Tag Archives: Parties

How Do You Evaluate Management Team Performance? Four Points

Situation: As the end of the year approaches, a CEO is evaluating management performance over the year. An area of focus during the year have been evaluating new business opportunities and the impact of these on the company. The CEO has been uncomfortable with disagreements between departments which have slowed opportunity evaluations. How do you evaluate management team performance?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Breaking down issues of concern, there are two areas of focus.
    • Problems that should have been resolved by two people have required a referee (the CEO) to mediate the solution because the two parties could not work things out themselves.
    • Individuals who are otherwise highly skilled have become overly sensitive about minor issues that have prevented them from developing their own solutions
  • The most important step is to have the management team agree on a protocol for dealing with new business opportunities and the impact of new sales opportunities on development and support. A protocol will help to avoid the two issues of concern that have been identified.
    • Direct the team to come up with a protocol that they all agree to, subject to CEO review.
    • Once it is finalized, announce it with great fanfare as the new process that will guide the company. Make it mandatory.
    • Support this process with daily (short – 10-15 minute) or weekly (longer but 1 hour or less) team meetings to anticipate and remove blocks to execution.
  • Tension between sales, service and engineering are natural and healthy. This is because each is driven by different priorities, all of which are necessary to serve the customer.
    • Resolution of this tension requires a turnkey handoff protocol, involving checklists and flow charts.
    • The best protocols are not imposed on people but are developed by the people involved. This gives them ownership, and a stake in implementing and maintaining the protocol.
  • If, despite everyone’s best efforts there is ongoing dysfunction, it may be necessary to replace difficult people. As challenging as this seems, those who report to difficult top managers likely experience similar difficulties with them. Organizations often respond with relief after leadership eliminates a difficult manager.

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Is It Time To Change Horses? Four Suggestions

Situation: A company has a business relationship with another firm. The relationship involves co-development of technology as well as marketing and other support. Portions of the relationship have worked, however, the other firm has not kept its part of the bargain in terms of marketing and support promised. What is the best way to approach the other firm to resolve this situation? Is it time to change horses?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Have you have clearly communicated to the firm both what you are pleased with about the relationship as well as your level of dissatisfaction regarding lack of marketing and other support promise? To whom has this been communicated? Are you sure that your message has gone all of the way to the top?
  • Do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis on the current arrangement and alternatives available to you to support your trade-off analysis before taking action.
  • Present a marketing option that will address the situation and ask whether the firm will support it as previously agreed.
    • If they say yes, have a contract ready for them to sign.
    • Negotiate other key items at same time.
    • Be sure to involve all parties on your side in the preparation, including the individual(s) who made the introductions that led to the relationship. Additional heads can bring more insight into the options that the firm and relationship offers. Bring the key parties involved to the negotiation, and be sure to prep them in advance.
  • Business relationships should be based on clearly stated deliverables and timelines. If deliverables are missed then it is time to make a business decision – either repair the situation or part ways.

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