Mapping Individuals Actions to Corporate Goals in 15 minutes!

Great comments on the last post. Thank you Scott and aa for these comments, great insights! I hope this post will add to the conversation. Look for additional posts that will address your comments in the coming weeks. Also, aa if you want to send me your email address we can continue some of the discussion one on one, thanks again for yours thoughts I thought they were very well articulated. Scott I already talk to you to much, ;-) that being said next time we grab lunch lets be sure to discuss further.


I have found that people in general follow a consistent pattern in being part of a team. first they will tend to do and move toward doing what they are good at. Second they will tend to do or move toward doing what they feel contributes most to their success on the team. HR departments in general are really good, as are profiling systems in helping facilitate the first part; getting people contributing in ways that they enjoy and are good at. However, the second part of the equation is all about the clarity of the project and if someone is feeling they contribute or have value. I cannot emphasise enough the enormous importance of this second part and how due to its subtleties it is generally overlooked to the dire consequences of the team member and the successful desired outcome of the project. Not being able to manage where people can best feel they contribute is in my opinion one of the most prevalent reasons projects, startups and companies in general fail. The first part of solving this is step one, the Clarity Questions, (as outlined in previous posts). The second part is a mapping technique I have modified from the Verbalised Summary Objective, (VSO) technique. As you may recall the The VSO technique is also the foundation on which I displayed how I liked to build a "10" word elevator pitch. I was originally introduced to the VSO technique by Paul, one of Sustainable Startup's followers. He directed me to the following 3 1/2 min video http://www.bnet.com/2422-13731_23-265800.html. The video is of Howard Muzio, CEO of Group Harmonics explaining the VSO technique. Howard is using the technique for a slightly different purpose but I have found that with a bit of a twist it has been a great tool for aligning peoples talents to the company's objectives. I encourage you to view the video now and then come back and finish reading this post.

A explained in the video the formula goes like this, I use "x" (my resources) with "y" (people) for "z" (result). I have modified it for our purpose to, I use "x" (my resources) with "y1" (people) and/or "y2" (to do) for "z" (result).

I will use Erika who works on this blog with me as an example. In doing this exercise I ask two key questions. First I ask; With respect to the Sustainable Startup Blog how do you currently spend your time and with whom doing what? When Erika and I did this originally the answers were:

1/3 time on the web researching.

1/3 time administrating

1/3 time marketing

The second key question I ask is: What do you want to be doing and what do you feel you should be doing to hit the goals we have outlined in the Clarity questions.?

(You will notice that this question address both the want and the contribution, "feel you should be doing" that make up the two areas that people most gravitate toward in doing a job or working on a team) The answers I get are also more thought out and more specific but the first question is still very important as it provides a base to build on. Also, I follow the formula closely when working through the second question, in particular by paying attention to the "z" for what result. You will notice in the example below each area of the work described now has a purpose that inevitably relates back to the clarity questions.

I spend 20% of my time researching other blogs and how they are building content.

I spend 20% of my time researching other blogs and how they are attracting followers.

I spend 20% of my time with Cameron reviewing my findings, discussing ideas, understanding where we are going with his writing.

I spend 10% of my time on administrative tasks so that people have a professional experience with the blog.

I spend 10% of my time updating PlanHQ so people can see how PlanHQ works and interacts with the blog.

I spend 10% of my time marketing the blog online in a manner that we can hit follower targets.

This process takes some work in terms of having to examine what someone is doing. At first, (assuming your clarity questions are done) this make take a hour. As you become more familiar and practiced at it you can complete it in 15 min. As a company or project matures and more people are added or as goals change you can spend 15min with team members redefining their roles as they best match the clarity questions. I have found few tools as powerful as this.

One question you may have is; What do I do if this is a new hire or potential hire? I share the clarity questions with the person and then start with question #2. It is a great technique to use in an interview to see if someone really "gets it" and will be a contributor to your team. If you hire the person I suggest that you go through this process the first day they start then again at the beginning of their second week, then again at the beginning of their second month, then again at the beginning of their second quarter and then on an as needed basis but generally no less than two times per year.

This post was not easy to write and this is one of those techniques best explained by doing or demonstrating. If anyone would like to spend an hour on the phone or in person going through this for them self or their team members I would be happy to do so. If you take me up on this offer I would ask that if you think the process is usefull that you refer a friend or collegue to participate in the Sustainable Startup blog. Please feel free to email myself, cameron@cameronchell.com or Erika, erika@cameronchell.com if you would like to take us up on this offer.

Hope you have a great week,

Cameron

passion x SIMPLE = practical

The newest member of Sustainable Startup is Pierre. Pierre describes himself as a "true believer" in spiritual ethic. Awesome, Pierre I am glad to have you as part of this community, Welcome.


This post is all about the second part of the Sustainable Startup People Formula, "Simple".


If your startup is doing less than $25mm per year and/or not doubling in size annually I would be very skeptical of its success potential if it has an “HR department”. That’s correct, “if it has an HR department”. I am not against HR departments or their function; in fact I think their intended function is the most important aspect of the business. So much do I think of the function of HR that in a startup I believe the function must be handled by the senior or founding executive of the startup. I am not talking about processing payroll or the administrative tasks of HR, I am talking about areas like employee strength analysis, job descriptions, compensation, performance reviews. Also, in a startup I am not for over analysis and/or overuse of “profiling” systems. These systems have their place in a statup and are very important as an organization matures but initially I think they are relatively ineffective.


I have not seen strict personality profiling systems be overly effect in startups. These systems tend to be very accurate and insightful but not overly practical in mapping to what is getting done in the startup and what needs to get done with the resources you have. As we all know the art of the startup is in succeeding with limited resources. Rarely do we have “unlimited” resources to call upon to hire the “perfect profile” for each job task, description or title we need in order to get to market. Using the process that I will describe and demonstrate next week we can map goals to the tasks currently being done by the people currently doing them. In doing this you will see your holes and more importantly who needs to attend to your corporate strengths. You can determine who best can currently fill in what is lagging and who needs to absolutely stay focused on what is most important, (What is most important to focus on is your strengths. Your strengths are your key differentiators, Clarity Question #4)


What have we covered in the SIMPLE part of the formula? 1.) You don't need an HR department for a start up, but that HR is the most important aspect of a startup to be handled by the senior executive. 2.) Profiling systems are good but generally assume you have the money to resource the perfect person for the specific positions you have to fill. Next weeks post will describe the practical process to map your existing resources to what most importantly needs to get done in your start up.

The People Formula, PxS=P

Welcome to our latest follower CGnovels. CGnovels is a guild of artists who use technology and the traditional methods of art. http://www.cgnovels.com/.


Sustainable Startup blog is best experienced when used in conjunction with PlanHQ, an on-line business planning tool. If you want free access to planHQ for the Sustainable Startup blog email erika@cameronchell.com and she will send you a login name and password.


You will always here it said that people are your most valuable asset. I have learned that people are also by far your most expensive and complex asset. Based on this notion and a lot of hard lessons, I have developed a formula that I keep front and center whenever I am dealing with HR or the “people asset”. Over the next couple of weeks we will run through this formula as well as an accompanying method I use to implement it. The formula is PxS=P. Passion x Simple = Practical.

Passion. Much ado is made about passion and without it a startup stands little chance for any level of success. Most startups love attracting people to their cause and attracting passionate people to a cause is generally not that hard. In saying that, one of the most prominent reasons for failure in startups is that startups attract passionate people to a cause. Lets me stress this again so you don’t think I made a mistake in what I wrote; "One of the most prominent reasons startups fail is that they attract passionate people to a cause". A cause is something that brings about an effect or a result. A causes on it's own is a problem. A causes is a "big idea" and big idea’s have a lot of interpretations of what the big idea is, how it gets accomplished, why it needs to be accomplished, who should accomplish it, and the most contentious, who’s cause or idea is it? Passion is a double edge sword. While a passionate team can bring enthusiasm, drive, fortitude, adherence, focus, dedication, and more, it can also bring politics, ego, obstinance, burnout, and disappointment amongst other challenges. In order for passion to be effective it needs to have a purpose. A purpose channels and causes passion. While a cause can bring about a change a purpose gives reason and direction for that change. A purpose has context, a context that is created from clarity (There is that word again "clarity". Everything starts with step 1 (clarity) as previously outlined. Clarity, Clarity, Clarity).

With clarity you can create purpose. With purpose you are less likely to attract the “wrong” passionate people which is just as important as attracting the “right” passionate people. By really working the clarity questions from Step 1 with your team you are putting in the first, most important, least expensive, and most effective layer of HR screening possible. In doing this you will automatically implement the most important aspect of the formula: Attract people to a purpose not a cause.

The People

I want to welcome the new followers of the Sustainable Startup blog. Tracey De Leeuw, Marty Park and Jaison Thomas. I hope you are able to gain from this blog in terms of managing your own Startup investments and that by participating in this blog you experience all this startup has to offer without the risk.

The last few years there has been a deeper focus in the business world around having a living business plan. A plan that is used for more than just raising capital or communicating to shareholders. This is a great concept but I have seen little that actually explains how this is done or what real expectations a company should have around it. PlanHQ is a great online tool to help us accomplish a living business plan. What we are doing here is applying a methodology and subsequent process to accomplish a "living business plan". The process that I use with my clients and ventures has has five Steps. I have outlined them in earlier posts but here they are for review:

1.) Clarity - Accomplishing what we want as opposed to what we think we want, (Huh??)
2.) People - We must be able to identify who we need and not what we need.
3.) Working Plan - Measurable.
4.) Cash - Fuel to establish and grow.
5.) Balance - PLWYMPYF (Personally Live Within Your Means, Pay Yourself First).

We have now worked through Step 1. You will notice that I did not say we have completed it. As this is a process it is something that we will always be improving and never really "completing". Note: Step 1 is the key to the quality and success of the other steps as EVERYTHING in this process is built on Clarity.

In the next Blog post, (late this week/early next week) we will start Step 2. The People.

I hope you enjoy the content and experience of Sustainable Startup. Please feel free to comment and invite others.

Have a great week!

Through the use of it's Reality Blog Sustainable Startup followers can experience a startup without the risk.

Above is the Sustainable Startup Elevator Pitch. The elevator Pitch formula that I use is something I modified from an HR method that is designed to determine what you do in an organization and who you should be spending time with or resources on. The method is called the Verbalized Summary Objective. A great white board video, (3:30 minutes) of how this technique works is done by Edward Muzio, CEO of Group Harmonics, a management consulting firm. Follow this link, https://www.iterasi.net/Viewer.aspx?RootAssetID=2501555 and click on the video that is titled "Saying No Without Saying No". Watching this video will give you a basis on how the technique works as it relates to HR but will also give you insight as it relates to an elevator pitch. Also, the Group Harmonics site is a great resource for all kinds of management techniques.


(h) x (w) = (r). (h)What strategically different or exceptionally strong resource you use to deliver your product or service, (w) Whom your consumer or user of the resource is,  and (r) is for what Result.

By having answered the clarity questions the formula becomes plug and play, however it still takes discipline. What is the resources you use to deliver your product or service. The answer to this question is the same answer as to question four of the Clarity questions, "How does our approach differ from that of our competition?" In the case of Sustainable Startup blog it is that we are a reality blog building a startup (The Sustinable Startup blog) in real time via PlanHQ. Whom in the Case of Sustainable Startup are the followers of the Blog and the Result is the experience the followers get from the reality blog.

The net result of this elevator pitch is: The Sustainable Startup blog...uses it's (h)Reality blog to give the (w)followers the experience of a (r)startup without the risk.

It takes some work to widdle down what you want to get across only to what is most important.
In using the formula keep the following in mind:
1.) Avoid cognitive dissonance, introduce only one concept and benefit in your elevator pitch.
2.) Let your audience think through the model and "get it". You will know this will happening if they ask you questions that are singular and you find them easy to answer. Remember, keep your follow up answers in the same format - singular and 12secs.

10 Lessons From A Failed Startup

This is a great article, (click on the title to view the article) that was passed onto me by Paul, who is a follower of Sustainable Startup. Thanks Paul, great article! In particular the first three points are brilliant observations and very well articulated.

This week on the blog we are still on the topic of Clarity. I will run through a process that will build an elevator pitch that can be delivered in 12 seconds. Yep 12seconds!

Finally, welcome to the new followers. If you would like to be part of the PlanHQ online business plan for Sustainable Startup send your email address to erika@cameronchell.com and she will have PlanHQ grant you access.

Answers from Plan HQ

I thought I would post the Clarity questions answered in full so that those who have not signed up in Plan HQ can see what a full set of questions answered look like. Hopefully it will be easy to see the value they bring to a project. Also, still to come this week is the Elevator Pitch. How to build one quick, concise and effective.

Clarity Questions: Sustainable Startup blog.

Why does the organization exist, and what difference does it make in the world?

The Sustainable Startup Blog exists to be an interactive forum to explore, challenge and flush out ideas and concepts of building a "sustainable startup". My ideas and contributions to this blog come from my 26 years of experience of doing startups. This difference I hope that this blog makes is that we are able to zero in on what it takes to make a startup sustainable and then somehow in some form and manner take the information and interaction from this blog and expose it in a practical and elegant way to the startup world for the social and economic benefit of entrepreneurs and their glocal communities.

It is my view that entrepreneurship and startups in particular are vital to a sustainable economy and society. The better our entrepreneur and startup abilities in a society the better the society’s potential.


What behavioral values are irreplaceable and fundamental?

In my view there are three fundamental values required in order to fulfill this blogs stated purpose.
1. Adherence. Containing the scope of posts and discussion within the purpose of the blog.
2. Open Minded Risk. Allowing posts, comments and all interaction to not have to be the "right" answer but opinions, views and/or insights of how build a sustainable startup.
3. Consistency. The timing and nature of the posts, comments, discussion and interaction must be such that it not only engages people but keeps them engaged in an ever more passionate manner.


What business are we in and against whom do we compete?

This blog is in the best Practices arena of the Venture Capital Industry.This blog competes with any other blog looking to build credibility with and
garner the trusted attention of Venture Capital and Angle Investors.

How does our approach differ from that of our competition?

One, this blog is not so much for the venture capital player looking to raise capital but for the venture capital player looking to grow and maximize her venture capital investment.
Second, this blog is what I am calling a reality blog. This blog is building itself as a sustainable startup. I plan on doing this with the Sustainable Startup Blog live/in real time and transparently. Hopefully we will all be able to take our experience from this Reality Blog and apply it where useful in our own venture investments.


5a. What are our Goals this month? (April/May)

4 quality posts (as rated by the Blog followers) as it relates to PlanHQ and how to
use the tool.

Grow from 20 followers to 25 followers through social networking and
recommendations from existing followers.


5b. What are our Goals for this Quarter? (May - August 2009)

Average 1 quality post per week as rated by the followers.

Grow from 25 followers to 40 followers through social networking and recommendations from existing followers.

Use the blog writing and feedback from followers as the basis to have and outline for a book.


5c. What are our goals for the end of this year? (End of 09)

Average 1 quality post per week as rated by the followers.

Grow from 40 followers at end of August to 80 followers through social
networking and recommendations from existing followers.

Full clarity on a book based on the writing and feedback of the blog. The clarity
will come from the six clarity questions.

Business Plan written specifically for “the book” – using planHQ methods
outlined and developed in the process the blog group is currently undertaking with
PlanHQ.

Have an outline for a book complete based on the writing of the blog and the
feedback of followers.

Have approximately 33% of the book written in first draft.


5d. What are our goals for next year? (End of 10)

Average 1 quality post per week as rated by the followers.

Grow from 80 followers at end of 2009 to 200 followers through social
networking and recommendations from existing followers by end of 2010.

Book Written.

Business Plan being executed.

5e. What are our goals for five years from now?

For the followers of this blog to SIGNIFICANTLY capitalize on the experience and purpose of this first “Reality Blog”. (As per question 1. The Sustainable Startup Blog exists to be an interactive forum to explore, challenge and flush out ideas and concepts of building a "sustainable startup". This difference that this blog is trying to make is that it is able to zero in on what it takes to make a startup sustainable and then somehow in some form and manner take the information and interaction from this blog and expose it in a practical and elegant way to the startup world for the social and economic benefit of entrepreneurs and their glocal communities.)


6. Who has to do what for us to achieve our goals for this month, this quarter, this
year, five years from now?

This Month

Cameron: 1 Quality post per week

Invite 10 people to view the blog. from my database.

Use 12 second tweeting video to update and promote blog to my social
network.

Ask blog followers for recommendations and referrals to follow the blog.

Implement some sort of survey mechanism (maybe a widget) to the blog
to be able to get candid feedback on the posts from the blog followers.

This Quarter

Cameron: 1 Quality post per week

Invite 40 people to view/participate in the blog. from my personal
database.

Use 12 second tweeting video to update and promote blog to my social
network.

Ask blog followers for recommendations and referrals to follow the blog.

Erika: Start Sustainable Startup groups on Major social networks all linking back
to the blog.

Ask blog followers if they would like to chair any of the Social network
discussion groups.


This Year

Cameron: 1 Quality post per week

Invite a minimum 90 people to view/participate in the blog from my
Personal database.

Use 12 second tweeting video to update and promote blog to my social
network.

Ask blog followers for recommendations and referrals to follow the blog.

Ensure full clarity for a book.

Design/experiment with a system whereby they will receive credit and possible monetary participation in book profit.


Erika: Design program to exponentially grow social network groups.

Get publishers, VC Firms and writers actively participating in the blog and book loop process.


Blog
Followers: ?


5 years

Cameron: 1 Quality post per week as rated by feedback of followers.

Erika: Research and market one quality blog post per week.

Blog
Followers: Participate in one quality blog post per week.