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Managing to the 5's
A few years ago I worked for a company called Veritas. Before I knew it, I was running two major groups of the Customer Support organization. I had 200 people and 5 managers working for me and I reported directly to the EVP of Customer Support who reported to the CEO. His goals became my goals and in a company that, at the time, was in the top 10 software companies in the world, the goal to maximize profits, reduce cost and have loyal customers was getting tougher and tougher. On top of that, I was managing during the "bubble" which meant if I didn't do a good job keeping my employees happy, they could leave for a better paying job pretty easily.
I came up with managing each manager to a list of 5 major goals they needed to hit for the year, and each quarter they would manage to 5 goals that helped them to achieve the 5 yearly goals. While goals could change, each manager knew exactly what they needed to do each quarter and if they did them, at the end of the year they would hit their targets.
Why 5? Who know, but at the time it seemed to work well.
My point... Why don't our politicians do that? I know it seems simple, and it may even seem like too few things but if you look at the top 5 things that plague this country and shoot to fix the top 5 each year (and even better the top 5 in each branch of government) then by the end of the Presidents term (for example) he (or she) would have accomplished between 20 to 60 major issues. Call me crazy but I can't think of any President that has accomplished "fixing" 5 major issues in my 40 years on this marble.
Just a thought.
I came up with managing each manager to a list of 5 major goals they needed to hit for the year, and each quarter they would manage to 5 goals that helped them to achieve the 5 yearly goals. While goals could change, each manager knew exactly what they needed to do each quarter and if they did them, at the end of the year they would hit their targets.
Why 5? Who know, but at the time it seemed to work well.
My point... Why don't our politicians do that? I know it seems simple, and it may even seem like too few things but if you look at the top 5 things that plague this country and shoot to fix the top 5 each year (and even better the top 5 in each branch of government) then by the end of the Presidents term (for example) he (or she) would have accomplished between 20 to 60 major issues. Call me crazy but I can't think of any President that has accomplished "fixing" 5 major issues in my 40 years on this marble.
Just a thought.
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