Be Results Driven and Review Driven Dan Coughlin

Steve was a results–driven executive. The reason I know that is because the first time I met him, he said, “Dan, I’m a results–driven executive.” I said that was fine with me because I believed the whole point of being an executive was to make decisions that would ultimately lead to better results.

It’s All About The Results

Over the next 45 minutes, Steve proceeded to tell me four more times that he was a results–driven executive. Finally, I asked him what he meant by this. He said, “At the beginning of each quarter, we set a goal. At the end of the quarter if we meet or exceed our goal, we have a big celebration. If we don’t meet the goal, then I come down pretty hard on people. If I have to, I lay some people off just to get my point across.“

I said, “Steve, how much money are you leaving on the table by using that approach?”
He looked stunned and said, “What are you talking about? I’m not leaving any money on the table.”
I said, “Let me share a few thoughts with you. First, how much time and energy do you think your employees are wasting worrying and being anxious that could have been used to improve results?”

He said, “Well, people do say it’s pretty nerve–racking to work for me, but, hey, that’s part of business.”
I said, “Steve, you’re stopping after the first two questions. The real gold from any project is in the last five questions. That’s where you dig out the key lessons learned that can be applied to future projects.”
He said, “Again, what are you talking about? I don’t like to drive the car by looking in the rearview window. We set a goal, and we move forward.”

Find Better Ways

I said, “You’re basically answering two questions: What was our goal? and What did we actually achieve? But the main value is derived from the next five questions which are: What did we do to try to achieve the goal? What worked well? What did not work well? What lessons did we learn? What will we do the same and what will we do differently in the future to improve our performance and our results?”

He said, “We can consider that, but I don’t want our organization to become obsessed with reviews. We need to get on to the next goal.”

I said, “Steve, halfway through every project and at the end of every project, pull your top ten employees together and have them spend one hour answering these questions. Give them the questions before the meeting so they come in prepared. Tell them they get one hour to discuss their answers, particularly to the last five. At the end of the hour, tell them to make the adjustments they need to make and to get back to work.”
Over the next three years, Steve used this approach. He still celebrated achievements and came down hard on lack of achievements, but he involved a lot more people in the discussion of what was working, what was not working, what was being learned, and what adjustments could be made.

Slowly but steadily, the emotional drama of the actual results became less pervasive. Employees at all levels were actively searching for better and better ways to improve performance. The focus on finding ways to improve results became more pervasive. At one point, there became too much focus on analysis and not enough on performance, and Steve wisely stepped in and reminded the group they had one hour every 45 days to find ways to improve performance and then they needed to get back into motion.

Over the course of those three years, the organization’s performance steadily improved despite factors that caused the performance of other companies in the industry to swing wildly.

Career Advancement Requires Results Advancement

The best chance you have for advancing your career is to continuously improve the results you are responsible for. However, just focusing on results is not enough. The real key is to determine what caused the results you achieved, what learnings you gleaned from the experience, and what adjustments can improve results in the future.
One more time, here is The Bar Raising Process: