A vantagem competitiva

Considerar esta mensagem:

"WE HAVE AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE:
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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.
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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.
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The only thing certain becomes uncertainty.
...
the iron law of industry — advantage of scale itself — is being disrupted.
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In fact scale is turning into a disadvantage due to the massive cost of producing non-standardized parts.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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Finally, I threw in the towel, and asked my parents to send me abroad. Anywhere else on this earth would surely be better.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Business systems are being reconfigured. No definitions, no boundaries are sacred.
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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'.
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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"]
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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.
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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.
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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
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Translate strategy into everyday processes and capabilities. Our analysis of how senior teams spend their time shows that for this dimension:
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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? ]
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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?
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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?).
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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.
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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.
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“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.”
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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.
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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".
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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"