Brooks reminds us that rational thought/logic is only one narrow perspective shedding light on how people think/behave within organizations. There is a far more powerful layer of nuanced “emotional cognition” at work – ...]]> Just finished reading an incredible book entitled “The Social Animal” by NY Times political columnist David Brooks. Brooks tells us that his day job as a political columnist has required him to watch how public figures and organizations behave – in all their glory, or appalling lack thereof. Therefore Brooks wanted to gain insight into the latest thinking around human behaviour that is coming out of cutting edge social psychology research and the related behavioural sciences. The result was “The Social Animal”. The book is brilliant and very very witty – an insightful and enjoyable read. The book is also truly witty.

Brooks reminds us that rational thought/logic is only one narrow perspective shedding light on how people think/behave within organizations. There is a far more powerful layer of nuanced “emotional cognition” at work – brewing below the strictly rational and logical “self” that we all mistakenly believe denotes “us”. Brooks and Malcolm Gladwell (author of BLINK) and other journalist translators of social science research provide us with valuable insights about how “we” truly work in terms of the guts of cognition and behaviour. Insights around how individuals truly think lead to insights about how our organizations truly work. Let’s keep this in mind when we try to narrowly apply “logic” based solutions to org performance problems. There is a lot more going on than meets the rational eye!!!

I certainly agree that every valued municipal client of Performance Concepts Consulting needs to have a well conceived set of strategic priorities. These strategic priorities achieve relevance when stapled to the right concrete actions/initiatives. The intended impact of strategic priorities and their stapled actions/initiatives should be secured by setting results based targets that are tied to key performance indicators. The final result should be organization-wide alignment around a limited set of priorities, and an org culture focused on getting the RIGHT things done and doing things RIGHT.

The problem I have with traditional community based strategic planning involves none of the above objectives. The problem I have is one of execution. So many strategic planning exercises become mired in process, ...]]> Strategic Plans…gotta have one….every public sector organization needs one right? Allow me to be the heretic…sort of.

I certainly agree that every valued municipal client of Performance Concepts Consulting needs to have a well conceived set of strategic priorities. These strategic priorities achieve relevance when stapled to the right concrete actions/initiatives. The intended impact of strategic priorities and their stapled actions/initiatives should be secured by setting results based targets that are tied to key performance indicators. The final result should be organization-wide alignment around a limited set of priorities, and an org culture focused on getting the RIGHT things done and doing things RIGHT.

The problem I have with traditional community based strategic planning involves none of the above objectives. The problem I have is one of execution. So many strategic planning exercises become mired in process, and lose traction through excessive amounts of stakeholder consultation. Attention wavers. Timelines erode and the organization loses interest. The strategic planning process begins to feel like a planning bureaucracy, and the final product is eventually compromised by the inertia of ever getting the plan done. Nimble priority setting is the prime casualty!

The antidote is Future Focus – a streamlined and accelerated Council priority setting initiative. In 90 days Future Focus gets it done – producing Council “Brand” + Strategic Priorities + Action Items. Future Focus is both nimble and strategic – thereby meeting the needs of municipal Councils seeking to chart a course for the organization, without requiring the exhaustive approval of every stakeholder known to man.

I look forward to discussing strategic priority setting via Future Focus with my clients in coming months. Lets avoid strat plan sclerosis!!!

Non-emergent transportation poses a similar challenge in many jurisdictions.  As far as Councils and taxpayers are concerned, EMS units featuring highly trained paramedics are deployed to respond to serious medical emergency calls for service – not routine transportation of patients to hospital tests or diagnostic imaging appointments, or even medically necessary patient ...]]> In the Canadian EMS world, everybody who is anybody knows about the risk posed by emergency department traffic jams when ambulances try to transfer patients.  Delays are significant.  90th percentile response times suffer as vehicle deployment patterns erode throughout the day.  The problem is endemic across Canada – witness the recent media expose in Edmonton concerning response time erosion, and the series of “Code Red” stories about zero ambulance availability in Ontario.  Performance Concepts master planning engagements in Ottawa and Thunder Bay have documented the problems in excruciating detail.

Non-emergent transportation poses a similar challenge in many jurisdictions.  As far as Councils and taxpayers are concerned, EMS units featuring highly trained paramedics are deployed to respond to serious medical emergency calls for service – not routine transportation of patients to hospital tests or diagnostic imaging appointments, or even medically necessary patient transfers between hospitals.  In Thunder Bay for instance, Chief Norm Gale’s epic strategic planning process has had to confront the reality that Code 1-2 non-emergent transfer calls consume the equivalent of a 12-hour EMERGENCY ambulance every year – at a time when his City EMS service model is struggling with a system busyness “unit hour utilization” of 45 percent.  It may not be viable for EMS in many “small market” communities in Canada to simply walk away from non-emergent transfers in favour of a private sector contracted solution.  Stakeholder collaboration in designing new non-emergent transport solutions is clearly required.  Models beyond the Southern Ontario “big market” contracting solution need to be explored.

Performance Concepts is totally pumped about working with health system stakeholders in Ontario’s Northwest LHIN to re-design the non-emergent transport model – thereby improving reliability and reducing costs in both the Thunder Bay and the North Shore District communities!

I guess my point is football and other sports provide us with a useful and fun archetype ...]]> Well it is a Sunday during the NFL playoffs.  My beloved Steelers have been eliminated, but it occurs to me that football can deliver insights for those of us interested in organizational performance. Football teams follow the classic plan-deliver-evaluate model of results based management every week of the season.  Teams carefully manage their inputs (players) as well as outputs(scripted plays) and outcomes (e.g. 3rd down conversions). Huge emphasis is placed on execution of process by eleven interacting employees focused on well understood “desired results”.  Clarity of purpose and clear lines of sight between tasks and results permeate the culture of football.  Adaptable planning that reflects changing circumstances is a must-have during the season and during a game – the much discussed “half time adjustments”.

I guess my point is football and other sports provide us with a useful and fun archetype to think about the performance of our organizations re. process execution, our utilization of measurement tools to set targets, and the shaping the performance culture of our employees and business units.

Enjoy your natchos today and death to the Packers!