LVE Blog

Listen in as Boom Daniel, Pat (PLinc) Lincoln and Pat (Grunt) Connelly talk about staying on the business OFFENSIVE in a rapidly changing environment.  Originally broadcast on ESPN Radio (AM 1230/1320) on Sunday 3/8 0900-1000:

This is a common rallying cry in the jet-fighter community. Surely it is easy to imagine why. "Gotta go fast!"  Right? "Everything must be done with immense speed!"  Right? "Fighter pilots: lighting their hair on fire!" Right?  "Get there NOW, get away NOW!"  Right?

Right! There is no denying that in the daily flying life of fighter aviation, SPEED is a fundamental NEED (Mav and Goose said so. It must be true.)

But is it always true that SPEED IS LIFE and MORE IS BETTER?

You be the judge.

In the classic 1v1 dogfight engagement, it is a viable tactic to be as slow as you can be to minimize turn radius and flush your opponent in front, to "live inside his circle." Flying at the speed of a MAJOR LEAGUE FASTBALL is not unusual in such pursuits.

Energy and Maneuverability diagrams and graphs prove the advantage of OPTIMAL SPEED for specific moves, tactics and delivery profiles. OPTIMAL speed is desirable...not necessarily MAXIMUM speed.

So- given specific needs, speed is a key metric, but more important is WHAT YOU DO WITH THAT ENERGY (speed).  How well are you managing it? Venturing outside of the fighter-pilot world: in business, does the first company to launch new technology win?  If that is the metric, then the answer is "YES."  If the goal is to have a survivable, relevant product or service then the answer is more like a "MAYBE."  First to market, SPEED, may not matter at all.  The technology world is replete with examples of first-comers who washed out, or fell victim to too much ENERGY (speed) and not enough ENERGY MANAGEMENT:

Comms:             Iridium (global satellite phone technology) defeated by easier, cheaper communication systems available to the average joe.
VCRs:                the Sony Betamax (the prelude to the VHS), a superior product that differentiated themselves out of relevance with a refusal to cross license its products, services and spin-offs.
PDA's:               the Apple Newton digital assistant out-marketed by the Palm
TV-to-Web:        WebTV which just never caught on and fell to insignificance           

 QUESTION:
+How do you balance speed to market with ensuring long-term relevance?  +What are the tools or practices you use to make sure that your new solution does not fall victim to obsolescence? 
+Asking you to stretch a bit here...do you have a SPEED IS LIFE, MORE IS BETTER focus?
+Is it a strength, is it a weakness?
+In your environment...what does this SPEED represent?
+What does ENERGY MANAGEMENT mean?

Fighter pilots talk about BUCKETS, or at least we used to. How FULL is my BUCKET?

BUCKET CAPACITY varies from pilot to pilot but is generally increased with training, learning and experience.

BUCKET CAPACITY directly relates to a pilot's ability to process information. How can we keep a pilot safe, save an airplane, help ensure mission success? Teach and train BUCKET MANAGEMENT, that's the answer.

The more 'stuff' in a pilot's bucket, the less ability that pilot has to process information. In the confusion of too much information and not enough processing time allowed, the SIGNAL (important stuff) to NOISE (worthless chaff) ratio is minimized. This means the pilot may have a tough time sifting the important stuff out of the trash. EXAMPLE: he may neglect ALTITUDE (hugely important) while paying undue attention to a RADIO FREQUENCY (not so much, perhaps) during a critical phase. Could spell catastrophe.

The closer a pilot gets to the ground, the more STUFF gets shoved in his BUCKET. A fighter pilot flying a low altitude tactics mission may be at 100 feet above the ground (VERY LOW) and 600 knots (FAST); that dude's BUCKET is REAL FULL. He doesn't have room for much of anything else. For him, mission #1 is to avoid the ground, that's all his bucket will allow him to do.

In this situation, BUCKET MANAGEMENT takes over. The pilot does what he must to keep his bucket manageable. Solutions vary, but one answer is to increase the altitude to allow some of the STUFF out of his BUCKET...less to worry about. The pilots who manage their buckets are one step ahead in enjoying a long livelihood of the sport of flying fighters.

So to the questions:
HOW FULL is your BUCKET? Your WORKERS' BUCKETS?
What are the IMPLICATIONS of a FULL BUCKET?
How is the BUCKET MANAGEMENT in your COMPANY?

Thanks for reading. I will be away for about a week and a half. Until then...manage that bucket.

Check 6,

Boom

 Before I forget, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Here are two things to keep in mind, however. In the U.S.:

*Wednesday (tomorrow, the day before Thanksgiving) is the most dangerous travel day of the year. Please be alert.

*Friday (Black Friday, the day after T-G) is the most shopped day of the year. Better them than me!

To the point:
We give trophies for everything these days. PULSE CHECK: got a pulse, get a trophy.

It is almost customary to mistakenly recognize mediocre (or even poor) performance as noteworthy. PARTICIPATION deserves a pat on the back. IMPROVEMENT warrants recognition. EXCELLENCE deserves to be PARADED, HERALDED and REWARDED.

Most people and organizations would agree with that cluster of thoughts. But there is a problem: how to define EXCELLENCE, IMPROVEMENT and PARTICIPATION?

What is the EXCELLENCE you really seeking from your workforce? This is a tough question and one that is unique to you and your organization’s situation. Start by asking these 4 questions:

*What are our performance goals? (define it clearly)
*What changes need to take place in order to achieve these goals?
*What behaviors support making (and sustaining!) these changes?
*How can I make these new ideas clear to my employees?

From this line of questioning should come the soul-searching, introspection you may need to take on conventional REWARD WISDOM.

You need to motivate the workforce, but motivate them to do what?

We want to motivate our employees to perform in alignment with what the company really needs...and then REWARD them for THAT. See this video for more information:
http://www.viddler.com/explore/checksix/videos/47

Tell us how you MAINTAIN an EFFECTIVE INCENTIVE SYSTEM in your company. Any secrets we can benefit from? How does AGILITY play in the problem?

As always, check six and join me here, on LinkedIn or/and on Facebook, as well.

Boom            610.704.1232                  boom@ businessbattlefield.com

Right up front: I say that it takes a LOOP, or a bunch of little tightened, connected LOOPS climbing up the hill to create the much-celebrated learning CURVE. In order to create this good learning curve, it is necessary to have a closed loop system.

A couple of fundamental, simplified LOOP-Y models are

1 Deming's (execution) cycle, PDCA or PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT
and
2 Boyd's (analysis/synthesis) model, the OODA Loop or OBSERVE-ORIENT-DECIDE-ACT

Following these models is intuitive and it is an easy putt to see how these models will help one improve. Success in these loops moves the learning needle up the curve and thus performance tightens and improves. The direction of these loops defines the rise over the run of your standard learning CURVE.

Wow. Brilliant, Boom.

More brilliance: I will say that both of these loops, are missing one important step...REVIEW. Or in fighter-pilot parlance: DEBRIEF. In taking a closer look at these two models, it is easy to argue that this step (REVIEW) is implied. That may well be; but implying does guarantee execution.

With almost every organization that I have done consulting work with, there is a common thread: THERE EXISTS NO POST-MORTEM PROCESS. It just is not done. Common excuses:

"don't have time"
"not in our culture"
"don't know how"
"don't need to do that"
"we like banging our heads against the wall, repeatedly"

In today's economy, no one can afford to neglect learning and as we all know, experience is the best teacher. One would be well-advised to listen to her ( Mrs.Experience ) and tack that extra step onto your execution cycle.

More about this can be found in this short video clip (abt 4 min in duration, or so):
http://www.viddler.com/explore/CheckSix/videos/43/

As always drop me a note, leave a remark or just read, shake your head and say to yourself, "...that Boom, what a card."

Check six,

Boom
boom@ businessbattlefield.com