"algo à parte da gestão da empresa"

E encontrar uma empresa com bons resultados, com alguma narrativa sobre a estratégia que faz sentido, com alguns escolhas dolorosas assumidas e com um sistema de gestão da qualidade certificado segundo a ISO 9001:2015.

Por que escrevo esta introdução?

Por que sinto que apesar de tudo o que tem de bom falta-lhe fazer batota, falta-lhe abusar daquilo em que é boa e que decorre das escolhas estratégicas que fez. Por que sinto que um dos culpados dessa lacuna é o sistema de gestão da qualidade. O sistema está certificado e cumpre os requisitos da norma mas sente-se que é algo à parte da gestão da empresa.

Uma pena!

A vantagem competitiva

Considerar esta mensagem:

"WE HAVE AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE:
.
We care more."

E recordar:

"Customers often think we are different not because we are different, but because we recognize what makes them different"

Trecho retirado daqui.

Análise do contexto ao vivo e a cores

Recebi um e-mail em que alguém me pergunta:

- Com que frequência deve uma organização rever/actualizar as sua determinação das partes interessadas para o seu sistema de gestão da qualidade?

E a primeira coisa que me veio à cabeça foi a análise do contexto...

No princípio desta semana visitei uma empresa que está entusiasmada. Está a começar a produzir peças para o T-Roc que está a ser produzido na Autoeuropa e antevê a possibilidade de uma produção regular, certinha, sem problemas de fabrico, para os próximos seis anos.

Agora, imaginem a situação da gestão de topo dessa empresa ao ler "Pré-acordo na Autoeuropa foi chumbado"... agora, imaginem que em Wolfsburg recebem mais um apelo de Osnabruck para a transferência de 30 mil veículos com potencial para chegar aos 100 mil veículos/ano?

Imaginem que Wolfsburg opta por Osnabruck...

Eu, se fosse a gestão de topo da tal empresa, começava a esfriar fortemente as minhas expectativas para o futuro e, a carregar a minha lista de ameaças e a diminuir a minha lista de oportunidades.

Agora, acrescentem as milhares de empresas que estão a trabalhar neste ecossistema...

Agora, acrescentem as estatísticas das exportações...

"scale is turning into a disadvantage"

"advantage of scale has given far more of us increased material wealth, access to mass education, longevity of life increased social complexity and so forth.
...
Organizations have had a blueprint that was tailored for mass efficiency — but not meaningfulness, identity, belonging and individualization.
...
there is an increase in market complexity and uncertainty. We are in an era where digitization has led industries to converge and mutate.
.
So this system of certainty and predictability which was built for stability in certain times. Is suddenly finding itself in uncertainty. Unable to control for the asymmetric relationships that are appearing between their customers and new organizations.
.
The only thing certain becomes uncertainty.
...
the iron law of industry — advantage of scale itself — is being disrupted.
.
In fact scale is turning into a disadvantage due to the massive cost of producing non-standardized parts.
.
Scale, which once was a barrier to entry for new companies has turned into a barrier for incumbents to answer the demand patterns of the market.
As advantage of scale breaks down every scaffolding around it seems to shake or go down with it.
.
When the iron law of efficiency — which has cost individuals, ideas, talents and meaningfulness so much — comes crashing down we are GIVEN the opportunity to redesign how we organize and create together."

Um pobre anónimo da província escreve destas coisas há anos, "Mas claro, eu só sou um anónimo engenheiro da província", um dia isto há-de chegar ao mainstream.

Um dia havemos de ultrapassar o mindset do século XX, de Magnitogrado.

Trechos retirados de "When The Iron Law of Efficiency Comes Crashing Down"

Cuidado com as melhores práticas

"Similarly, when Michelin, the tyremaker, tried to introduce lean production methods — as pioneered by Toyota — in the 1990s, it succeeded in improving productivity at the expense of agility and at a cost to its carefully nurtured humane corporate culture."

E o que é que Mongo requer? Agilidade e mais agilidade.

BTW, sublinho de "Customer experience investment fails to pay off as performance hits all-time low":

"“Businesses are still organised in the same way they were in Victorian times when we were building factories that churned out consistent objects. We’re now in a world where we sell concepts, content, ideas and thoughts [Moi ici: Em linha com "the more important it is to think about boundaries"] and the traditional organisational structure really isn’t effective in being able to do that.”"

Cuidado com as melhores-práticas, cuidado com o benchmarking e com o uso que se dá à caneta.

BTW, aquela perda de agilidade da Michelin fez-me recordar as 8 semanas de congelamento:

"These practices are combined with the tradition within Toyota Production System of freezing the production schedule eight weeks before production begins, which substantially reduces responsiveness."

Trecho inicial retirado de "Best practice can make lemmings of us all"

I see Qimondas everywhere

Mal vi o título, "Portuguesa Sugal bate recorde de produção de tomate e factura mais de 265 milhões", porque sofro o maior castigo que os deuses podem lançar sobre um humano, isto é, ter memória. Cheguei ao Twitter e escrevi:

uma espécie de Qimonda https://t.co/5HaNfSorHn

— Carlos P da Cruz (@ccz1) November 29, 2017

Depois, fui ao blogue e encontrei:

• É misturar alhos com bugalhos (Abril 2016)
• Tomate e proposta de valor (Maio 2007)

Guardem uns minutos para reflectir sobre esta empresa que no final de cada ano apresenta sempre estes resultados, mas que na primeira metade de ada ano está sempre a chorar apoios e benesses ao Estado.

Para reflexão

"As a consequence, I got into the best class in the best school in my city, [Moi ici: Na China] and thus began the most painful year of my life.
...
Most of the class had been participating in various competitions in middle school and had become familiar with a large part of the high school syllabus already. Furthermore, they had also grown to know each other from those years of competitions together. And here I was, someone who didn’t know anything or anyone, surrounded by people who knew more to begin with, who were much smarter, and who worked just as hard as I did. What chance did I have?
.
During that year, I tried very hard to catch up: I gave up everything else and even moved somewhere close to the school to save time on the commute, but to no avail. Over time, going to school and competing while knowing I was sure to lose became torture. Yet I had to do it every day. At the end-of-year exam, I scored second from the bottom of the class—the same place where I began in first grade.
...
Finally, I threw in the towel, and asked my parents to send me abroad. Anywhere else on this earth would surely be better.
.
So I came to the UK in 2001, when I was 16 years old. Much to my surprise, I found the UK’s exam-focused educational system very similar to the one in China.
...
I found it hard to believe how much easier everything became. I scored first nationwide in the GCSE (high school) math exam, and my photo was printed in a national newspaper."

Interessante como o penúltimo aluno numa escola de uma cidade chinesa de segunda categoria, consegue ser o melhor aluno no Reino Unido.

E este trecho:

"On the other hand, although the UK’s university system is considered superior to China’s, with a population that is only one-twentieth the size of my native country, competition, while tough, is less intimidating. For example, about one in ten applicants gets into Oxbridge in the UK, and Stanford and Harvard accept about one in twenty-five applicants. But in Hebei province in China, where I am from, only one in fifteen hundred applicants gets into Peking or Qinghua University" 

Faz-me lembrar uma mensagem que li, talvez em 2011, e que dizia que o top 1% de alunos chineses era mais numeroso que todos os alunos americanos juntos.

Trechos retirados de "The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective"

O todo não é igual à soma das partes

Por que é que continuo a ver cada vez mais empresas com um sistema de gestão da qualidade certificado, segundo os requisitos decorrentes da ISO 9001:2015, em que as empresas consideram como objectivos da qualidade, como objectivos máximos do seu sistema, o somatório dos objectivos associados a cada um dos processos?

De onde veio esta ideia absurda de pensar que o todo é igual à soma das partes?

De onde veio esta ideia absurda de pensar que todos os processos são iguais e que não existe diferença no contributo de cada um para a execução da estratégia?

Muita gente precisa de aprender o que é a obliquidade.

"the more important it is to think about boundaries"

"If 'management' is the art of achieving efficiency within a more or less defined framework, 'leadership' is the art of navigating an organization through structural change. Structural change may mean adverse conditions.
...
If leadership is the same as helping an organization navigate through structural change, it must be based on an understanding of both external (contextual and business) dynamics and internal dynamics.
...
Business systems are being reconfigured. No definitions, no boundaries are sacred.
...
Co-production takes place in networks. 'Workers' are no longer employed but wandering nomads crossing invisible and undefinable boundaries everywhere. Companies invent means to influence what goes on far beyond their legal boundaries. They see customers and other value constellation partners as equally important to manage as 'employees'.
.
This lack of boundaries, this haze, this lack of definition in the physical world, paradoxically requires us to think more, not less of boundaries. The paradox that the more boundaryless the world seems to be, the more important it is to think about boundaries [Moi ici: Ponto muito interessante, na senda de "First, define yourself, then, define your audience"]
...
If we are to keep our sense of purpose and identity, we must have an idea of what we are and who we are. But the more the physical world becomes blurred, the more this sense of identity must come from reflection, from activities performed in the conceptual domain. [Moi ici: Outro ponto interessante, não somos o que fazemos, somos mais do que isso, somos os resultados que ajudamos a atingir, somos o progresso que facilitamos, somos os sonhos que ajudamos a cumprir]
Conceptualizing must compensate for the haziness."

Agora relacionar estes sublinhados com as reflexões sobre o tecto de vidro e a incapacidade de fazer escolhas dolorosas, sobre a dificuldade de deixar de pensar apenas no que se produz, o output, em vez de equacionar os inputs.

Trechos de Richard Normann retirados do seu "Reframing Business"!!!




tecto de vidro

Sintomas

• "Aumento da procura faz disparar salários de engenheiros"
• "Falta de mão de obra qualificada retrai crescimento alemão"
• "Escandinávia precisa desesperadamente de mão-de-obra qualificada"

Sintomas que serão cada vez mais comuns no futuro. A demografia não engana.

Quais as implicações, quais as consequências?

Mongo não vai por aí

Ao ler "This T-Shirt Sewing Robot Could Radically Shift The Apparel Industry" penso nos custos fixos a suportar.

"When the Chinese clothing manufacturer Tianyuan Garments Company opens its newest factory in 2018, it will be in Arkansas, not China, and instead of workers hunched over sewing machines, the factory will be filled with fully autonomous robots and their human supervisors.
.
Once the system is fully operational, each of the 21 production lines in the factory will be capable of making 1.2 million T-shirts a year, at a total cost of production that can compete in terms of cost with apparel companies that manufacture and ship clothing from the lowest-wage countries in the world. The factory will be one of the first to use a technology that could herald immense changes in how the apparel industry works."

Algo que não está alinhado com a tendência de Mongo, algo alinhado com o modelo do século XX.

Quanto custará uma pequena série?

Quem serão os clientes-alvo, os das grandes séries ou os das pequenas séries?

Conto do vigário

Tantos pensamentos, depois de ler "May the next Etsy learn its lessons" que me levou a procurar mais e chegar a "Inside the Revolution at Etsy".

"Venture capital taught Etsy that making money wasn’t a skill it needed to learn early on. Go on, it said, spend the millions. And when you’ve spent those, come back and get some more. So Etsy did. They came back for a B round, then a C round, then D, E, and F rounds. Just shy of $100 million in total.
That experience deluded Etsy into thinking that they, uniquely, could ferry the scorpion across the river without getting stung. That a cool hundred million wouldn’t ever need to be paid back or corrupt its noble mission.
But the party only lasts until the music stops."

Como não recordar:

• Precisamente por isto é que me faz espécie
• Alquimia da estupidez 

Quando isto, "Why the ‘end of the startup era’ could be great for entrepreneurs", for lugar-comum, muitos vão olhar para trás e achar incrível que esta geração tenha ido no conto do vigário com tanta facilidade.

E as Websummit, onde se encaixam?

que parolice https://t.co/1bNuefiRph que parolice mesmo. empreender ñ é lifestyle nem show, é seduzir clientes ou morrer

— Carlos P da Cruz (@ccz1) October 31, 2016

 

Oh boy... torrar €€ à fartazana. Arranjar clientes e MVP vai ser a última coisa https://t.co/0jzUR9qA1g

— Carlos P da Cruz (@ccz1) March 8, 2016

 

estilo de vida:
-o q fazes?
-tenho uma startup
-já tens clientes?
-ñ preciso, com apoios e subsídios tenho vida por + 10 anos sem clientes

— Carlos P da Cruz (@ccz1) June 26, 2017

 

Fugir das decisões à la Infarmed

"We wanted to unpack the how by identifying what sets these teams apart in terms of how they spend their time and the critical behaviors they engage in.
...
Commit to an identity. The first tenet of their framework is that an organization must commit to an identity through a shared understanding of its value proposition and distinctive capabilities. In short, the organization must commit to focus on what it is good at and then go after it
...
Translate strategy into everyday processes and capabilities. Our analysis of how senior teams spend their time shows that for this dimension:
.
High-performing teams spend over 25% more time focusing the enterprise than their lower-performing peers. That time is spent establishing financial and operational metrics, aligning goals with overarching strategy, allocating resources, and reviewing key metrics.[Moi ici: Daí a importância de um balanced scorecard da 3ª geração]
High-performing teams spend 14% more time checking their progress against strategic goals by reviewing key metrics and shifting resources accordingly.
...
Concentrate on the unique cultural factors that fuel success. Implicit in this assumption is resisting the temptation to drive traditional change programs based on addressing gaps or weaknesses.
...
The academic literature as well as our consulting experience suggest that the ability to prioritize is a key ingredient to an enterprise leadership team’s success. This is no small task, given the constant and overwhelming demands on most teams. What do our data suggest about how teams go about this?
.
High-performing teams, compared to lower-performing teams, spend 54% more time first setting direction, crafting a vision that serves as a guiding light for decisions regarding resources.
When it comes to execution, lower-performing teams spend an astounding 83% more time fire-fighting and dealing with issues at a tactical rather than strategic level.[Moi ici: Quando deixaremos esta mania de nas empresas praticar o mesmo que vimos à dias quanto ao Infarmed? ]
...
Shape the future. High-performing teams successfully shape the future, rather than always being in a reactive mode in the present. How do they do it?
.
They spend 25.3% more time influencing high-level stakeholders by identifying their needs and managing their expectations.
Unsurprisingly, though easier said than done, the high-performing teams spend 13.2% more time planning for the future by setting direction, creating a vision, and defining their strategy.
Finally, they shape the future by responding to change in the present (20.7% more effectively than lower-performing teams), positioning the enterprise for future success. This is consistent with much of the existing literature around the importance of agility in high-performing teams."

Muito, muito bom!!!

Trechos retirados de "How the Most Successful Teams Bridge the Strategy-Execution Gap"

False profits

Como é possível ser um chico esperto tão incompetente… #worten https://t.co/zUXFh8nKSO

— poingg (@poingg) November 25, 2017

"False profits...
Some brands have even institutionalised false profits. I have learned of an airline that instituted a bonus system based on the over-weight baggage charges they manage to accumulate, as well as of a rental car company who offers gift vouchers to the rep having claimed the most damages on vehicles being returned (I wonder if these vouchers expire?).
.
But even if you are less aggressive about what surely are not long-term profit maximising practices, it is probably worth conducting a thorough analysis of your company profits, maybe guided by customer complaints. What is the percentage of profits that can be linked to customer complaints? Are these worth it? Common sense says no. But you can go further and observe the behaviour of customers hit with complaint-generating profits."

E na sua empresa?

Muitas vezes cliente e fornecedor têm uma relação de surdos.

Empresa fornecedora comenta comigo que um seu cliente importante lhe tinha prometido entregar um serviço subcontratado e acabou por descobrir que afinal vai ser feito por outra empresa. Quando olho para os indicadores da empresa fornecedora tento convencê-los de que o cliente tomou uma decisão correcta, dado os problemas que está a receber nos subcontratos actuais. Não é fácil ver o mundo calçando os sapatos do outro.

Trecho retirado de "False profits and the folly of gift card expiry dates"

Cooperativas, partes interessadas, valor e a sua partilha

Se a maior riqueza que há num ecossistema é a sua biodiversidade, porque encerra em si a robustez para lidar com o desconhecido, também numa economia a heterogeneidade e idiossincrasia é algo positivo pelas mesmas razões.

Recentemente visitei empresa muito bem sucedida e que, imaginem:

• desistiu de crescer em quantidade, só aposta em crescer por aumento de preços, por subida na escala de valor;
• rejeita clientes;
• rejeita crescer mais do que um certo valor por cliente;
• rejeita convites de clientes para investir em novas fábricas em mercados onde esses clientes estão a implantar-se ou a expandir-se.

A gerência consegue explicar o racional por trás de cada uma dessas decisões. Outra gerência composta por outras pessoas poderia tomar outras decisões. Não há resposta certa, não há resposta única.

Sabendo e crendo na frase "Não há resposta certa, não há resposta única.", apesar de tudo, fico com pena disto "Aumenta procura direta de azeitona em Murça devido a quebras a nível internacional":

"A azeitona sai daqui a granel e não colocamos nós as nossas marcas no mercado internacional”, salientou. O responsável considerou ainda que, com esta venda direta, “não há mais-valia para o azeite de Trás-os-Montes”."

Quem segue este blogue sabe o quanto valorizo a aposta:

• na autenticidade;
• na fuga ao granel comoditizado;
• na aposta numa marca;
• na subida na escala de valor;

No entanto, também sei que cada produtor é que sabe da sua vida.

O que levanta outra questão:

"esta situação pode “condicionar a vida das próprias cooperativas”." 

Até que ponto as cooperativas estão a fazer o seu trabalho? Até que ponto as cooperativas estão a tratar os produtores como partes interessadas livres que devem ser cativadas e seduzidas para um projecto de longo prazo? Até que ponto as cooperativas estão a recompensar convenientemente os produtores? Até que ponto as cooperativas têm elas próprias uma gestão suficientemente ágil? Para eventualmente melhorar preços a pagar aos produtores e negociar melhores condições com a procura? Para aproveitar oportunidades e colocar em novas prateleiras o seu azeite numa altura de escassez? Para subir preços em tempos de escassez?

Imaginem uma cooperativa com um sistema de gestão certificado pela ISO 9001 a marcar uma revisão do sistema extraordinária para actualizar a análise do contexto e das partes interessadas e tomar decisões à priori, a comandar os acontecimentos em vez de, com as calças na mão, ir a reboque dos acontecimentos.

BTW, estão a ver aquelas simulações sobre a vida das estratégias? Uma estratégia tem sucesso e a maioria das empresas está a tentar ter sucesso seguindo-a. Depois, algo muda no contexto, e uma empresa-pioneira testa uma nova abordagem e tem algum sucesso, à medida que essa abordagem vai se aperfeiçoando, o sucesso vai aumentando, o próprio contexto co-evolui e o spill-over começa a contaminar outras empresas que começam a seguir a mesma estratégia. Então, a densidade de uso da estratégia anterior começa a baixar e a da nova estratégia começa a subir. Depois, algures no tempo, uma nova alteração de contexto e uma nova experiência a nível de estratégia. Experiência que pode passar por recuperar uma estratégia anterior, uma estratégia entretanto abandonada.

Voltar a uma estratégia entretanto abandonada pode ser um retrocesso, pode ser um erro, pode ser muita coisa, mas voltamos ao princípio e à idiossincrasia.

"short-lived consumer trends"

“If you’re selling the same merchandise that’s commonly available, and you’ve got no point of differentiation, you’re dead,” Mr. Rubin said. “It’s just a question of when you die.”

Comecei a perceber como materializar isto com um artigo na revista Business Week em 2005 sobre o fim das linhas de montagem da Canon. E com a leitura em 2006 do livro "How We Compete: What Companies Around the World Are Doing to Make" onde encontrei trechos como este sobre a Kenwood:

"When Kenwood moved production of portable mini-disk players from a factory in Malaysia to their Yamagata, Japan, plant in 2003, they discovered they could exploit short-lived consumer trends."

Em 2017, esta abordagem continua a ser notícia, no país dos gringos:

"When Alejandro Villanueva, a Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman, stood for the anthem and the rest of the team stayed in the locker room, his name began trending on Twitter. Fanatics quickly posted a rendering of his No. 78 jersey on its website and on the N.F.L.’s online shop, which it also operates.
.
Sales skyrocketed. Manufacturing facilities in Kentucky and Florida went to work pressing Mr. Villanueva’s name and number onto thousands of blank Pittsburgh jerseys for next-day shipping. Overnight, a player who had never caught a pass or scored a touchdown had the N.F.L.’s best-selling jersey.
.
“That moment happened, people wanted to immediately buy that jersey,” Michael Rubin, the company’s chairman and principal owner said. “A week later, that moment is mostly over.”
.
These micro-moments, as Mr. Rubin calls them, happen all the time in sports: A player reaches a milestone, has a breakout performance or is traded to a new team. Apparel companies have traditionally been poorly positioned to meet the accompanying fan demand as it surges. Fanatics is changing that and, in the process, carving out a lucrative niche in a fiercely competitive online-retail industry largely dominated by Amazon."

Trechos retirados de "Fanatics, Maker of Sports Apparel, Thrives by Seizing the Moment"

"A Sale is the Result of a Great Conversation"

"To lead your customer to a thoughtful decision where they choose you over the competition, you need to help them form compelling beliefs about why you are the best choice. Your customers don’t form these beliefs just by listening to you talk, or by reading your marketing materials. You’ll be much more successful if you look at the customer’s entire purchase decision process as a conversation between you and them."

Trecho retirado de "A Sale is the Result of a Great Conversation"

Recordar os monumentos à treta, again

A propósito de "Infarmed. Ida para o Porto não estava no plano estratégico aprovado em setembro pelo ministro" fui consultar o referido Plano Estratégico 2017-2019.

Plano interessante, com uma estrutura interessante. No entanto, a meu ver, padece de uma falha importante... não encontrarão nenhum número que permita no final de 2019 avaliar se o Plano Estratégico foi eficaz ou não.

Olhando para cada um dos objectivos estratégicos e para cada um dos resultados esperados... não ser encontra nem um número, nem uma meta. Por exemplo:

Objectivo estratégico 2 - Conformidade do mercado e gestão do risco que tem como um dos seus resultados:

• Melhoria na gestão de risco na introdução de terapêuticas inovadoras

O que será ter sucesso com este objectivo estratégico?

O que significa, em que é que se traduz uma melhoria na gestão de risco na introdução de terapêuticas inovadoras?

Ainda e sempre os monumentos à treta... e de que falamos quando falamos de balanced.

Talvez focar primeiro o valor e só depois o preço (Parte II)

Parte I.

Nem de propósito, ontem de manhã cedo, antes de entrar numa empresa para uma auditoria li em "Using best value to get the best bottom line" de Kate Vitasek e incluído em "Value First then Price: Quantifying value in Business to Business markets", editado por Andreas Hinterhuber e Todd Snelgrove:

"the value mantra is: it's not how little you pay, it's how much you get. That's the basic difference and tension between price and value. And today's procurement professionals not only need to understand this difference, they should use their procurement toolkit to help them put the concepts into practice.
.
When used, best-value approaches become the bridge that spans that tension, because determining the true cost and value equation assures companies they are getting the best "deal".
.
Unfortunately, the usual modus operandi for many businesses is to seek price reductions that provide immediate gratification rather than buying on best value, which for many managers is too long-term, involves too many departments, ad is too complicated and abstract."

Talvez focar primeiro o valor e só depois o preço

Há dias mandei um e-mail a um antigo cliente, com quem trabalhei por causa da ISO 9001, a sugerir que contactasse uma empresa a oferecer os seus produtos.

Ainda no mesmo dia obtive resposta:

"Já apresentamos cotação e perdemos, por preço..."

Confesso que na altura não processei esta resposta convenientemente.

Entretanto, no meio de uma sessão de jogging, comecei a relacionar a resposta com as lições de "Value First then Price: Quantifying value in Business to Business markets", editado por Andreas Hinterhuber e Todd Snelgrove.

Tenho ideia que a empresa é competitiva em termos de custos... fiquei a pensar no que poderia ter feito de diferente para conseguir um resultado diferente.

Talvez focar primeiro o valor e só depois o preço. Talvez pensar no ciclo de vida do produto: a empresa produz mas o cliente precisa de armazenamento, distribuição, embalamento, ...

"Never blame your predecessor"

Um conjunto de boas sugestões.

Caro Eduardo, "Never blame your predecessor", faz-lhe lembrar alguma coisa?

"A 10-year longitudinal study on executive transitions that my organization conducted found that more than 50% of executives who inherit a mess fail within their first 18 months on the job. We also uncovered numerous landmines for leaders in this situation. And, with the best of intentions, my client was about to step on a number of them. When a leader inherits a mess created by others, especially when arriving as an outsider, the situation can feel fragile and knowing where to begin the long journey of change can feel precarious. Based on our research and my experience, there are six things the most effective leaders do to avoid failing in a new role.
.
Resist the temptation to emotionally distance yourself. Difficult and unfamiliar circumstances can make leaders feel vulnerable. To combat their anxiety, they actively avoid being implicated in the mess in subtle but damaging ways. Four weeks after my client’s arrival, I noticed a distinctive pattern in her language. When referring to the significant challenges of her new organization, she consistently spoke in third-person references — they, them, those people. And when speaking about possible changes that needed to be made, she spoke only in first-person language: I will, I don’t.
...
Never blame your predecessor. It’s a natural temptation to blame the past regime when entering organizations in disarray. In one meeting, my client’s frustration got the best of her, and while looking over the past quarter’s budget, she blurted out, “What on earth was he thinking?” Well, since “he” isn’t there anymore, everyone else in the room was implicated by proxy. Nobody knows better about the mess they are in than the people in it, much less about how it came to be. You are better off simply making no references to decisions or actions taken prior to your arrival. Your best response when being baited to blame those that came before you is simply, “We can’t change what happened then, but we can change what we do going forward.” People appreciate when you take the high road.
...
Minimize references to past successes. Absent any substantial experience in your new environment, the likely place to reference your track record is past successes. Chances are that you were hired into the role because you had relevant experiences. But talking about those experiences doesn’t help you leverage the wisdom from them.
...
Test the reliability of your data. While unvarnished data can be hard to come by when facing harsh headwinds, it’s even harder to come by when everyone wants to appear innocent and important.
...
Be transparent about how you will make changes. There are lots of rules about how fast an entering leader should make changes and how big they should be. Some suggest waiting 90 days, even up to a year, to learn the organization before upending anything. Some say clean house on day one. The speed of change will depend on your particular situation and what the business can tolerate. If immediate change is needed, make it. If you aren’t sure, then investigate and diagnose before you make your moves. My client’s thoughtful approach served her well in this regard. She was very transparent up front about how she would assess the organization, how she would approach making changes, and in what time frame. Her “leading out loud” allowed others not to wait in dread and also not to remain in denial. My client’s approach was to start with small wins championed by people in her organization."

Trechos retirados de "Leading Effectively When You Inherit a Mess"

Quando o mundo muda há quem dê a volta (parte II)

Parte I.

Deu-me para recordar o Lindy Effect ao ler "The old-fashioned mail-order catalog gets a new lease on life":

"In an era of explosive growth for online buying, retailers and shoppers are showing renewed interest in a humble purchasing device that uses paper instead of pixels.
...
For the first time since 2011, Sears Holdings sent out the Sears Wish Book, a holiday tradition for generations of children. Although this year’s catalog has the heft of a magazine rather than the phone-book size that the department store produced back when it was a retail juggernaut, the offerings are more extensive and searchable online.
.
The ability to stand out in that physical mailbox is easier than it was 10 years ago.
...
In 2016. the response to catalogs increased 23% from the year before, ... In terms of catalogs, which make up one third of all direct mail, that means they were more likely to buy something than in the past several years.
.
Companies are using print catalogs to cut through email clutter and social-media saturation,
...
print catalogs will never be as popular as they once were, but that retailers appear to be using them as part of what he called an “omnichannel” approach that tries to more closely integrate a store’s website with its physical stores, such as buying online and picking up at the store the same day."

E isto:

"A survey included in a recent DMA report found that nearly one-third of those polled said getting a catalog drove them to shop online." 

"many simply collapse under the emotional toll it takes"

"For many leaders, the taxing nature of enterprise-level leadership is too great. Being sufficiently knowledgeable about context requires a huge tolerance for ambiguity and the acceptance of a perpetual learning curve. Making hard trade-offs means saying no to people and facing the many dysfunctional ways people deal with being disappointed by their leader. Shifting organizational designs means having to address the harsh realities of instigating major change — organization-wide anxiety, intensified political dynamics, and sometimes having to part ways with those not prepared for the new world you are creating. It’s no surprise that mental and physical stress-related illnesses are high among executives. While some executives thrive on the challenges inherent in the trailblazing work of strategy, many simply collapse under the emotional toll it takes. In our research, 38% of executives said they didn’t expect the loneliness and isolation that accompanied their jobs and 54% said they felt they were being held accountable for problems outside their control. Given the ruthlessly unforgiving nature of executive jobs, I encourage all my clients to have a team of professionals around them, including an executive coach, a licensed therapist, a personal trainer, and a nutritionist. That kind of “scaffolding” helps leaders bear the harsh realities of strategic leadership in healthier ways.
.
The work required to effectively craft and execute a company strategy is extraordinarily difficult. It’s no surprise that many try to oversimplify it, or dilute it to match whatever level of competence they have. But if organizations actually invested in preparing executives for the real requirements of these roles, we would see failure rates decline and companies more consistently adapt and thrive."

Uma descrição crua da realidade.

 "Executives Fail to Execute Strategy Because They’re Too Internally Focused":

"if you discover your pricing strategy isn’t working"

Alguns conselhos que fazem sentido:

"So, if your pricing isn’t working, what can you do about it? Well, you have several options, but here are a few to consider:
.
Raise your prices. Raising your prices allows you to work with fewer clients [Moi ici: Não percebo porque mais empresas não aprendem esta verdade. Recordar "Um euro de crescimento em preço..."] and gives you more time to deliver great results. What you do is valuable --  own that fact and know your worth.
Change your target audience. If you know that what you are offering provides value, but are still experiencing low conversion rates and/or hearing complaints, this could mean that you are barking up the wrong tree. It may be time to consider other markets or pivot in a new direction to find your ideal clients. Also, if you are spending time with people who don't see your value or complain about your pricing, it is definitely time for you to move on. Remember, if they can't see the value, it’s their problem, not yours.
.
Look at your systems. Recognizing when your current systems aren't working and investing in your processes, could be the time-saving boost that you need to get your cycle back into alignment and get your business back to growth.
.
In short, if you discover your pricing strategy isn’t working, it’s imperative to take an honest look at yourself, your business, and your current customers. This means pulling data, examining your metrics, and asking others their perspective about what’s working or not working."

Trechos retirados de "Pricing for Profitability: You Are in Control, Even If It Doesn’t Feel That Way Yet"

"That's quite a difference in perception"

Em "Para reflexão" respondia-se à pergunta "Are customers really as price sensitive as commonly believed?..." onde Andreas Hinterhuber defendia que os clientes valorizam outros factores muito mais do que o preço.

Entretanto, ontem o @pauloperes enviou-me esta imagem:

Quando o mundo muda há quem dê a volta

Há dias no postal "Acerca da experiência quando o mundo muda" podíamos ficar com a ideia de que a experiência do retalho físico pode ser um fardo demasiado pesado para triunfar no novo mundo.

Recordo um postal do início do mês sobre o que fazer quando a inovação tecnológica avança:

"We explore the implications of a real and common alternative to attempting the transformation required to embrace a new, dominant, technology—the choice to maintain focus on the old technology. In considering this choice, we distinguish between “racing” strategies, which attempt to fight off the rise of the new technology by extending the performance of the old technology, and “retreat” strategies, which attempt to accommodate the rise of the new technology by repositioning the old technology in the demand environment."

Agora em "How Independent Bookstores Haved Thrived in Spite of Amazon.com" encontro:

"When Amazon.com burst onto the nascent online retail scene in 1995, the future seemed bleak for brick-and-mortar independent bookstores—which already faced competition from superstores like Barnes & Noble and Borders. Indeed, between 1995 and 2000, the number of independent bookstores in the United States plummeted 43 percent, according to the American Booksellers Association (ABA), a nonprofit trade association dedicated to the promotion of independent bookstores.
.
But then a funny thing happened. While pressure from Amazon forced Borders out of business in 2011, indie bookstores staged an unexpected comeback. Between 2009 and 2015, the ABA reported a 35 percent growth in the number of independent booksellers, from 1,651 stores to 2,227.
...
Independent bookstores provide a story of hope by focusing on core values that include community, curation, and convening."

E agora ler isto:

"While all this was happening on a local level, there was important top-down work going on at the American Booksellers Association (ABA), a nonprofit trade association dedicated to the promotion of independent bookstores. The ABA served as a glue to bind likeminded players together—facilitating partnerships between bookstores and other local businesses, for example. The ABA also strengthened the collective identity of indie bookstores by helping its members share best practices, such as how to use social media to promote special events."

Para depois recordar "Gente de outra estirpe" e o poder da liderança nas associações.

Acerca da importância de estudar o ecossistema das partes interessadas

"Druker: We relied largely on discussions that we’d had with customers, with people in the industry that we worked in, the dairy industry in particular. We’d talk to nutritionists and to dairy producers, asking, “What are some of your biggest issues?” We mainly focused on the nutritionists, who are the people the dairy producer hires to help put together the ration to feed the cows. Our products go into those rations, so even though the dairy producers are buying the products, most of our efforts were focused on the nutritionists.
...
Druker: We’ve always known the end customer is the dairy producer, and ultimately the dairy cow, but yeah, we were basically getting our innovation information from a consultant that was being hired by the dairy producer. So yeah, I think absolutely part of our issue was we weren’t identifying the right people to speak to."

Mais um exemplo sobre a importância de estudar o ecossistema das partes interessadas e perceber quais são as relevantes e quais são os seus requisitos relevantes.

Isto faz-me lembrar uma conversa numa empresa há dias. Grande orgulho numa narrativa que o pessoal do marketing inventou para relacionar com uma inovação estética. Enquanto os ouvia pensava:

- O negócio é B2B. Será que os compradores vão ligar a essa narrativa?

Trechos retirados de "Jobs-to-be-Done Case Study: Arm & Hammer"

Transformar é possível (parte III)

Caro Nuno, na sequência da parte I, veja esta sequência em "How to Develop Strategy for Execution":

• 1. What is our vision?
• 2. What are our critical vulnerabilities?
• 3. What should we prioritize?

Repito o que escrevi:

"Apresentar um destino ambicioso, conversar abertamente sobre como é viver nesse destino, que resultados obtêm a empresa e os clientes, o que dizem os clientes da empresa, o que dizem os trabalhadores da empresa e do que fazem. Deixar a visão da terra onde corre leite e mel seduzi-los, deixar que contribuam para a descrição de como é essa terra, eles já lá estão, eles já lá vivem, o que vêem, o que fazem, o que sentem? Depois, capturar o gap, a lacuna entre o que ainda somos  e o que queremos ser no futuro desejado para construir o programa de transformação."

E recordo o acrónimo, "S-CRT":

• Pensamento sistémico aplicado a um SGA (I)
• Pensamento sistémico aplicado a um SGA (II)
• Pensamento sistémico aplicado a um SGA (III)
• Pensamento sistémico aplicado a um SGA (IV)
• Matéria-prima para converter estratégia em acção

O que se diz versus a agenda

"People might hear what you say, but they always remember what you do."

Como não recuar a Abril de 2006 e recordar:

"Qualquer subordinado, é o melhor estudioso do comportamento do seu chefe, não interessa o que o seu chefe diz, ou proclama; interessa o que o seu chefe faz, onde ocupa o tempo da sua agenda. Assim, o que a gestão de topo mede é uma poderosa mensagem para o resto da organização, o que se mede é o que interessa, é o que tem de ser atingido."

Trecho inicial retirado de "The boss goes first"

"overcommitting resources"

Há dias, no exame final deste curso apresentei este exemplo de não-conformidade:

"A empresa define objectivos que operacionaliza através da metodologia A3 e que são aprovados pela ADM. A empresa evidencia lacunas no controlo do estado de alguns desses projectos. Por exemplo, o projecto “Conquista do mercado Senegal” tinha uma data de conclusão prevista inicialmente para 28.02.2017. Estamos em Novembro de 2017, o projecto ainda está por concluir e a data prevista para a sua conclusão foi revista para 31.07.2017. (cláusula 6.3)"

Entretanto, neste artigo, "Executives Fail to Execute Strategy Because They’re Too Internally Focused":

"Diluting the focus of an organization by overcommitting resources institutionalizes mediocrity and cynicism. People feel set up to fail. Saying no is one of the greatest gifts an executive can give their organization. Too many leaders overestimate the capacity of their organizations under the ruse of “stretch goals” or “challenge assignments” to justify their denial of the organization’s true limitations. In one of the largest global retail companies I worked with, executional capacity was unusually constrained for an organization of its size and margins. I asked the CEO to estimate how many global initiatives (multicountry, more than $1 million in scope and budget) he thought were active at the enterprise level. He guessed 20 to 25. We did a comprehensive inventory for him — and stopped counting after we reached 147. Failure to make intentional, hard trade-offs when executing your strategy ensures that all efforts are likely to fall short of expected results." 

No exame pedia aos futuros auditores internos que ensaiassem uma proposta de acção correctiva. Engraçado que nenhum avançou com esta hipótese de causa: "overcommitting resources"

Locus de controlo

"A PwC survey published in 2015 revealed that 54% of CEOs worldwide were concerned about new competitors entering their market, and an equal percentage said they had either begun to compete in nontraditional markets themselves or considered doing so.
...
In our experience, when the business world encounters an intractable management problem, it’s a sign that business executives and scholars are getting something wrong — that there isn’t yet a satisfactory theory for what’s causing the problem, and under what circumstances it can be overcome. This is what has resulted in so much wasted time and effort in attempts at corporate renewal. And this confusion has spawned a welter of well-meaning but ultimately misguided advice, ranging from prescriptions to innovate only close to the core business to assertions about the type of leader who is able to pull off business model transformations, or the capabilities a business requires to achieve successful business model innovation."

Reflectir sobre estes números... e sobre o habitual choradinho sobre a necessidade de apoios para ultrapassar problemas estruturais, para diluir a necessidade de adaptação à nova realidade.


Trechos retirados de "The Hard Truth About Business Model Innovation"

Curiosidade do dia

Em 19.11.2017, "Aeroporto Humberto Delgado aguenta até 49 milhões de passageiros".

Em 22.11.2006, "Quase 43 milhões de passageiros em 2050":

"O futuro aeroporto da Ota, que será uma das principais obras lançadas por este Governo, tem um volume anual de passageiros de 42,9 milhões previsto para 2050. Este número situa-se situa-se um pouco acima dos 40 milhões de passageiros anuais que a nova infra-estrutura poderá vir a acolher, caso tenha obras adicionais numa segunda fase, isto de acordo com um plano director de referência que está neste momento em revisão."

Comentários para quê?

Só recordar as resmas de comentadores que diziam que a Portela estava esgotada.

Unintended consequences - para reflexão

"When Professor Bar-Yam revealed some of the findings from his research we were mind blown. He said that, today almost 50% of the US corn crop is used to produce ethanol, the substance that comprises 10% of gasoline. Evidence from his research found that policy in the US energy and environmental discussions lead to this shift in the use of biofuels for ethanol, but soon unintended consequences would arise from this policy change. Bar-Yam explained that corn is such an integral part of how we produce food, because it provides feed for animals to make meat products and dairy products and it is used in the production of sugar, among other uses, so for such a large portion of this crop to be reallocated for the production of ethanol, was very disruptive. In fact, it was disruptive on a global scale.
...
Professor Bar-Yam made the profound connection to events like the Arab Spring and the breakdown of order in several countries, including Syria, from food prices, a dramatic case of unintended consequences. He explained that civil unrest, revolutions, and refugees are all events which resulted from many civilians being unable to feed their families and feeling frustrated with unsympathetic governments. Bar-Yam stated, “we are watching this global cascade that goes from economic factors to food to riots and revolutions to refugees cascading around the world”."

Trechos retirados de "Understanding Unintended Consequences with Yaneer Bar-Yam"

Transformar é possível (parte II)

Parte I.

Primeiro, formular uma estratégia:

"Build the strategy.
.
Are you very clear about how you add value to customers in a way that others don’t, and about the specific capabilities that enable you to excel at that value proposition?.
As strategies are being developed, are you using the classic approach of “build the strategy, then think about execution,” or are you asking yourself the question, “Do you have the capabilities needed—or can you build the capabilities needed—to execute the strategy?”
.
As you’re dealing with disruption, are you shaping the world around you with your given strengths, or are you waiting for change to happen, and therefore playing by someone else’s rules?"

Aquele trecho é fundamental, "Are you very clear"?

Quantas empresas conseguem responder que sim?

Qual o impacte da falta de clareza?

Trecho retirado de "How to Excel at Both Strategy and Execution" 

Acerca da experiência quando o mundo muda

É tudo uma questão de perspectiva.

Quando o mundo muda, o que trazemos do passado pode impedir-nos de ver o que precisa ser feito. Meu Deus... consigo recordar:

• o suíço que produzia azeite (2009);
• libertar a mente para repensar a vida! (2011)
• a vantagem dos ignorantes (2012)
• ou, cuidado com os modelos mentais quando as regras do jogo foram alteradas (2013)

E claro o velho aviso a Zapatero em 2009

"“Five years from now, we won’t be debating whether ‘e-tailers’ are taking share from brick-and-mortar retailers, because they are all the same.”
...
So, is Warby Parker still an “online retailer”? Obviously, no: More than half of its sales now occur in physical stores. But also, yes: As founder Dave Gilboa told PBS, “about 75 percent of our customers that shop in our stores have been to our website first.”
.
Warby Parker’s success is extraordinary. But this story is becoming quite ordinary, indeed. Online shopping is having an offline moment, as more e-commerce companies, such as RentTheRunway and Bonobos, invest in the very sort of physical stores they once made seem obsolete.
...
This throwback revolution is happening in the midst of what otherwise feels like a “retail apocalypse.”
...
The labor market in retail, once the powerhouse of the service economy, is having its worst year of the century.
.
In short, the retail industry is at an inflection point, where several brick-and-mortar companies with large footprints are struggling while e-commerce companies that once launched pop-ups as mere marketing tools have realized the value of storefronts.
...
the ideal modern mall isn’t built around one department store, but rather a supermarket, a Tesla store, and businesses that started out online, such as Warby Parker.
.
Among the nation’s top 300 malls, brick-and-mortar space occupied by retailers that started online has grown by approximately 1,000 percent since 2012,"

Quem, com a experiência do retalho físico olha para o mundo do retalho físico e vê uma coisa.
Quem, com a experiência do retalho online olha para o mundo do retalho físico e vê outra coisa.

Trechos retirados de "The 4 Reasons Why 2017 Is a Tipping Point for Retail"

Mais um exemplo da democratização da inovação

Um interessante exemplo da democratização da produção, da democratização da inovação e de Mongo relatado em "Nurse as Maker: Democratizing Medical Innovation Starts Here":

"what if research and development of medical devices was democratized? What if the practitioners who work most closely with patients were brought into the product innovation pipeline?
...
With this in mind, the team is building programs to create technology literacy for practitioners, and is also working to build a platform to support a global network of health makers to engage in peer-to-peer learning.
.
Nurses aren’t the only people empowered when given the necessary tools for innovation. The patient is the true beneficiary of democratizing the medical innovation process.
.
It’s a great example of how a new shiny product alone isn’t always the best solution. Sometimes the best solutions are scrappy and created in close feedback loops packed with insights from real users—in this case, patients."

Recordar "A minha aposta: "make local for local""

Cooperativas de bairro que funcionam como makerspaces e onde os artesãos vão expor modelos e interagir com clientes

Mongo e JTBD

Por um lado Mongo, o progresso dos espaços com as suas próprias cervejas artesanais. Por outro lado, o mesmo conselho referido neste postal recente, "Olhar para os clientes-alvo":

"To find a solution, Sarah and her team reconnected with Gatorade’s core customer, the serious athlete. What they found was that these athletes did much more than just hydrate during athletic events"

Olhar para o cliente-alvo, para o seu contexto, para o seu dia e descobrir que há outros serviços que o espaço pode prestar.

No princípio do ano mudei de casa e antes de arranjar um espaço para escritório, enquanto tinha as minhas coisas num contentor (recomendo vivamente), usava o McDonalds do nó do Fojo em Gaia como base de trabalho, tirando a música muito alta para o meu gosto, tinha uma mesa, tinha internet e electricidade.

Depois de uma caminhada matinal, estabelecia-me e ficava por lá das 8h30 até às 13h30. Era interessante reparar como aquele espaço se mutava ao longo da manhã. Pequenos-almoços e cafés e pequenas reuniões para a fauna do início da manhã. Reuniões de trabalho, entrevistas de emprego ou entrevistas a traidores industriais, entrevistas a jornalistas, o advogado carregado de papéis e ainda com mais marcadores fluorescentes e post-its do que eu a meio da manhã. Depois, à hora do almoço os estudantes da secundária a 500 metros e toda a panóplia de gente que precisa de um almoço rápido, barato e sem receio da higiene.

Esta abordagem em torno do Job-To-Be-Done presente em "Breweries Find That Coffee Is Their Second Favorite Beverage".

BTW, eu que bebo café sem açúcar (que mascare a realidade) sei que há muito café horrível a circular por este país. Assim, quando o costume de usar açúcar ou adoçantes com o café cair, vai nascer a procura por melhor café. Procura essa que vai ser difícil de ser servida por empresas mais preocupadas com a eficiência do que atender às chamadas de atenção de uns consumidores-chatos. Nessa altura estará criada a oportunidade para alguém avançar com café artesanal.

Acerca dos processos (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.

Este trecho:

"The feel of Starbucks stores isn’t created merely by the layout and the décor—it exists because the people behind the counter understand how their work fits into a common purpose, and recognize how to accomplish great things together without needing to follow a script."

Retirado de "How to Excel at Both Strategy and Execution" e citado aqui permite conciliar o dilema da parte II.

Recordo, eu, um adepto incondicional da abordagem por processos, a sublinhar que os processos podem também ter um lado perverso quando cristalizam as práticas e impedem as organizações de fugir do incrementalismo.

Aquele sublinhado ali em cima fez-me pensar numa série de actividades que as pessoas têm de realizar e que estão sistematizadas em processos para o fazerem de forma uniforme e eficiente. E muitas organizações ficam-se por este nível. Outras, por causa da sua estratégia, por causa das suas pessoas, por causa dos seus clientes, por causa de uma mistura destas coisas, olham para o processo como uma espécie de esqueleto, um script-base, e sobre ele começam a construir camadas de interacção, camadas de personalização, camadas de facilitados de co-criação de valor que acabam por  descaracterizar o script inicial num conjunto de scripts adequados a cada contexto numa relação 1-para-1.

Transformar é possível (parte I)

"the days of keeping strategy and execution as separate topics are ending: We need leaders that can create big promises to customers, and help their organizations deliver on those promises.
...
Starbucks has been able to deliver on its promise because that promise is tightly linked to the company’s distinctive capabilities. The feel of Starbucks stores isn’t created merely by the layout and the décor—it exists because the people behind the counter understand how their work fits into a common purpose, and recognize how to accomplish great things together without needing to follow a script.
...
a bold vision needs to include both a very ambitious destination and a well-conceived path for execution that will get you there. This is ever more important today, where differentiating your company is so difficult. Differentiation increasingly requires more innovative thinking, and the use of very specific areas of expertise
...
Leaders who master both strategy and execution start by building a bold but executable strategy. Next, they ensure that the company is investing behind the change. And last, they make sure the entire organization is motivated to go the journey.
...
Developing a bold but executable strategy starts with making sure leaders have addressed the questions of “What are we great at?” and “What are we able to achieve?” rather than coming up with lofty plans and asking functional and business-unit teams to do their best to execute. Indeed, they spell out the few differentiating capabilities that the company must excel at to realize the strategy.
.
Ensuring that the company is investing behind the change means that leaders recognize that the budget process is one of the most important tools in closing the strategy-to-execution gap. Cost isn’t an exogenous variable to be managed—it is the investment in doing the most important things well. But rarely are budgets linked closely to the strategy. If your company is merely incrementalizing the budget up or down by a few percentage points, ask yourself whether the investments are really reflective of the most important tasks."

Nuno, isto tem tudo a ver com o desafio de 15/16 de Dezembro. Apresentar um destino ambicioso, conversar abertamente sobre como é viver nesse destino, que resultados obtêm a empresa e os clientes, o que dizem os clientes da empresa, o que dizem os trabalhadores da empresa e do que fazem. Deixar a visão da terra onde corre leite e mel seduzi-los, deixar que contribuam para a descrição de como é essa terra, eles já lá estão, eles já lá vivem, o que vêem, o que fazem, o que sentem? Depois, capturar o gap, a lacuna entre o que ainda somos  e o que queremos ser no futuro desejado para construir o programa de transformação.

Continua.


Trechos retirados de "How to Excel at Both Strategy and Execution"

Acerca dos processos (parte II)

Parte I.

Sabem como sou um adepto da abordagem por processos. No entanto, reconheço que existe o perigo que se descreve a seguir:

"From business processes to workgroup practices. Most large companies today formally organize around processes; ... Indeed, workers—and entire organizations—get so caught up in “doing the process right” that they lose sight of the outcomes. And processes are increasingly inadequate to drive significant performance improvement. [Moi ici: Cuidado com o contexto desta afirmação anterior. Em que sector está a sua empresa? Em que fase está?] The value of further optimizing processes to deliver products and services seems to be rapidly diminishing. What can be standardized likely will be, and those processes will likely be automated, but where will the next level of performance come from? Focusing on process efficiency and eliminating variance may not help companies gain a competitive advantage. [Moi ici: Ler esta frase e recordar o fim da Redsigma] More importantly, in this environment, most processes can’t keep up with addressing the new challenges and opportunities served up by the Big Shift world—nor can process optimization likely help companies figure out how to create more value for their customers.[Moi ici:Apesar de todo o valor que atribuo à abordagem por processos percebo que existe este perigo. Infelizmente em Portugal o risco maior é o de não haver práticas sistematizadas de raiz]
.
Not only can routine processes be an avenue of diminishing returns—they can actually be barriers to performance improvement. Trying to update and optimize processes to conform with the ever-changing reality, and ensure compliance to those processes, is typically time- and resource-consuming. Continuing to optimize processes can divert the organization from investing in the capabilities to make sense of the changing reality and learning how to better create and capture value for it. Machines are increasingly able to perform the tightly specified, highly standardized tasks that support scalable efficiency more predictably and reliably than humans. As a result, many companies have invested in automating processes—removing people wherever possible—rather than exploring how these tools might better reflect and amplify the business practices of the people who could be deployed to create more value for the business.
...
the temptation for most large organizations is to focus on controlling what they can. Consider the example of 3M, where, in the early 2000s, a new CEO decided to “optimize” R&D by systematically stripping away inefficiencies. [Moi ici: Recordar a estória da caneta] Controls were brought to bear on R&D: Processes were formalized, with forms developed to ensure engineers innovated efficiently and tighten compliance; 3M’s operating margins quickly improved and Wall Street rewarded it. But the company soon found that R&D wasn’t creating new sources of value as effectively as it once had, and not until a new CEO came in to unwind those efforts was 3M able to turn things around, in 2012.

Continua.

Trecho retirado de "Beyond process How to get better, faster as “exceptions” become the rule"

Ainda há muito espaço para melhorar (parte II)

Parte I.

"Experts have opined for decades on the reasons behind the spectacular failure rates of strategy execution.
...
A full 61% of executives told us they were not prepared for the strategic challenges they faced upon being appointed to senior leadership roles. It’s no surprise, then, that 50%–60% of executives fail within the first 18 months of being promoted or hired.
.
Appointing that many unprepared leaders into roles directly responsible for crafting and executing strategy only fuels the risk of executional failure. Here are four of the most common signs that an executive is likely to fail when attempting to bring the organization’s strategy to life.
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They lack depth in their competitive context. [Moi ici: Recordar a cláusula 4.1 da ISO 9001:2015] Taking on broader leadership roles usually results in greater insularity for leaders. Their focus is pulled toward internal issues: resolving conflicts, reconciling budgets, and managing performance. Consequently, they pay less attention to external strategic issues like competitor moves, customer needs, and technology trends. One study reports that 70% of leaders spend on average one day a month reviewing strategy and 85% of leadership teams spend less than an hour per month discussing strategy. When leaders fail to understand the competitive context of their organizations, they sometimes hide behind unrealistic goals to overcompensate. When I ask executives to show me their organization’s strategy, they often hand me a strategic plan that has product quotas and market share growth targets, or they show me the mission and values statement with some lofty statements on one page. But they rarely show me a clear market identity that articulates who they will serve and who they won’t, what capabilities they will be disproportionately better at than their competitors, and why their target customers would choose them over competitors."

Esta última descrição aplica-se bem a uma multinacional onde estive recentemente, e onde me apresentaram como estratégia um documento onde se explicavam as virtudes do produto mas nem uma única palavra sobre quem são os clientes-alvo, sobre qual a sua proposta de valor e sobre como chegar a eles.


Continua.

Trechos retirados de "Executives Fail to Execute Strategy Because They’re Too Internally Focused"

Ainda há muito espaço para melhorar

"Two thirds (67%) of leaders believe their organization is good at crafting strategy but only 47% believe their organization is good at implementing strategy.
...
Only 10% of organizations surveyed achieve at least two-thirds of their strategy objectives, with 36% achieving between 50%-67% and 54% achieving less than 50%.
...
In an alarming 49% of organizations, leaders spend only one day a month reviewing their implementation. 

In 2016, the top three reasons for implementation failures are 1) Poor Communication, 2) Lack of Leadership and 3) Using the Wrong Measures."

Trechos e imagens retiradas de "Bridges 2016 Survey Results"

Free webinar – ISO 9001:2015 clause 4

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Acerca dos processos (parte I)

"From financial performance metrics to operating and frontline metrics. Financial metrics drive behavior at the top levels of most large organizations today. Yet, these metrics tend to be lagging indicators of performance; they are backward-looking. If you’re serious about getting on an accelerating trajectory, you should identify and rigorously track the relevant leading indicators. [Moi ici: Ainda esta semana numa reunião disse que não interessa ter muitos indicadores, e a empresa tinha e tem, o que interessa é ter os indicadores significativos] Operating metrics are near-term, leading indicators of an organization’s performance. Key operating metrics drive financial metrics and have typically been thought of as measuring the success of a key business process. [Moi ici: Recordar a figura abaixo e o respectivo postal] The connection between operating metrics and frontline activities—and associated frontline metrics—that drive them is generally more immediate and understandable."

Foi isto que eu descobri há muito tempo e me levou a escrever o livro, depois de ter testado o conceito em duas empresas com resultados notáveis. Relacionar o balanced scorecard com a abordagem por processos, para ancorar as mudanças naquilo que é permanente nas organizações, os processos. Recordar o I'll be back!

Continua.

Trecho retirado de "Beyond process How to get better, faster as “exceptions” become the rule"

Estratégia corporativa

Ao longo da minha vida profissional tive poucas oportunidades, 2 ou 3, de trabalhar a este nível, o corporativo, o da sociedade gestora de participações, o do grupo de empresas.

Um trabalho interessante, o de criar valor a partir da sinergia entre várias empresas para que valham mais juntas do que separadas.

Guardo aqui para rever, numa eventual oportunidade futura de trabalho, este texto muito interessante, "Four Logics of Corporate Strategy"

Gente de outra estirpe

Um texto, "Ineficiência na gestão custa 47 milhões à hotelaria todos os anos", que mereceria reflexão especial no recato de cada organização e a nível de associações do sector.

"Desfasamento entre o 'boom' da procura e a adequação do preço médio da hotelaria custou, em cinco anos, 235 milhões.
...
Quanto custou a ineficiência na gestão do boom da procura turística à hotelaria? Em cinco anos (de 2012 a 2016), nas três regiões onde o desfasamento entre o disparo da procura e a resposta do setor foi maior, as empresas hoteleiras perderam 235 milhões de euros.
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O estudo da BlueShift comparou o período compreendido entre o ano antes do arranque da procura (2012) e o ano recorde para o turismo nacional (2016). A análise pretendeu averiguar até que ponto as organizações conseguiram ou não tirar partido da nova tendência de crescimento. Deste modo, foram comparadas a Taxa de Ocupação e o Preço Médio, já que a rentabilidade operacional só pode ser maximizada se ambos se expandirem. Um euro de crescimento em preço, por exemplo, traduz-se diretamente em resultados. Se esse mesmo euro for apenas conseguido via ocupação, apenas 40 cêntimos (numa operação otimizada) traduzem-se em resultados — uma vez que é necessário subtrair os custos variáveis do montante acumulado."

Triste é as associações sectoriais serem chefiadas por gente mais interessada em fazer política partidária do que em pensar o sector e trabalhar para fazer sempre a melhor limonada com os limões que a vida nos dá em vez de estar sempre no choradinho porque nos calharam limões e não ananases ou maracujás.

O filme é claro, o estudo começa em 2012 com o ano a que chama "antes do arranque da procura":

•  Janeiro de 2013 - Não há nada a fazer?

O presidente de uma associação não pode e não deve falar impunemente. Deve ser consequente, deve ser responsável. Não deve mentir mas deve dar esperança. Não esperança cor de rosa, não esperança mágica mas esperança com base nas oportunidades que possam existir. O que dizia o presidente da Associação da Hotelaria de Portugal:

"Para 2013 espera-se menos emprego, menos investimento, pior prestação em termos de resultados. Não há milagres"

• Outubro de 2013 - O exemplo da hotelaria

"A hotelaria portuguesa poderá ter um ano de recordes em 2013. Até ao final do ano, o sector prevê receber 14,5 milhões de hóspedes, contra 13,9 milhões em 2012, e 42 milhões de dormidas, face aos 39,8 milhões do ano passado. “Nunca se atingiram estes números em Portugal e vamos ter resultados significativos este ano”, sublinha o presidente da Associação da Hotelaria de Portugal (AHP), Luís Veiga, em entrevista ao SOL." [Moi ici: Em algum lado ouviram uma retratação deste senhor? Não, qual Cravinho continuou como se nada se tivesse passado]

• Abril de 2015 - Decididamente há aqui alguma coisa que não bate certo... 

O senhor até me faz recordar Pessoa:

"«Aqui ao leme sou mais do que eu:
Sou um Povo que quer o mar que é teu;"

Ao leme de uma associação não deviam estar os mais retrógrados, deviam estar os visionários, deviam estar os que dão esperança, os que mostram sugerem caminhos, gente com locus de controlo interno. Gente que sabe que ao leme têm de ser mais do que são.

Quando ao leme está alguém que vê e proclama que o copo está meio vazio o que é que faz a maioria? Acredita na mensagem de que o copo está meio vazio.

Aquele trecho lá em cima:

"Um euro de crescimento em preço, por exemplo, traduz-se diretamente em resultados. Se esse mesmo euro for apenas conseguido via ocupação, apenas 40 cêntimos (numa operação otimizada) traduzem-se em resultados"

devia ser objecto de reflexão profunda. Sabem qual é a elasticidade da procura? Sabem quantos clientes perdem quando aumentam o preço 1% Sabem quanto ganham a mais quando o preço aumenta 1%? Espero que saibam que o objectivo não é ter os quartos todos ocupados mas sim ganhar dinheiro.

Em vez de olhar para estas coisas, qual Dastardly, sempre a olhar para a concorrência, sempre preocupado com o queijo a que tem como direito adquirido:

• Março de 2015 - Sim, é muito mais complexo do que o "paradigma"

E olhar para dentre e ser frontal só deve trazer problemas. Imaginem o que seria com alguém da estirpe do senhor Proença à frente da AHP.

Pois, gente de outra estirpe, recordar Novembro de 2011