The vastly oversimplified playbook to get you moving in the right direction fast
This playbook is for leaders experiencing the following:
- 1 million unfinished tasks floating around the company.
- Teams that never seem to complete important work. Or if they do, it’s not on time. Or if it’s done on time you have to stand over them to get it done.
- No one ever seems to make a good decision without me.
- My team is smart but it feels like I have to micromanage them.
The Solution
- Document and align your team on the most critical processes in your business.
- Focus on outcomes, not tasks. Measure the results you expect your business to deliver.
The Playbook
- List your critical processes. Make a list of the 10 to 20 most critical processes in your business. These are the things that absolutely need to be right or they will cost you time and money. You may find that it helps to start with “How To”. Examples: How to Manage a Project, How to Launch a Sales Campaign, How to Respond to Customer Inquiries, How to Make a Sales Call, How to Post Social Media Updates.
- Make simple playbooks. You can use this template or make your own. For each process, create a simple playbook. The goal is to avoid complexity and lengthy timeframes. A well-crafted playbook can be drafted in under 2 hours, with room for refinement over time. The main focus is on simplicity. It's important to note that this is not a comprehensive training guide with every step and detail documented. Instead, it provides a list of basic steps for an experienced user to complete the process. Playbooks assume that the user already has a basic understanding of the process.
- Give your team a cadence. Playbooks answer the “what” but we find that many teams struggle with the “when”. You may find it helpful to give the team a suggested way to manage their day, week, and month. See example here.
- Create a Playbook Repository. Once you have created your playbooks, gather them all in one place and create an index. Ensure that it is easy for your users to locate them. Remember to keep the number of playbooks to a maximum of 20. Your repository does not need to be elaborate; it can be as simple as a shared drive.
- **Designate an owner.**Assign someone to be responsible for managing Playbooks. In the event of any changes to the business, it is necessary to update the Playbooks accordingly. It is recommended to review them for accuracy at least once a year.
- **Create a scorecard.**This is the crucial step where the magic happens. It is important not to skip this step. Instead of focusing on tasks, prioritize the outcomes of the work. What results do you expect each person and team to deliver? Manage towards those outcomes. Assign an owner to each outcome. Create a scorecard that measures the outcomes that are important to your business. Ensure that someone updates and publishes it to your team on a weekly basis. See sample scorecard here.
- Manage to outcomes. To address items that are off track on the scorecard, managers should discuss them in their weekly meetings and one-on-one sessions. Instead of simply asking for more work to be done quickly, the person responsible for the outcome should provide the solution. Rather than nagging, it is more effective to ask questions such as: "This number is off track, what do you plan to do to fix it?", "I see an issue on the scorecard, when will this be back on track?", "What is your plan to fix X?", and "What do you need from me to help you fix the scorecard gap in Y?”
- Hold your team accountable. Managing to outcomes only works if you are willing to hold people accountable. You must be willing to hire, fire, and reward based on the teams ability to deliver results, not just check off task boxes. Consider implementing accountability tools such as: