about Bryan, please <a href="http://www.bryanwhitefield.com.au/about-bryan/" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.bryanwhitefield.com" target="_blank">www.bryanwhitefield.com</a></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="clear"></div></div></div>Stop Making Unreliable Human Judgments: The Science of Strategic Decision Makinghttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/stop-making-unreliable-human-judgments-the-science-of-strategic2020-03-20T06:30:00.000Z2020-03-20T06:30:00.000ZJoseph Robinsonhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/JosephRobinson808<div><p>Human judgment can be unreliable as these are all susceptible to errors. In <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/stream/strategy-development">Strategy Development</a>, organizations make a lot of strategic decisions. These<a href="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/pic-1-Strategic-Decision-Making-200x300.jpeg" target="_blank"><img src="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/pic-1-Strategic-Decision-Making-200x300.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="200" class="align-right" alt="pic-1-Strategic-Decision-Making-200x300.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a> strategic decisions share a common feature: they are evaluative judgments.</p><p>In making these tough calls, a large amount of complex information must be weighed down and evaluated. While some management decisions are made without weighing quite so much information, yet strategic decisions involve the distillation of complexity into a single path forward.</p><p>With the unreliability in judgment, particularly in <a href="https://flevy.com/business-toolkit/decision-making">decision making</a>, there is a need for a practical, broadly applicable approach to reducing errors. This approach is called the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/strategic-decision-making-4011">Mediating Assessments Protocol (MAP)</a>.</p><h3><strong> </strong><strong>Why Human Judgment Can Be Unreliable</strong></h3><p>Human judgment can be unreliable as evaluations are susceptible to errors. These errors stem from known cognitive biases. There can be a tendency to give more weight to information that comes to mind easily because it is recent or striking than other more important facts. We have the tendency to notice, believe, and recall information selectively which confirms our preexisting hypotheses and beliefs.</p><p>Making decisions can also be affected by the Mental Model we have formed. This is an impression of a complex situation that is often less nuanced and more coherent than the reality it represents. When decision making is influenced by biases, there will be errors in decision making.</p><h3><strong>The 3 Core Elements of MAP</strong></h3><p>MAP or Mediating Assessments Protocol is a structured approach to <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/strategic-decision-making-4011">Strategic Decision Making</a>. It consists of 3 core elements.</p><p><a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/strategic-decision-making-4011" target="_blank"><img src="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/pic-2-Strategic-Decision-Making-1024x768.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="750" class="align-full" alt="pic-2-Strategic-Decision-Making-1024x768.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><ol><li><strong>Advanced Assessment Definition</strong>. The first core element requires the identification of mediating assessments. Mediating assessments are key attributes critical to the evaluation.</li></ol><ol start="2"><li><strong>Independent Assessments</strong>. The second core element is grounded on the evidence available. It uses fact-based independently made assessments.</li></ol><ol start="3"><li><strong>Final Evaluation</strong>. The third core element is undertaken when the mediating assessments are complete. The final decision is discussed only when all key attributes have been scored and a complete profile of assessments is available. However, the final evaluation may not be undertaken if a deal breaker fact has been uncovered.</li></ol><h3><strong>Understanding the Importance of MAP</strong></h3><p>Any organization is a decision factory. Many decisions made can shape the future of organizations. At the same time, many decisions have caused organizations to fail. Decisions, unlike physical products, cannot be quality checked. However, it can be improved by working on processes by which they are made.</p><p>Mediating Assessments Protocol (MAP) is an approach that can bring quality assurance to complex decisions. One of its strategic application is in structuring one-off decisions.</p><p>Structuring one-off strategic decisions is a type of strategic decision that makes use of explicit assessment as a basis for the decision. It requires leaders to make separate, explicit assessments of each aspect.</p><p>The use of MAP in structuring one-off decisions can limit the risk that a compelling narrative will sway board discussions and affect quality decisions. When there is a rigor of formal structure in strategic decision making, it has the benefit of sequencing the process resulting in more quality decisions.</p><p>The use of MAP requires very trivial extra effort yet it can bring a lot of benefits. Board discussions are more organized and focus than the usual process, but is not necessarily longer or more contentious. Important facts are less likely to be overlooked and thoughtful, self-critical consideration of trade-offs is more likely to occur.</p><p>Most importantly, the use of the MAP can lead to producing strategic outcomes when used in structuring recurring decisions.</p><p>Interested in gaining more understanding of <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/strategic-decision-making-4011">Strategic Decision Making</a>? You can learn more and download an <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/strategic-decision-making-4011">editable PowerPoint about <strong>Strategic Decision Making</strong> here</a> on the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse">Flevy documents marketplace</a>.</p><p><strong>Are you a management consultant?</strong></p><p>You can download this and hundreds of other <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/frameworks">consulting frameworks</a> and <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/consulting">consulting training guides</a> from the <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library">FlevyPro library</a>.</p></div>Scaling Up When Market Volatility Calls for a Make-or-Buy Decision Analysishttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/scaling-up-when-market-volatility-calls-for-a-make-or-buy2019-12-18T06:30:00.000Z2019-12-18T06:30:00.000ZJoseph Robinsonhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/JosephRobinson808<div><p>As Western companies are being put under increasing pressure to cut expenses and improve return on assets, the dilemma of whether <a href="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/pic-1-make-or-buy-decision-making-analysis-300x205.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/pic-1-make-or-buy-decision-making-analysis-300x205.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="300" class="align-right" alt="pic-1-make-or-buy-decision-making-analysis-300x205.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>to keep key functions in-house or outsource them has taken center stage.</p><p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/manufacturing/">Manufacturing</a> units are being identified with <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/make-or-buy-decision-analysis-3740">Make-or-Buy Decisions</a> as third-party suppliers in Eastern Europe, China, and other low-cost regions hold out a promise of significant advantage that companies in developed countries can’t offer.</p><p>The Make-or-Buy Decision extends beyond manufacturing. It encompasses human resources, information technology, maintenance, and other fundamental business functions. Chief Procurement Officers are now expected to play a key role in helping business units make decisions given the skills and objective perspective the teams bring to the effort.</p><h3>What is a Make-or-Buy Decision?</h3><p>A Make-or-Buy Decision is the act of making a strategic choice between outsourcing and in-house. It usually arises when a company with a new product has problems with suppliers, has a diminishing capacity, or faced with changing demands. A Make-or-Buy analysis is often done at the strategic and operational level.</p><p>Oftentimes, our company needs to ask the right questions to achieve the highest possible level of quality and productivity in overseeing and managing third-party suppliers. We need to ask what resources are required and how long it would take to reach noticeably improved performance. Are technology innovation and alignment necessary to have a competitive edge? This and many more should be asked to direct our company to make the right decision. It is essential that our company must recognize the importance of the Make-or-Buy Decision to overall business strategy and its implications.</p><h3>The Make-or-Buy Decision Framework</h3><p><a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/make-or-buy-decision-analysis-3740" target="_blank"><img src="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/slide-1-Make-or-Buy-Decision-1024x768.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="750" class="align-full" alt="slide-1-Make-or-Buy-Decision-1024x768.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><ol><li><strong>Strategy</strong><br /> <a href="https://flevy.com/business-toolkit/strategy-development-sd">Business Strategy</a> is essential in the face of competition and in anticipation of a future change in the environment. Our company must determine the strategic importance of a product or service that is being considered for outsourcing to the company. This will include looking at the process, technologies, or skills required to make the product or deliver the service.</li></ol><ol start="2"><li><strong>Risks</strong><br /> <a href="https://flevy.com/business-toolkit/risk-management">Risk Management</a> is important in outsourcing where the failure of service could be devastating. Risks inherent in the process of identifying and selecting the right supplier and structuring a workable ongoing relationship must be assessed. This also includes lower quality, reliability, and predictability of outsourced solution as compared with in-house manufacturing or services.</li></ol><ol start="3"><li><strong>Economics</strong><br /> In Make-or-Buy Decision Analysis, possible top-line gains are best calculated when economic factors are integrated. Impact of outsourcing on capital expenditures, return on invested capital, and return on assets, as well as the possible savings achieved through outsourcing, must be determined.</li></ol><p>In the use of the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/make-or-buy-decision-analysis-3740">Key Pillars to Make-or-Buy Decision Making Analysis</a>, a Decision Criteria is used to guide companies to go through an accurate process of assessment. The use of decision criteria allows companies to come up with a more informed and sound decision when it comes to Strategy, Risks, and Economics.</p><h3>Taking the Lead from the Chief Procurement Officer</h3><p>The <a href="https://hbr.org/2011/03/the-new-path-to-the-c-suite">Chief Procurement Officer</a> plays a key role in helping business units make Make-or-Buy Decisions, as they are an integral part of any <a href="https://flevy.com/business-toolkit/procurement-strategy">Procurement Strategy</a>. The CPO can lead business units in conducting a detailed analysis that thoroughly evaluates the costs, benefits, risks, and rewards of outsourcing and the implications of keeping the activity in-house. Likewise, the CPO can assess core competence and measure them against world-class standards.</p><p>We need to reiterate and re-emphasize again that the decision of in-house versus outsource should not be made without careful analysis. The analysis should be initiated and conducted diligently and objectively.</p><p>This is made possible when the Chief Procurement Officer ensures that all the right trade-offs have been evaluated and all possibilities considered. Through the CPO, the organization can be challenged to make a more objective and informed Make-or-Buy Decisions.</p><p>Interested in gaining more understanding of <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/make-or-buy-decision-analysis-3740">Make-or-Buy Decision Making Analysis</a>? You can learn more and download <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/make-or-buy-decision-analysis-3740">an editable PowerPoint about <strong>Make-or-Buy Decision Making Analysis</strong> here</a> on the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse">Flevy documents marketplace</a>.</p><p><strong>Are you a management consultant?</strong></p><p>You can download this and hundreds of other <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/frameworks">consulting frameworks</a> and <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/consulting">consulting training guides</a> from the <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library">FlevyPro library</a>.</p></div>Crisis Leadership is better than Crisis Managementhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/crisis-leadership-is-better2011-02-20T22:00:00.000Z2011-02-20T22:00:00.000ZTony Ridleyhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/TonyRidley<div><h1>The Golden Hour and the First 24 Hours!</h1><p>In the vast majority of cases, regardless of the duration, the end success or successful resolution to a crisis is determined by the initial actions in the first 24 hours. Often referred to as the “Golden Hour” in emergency medicine, the initial hour of the first 24 hours is the foundation upon which the primary phase is predicated. The events, information and decision making process during these two phases will place both individuals and multi national corporations upon a path that will over time will provide less opportunity for change and influence than at this juncture.</p><p> </p><p>While the incidents and information injects, whether actively or passively collected, may change, the fundamental decision making methodology will remain relatively constant due to the leader or crisis management teams experience, skills and training. It is for this reason that the greatest emphasis due to the potential outcomes remains the burden of those in a position to determine the outcomes.<a href="http://tony-ridley.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/gold_key_pc_400_clr.png"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1553" title="Crisis Leadership-The Key to Success" src="http://tony-ridley.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/gold_key_pc_400_clr-132x300.png" width="132" height="300" alt="gold_key_pc_400_clr-132x300.png" /></a></p><p>In broad terms, individual entities or multi-dimensional companies are classified into two categories when managing a crisis or significant event. The first of those categories is that of the Responder who is largely driven by the events and is forced to react to each and every information inject or demand due to the absence of preparation and planning joined with the lack or limitation on resources. The second of these two categories, and the most desired, is that to the Implementer who is characterized by the ability to activate resources and follow a pre-prepared and trained plan with the support of an array of supporting stakeholders, constructed responses and proactively formulated decision making guidelines that reduce the time from event to response.</p><p> </p><p>The Implementer would typically be equally experienced as they are trained with significantly more emphasis on the latter. The primary and secondary phases of the first 24 hours will see the Responder desperately attempting to understand the situation, often with limited redundancy and support, while trying to time appropriate responses and activation of resources with little understanding of the strategic goals or longer term effects of these crucial decisions. This will be further exacerbated by the lack of experience or knowledge on the time taken to implement plans and the activation of vital resources.</p><p> </p><p>In contrast, the Responder during the primary and secondary phases will be aligning support plans and stakeholders with preferred outcomes and anticipating events to potentially mitigate escalation of the situation or becoming reactionary focused. Typically the Implementer will seek to maintain a rapid escalation of support elements and appropriate resources with the option to then gradually deescalate or stand-down a range of options appropriate to the incident once they have sufficient control of information that the situation does not warrant the engagement of such resources or services.</p><p> </p><p>History and more contemporary times are littered with examples whereby Government Leaders, Military Commanders, Corporate Leaders, Community Leaders and the like have failed to identify the impact of the events or incidents that have ultimately lead to an apparent disproportional result. Their failure or lack of appropriate response, relative to the potential impact and not necessarily the current information or perception, has lead to dire strategic consequences. As a result, it is these initial tactile decisions and responses that can in all likelihood determine the eventual outcome, favorable or otherwise.</p><p> </p><p>The Golden Hour in medical terms is the most crucial time in which to both stabilize a patient suffering from significant injury or illness and to determine the best course of action in order to provide them with the most appropriate form of medical care supported by adequate resources. This decision making process is often done in remote locations, at the scene of an accident or within the emergency rooms of the nearest treatment facility. While this reference is centered more towards an individual or groups affected by such events the process and outcomes are indicative of the interaction it has with all the stakeholders affected and the commonalities faced by business in general.</p><p> </p><p>Firstly, the affected parties may well be key elements to an organization or business that is dependant upon their contribution and will undoubtedly respond with all available resource for both the preservation of life and the continuity of business. Secondly, the process for escalation and decision making, including the activation of services and resources, will be made in the absence of a technical expert such as a doctor. As is the case with almost all business crisis in the initial stages. Even then, the measure to which any trained and experienced expert pertaining to crisis management will be limited to a large degree by the actions of the first responders and their support resources.</p><p> </p><p>Tactile and spontaneous decisions made in the immediate stages of a developing incident that could lead to a crisis or disaster event have strategic consequences. These consequences may not affect an immediate impact but overtime could overshadow the incident itself. For instance, the decision to act in the absence of consultation or verification could result in legal, compliance, ethical, morale, code of conduct, medical or criminal violations to which the parent organization will be responsible, or held to account, for the actions of one or more responders. Irrespective of the fact that the decision at the time may have in fact saved lives, prevented further disasters or simply maintained business continuity the strategic consequence could be just the opposite.</p><p> </p><p>While it is neither effective nor possible to script every potential incident and provide policy and processes to support such events, especially in the event of crisis, it can go a long way to mitigate many of the aforementioned issues and negative impacts. Even if during the post incident autopsy it is confirmed that a sound and consistent decision making process was employed with an appropriate degree of accountability and supported resources but ended in a less than favorable outcome, it will hold the organization and the individuals in far greater stead to know they did their utmost at the time but the situation was not recoverable despite best efforts and planning than to have made spontaneous decisions and decrees on the fly.</p><p> </p><p>Enabling first responders, supervisors and crisis management elements to draw upon the collective knowledge of their peers and industry experts, with pretreated plans, budgets and designated resources appropriate to the risk and potential impact will significantly reduce the time from incident to response and prove to be a better overall strategy for the management of limited and significant crisis events. These plans should be both comprehensive and accessible to those that require access it but also simplified for immediate reference and implementation. This is equally applicable to any support services or resources that may be required in the event of particular incidents. Should partial or full responsibility of supporting this process be apportioned to external agencies or third party providers then they in turn should be equally if not more prepared for their roles and responsibilities. Sadly, all this amounts to nothing if the plan is not widely disseminated, trained and rehearsed with a degree of regularity to account for changing circumstances and new talent and roles.</p><p> </p><p>While crisis management is often discussed and held up as the benchmark of preparedness and effectiveness, this is essentially still the realm of the Responder. In order to manage a crisis there is a disproportionate amount of time spent waiting for information injects, set circumstances, triggers and qualifying actions before implementing a plan that is known to be in existence and its results determined by the measure of its application. Crisis leadership is the true virtue of the Implementer. By proactively assessing events and mobilizing resources and the means in which to act before the situation demands, reduces the timeline of impact and in most cases reduces the overall affect the event/s may have on an organization and its personnel. It is often a far more cost effective application of resources also.</p><p> </p><p>In the modern and developing business world there is simply more information and access to information than ever before. While this has lead to many efficiencies and advancements it has not advanced the capacity or effectiveness of crisis management elements at a comparable rate. If this were the case we would incur little to no crisis events and very incidents affecting organization and their personnel would ever need be reported in the media. Effective crisis leadership is learned by training and exposure with sufficient support services and resources. The critical time in which to apply this talent however remains the same, the Golden Hour and the first 24 hours. No amount of preparation and weighty plans will resolve undesirable events in the advanced stages as a direct result of poor leadership and management in the primary phases. It is therefore of paramount importance adequate depth, training and resourcing be focused on this pivotal stage.</p></div>The Law of the Few: World Class Corporate Crisis and Communications Teamshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/the-law-of-the-few-world-class2010-08-01T09:32:58.000Z2010-08-01T09:32:58.000ZTony Ridleyhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/TonyRidley<div><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Many companies navigate the routine complexity of business with adequate or acceptable managem</span></p><div id="attachment_141" class="wp-caption alignright" style="float:right;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:10px;margin-left:10px;background-color:rgb(245,245,245);text-align:center;padding-top:7px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:7px;padding-left:2px;border-top-width:1px;border-right-width:1px;border-bottom-width:1px;border-left-width:1px;border-top-style:solid;border-right-style:solid;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:solid;border-top-color:rgb(228,228,228);border-right-color:rgb(228,228,228);border-bottom-color:rgb(228,228,228);border-left-color:rgb(228,228,228);width:266px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;"><a href="http://tonyridley.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/connected-hands.png" style="color:rgb(0,141,207);text-decoration:none;"><img class="size-medium wp-image-141" title="Team Sport" src="http://tonyridley.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/connected-hands.png?w=256&h=300" alt="Team Sport" width="256" height="300" style="border-top-style:none;border-right-style:none;border-bottom-style:none;border-left-style:none;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;" /></a></span><p class="wp-caption-text" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:5px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;font-size:11px;font-weight:normal;line-height:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Team Sport</span></p></div><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">ent, however it is the truly stellar company/s that excel not only on a routine basis but especially in times of crisis. It is select skills, experience and traits that are able to applied during times of critical decision-making that separate them from the herd. Specific skills and attributes are not something that can be learnt in the minutes and seconds required in order to apply to a critical decision making process but are acquired and developed over many years and supported by advanced processes and tools.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">To understand the best-in-class for corporate crisis management and decision-making we need to consider a number of things. Given that the timeliness of response is often predicated on how little time is wasted on logistical or bureaucratic processes before getting to a point of action, therefore companies with existing policy and procedure that is both rehearsed and updated, put themselves in the top 10 to 20% immediately. This element is certainly not a significant contributor to their success our outcome. Second, the quality of information on which decision-makers and leaders are basing their actions upon. This information alone does not comes from traditional sources such as television and paper it increasingly is inclusive of social media. The voices of many, albeit nonofficial, can have a significant impact on the outcome of the overall damage/survivability of an incident faced by a company.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">The best-in-class companies not only acknowledge social media but have means of tapping into influencing and monitoring all social media channels as required, not just in times of crisis but on a routine basis. Lastly and most significantly it’s the character of the individuals that fill the functions within a crisis or communications plan. It’s this area will look in more depth to determine the requirements attributes and success factors as crisis management is seldom the catalyst for success or failure but that of crisis leadership.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">In Malcolm Gladwell’s groundbreaking book <em>The Tipping Point</em> he mentions three significant class of character that are an important influence on social trends and epidemics. These three main character traits are also vital if not pivotal in the success of corporate communications and crisis response. Companies that lack or fail to identify and leverage from these key character and personality traits fall far behind the best of class and most innovative companies. These character traits and abilities are not governed by job title position or function they are skills possessed within a person and therefore should be leveraged in accordance with the skills to the desired outcome rather than relying on a predefined job title or function within the company. These three character traits are 1. Connectors. 2. Mavens and 3. Persuaders. In very rare instances one or more of these skill sets may be founded in a single person but any one person shouldn’t be relied upon in adding depth to any team, which is always sound practice.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">What makes someone a connector? The first–and most obvious–criteria is that connectors know a lot of people. They are kinds of people who know everyone</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">No great team has all the solutions nor knows all of the information, however is vitally important that the team have access to an individual or group of individuals that can connect to all the known and possible resources in a short-as-possible time period. Connectors as such are fantastic networkers with not only huge personal networks but also plug into other complementary networkers or fellow connectors that maybe industry, technical, media or stakeholder orientated. They can aide immensely in benchmarking or calibrating the sentiment of particular decisions/actions or even the most appropriate channel to make sure that their message is heard clear and concisely with the required outcome.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Every company should have at least one connector in a crisis or communications team or one that can be called upon quickly and effectively. It should be painfully evident this is not the type of skill or network that is built up overnight and therefore can’t be expected to be turned on by the flick of a switch; it may take years if not decades to develop and refine.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Second of the three kinds of people who control the work of mouth epidemics are a Maven. The word Maven comes from Yiddish, and it means one who accumulates knowledge</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Mavens are active if not and borderline fanatics in their collection of information relative to a specific discipline or social scenario. Once again it’s essential that corporate decision-makers and crisis management teams include such knowledge collectors. Some companies may have them within their own organic structure or call upon them as part of their service providers or trusted advisors, in some instances even board members. Mavens may manifest in many shapes, forms, gender and age but they are very quickly identifiable by their sheer depth of knowledge and cross-referencing ability to join problems with solutions. A single conversation with an effective Maven may save corporate decision-makers hours if not weeks of procrastination and circular discussions.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Mavens are teachers, Connectors are conduits but neither may be Persuaders and the reality is that some people are actually going to have to be persuaded to do something, this is the role of the persuader. A Persuader is not a snake-oil salesman, although many very effective salesmen and communicators are Persuaders. Persuaders are able to influence through their tone of voice, their physical appearance, their social observations, their empathy towards listeners or just in the way and manner they use all of the skills to communicate their particular message. Many famous politicians, while drawing criticism for their lack of knowledge and other skills, have been exceptional persuaders. Not advocating the requirement for “empty vessels” but persuaders have a rare and unique talent to be able to communicate and influence people to do something, that something being consistent with your objectives. It is a very dangerous process to use any of the identified skills and characteristics in the roles in which they’re not suited, in particular the use of a persuader in a lesser role or not that of an influencer.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Many can now probably identify these key character traits and how successful they have been in routine and critical environments. However, it should be of major concern if you can not identify these traits within your own corporate crisis and communications team. Additionally if you have a total absence of any-and-all of the skill sets within your corporate crisis and communications team. You may survive the day to day routine rigors of business but survivability rate when exposed to critical incidences without these key elements is very poor. Even worse are those that assume that job titles within the company or even gender have imparted these skills upon each and every one of their senior executives is a gross oversight. The question remains can you identify these assets or can you contact them on your worst day? Your survival may very well depend on it one day.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;"><sup>1</sup> The tipping point by Malcolm Gladwell chapter 1–The three rules of epidemics, page 38</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;"><sup>2</sup> The tipping point by Malcolm Gladwell chapter 1–The three rules of epidemics, page 60</span></p></div>