Measuring What Matters: Simplified Tools for Aligning Teams and Their Stakeholders

405 Pages·2006·2.43 MB·English

by  Rod Napier

Praise for Measuring What Matters
“A great book for motivated managers who want to take control of
their environment. Offers strategies to improve the effectiveness of
senior management teams that must collaborate to plan and imple-
ment operational initiatives.”
—Jay Morley, President, National Association of College
and University Business Officers
“Moves measurement to the next level by equipping work teams
with commonsense tools to measure the connections that bind them
to their core stakeholders. It may be common sense, but it most
assuredly is not common practice. Therein lies the opportunity!”
—William P. Simpson, President, University of Connecticut
Cooperative Corporation
“Using this book to build and execute strategy is almost certain
to lead to success—whether you work in the bottom-line drive or
not-for-profit world.”
—Gary F. Shapiro, Senior Vice President, Intellectual
Property, Follett Higher Education Group
“Hits the core of executing business strategy every day. Napier and
McDaniel have created a work that is for anyone starting a business,
operating a business, or just in a business. It is applicable to all
business owners, operators, and managers.”
—Britt Hinton, President, Academic Book Services, Inc.;
President, Kudzu Book Traders
“Provides a simple way to measure, communicate, train, and
implement objectives to meet the needs of stakeholders—not at the
30,000-foot level, but at the team level. At Cornell University, we are
doing this and it really works!”
—Thomas Romantic, Director, Cornell Business Services
“Finally a book about real people and real groups getting real work
done the right way! A refreshing change and a superb book with us-
able tools for any manager of any work group anywhere.”
—Roxana Bahar Hewertson, President, Highland Consult-
ing Group, Inc., Organizational Consultants; coauthor,
Leadership Development That Makes a Difference
“The use of real-world examples, excellent how-to guides, marvelous
diagnostic tools, and great humor make this an interesting and valu-
able read. A ‘must read’ for executives at all levels who want to man-
age with data and soul.”
—Kent John Chabotar, President and professor of
political science, Guilford College
“Provides powerful tools to help school leaders collect data, especially
as they build trust and capacity with their teams.”
—Judy Lechner Brody, Director, Educational Leadership
Program for Aspiring Principals, University of
Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education
“Provides an excellent set of tools for guiding and developing an aca-
demic clinical organization. The Supervisory Dialogue, Group Man-
agement Questionnaire, and 360-degree feedback are highly effective
methods in creating a strong, adaptive organization well suited to
managing a changing business environment.”
—Sim S. Galazka, M.D., Walter M. Seward Professor
and Chair, Department of Family Medicine,
The University of Virginia
“An exceptional and clearly presented overview of the often difficult
and inaccessible world of performance measurement. An invaluable
resource for any leader, manager, or team member wanting to track
what makes a difference. In my professional capacity I will use it
again and again.”
—David Baum, Ph.D., D. Min., author, Lightning in a Bottle
and The Randori Principles
Measuring What Matters
Measuring
What
Matters
Simplified Tools Aligning Teams
for
Stakeholders
and Their
Rod Napier & Rich McDaniel
Mountain View, California
Published by Davies-Black Publishing, a division of CPP, Inc., 1055 Joaquin Road,
2nd Floor, Mountain View, CA 94043; 800-624-1765.
Special discounts on bulk quantities of Davies-Black books are available to cor-
porations, professional associations, and other organizations. For details, contact
the Director of Marketing and Sales at Davies-Black Publishing; 650-691-9123;
fax [phone].
Copyright © 2006 by Rodney Napier and Richard McDaniel. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Davies-Black and its colophon are registered trademarks of CPP, Inc.
Visit the Davies-Black Publishing Web site at www.daviesblack.com.
10 09 08 07 06 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Measuring what matters : simplified tools for aligning teams and their stake-
holders / Rod Napier & Rich McDaniel.— 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 13: 978-0-89106-211-0
ISBN 10: 0-89106-211-4
1. Teams in the workplace. 2. Organizational change. 3. Management.
I. McDaniel, Rich. II Title.
HD66.N35 2006
658.4′022—dc22
2005030671
FIRST EDITION
First printing 2006

Contents
List of Exercises viii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
About the Authors xvii
Part One: A Framework for Measurement
1 Measuring What Matters Exchanging Value with Stakeholders 3
2 Owners Come First Exchanging Value with Owners 27
3 Customers Come First Exchanging Value with Customers 79
4 Employees Come First Exchanging Value with Employees 129
5 Stakeholders Come First The Winning Exchange of Value 171
Part Two: Power Tools for Management
6 Trust Matters The Key to Organizational Change 187
7 Leadership Matters A Case Study of a Manager 213
8 Teamwork Matters TheGroup Management Questionnaire 261
9 Performance Matters Developmental Supervision 307
!0 Profit Matters The PEI-Genesis Story 345
Appendix 361
Notes 375
Index 379
Exercises
1. Who Are Our Owners? 29
2. Owners Value Purpose Alignment: How Are We Doing? 38
3. Owners Value “Process Performance”: How Are We Doing? 48
4. Who Are Our Customers? 85
5. What Do Our Customers Value and Expect? 90
6. How Are We Doing at Meeting or Exceeding Customers’
Expectations? 96
7. Who Are Our Employees? 134
8. What Do Our Employees Value and Expect? 138
9. How Is the Company Doing at Meeting or Exceeding
Employee Expectations? 140
10. The Trust Survey 202
11. Follow-Up to the Trust Survey 208
12. The Group Management Questionnaire (GMQ) 279
13. The Supervisory Dialogue 319
14. The Supervisory Review 339
15. The Leadership Effectiveness Survey 340
viii
Preface
Successful managers understand that giving and receiving are in-
separably linked and that the exchange of value among core stake-
holders lies at the center of all organizational purpose. One
well-circulated story to make the point describes a manager who
died and went to heaven. There he found all former managers sep-
arated into two groups—the failures in one hall and the successful
ones in the other. Around mealtime he entered the hall of those
who had failed and was surprised to find the occupants thin and
hungry looking. When the angels began to serve dinner, large plat-
ters of delicious foods were placed at the tables, but before anyone
was seated, another angel came along and strapped a long iron
spoon to each manager’s arm. The long handles of the spoons were
fastened to the managers’ wrists and biceps, making it impossible
for them to bend their arms. As a result, no one was able to lift the
spoon to his mouth.
Walking over to the hall of those who had succeeded, the newly
arrived manager was surprised to find this group well fed and
healthy. Dinner was already on the table, and an angel had just fin-
ished strapping the long iron spoons to the arms of the diners. Each
manager then dipped his spoon into the food and fed the person
seated across from him.
Successful managers covet loyal customers, productive employ-
ees, and supportive owners, and they are keenly aware of the inter-
dependencies that bind them to the company. In effect, value is
being delivered in return for value received. The company may
offer an attractive combination of price, quality, and convenience
to its customers in return for loyalty, a profitable business relation-
ship, and cooperation in providing critical feedback. It offers a
blend of benefits to its employees in return for their productivity
and partnership, and it offers owners financial benefits or the
achievement of some worthy social service in return for resources
ix