The Building Blocks of Success

Author’s Note: This is the first of two articles that describe what I’m calling “The Building Blocks of Success”. Since I published them in February, 2020, I have concluded that the original order of the Building Blocks was incorrect. In the overall flow of a manager’s work, “clearly defining objectives” must come before “allocating resources”. I have revised both articles to reflect this order. Otherwise, the contents remain the same. – Mike, April 11, 2020

Introduction

In my earlier post, The “Why” for MyManagementMentor , I said that being a successful manager means that you deliver the results expected by your organization…and then some. In this article, I want to expand on that definition of success and identify some of the building blocks for success.

Defining Success

The first part of the definition is “you deliver the results”. This reflects the fundamental idea that your job as a manager is to get things done, to make things happen – to deliver results.

The second part narrows the focus to those results “expected by your organization”. To be successful, your efforts must be aligned with the objectives of the larger organization. The results you deliver, the things you get done, must be results that the company has identified as important.

The third part is, for me, the key to success – “…and then some.” It’s not enough to simply deliver what is expected. It’s not enough to just meet the objectives. To be successful, to stand out among your peers, you have to go above and beyond the stated objectives. You need to deliver more. You must consistently exceed expectations. You have to deliver what’s expected…and then some.

The Building Blocks of Success

With the definition clarified, we can start to think about how to get there. My goal for MyManagementMentor is to provide actionable ideas to help you be successful. I’ll be writing about specific actions you can take and tactics you can implement. Many of you have provided input through the content survey and in follow up conversations. Your comments helped me identify several dozen broad topic areas that are important to explore.

As a way to get started, I have identified five topic areas that I think about as building blocks – foundational activities that every manager, regardless of experience level, should perform. The building blocks are:

Establishing a set of personal values
Clearly defining your objectives
Organizing and allocating available resources
Developing a plan to achieve the objectives
Implementing processes to monitor progress toward the objectives

In this article, I’ll describe the first two building blocks. In the next article, I’ll address the remaining three. And over time, I will publish articles that fill in the details and explore the nuances of each.

Let’s get started.

Building Block #1: Establishing a Set of Personal Values

I believe it is critical for a manager to have a set of personal values that guide his or her decisions and interactions. These should be identified through a deliberate process of self-reflection, written down and reviewed periodically. You may not ever talk about your values, but when you internalize them they will be reflected in the way you act with your employees, peers and managers.

For me, there are three values that are non negotiable and should be part of every manager’s value set: integrity, honesty and empathy. If you can’t be trusted to deliver on your commitments (integrity) and communicate honestly with the people you work with, then any success you have will be short-lived. Without the ability to empathize with your employees, you won’t be able to establish working relationships based on trust, a necessary part of any successful team.

We’ve all seen the dramas on TV and in the movies that focus on the conniving boss who manipulates others to further his ulterior motives. But life is not a TV show. Yes, you might get short term results by manipulating the facts, playing politics or “cooking the books”, but you won’t be able to build a high performing team of committed people that can deliver consistent results over time.

Our focus is on delivering results, but that can’t occur in an ethical vacuum. How you get the work done is just as important as what you get done. To put it bluntly, being an asshole only gets you so far, and that’s usually not far enough. I know. I used to be one. (Some of my friends would probably say I still am!) But it’s a miserable way to live your life and a terrible way to manage. And if you’re in an organization where assholes rule, get out!

We will dig into this topic further in future articles. There are tools like personal mission statements that can help you clarify your values. We’ll examine some of those. I believe that integrity, honesty and empathy can be learned and practised. Like any muscle, these can be developed. I’m looking forward to exploring that topic in more depth.

Building Block #2: Clearly Defining Your Objectives

Objectives are the statements that define the results expected by the organization. At a minimum, objectives define what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. They are the starting point for action by managers.

Many organizations use the “SMART” method of defining objectives. This approach, first defined by George T. Doran in 1981¹, says that a clearly defined objective will have the following attributes:

Specific – What result is expected?
Measurable – How will progress and success be measured?
Assignable – Who will do it?
Realistic – Can the objective realistically be achieved, given available resources?
Time-related – when can the results be achieved?

Here’s an example:

The Customer Service Team will improve response time to customer questions from 72 hours to 48 hours by the end of Q3-2020.

SMART objectives can be used at any level of the organization, as well as for individual objectives in a performance plan. Creating SMART objectives will be the subject of a future article.

As a manager, you will likely work with objectives on three levels.

High-level company objectives, often referred to as “strategic objectives”. These are the overall objectives of your company and will usually reflect goals to be achieved over several years. Depending on the mindset of your company’s leaders, these may be very specific, even SMART, or more generally aspirational. When the strategic objectives are well-defined, they provide direction to everyone within the organization and help ensure that the collective efforts of all departments and individuals move the company toward the goals. Two examples are:
- The North America Manufacturing Team will launch Product Alpha in the Southeast and Western regions and achieve 10% market share by the end of 2023. (Specific and SMART)
- Demonstrate our commitment to our customers by becoming a top-tier support organization. (Aspirational)

You may not have the opportunity to help define the strategic objectives of your firm, but in order to be a successful manager you must understand them and support them. Gaining an understanding of the objectives may be as simple as reading the briefing material supplied by your senior leaders (if they provide it) or attending the “annual strategy briefing” (if such an event is held). Regardless of how the details are provided, and more importantly if none are provided, take the time to consider the objective statements carefully and raise questions. If you don’t understand the direction, how will you be able to make it clear to your organization?²

And if, after you fully understand them, you can’t support the objectives, it may be time to update your resume. For most of us, ignoring or refusing to support company objectives that are ethical and legal is what’s known as a “career limiting move”.

Unit or departmental objectives. These are the objectives for the organization that you manage. They should be aligned with the company objectives, that is they should detail what results your organization will deliver in support of the company’s objectives. You may need to develop these yourself, but it’s also possible that your manager or a broader leadership team may dictate the expected results to you. Regardless of how they are developed, they should answer these questions:
- What does the company require from my organization in order to meet the strategic objectives?
- What is my organization uniquely qualified to deliver in support of the company objectives?
- When are these results required to support the company’s plan?

Team or individual objectives. Once you have an understanding of the top-level company objectives and have articulated the objectives for your organization, you can create objectives for your teams or team members, or, better yet, ask them to create them. Again, you are translating the higher level objectives, breaking them down into manageable pieces that are appropriately scoped for your teams or individuals. You’ll ask similar questions, just focused at the next level down:
- What does my organization need from this team or individual to support our objectives?
- What is this team or this individual capable of delivering in support of the organization’s objectives?
- When are the results required?

You’ll want to match the team / individual objectives to your organization’s objectives and do a sanity check to ensure that all aspects of your organization’s objectives are met. If there are gaps, you should consider writing additional objectives to address them or including mitigation actions in your plan. (Read about creating the plan in the next article, The Building Blocks of Success, Part 2.)

Summary

OK. That’s enough for one day. I hope this article has helped you understand the definition of success that underpins MyManagement Mentor. I also hope you return to your work today with a basic understanding of the first two building blocks for success – establishing a set of personal values and organizing and clearly defining your objectives.

In the next article, we will explore the other three building blocks – allocating available resources, developing a plan to achieve the objectives, and implementing processes to monitor progress toward the objectives.

To your success,

Mike

Join the discussion…

What personal values have influenced your approach to managing?

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Footnotes

Really? Footnotes?

¹ I have used the SMART objectives method for many years, but have never seen its origin story. According to Wikipedia, George Doran first published his work in the November, 1981 issue of Management Review. Alas, I have found no online version of that article, except for one behind a paywall that is inaccessible to me. If you happen to have a copy of that issue of Management Review lying around, I would love to borrow it.

2 This may need to be done carefully, particularly if you work in an environment where questions like “Why are we doing this?” are interpreted as disloyalty or “not being on the bus”. It may be necessary to take a more oblique approach, with questions like “Can you help me understand the context of this objective? I don’t fully understand why we are going in this direction and I want to communicate clearly to my team.” This is particularly important if you detect something unethical or illegal in the objectives.