I'm writing this with tears!!!

I'm writing this with tears in my eyes, I came down here to United Kingdom for a short vacation unfortunately i was mugged at the park of the hotel where i stayed,all cash,credit card and cell phone were stolen off me but luckily for me i still have my passports with me.

I've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and my return flight leaves today in few hours from now but am having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel  manager won't let me leave until i settle the bills.

I'm freaked out at the moment.

Diane.

How Do You Change Corporate Culture?

At the root of all our profit improvement work lies the transformation of corporate culture.  We seldom use that term, as over the years it has become diluted, vague, and clinched.  We prefer a more modern term, the Operating Dynamic.  Unfortunately, even though it is gaining in acceptance and currency, many people remain unfamiliar with it.
 
And, as almost every company in the country is now in need of more profits, higher performance, greater competitiveness, and as the very essence of any improvement requires changing the operating dynamic, it may be time to dust off the old term.
 
But let us first define corporate culture in business terms:

• The resultant leadership available to guide and drive a company after all internal dissonance is accounted for.  Or
• That complex of organizational and human attributes that underlie, drive and impel all corporate expectations, motivations, and performance, from creation of vision, through execution, to final result.  Note, we are not talking here of individuals, no matter what their position, but rather of the collective.

These attributes are intrinsic functions of management (-as-a-whole), caused by management, and are entirely within the control of management. 
 
So central to performance are these attributes that changing just three of them by 20% changes the bottom line by 40%.  Comparable to increasing financial investment by 70% or increasing workforce by 25% - without the paperwork.  They cost virtually nothing to change.  And they can be easily changed. 
 
OK, that does not sound all that easy, but trust me on this one, it is easy.
 
There are three ways to change culture:

• One person at a time - either by transforming each individual or by replacing them;
• One process or issue at a time - this is reengineering; or
• The entire company - at once.

We favor the latter.  We created a unique transformation technology to do so.  It is profoundly successful. 
 
For an article on this, see Fire in the Corporate Belly.  For the results of this process see (a third party) Interview With a CEO.

Tom FitzGerald (Author: Fire in the Corporate Belly)
FitzGerald Associates, Est. 1976    www.ManagementConsultants.com     
Blog     http://fitzgeraldassociates.blogspot.com
Lake Forest, Illinois - Phone  847-599-9960

Profile of a Healthy Company III - Performance Management

Performance Management is the most important of the six Critical Functions that determine the competitiveness and bottom line performance of companies. (Think of it as an attribute of corporate "Personality") It is one of the three identified in studies by McKinsey and LSE as generating a 40% increase in financial returns when improved by 20%.

Behaving like a human attribute, it effects - and is effected by - the other corporate forces. Last month's attribute, Acknolwedgement of Work, plays a key role in its performance and effectiveness.

It is a complex function, comprised of  more than a dozen elements. These include Action Plans, Follow-Up, and Strategic Vision. For a listing, with definitions where appropriate, of the elements we address in our Corporate 360-L please contact us via dianen@managementconsultants.com. 
 
The value of Performance Management can also be estimated approximately by interviewing managers and supervisors.

If you would like to know more about our business transformation service that begins with and triggers changes in these corporate forces, please email us or call 847-599-9960. There is no obligation.

Tom FitzGerald (Author: Fire in the Corporate Belly)
FitzGerald Associates, Est. 1976    www.ManagementConsultants.com     
Blog     http://fitzgeraldassociates.blogspot.com
Lake Forest, Illinois - Phone  847-599-9960

Profile of a Healthy Company - Part II Acknowledgement of Work

What Has Gone Before             

There are just fifteen corporate attributes (organizational forces) that completely determine the performance of a company, for better or for worse. 

These are intrinsic to the organization as a whole, operating independently of external forces.  They are entirely within the control of management; they are easily measured; they are easily changed.  And changing them even a little, profoundly changes the bottom line

Collectively, they are known as the Operating Dynamic of the company.  This is the full analogue of a human "character and temperament" profile like the Myers Briggs.  Except it is much more comprehensive and detailed.  And much more mutable.

All successful organizations have similar profiles, be they for-profit or not-for-profit, even government.  Companies of the same performance levels within the same industry bear a strong resemblance to each other.  Also, all stagnant and declining companies, irrespective of industry, have profiles similar to each other, as have entrepreneurial, retrenching and "go-go" organizations.

Like financial statements, the fifteen attributes can each have positive or negative values.  They are divided into two categories: Critical Functions and Generators/Blockers.  The Critical Functions, when measured, constitute the Balance Sheet for (i.e. the intrinsic value of) the Operating Dynamic.  The Generators/Blockers provide the P&L (i.e. the growth or loss pressure) on the Balance Sheet.

Knowing the Balance Sheet and P&L values makes possible the prediction of overall competitive performance much further ahead of anything the financials can provide.

Acknowledgement of Work

This week's attribute, a Generator/Blocker, is Acknowledgement of Work.  It consists of a number of separate elements including (but not limited to):

• Performance Recognition (high, low, or negative)
• Time (and quality of time) Spent Discussing Work - by managers and workers and by managers and customers
• Quality and Frequency of Performance Evaluations 

A positive value (>25%) indicates a positive innate pressure - on the part of the organization rather than individuals - on the conduct of business.  A negative value indicates a negative pressure on business.  The actual measure indicates the level of pressure; it is also predictive of future competitive performance. 

This attribute is easily changed.  A level of positive pressure less than 25% needs correction.  Negative values require immediate and possibly urgent correction.

Complementary Article: Hitting the Ground Running as the New CEO

The Product:     The Corporate 360°-L

Tom FitzGerald (Author: Fire in the Corporate Belly)
FitzGerald Associates, Est. 1976    www.ManagementConsultants.com     
Blog     http://fitzgeraldassociates.blogspot.com
Lake Forest, Illinois - Phone  847-599-9960

The Profile of a Successful Company – Part I: Introduction

The Profile of a Successful Company – Part I: Introduction
 
Just about everybody recognizes, at least at an intuitive level, that every company is a unique, living entity, capable of growth or contraction, development or decay - no matter its size or current performance.
 
As such, it has a unique Operating Dynamic, perhaps even a unique soul, certainly a unique "personality", that:
 
·         Is not the sum of the human personalities – it can be greater or less or different.
·         Determines the company's way of working, its expectations, its performance and finally its results. 
·         Is the root cause and origin of all corporate performance.
 
Most believe that this operating dynamic is intangible, difficult to describe, impossible to measure.  And as such not amenable to purposeful change or development by ordinary mortals. 
 
However, since 1980, these beliefs are no longer correct - and heroic leadership is not necessary. 
 
Just as the human psyche is described and measured in psychological terms, and a profile (such as the Myers Briggs) developed, so also a corporate psyche can be described and measured and profiled.  The difference being that the corporate attributes addressed are business characteristics, not human.  (These can also be thought of as organizational forces.)  And greater complexity and detail are possible.
 
It should be noted that these forces are so important to the performance of a company, that changing just three of them by 20% changes the bottom line by 40%.
 
These characteristics are identified and discussed in a number of our papers published in the last few months.  One such is titled The Will to Compete; this was published by Corporate Finance Review in its September/October edition.  Others appeared in The Business Ledger, CEO Refresher, and Strategic Finance.  Still others will appear in the coming months.  Some of these are to be found in our book, Fire in the Corporate Belly, now in its second, digital, edition.
 
Over the next few weeks we will be describing the impact of the various attributes on the performance of companies.  We shall address them in the order our readers prefer; so do let us know.  Just email us at dianen@managementconsultants.com and simply name your choices. 
 
If you would like to know more about our business transformation service that begins with and triggers changes in these attributes, please email us or call 847-599-9960.

Tom FitzGerald (Author: Fire in the Corporate Belly)
FitzGerald Associates, Est. 1976    www.ManagementConsultants.com     
Blog     http://fitzgeraldassociates.blogspot.com
Lake Forest, Illinois - Phone  847-599-9960

TO LEND OR NOT TO LEND?

To lend or not to lend?  To borrow or not to borrow?  Those are the questions.
  
Whether 'tis nobler to accept the financials at face value, knowing them to be at best the company's rear view mirror.  Or by looking deeply into its soul*, to predict surely its future performance.

There are just a handful of organizational forces that determine - and therefore PREDICT** - the performance of a company long before that can show in the financials.    Longitudinal studies by McKinsey and London School of Economics, now of more than 4,000 companies, have shown that changing just three of these forces by 20% changes the bottom line by 40%.

Knowing what they are, having hard-number values for them, makes lending an order of magnitude safer than with financials alone.  And provides the borrowing company the information it needs to seriously improve its performance.  And assure its ability to service its loans.

With so many current and potential borrowers likely to be struggling, every corporate lender should know what these organizational forces are; should know how to measure them; should know, at the very least, how to estimate them.

For 25 years we have quantified these organizational forces in terms of a Balance Sheet and  P&L.  We have also helped more than 200 organizations predict (and transform) their performance.

We have now created training programs to familiarize managers and lenders with these forces and explain how to measure them.  The programs vary from one-hour presentations (great for introducing the research and concepts at working breakfasts or lunches) to one-day retreats.

We would like to tell you about them. 
*         Operating Dynamic
**               Predicting and Preempting the Corporate Heart Attack

The Post Acquisition Due-Diligence

When all is said and done, the fundamental driver business performance is not its finance nor its strategies nor its operations; these together are responsible for less than 20%.

The real driver is something else. It is its Operating Dynamic©, its Will to Compete. That complex of organizational and human factors that drive/impel behavior, generate performance and are finally responsible for success or failure.

No investor would enter into an acquisition without an in-depth financial and operational due-diligence audit. Yet, with almost every acquisition, decisions are made - and have to be made - in almost complete ignorance of that which is responsible for 80% or more of performance. Guesswork and hunches are the order of the day.

Investors make their acquisition decisions on the best information available and then wait... And wait... And hope... Because understanding what the operating dynamic really is and the impact it has on performance takes time. Lots of time.

Until now it has been thought that that was the way it had to be. It was felt that the technology to open the soul of a company to its new owners did not exist.

Happily, this is no longer true.

A Post-Acquisition Due Diligence© is now possible. A due diligence that will expose to the light of day the real and often hidden drivers of performance, and do so for the company as a whole and for each of its units.

The cost is affordable, the effort required by the acquired company is minimal, the time to do it extremely short.

And the potential ROI remarkable.

For information on the Post Acquisition Due Diligence, contact Tom FitzGerald at 847-599-9960 or fitz @ managementconsultants.com

For information on FitzGerald Associates and background on the diagnostic instruments visit their web, http://www.managementconsultants.com/.

The Foundations of Recovery III

When insightful managers look at the causes of performance they are immediately struck with the overwhelming influence that just a few critical functions have to determine the success or failure of the company.

As long as they as a whole are positive, the company is improving. But when they turn negative the corporate trajectory is downward and, if they stay that way, the organization is destroyed - utterly and inevitably.

Every experienced manager knows these functions exist. Yet for most they remain invisible, mysterious; business schools never teach how to measure them, how to grapple with them, how to transform them. They remain something mystical that they are expected to know intuitively how to control. It is why more than 50% of all new executives are gone in eighteen months - even in good times.

Professional managers have at their fingertips all the numbers that deal with the past, like the financials or the KPI's. Yet, about the causes of performance, which are laying down the future, they must GUESS.

Since 1980 the root causes of performance have been known precisely and documented in great detail. Since 1985 the technology to trigger changes in them has existed and has been used in more than 200 organizations.

Our book Fire in the Corporate Belly, now in its second, expanded edition, describes the causes, how to measure them and how to change them.

Papers, by us and about us, have appeared in more than 40 business publications around the world, from American Banker to Fast Company. A current article can be found here. Two other articles on this subject will appear in Corporate Finance Review and Strategic Finance in October. If you would like to receive previews, please Contact us.

One of the drivers of performance, obscure, but of extraordinary importance, is Acknowledgement of Work - generator number two.

Why 70% of Acquisitions Fail

For forty years or more it has been known that 60% of acquisitions fail; some put the failure rate as high as 80%. The problem does not lie with the due diligence. By and large they are carefully and professionally done.

Rather, it resides in what the due diligence does not address at all: The root cause, the origin, the driver, of all performance and results, the Operating Dynamic of the company, its very Will to Compete. This is the stuff success (or failure) is made of; the stuff on which an acquisition should be based; the stuff with which a merger should be carried out. Yet is it almost never measured.

Why this is so, is simple enough: It is widely believed that the operating dynamic is something not measurable, something mystical, something almost spiritual; perhaps also because looking at the exposed soul of a company might be embarrassing.

But the operating dynamic is measurable - in great detail. And its measures PREDICT performance long before that shows in the financials. An article on this, first published in the CEO Refresher, may be found at The Corporate Polygraph. Another article, The Black Hole in the Due Diligence Audit, will appear in the October 2009 edition of Corporate Finance Review - CFR.

If you do not subscribe to CFR and would like to see the article please let us know.

The Foundations of Recovery - I

There are just six critical functions that determine corporate performance. They constitute a company's Operating Dynamic .. They encompass its inherent Will to Compete .. They are entirely within the control of management.

Improving them by a mere 20% increases the bottom line by 40%*, something no cutback, no strategy can do.

During the intense 1980-82 recession we created a process that:

1. Provides hard measures for these critical functions and presents them as a Balance Sheet and P&L; this was never before possible.
2. Enables CEO's to trigger serious improvements in them - and on their companies' bottom lines.

It has worked in every downturn (and upturn) since, in large companies and small, in for-profits, and not-for-profits, even government. It is fast. It is economical. It is non-intrusive.

It is true corporate mobilization. It leaves your company, not only more profitable, but stronger, more aggressive, ready for the recovery.

I would like to tell you about this. Would it be possible for your assistant to arrange a time for us to talk? In this recession there is probably nothing you can do that will bring greater or faster results.

The CEO and the Great Recession

When a great CEO mobilizes a company to face a great challenge, he does not just focus on costs or on revenues, on strategies or tactics, or even all of those. He focuses on evoking the very spirit of the organization and on transforming it, knowing that this spirit will do the rest. Great battlefield generals do this also.

While all professional managers know that every company has a unique, motive spirit that generates all its performance - from development of vision to final execution - most are not aware of what exactly it consists of, or how to tap into it, or how to change it. This is not taught in B schools.

Since 1980, however, the make-up of this corporate spirit (call it Operating Dynamic) has been known and documented. In 1985 the technology to trigger changes in it was developed. It has since been used in more than 200 organizations to transform them even to their intrinsic Will to Compete. No longer is it necessary to be a "Great Leader" to do so.

Our book Fire in the Corporate Belly, now in its second, expanded edition, describes both the makeup of the corporate spirit and the methodology of changing it. The introduction can be accessed here. Summaries of the chapters can be accessed at Fire in the Corporate Belly.

What is a Post-Acquisition Due Diligence?

When all is said and done, the fundamental driver of any business is not its finance nor its strategies nor its operations. These together are responsible for no more than 20% of performance.

The real driver of corporate performance is something else. It is its Operating Dynamic. That complex of organizational and human factors that drives/impels behavior, generates performance and is finally responsible for success or failure.

No investor would enter into an acquisition without an in-depth financial and operational analysis. Yet, with almost every acquisition, decisions are made - and have to be made - in almost complete ignorance of that which will be responsible for 80% of performance. Investors must make their acquisition decisions on the best information available and then wait... And wait... And hope... Because understanding what the operating dynamic really is, and the impact it is having on performance takes time.

Until now it has been thought that that was the way it had to be. It was felt that the technology to open the soul of a company to its new owners did not exist. Happily, this is no longer true.

A Post-Acquisition Due Diligence is now possible. A due diligence that will expose to the light of day the real and often hidden drivers of performance, and do so for the company as a whole and for each of its units.

The cost is affordable, the effort required by the acquired company is minimal, the time to do it extremely short. And the ROI remarkable.

A Fighting Response to Recession

A Fighting Response to Recession

Imagine . . . .   All your people aggressively thinking, planning, working together - not just for the company's survival, but for its success.   The least would be an immediate surge in profits.   But less than 20% of people's goals are congruent with their company's.   And that shows in its Will to Compete.   Even in good times, this operates at less than 30% of its potential.   If it is improved by just 20%, the bottom line improves by 40%. But how? First, measure it in detail.   Once you know, transforming is profoundly simple, the ROI extraordinary. What it is, how it can be measured and transformed, is addressed in our book Fire in the Corporate Belly.  The book and individual articles can be purchased at  Whales Tale Press.

Thriving in Recession III - Mobilizing the Will to Compete

The fundamental driver, the root cause, of all business performance is Corporate Will©. Not strategy, tactics, operations, or anything else that is measured in an audit or due-diligence. It costs virtually nothing to change and a small change triggers large improvements in corporate competitiveness and profits.

Corporate Will is that complex of organizational and human factors that underlie, drive and predict all corporate performance. It consists of fifteen* major organizational attributes - drivers and blockers - that generate and determine how the company performs. All are entirely within the control of management.

If they are identified and quantified, changing them is easy and virtually cost free. And changing them has been proven to have an extraordinary and magnifying impact on the bottom line. The Corporate 360° is a unique web-based diagnostic instrument. It creates an in-depth analysis of an organization's critical Will to Compete, and presents it in terms of a Balance Sheet and a P&L. This has never before been possible.

It is non intrusive; it is economical. Within days (or hours) the information can be in the hands of management. With that information, true and lasting mobilization is possible.

* The Attributes: All the factors we measure are to be found in our book, Fire in the Corporate Belly, see below. Additional attributes will appear in subsequent emails. Stay Tuned! Attribute No. 2 can be found at Corporate Commitment. Attribute No. 1, Acknowledgement of Work, may be accessed through the 2nd posting on our blog.

Thriving in Recession Part II - The Forgotten Gold in Every Company

Within every company there is a source of competitiveness, of performance, of profits waiting to be tapped.

It is entirely within the control of management; it costs virtually nothing to change; and, if improved by just 25%, it generates a 40%+ improvement in financial returns*. Something no retrenchment, no reengineering, no tactic, no strategy, can provide. Finding it, mining it, is the first and most effective response to recession.

At some level, everyone knows it exists. It is acknowledged that it fundamentally generates all corporate performance and competitiveness. Yet few companies can clearly define it, manage it, or change it. It remains in the realm of guesswork and "the leadership thing."

But it can be defined, it can be managed, and it certainly can be changed. It is called the Operating Dynamic© of the company. Uncovering it, making it responsive to management is easy.

Since 1980 we have been measuring and helping companies trigger changes in this hidden profit center. One of the tools we use is at The Corporate 360°. It is quick, it is non intrusive, it is economical.

It has some fifteen major components. One component is Acknowledgement of Work.

For additional information, please contact us at:
847-599-9960 or DianeN@ManagementConsultants.com.

For some tactical and operational guidance from our archives and the last recession, see How To Manage In A Downturn.

Thriving in Recession - Part I

The first line of defense in any business downturn lies in the company's Will to Compete. If that is strong, the company thrives. If it is weak, the company falters.

A company's Will to Compete is not just the fighting spirit of the CEO, though that is important, nor the sum of the individual managers' commitments to survive. It is the resultant leadership available to the company after all dissonance and misdirection are accounted for. Some people refer to this as the Spirit of the company. But another, more neutral term might be the Operating Dynamic©.

The Operating Dynamic is in fact the root cause and driver of all corporate performance.

As long as this remains invisible, it negatively impacts performance. But once brought into the open it can be changed, improved, put to work strengthening the company.

The nice thing about the Operating Dynamic is that it's entirely within the control of management, so improving it costs virtually nothing. And a small improvement there has been shown to cause a huge improvement in both competitiveness and the bottom line.

The first step is to measure it.

For information on the Operating Dynamic and its components click here.

Predicting and Transforming Corporate Performance

The Corporate 360°®

A Balance Sheet & P&L

for the

Operating Dynamic of Your Company

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BACKGROUND

All Corporate Performance is fundamentally driven by the Operating Dynamic© of the company. It is more important than strategy, tactics, processes, finance, or "culture". It is the root cause of success or failure. A healthy operating dynamic results in high performance; a poor or sick one causes decline or failure.

The operating dynamic is entirely within the control of management; it costs almost nothing to change. Improving it by even a little results in a large increase in financial returns - irrespective of initial performance.

It can be measured; it can be changed; yet it almost never is.

Knowing it in detail, and measuring it in terms of a Balance Sheet and P&L, allows companies to:

· Trigger significant, and sometimes remarkable, profit increases

· Predict future performance - far ahead of the financials or the KPI's

The Balance Sheet provides the current value of the operating dynamic: how it is working; what it is laying down for the future of the company – good or bad. The P&L shows the trend line on the value. Together, they provide the Innate Trajectory of the company. (Nothing can predict a result further ahead than its cause.)

DESCRIPTION

The Corporate 360° surveys provide a full-spectrum, in-depth analysis of the company's innate health. They are MANAGEMENT TEAM instruments only. They are web-based, simple and easy to respond to: the smallest takes less than five minutes to complete; the largest about thirty. Commentary can also be input and provides for a deeper level of diagnosis.

The surveys provide a 360° appraisal of the company and each of its units, from the inside, through the eyes and perspective of its managers – those who will have to change it if that is necessary. The surveys put hard numbers on factors that cause, predict, drive and also block performance. They work for large companies and for small.

The instruments are a distillation of the turnaround and profit improvement work that FitzGerald Associates have engaged in since 1976. They have been proven in more than 200 organizations - low performing as well as high.

Survey responses and commentary are evaluated by our senior diagnosticians, not by computer programs. Findings are explored in-depth with the CEO's and management teams using our unique facilitation process.

BENEFITS

Profitability

· Quantifies the key management functions proven to directly impact profitability. Even our smallest survey addresses all major factors. Our largest allows CEO's to actively trigger changes.

· Presents the key functions in terms of a Balance Sheet and Income Statement together with their underlying drivers and blockers.

· Focuses management on priority issues and areas which will provide maximum return for effort.

Competitiveness

· Evaluates a company's Corporate Will^© (innate will to compete) and identifies action steps to improve it.

Performance Prediction

• Predicts future corporate performance long before it shows in the financials or the KPI's.
• Focuses attention on dangerous situations not yet visible to accounting or due-diligence audits.

Leadership / Management

· Creates immediately understandable measures of the CAUSES of corporate behavior and their direct impact on profits, productivity and performance.

· Measures the effectiveness of ManageMENT: i.e. the resultant leadership and administration available to the company after all dissonance is accounted for.

Hitting-the-Ground-Running

· Provides immediate, in-depth analysis of the operating dynamic for an incoming manager.

· Facilitates inherited managers imprinting on the new CEO.

· Shows where improvements need to be made.

· Identifies areas of maximum return on effort.

M&A / Due Diligence

· Provides the hard numbers needed to predict future performance: something no traditional due-diligence can do.

· Identifies what needs immediate change - and how to do it.

· Guides and helps manage successful mergers.

Turnaround / Renewal

· Enables Preemptive Turnaround.

· Measures core motivations needed for a sustained turnaround – company wide and unit by unit.

· Indicates the readiness of a company to make serious change or undertake a new enterprise.

· Identifies what needs to change - and how to do it.

Case Studies and Testimonials

Available on Web

The Corporate 360°

The Corporate 360° Surveys provide a full-spectrum, in-depth analysis of the company's innate health. They are web-based, simple and easy to respond to: the smallest takes less than five minutes to complete; the largest about thirty. Commentary can also be input and provides for a deeper level of diagnosis.

The surveys provide a 360° appraisal of the company and each of its units, from the inside, through the eyes and perspective of its managers and supervisors, those most responsible for its condition. They put hard numbers on corporate attributes that used to be thought of as "soft issues", the attributes that cause, predict, drive and also block performance. The surveys work for large companies and small.

The instruments are a distillation of the Preemptive Turnaround and Profit/Performance Improvement work that FitzGerald Associates have engaged in since 1976. They have been proven in more than 200 organizations, low performing as well as high.

Survey responses and commentary are evaluated by senior diagnosticians, not by computer programs. Findings are explored in-depth with the CEO's and management teams using a unique facilitation process created and utilized by FitzGerald Associates since 1980.

Information can be obtained by contacting DianeN@ManagementConsultants.com or 847-599-9960.

The Cash Cow in Every Company - A Webinar

Within any company there are just six critical functions, entirely within the control of management, that have a profound and determining effect on the bottom line.

Date: Wed Oct 3, 2007 Time: 9:00 AM, USA Pacific Duration: 1 Hour Contact: kim@e2c.com

Description

A Master Session with Tom FitzGerald

Within any company there are just six critical functions, entirely within the control of management, that have a profound and determining effect on the bottom line. A small change to them generates a huge change in performance.

This works for high performing companies as well as troubled. Together they constitute a Cash Cow that is always available to any managing officer.

FitzGerald Associates discovered this in 1980 from their turnaround and reengineering work. They also discovered how to trigger changes in them; something just as important. Because this knowledge provided them with a competitive edge, they did not publish it.

A few months back, however, London School of Economics and McKinsey issued the report of a joint eight year study of one hundred companies. It showed that a 25% improvement in just three (of the six) Critical Functions results in a 42% improvement in financial returns*, something no strategy or tactic can generate. This study has since been supported by at least two other studies of 700 and 300 companies respectively. FitzGerald Associates therefore decided to make their intellectual property known.

These six Critical Functions can be measured in great detail. And so can the factors that drive them – the factors that constitute a company's Will to Compete. Once measured, they can be transformed. And being transformed, they transform the performance of the company. Charisma is not required.

Tom FitzGerald, CEO of FitzGerald Associates, will discuss these Critical Functions, how they impact bottom-line results, how they relate to a company's will to compete and, of course, how to turn them into profits.

Data from real (but anonymous) companies will be shown.

Click here to register

The Profile of a Healthy Company - Part 1

All executives know the importance of monitoring the underlying health of their companies. And of taking action to improve it.

However, they seldom get around to doing it. Probably because they do not know the huge and proven impact the attributes of a healthy (or unhealthy) company have on the bottom line. Perhaps because they believe the attributes are unknowable. Or think they cannot be measured. Or that doing so is difficult. Or, in despair, that nothing can be done about them anyway.

These beliefs are very wrong. The attributes of corporate health have been known and understood for decades; they can be quantified in great detail; they can be presented as a Balance Sheet and a P & L. Changing them is extraordinarily easy. Changing them transforms the bottom line.

The first step is knowing what they are.

In Parts 2 and 3 we will identify some of the more important attributes that constitute the Balance Sheet and P&L.

Facing Corporate Reality - Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall!

Within a company, no great change can happen, no substantial performance increase can be achieved unless and until that company faces clearly and fearlessly what it really is.

Yet, the real drivers, causes, of corporate performance are mostly ignored. Partly because they are not known, partly because managers are afraid to look.

Less than 10% of the factors that drive the success of the company appear in traditional analyses. And these are often more result than cause, more ephemeral than enduring.

The other 90% of corporate drivers are not addressed. Most of these exist within the hidden emotional life of the company.

At some level, all successful leaders are aware of these drivers and cause them to change, to transform. For example, in successful turnaround situations, new CEOs intuitively change the entire dynamics of the company as part of the transformation. Inspired new CEOs do this too.

But neither desperation nor inspiration are needed. Companies can be transformed. And the first step is to identify the motive forces, the real drivers of success.

From hands-on experience with scores of organizations the writer describes some of the more important of these drivers and their effects on performance.

For access to the entire article, contact us at DianeN@ManagementConsultants.com with a subject line of Mirror Mirror!

If you needed to generate within a year a 20% improvement on the bottom line, which do you think would be more effective?

• Changing strategy
• Changing tactics
• Changing processses (reengineering)
• Changing the drivers of performance

Let us know what you think. Click "comments" just below on the right.

The Stages and Measures of Corporate Decline

Here is the illustration showing the phases, stages and the different measures of the decline process, excerpted from our e-book. Brief descriptions follow underneath the illustration.

Click here to view full screen from our website.



When a company falters and eventually dies, it goes through three distinct phases of decline.

Phase I, the Hidden Phase, can not be seen from outside the company. It is also frequently, and needlessly, missed from within. However in this phase fully one third of the competitive value is lost. Recovery from this phase is termed Preemptive Turnaround.

Phase II Decline, the Subtle Phase, is visible from outside, to those who know what to look for. This is measured in professional due diligence audits. Another third of the competitive value is lost in this phase. Recovery from Phase II is termed Business Correction.

Phase III Decline, the Overt Phase, can be seen by all. Recovery from here is classic Turnaround.

Each phase has its unique attributes and unique measures. Working backwards:

• The Overt Phase is measured by the Financials - though the other measures are ringing alarms very loudly.

• The Subtle Phase is measured by the Parametrics. The Financials show nothing - though the Drivers loudly proclaim problems.

• The Hidden Phase is measurable only by the Drivers of Performance - here, the other measures show nothing.

The Rebirth of a Company

We are often asked why our work causes such significant shifts in systemic performance: Quite simply, we have a technology that allows managing officers to focus powerfully the energies of the management teams on the core drivers of performance. And transform them.

But when the question turns to HOW it works, it becomes much harder to explain. You see, the drivers - there are about a hundred of them - lie within the Operating Dynamic of the company. (Think of this if you like as the Corporate Will.) These drivers comprise the emotional life of the company. And can only be transformed emotionally.

We have created a way to do this. Through laughter.



Artwork by Anne FitzGerald, creator of the "Dear God Kids"

Please click "Comment" below to leave your comments, ideas, or thoughts.

My Company's Future - To Guess...? or To Measure...?

No CEO, however busy, would risk his company's future without measuring its financials - frequently. Knowing that to use the financials alone to judge future performance is like driving a car using only the rear-view mirror.

The smarter CEO measures the KPI's (key performance indicators) as well. Knowing that using these - still trailing but earlier expressions - is no better than driving by looking out the side window. (Many believe this is as good as it gets.)

However, the wise and prudent CEO measures the root causes, the drivers of performance. They predict the future at the very time they are creating it.

• They can be identified. Easily.
• They can be measured. Quickly.
• They can be transformed. Readily.

The Exec Report of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, carries a review of an article on the subject of performance prediction. (Click on icon below.) The full article was the lead in the May 2005 edition of The CEO Refresher.



To read the review, click here.



Another article on a similar subject appeared in the journal of the Turnaround Management Association. Titled
The Preemptive Turnaround it was written as a kind of prequel (?) to the Refresher article.

 

Please click "Comment" below to leave your comments, ideas, or thoughts.

The Cause of Corporate Growth

Before sustained corporate growth is possible
Before that growth can show in the financials

Even before implementation is begun
Or the financing arranged
Or the planning done

There must be a preparedness, a readiness
In the operating dynamic of the company.

Without it, nothing will happen.
Except the squandering of human and financial resources.

With it, the likelihood of success is multiplied.

On ways to measure the preparedness of your company
See article Mirror,Mirror, on the Wall . . .


For information on how to create (or renew) this preparedness
See article Fire In The Corporate Belly

 

 

Your Company's Trajectory: Up, Down, or Sideways?

At all times, in all companies, irrespective of size or industry, there is an Innate Trajectory(C) to their performance and viability that is independent of the economy, of the competition, of the current bottom line.

As that trajectory points - up or down - so will the company go. As the angle of the trajectory slopes, so will the company move: Quickly or slowly; up or down.

The Innate Trajectory(C) is not detected in the financials or even the KPI's; these are historic, retrospective measures. Their ability to show trends is very limited, even with the most sophisticated of models.

The Innate Trajectory is detected (and measured) by using the causes of it: The Drivers of Performance. (Nothing can show a trajectory better - or further ahead - than its causes.) They show both direction and intensity, at the very time they are creating the future. The Drivers, in fact, predict.

They can be identified - easily. They can be measured - simply. They can be changed - readily. As they change, they change the future.

Your thoughts are welcome. You can input your opinions and read those of others at the Comments button below.

The Cost and Return (ROI) of Corporate Development

Of the roads to corporate development/improvement, three great avenues stand out:

• One is through the change of strategy, of tactics.
• Another is through the reengineering of process.
• The third, is through the transformation of the Operating Dynamic of the company.

Strategic/tactical change takes time to implement; is always disruptive; then takes time to prove - the success rate is seldom encouraging. And it is always expensive. The ROI (if any) is measured in percents per annum.

Reengineerig also takes time to implement; is even more disruptive; then takes time to prove that it works - the success rate here is little better than 30% (Hammer & Champy). It is of course expensive. And the ROI (if any) is still measured in percents per annum.

The third, improving the operating dynamic, is quick. It focuses and mobilizes the company. It costs little. It shows on the bottom line immediately - systemic improvements always do. And this provides the funds for further development.

The ROI is measured in multiples. A first year ROI of 10:1 is the least to be expected.

To transform the operating dynamic of the company requires just three things:

• The ability to identify and measure its elements;
• The techniques of triggering change; and
• A manager with the courage to look deep into the soul of the company - and not flinch from what is seen.

For information on diagnosis, see article Mirror,Mirror, on the Wall . . .

For Information on triggering corporate change, see article: Fire In The Corporate Belly

Business Insights - For CEO's and Owners

 

 

• If you want to know how your company did yesterday,
      look to its Financials.
  
• If you want to know how your company is doing today,
      look to its Parametrics.
  
• If you want to know how your company will do tomorrow,
      look to its Operating Dynamic.

The Operating Dynamic is that complex of organizational and human factors that drive, impel, and therefore predict performance; they act independently of the economy and the competition.

They can be identified. 

      They can be measured. 

            They can be transformed. 

For CEO's - A Subject of Profound Significance

We wrote the paper in June and offered it to just four publications: Corporate Finance Review (CFR), The CEO Refresher, Strategic Finance, and the Journal of the CEO Institute. Within two days, all four had accepted. CFR is running it as the lead in a special issue: The changing role of the CFO; The editors deemed the subject matter to be that important.

Since publication, we have been

• Commissioned to write two additional papers on the subject that would lay out our technology in detail - one is to be titled The Cash Cow in Every Company.
• Hired to speak before CEO peer groups.
• Asked for reprint permissions; we will be published at least six more times before the end of the year.
• Requested to conduct a webinar.
• Approached about speaking at an annual trade conference.
• Our book goes into a second edition.

As you will see, the article has been written from the CFO's point of view. However, the person responsible for taking action on the information is the CEO.

Please feel free to print it, email it to your boss, board, and associates and/or forward it to your business association. We would appreciate your comments on this article - its substance, its style, its graphics. The "comment" link is just below.

*Tom FitzGerald has personally consulted with more than two hundred organizations, his articles have appeared more than a hundred times in magazines around the world. His company's web is at www.ManagementConsultants.com

Our Workforce Is Our Greatest Asset. . . Really?

Our Workforce Is Our Greatest Asset. . . Really?

We have all heard it countless times, from CEO's and managing officers: "Our People Are Our Greatest Asset." And they seem to believe it. After all, it stands to reason: if there were no workforce - i.e. management and workers - there would be no company; if that workforce were in poor shape, the company would fail. It makes sense at every level. But there is something about that claim that doesn't gibe with reality. Let's look: Traditionally, the value of a company is defined as its assets, its liabilities, and its capital. (See! no people.) And because of their importance we put numbers on them, we measure their improvements and declines. And we do so unit by unit, profit center by profit center, and for the company as a whole. Also, we audit them, very carefully, at considerable expense; such is their importance. And because we have measures for them, we can manage them. Now let us look at our Greatest Asset: There are no measures. No numbers. Nothing to show its current value. Nothing to show its trajectory. Nothing that is the equivalent of the balance sheet and income statement. It seems we have no measures. We guess about our greatest asset. If our people are all that important, why don't we have measures like the balance sheet and P&L? Why don't CEO's and corporate boards insist? But there is help. Since the early 1980's, FitzGerald Associates have been providing CEO's and CFO's with the ability to measure the value and trajectory of their workforce - management and workers. Now, CEO's have a reliable tool that puts a numeric value on the workforce and its trajectory. And, because the performance of todays workforce - management and workers - determines tomorrow's bottom-line, CEO's can predict how the company will perform tomorrow. So, let us ask again: If your workforce is your greatest asset, how are you measuring it? How are you managing it? If you would like information on this technology, please contact us at info@ManagementConsultants.com or 847-599-9960. There is no obligation, we know that this is not for everyone.