CEO Briefings

2012 Bible Reading Plan

Troy Blackmon — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

I hope you had a great New Year's, and you've enjoyed some memorable time with family, and some time anticipating 2012. I'm excited and hopeful for the year ahead, and grateful God gives us a "clean slate", not just on the turn of each new year, but each moment! Romans 12:2 says "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." The transformation and changed thinking happens daily, as we pursue intimacy with Him.

Will You Join Me?
Each year, I try to read through the Bible as part of my quiet time with the Lord. For 2012, I will follow a reading plan taking a chronological journey through the Bible over the course of 12 months. This approach gives a historical context to the stories and events we read about. I want to invite you to join me in reading through the Bible this year.

If you choose to join me, follow the link below and fill in your name and email address. I will send out a weekly email, showing the verses to read for the 7 days following. It should be a great way to stay engaged in God's word together!

Join Us in Reading Through the Bible in 2012

Feel free to share this link with your family, friends, co-workers, customers, vendors, etc, and invite them to join you on this journey!

Remember, this is not meant to be a "check the box" task, but rather a guided and disciplined tool to help you grow in your relationship with the Lord.

Your Brother,
Troy

2009 Year End Audit

Troy Blackmon — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500

How Was Your Year? It has become a year-end tradition in each of our C12 groups to take a uniquely Christ-centered retrospective look at the results of our past year’s activities, focusing on the eternal perspective. Taking such an inventory is, of course, a very normal thing to do in the economic dimensions of our businesses. We are all familiar with such measurements as net income, proﬁt margin, ROI, market share, and sales growth. We have devised numerous ways to measure our ﬁscal eﬀectiveness and it’s important that we use them well. Here we focus on a diﬀerent set of criteria. In many ways it is much more diﬃcult to measure our results in the ministry or spiritual dimension of our business lives. The whole idea of using our business as a platform for ministry can sometimes seem bewildering as it is not nearly as well ‘codiﬁed’ as such routine business processes like ﬁlling orders and tracking ﬁnancial proﬁt or loss.

In terms of what is eternally important to our lives, the spiritual dimension is much more - even inﬁnitely more - important to us. So, with apologies to none, we are now going to oﬀer some thoughts on how we might take a year-end audit from a uniquely Kingdom-oriented perspective.

What is it that we should be looking for as we examine ourselves and our spiritual lives in relation to the ministry in our business? Is it only souls won to the Lord, or dollars given to support His work, or numbers of tracts distributed? Is it only those things that we can quantify? No, of course not. While we know that all these things are an important part of the fruit of our ministry which need to be quantiﬁed and recorded to help us measure progress in these areas, we also know that there is another set of criteria. It is these personal criteria that we will examine today. These criteria pertain to growth, the kind of growth that will lead to fruit…much fruit! We are oﬀering these criteria as indicators of growth which we can all use to measure what kind of a year we really had in the Master’s eyes. In general, rate your year from 1 to 10, with 1 being Low, 5 Average and 10 High (as measured against your potential or opportunity).

You had a good year if...

1. You spent more time with The Lord. This is an easy one. Everything we are or do comes out of our relationship with God in Christ Jesus. We can never be more than our relationship with Him enables us to be. Obedience to God is the FINAL deﬁnition of success in our lives and our obedience comes out of our relationship with Him. As we grow to know Him better we are more able to hear His voice. The more clearly we hear Him, the easier it is to obey Him.

Don’t be deceived. Our ministry in business or anywhere else will never grow if our relationship with God is not. Of course our relati onship with God is not totally deﬁned by the amount of time that we spend with Him. It is not only the amount of time but the quality of the time and the result of the time that are important. It is possible that you may not have to spend more time with God to build your relationship with Him... but not likely! Unless you are one in a million, your love for God and your devotion to Him are mirrored in the prioriti zed time you spend with Him. We are talking about all kinds of time here: daily quiet time, prayer during the day, evening meditations, and the sense that He is in you and with you in the everyday decisions you make to run the business. Wherever each of us may be in this equation, there is plenty of room to grow. How was your year?

Rating ________

2. Your family relationships strengthened. Were you able to spend more time, and more quality time, with your spouse and children? We need to look at these relationships right after our relationship with God. It isn’t very likely that we had an improving relationship with God and a deteriorating relationship with our family. We can’t really get closer to God and not be convicted to love and serve our mates and children. Did you make more time available to your spouse and less to your hobbies or business? Is your love for (and service to) them greater than it was last year? If so, you’ve had a good year.

Why do we start a year-end audit of our business talking about God and family? Because we can only bring to our business what we already have in our lives in Christ and in our homes. We are not two people. We are one person, living an integrated life before the Lord. Our ministry in our business is simply an extension of our lives in Christ, not a separate part of it.

Rating ________

3. You spent more time listening and relating to your key team members on a one–to–one basis. Not only listening to and relating with them, but doing so with an ear tuned to God and His purposes. You had a good year if you care more for your lost employees, seeing the horrible prospect of their eternity in hell more painfully. You had a good year if you prayed for their salvation more than last year, and an even better year if you actually did something more to impact them for eternity.

Rating ________

4. You saw the people that you deal with - suppliers, customers, employees, and others - more as objects of your personal ministry than as objects to be exploited for your personal gain. If you see yourself more as servant to them than master over them, even a little bit more, you had a good year.

Rating ________

5. You are even slightly less acquisitive than you were a year ago. The urge to acquire things is of the ﬂesh, not the Spirit. The vain thought that having more will bring any real beneﬁt to our lives is immature and foolish. Any honest Christian knows that there is no joy or peace in things. The more stuﬀ we have, the more we must tend to and use. Materialism is a curse, a cancer of the spirit. If you have extricated yourself, even a little, from its grasp, and are more able to steward your gifts with an open hand before the Lord, you have had a good year. You might measure this as a percentage of what you gave from what you were given. Were you able to give a greater share this year?

Rating ________

6. You are measurably more thankful for what you have and content with your present lot in life. Spiritual maturity brings with it a contentment that comes from the awareness of what God has done for us by grace. What do we have that we deserve? And, given that we have as much as we all do, being among the materially wealthiest people in the history of the world, how can we not be thankful? Why do we need more? If God were to say to you, “What you have is the best it will ever be,” what would you say to Him? Could you say, “Thank You, Father...I already have more than I deserve or need,” and really mean it? If you can, even a bit more gratefully than last year, you have had a good year.

Rating ________

7. You have more peace in your heart than you did a year ago. This is especially true if the peace is not related to circumstances, since circumstances always change. If our peace is dependent on them, it comes and goes with the changes. Spiritual maturity, and the peace that comes with it, is not dependent on circumstances but on God who never changes. Can you see God’s hand in your circumstances (i.e., “…give thanks in all circumstances” [1Th 5:18], “Consider it pure joy…” [Ja 1:2], “…in all things God works…” [Ro 8:28]) a little more clearly this year than last? If you can, you had a good year.

Rating ________

8. You learned more about your profession this year than last. If you believe that (a) your business is a gift from God and (b) as steward you are to run it for Him with excellence and (c) have found the time and will to learn and apply better ways to do so; you had a good year.

Rating ________

9. You took better care of your body. Did you get the exercise you need? Was your diet better than last year? Are you giving the time to the maintenance of your body that you know you should? The way we care for our body is a measure of our self–discipline. Mastery of self is a key to spiritual growth. If your temple is in better shape than it was a year ago, allowing for the wear and tear of time, you had a good year.

Rating ________

10. More eternal fruit has been produced through and around you, due Rating to your eﬀort and inﬂuence while abiding in Christ, compared to last year. Eternal fruit is deﬁned as “lives turned toward God.” It means simply this: your obedience to God in what you say, do, and are, inﬂuences others to move towards God in their thoughts and actions, yielding eternal fruit. This doesn’t only involve conversions and discipleship. It includes anything that brings a heightened and more favorable awareness of God and His ways to others. A Godly life lived in a Godly way produces eternal fruit. Everywhere Jesus went eternal fruit was produced. This is true in all areas of our lives, not just in business, but we are talking about business at the moment.

Are more people more favorably aware that you are an Ambassador for Christ in and around your business this year than last? Have more needy people been helped because God has entrusted the business to your care this year? Do they know that they have been helped because you love God and are doing so in His name? Are more Christians being inﬂuenced to grow in their faith because your business has brought you, reﬂecting Christ, into their lives? If you can see that more eternal fruit has been produced in, around, and through your business, you have had a GREAT year.

Rating ________

_________ TOTAL FOR YEAR (Total your ratings for all 10 categories)

_________ Average rating for year (Divide your total by 10)

Many of you are thinking, “How can I really measure these things?” Some aren’t easily quantiﬁable, at least not in an exact numerical way. However, if you’re unsure, and really want to, you can know your measure. Begin to ask God to reveal to you the truth in each of these areas. He will show you as you pray and study His Word. Sometimes He will answer through people who know you well, such as your spouse, close friends, or perhaps your peer C12 Group members.

Keep this segment and your ratings. Next year we’ll look at them again in comparison with our new ratings. Our ratings will probably never be all we’d like them to be. Our real goal is to grow - not legalistically drive toward a particular numerical score. Our lives in Christ are designed to grow in fruit and grace. We start where we stand and go forward from there, pressing on in Christ.

What areas have surfaced as those you'd like to address by perhaps repenting, reordering priorities, and diligently pursuing SMART goals this upcoming year?

10 Point Check Up

Troy Blackmon — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0400

This C12 10-Point Check-Up is designed to uncover areas of need or opportunity, thereby helping us to head-oﬀ problems and make proactive decisions to stay “ahead of the curve.” Since so much of our accounting and operational performance data is historical (i.e., based on prior period activity), we can often end up trying to lead our business like someone who steers a car by looking in the rearview mirror! It’s far better to lead by incorporating forward-looking tools and plans which are merely ‘informed’ by history.

As we touch each of the following points, rate your company on a 1-10 scale, with 10 representing ideal or ‘best-in-class’ performance.

1.   Are key customers happy and loyal? Given the high cost of acquiring new customers (i.e., twice that of keeping existing ones) and the opportunity to grow intelligently with existing customers – in terms of productivity, proﬁtability and expanded oﬀerings – this is a vital area of concern. Do you spend personal time with them to truly know their current and long-term needs and their level of satisfaction in doing business with you? Are any of your key customers unhappy? If customers are your best ambassadors and promoters, give yourself a 10. If you don’t know what they think, or believe that many are ready to jump ship, take a 1. [Note: read Fred Reichhold’s The Ultimate Question (HBS Press, 2006) and The Loyalty Eﬀect (HBS Press, 1996) for great ideas on measuring and increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty].
Rating ______

2. Are you adding incremental new business? Are you gaining or losing in the competition to further penetrate your market by gaining new customers and oﬀering more to existing customers? With healthy marketing, R&D, and sales eﬀorts, you should be “whipping up” on the average competitor. Here’s where you’d like the trend to be your friend! If revenue and market share are trending up, especially over a three-year or longer period, you must be doing a lot of things right. Conversely, if you’re trending down, trouble is around the corner! At what rate are you adding new customers and new oﬀerings? In many fast-moving market niches, if you aren’t constantly adding new customers and more completely serving the needs of existing customers, you’ll be watching from the sidelines in a few years. If this component of your revenue is growing at 15% or more per year, you’re probably a 10. If you haven’t had to learn a new customer’s name in awhile, you’re probably a 1.
Rating _____

3. Are your communications eﬀective?   In your business, does the right hand know what the left is doing? Are your meetings boring and unproductive? Do the same mistakes seem to occur over and over again? Are you paying too much for rework and warranty on items that should’ve been done right the ﬁrst time? Do you hear “I didn’t know that” too often when you’re trying to discuss something with someone who really should have “known that?” Communications are the life blood of business, especially during tough times. You can’t over-communicate (unless you’re trying to micro-manage and personally orchestrate all activity). When essential information is lacking, people ‘ﬁll the void’ with misinformation and rumors. Are you conﬁdent that your people know all they need to know, to do what they’re tasked to do, while sustaining the level of excellence you’d like to see? If so, you rate a 10. If you’re unsure what others need to know, why they need to know it, and what all the fuss is about… you might be a zero, but take a 1.
Rating ____

4. Are your goals clear and do they support your core principles? Are your vision and mission understood and supported by your team? Can employees recite your mission statement from memory? Do they refer to it when making daily decisions? This will only happen if you lead by example! Obtaining buy-in and alignment to our core principles and goals is a leaders’ responsibility. Fortunately, a desire to be a part of something bigger than themselves is a deeply felt need among the sort of employees we’d most like to have on our team. This links back to our previous questions on communication and employee loyalty. Our core principles, goals and values must be consistently and clearly communicated, beginning with the recruiting process. They’re not ‘real’ when articulated just once, typed in a memo, or hung on the wall. They need to be continually modeled, discussed and reinforced. They’re the fabric of our culture, deﬁning what we believe and desire for our futures together. Each time we gather, we should do or say something that celebrates or refers to these core principles. If you were to introduce one of your employees, at random, and ask them to share your ﬁrm’s purpose, goals and core values with your best customer, banker, or potential investor, how conﬁdent would you be? If you can’t imagine doing this, for fear of embarrassment, you’re deﬁnitely a 1. If you’d welcome the opportunity to display your ﬁrm’s unity and focus, give yourself a 10.
Rating ____

5. Does your compensation system support your desired culture? If you want your team to focus on performance, do you measure and pay for performance? Is your compensation approach linked to your corporate strategy and objectives? Or do you, instead, simply pay for time worked? Is your attitude towards compensation proactive or reactive (i.e., entitlement and the ‘squeaky wheel’)? Are your employees paid well for performing well in comparison to competitors’ employees in comparable positions? If so, there’d be a signiﬁcant portion of their pay that’s dependent on their contribution to your proﬁtability, quality and service. Ideally, they’d be able to personally track and report their own performance. Do these concepts ‘compute’ for you? If not, your employees likely won’t have a ‘clue.’ If you suspect that this is the case, take a 1. If your employees think like owners, take responsibility for personal performance, and are rewarded for win/win teamwork, you earn a 10.
Rating ____

6. Are your direct reports working too many hours? Are you? Is it possible that you are and they aren’t due to poor management or insidious ‘upward delegation’? Overworked and overextended employees make mistakes. This ‘out-of-control’ condition is generally indicative of other problems and leads to future diﬃculties in sustaining or growing a healthy business. We need balance in our lives and our team needs it no less! If you have too many people working too many hours (beyond seasonal peaks and emergencies), you’re bringing long-term trouble to your doorstep. We can sustain peak performance for only so many hours before quality, productivity and health begin to break down. To go beyond this point brings burnout, ineﬃciency and costly turnover. If you and your team average no more than 45-50 hours, you’re a 10. If you average 60+, and they average 40, you’re either a masochist, workaholic, or control freak. Conversely, if you average 40 and they routinely put in 60+, that isn’t sustainable either, even given extraordinary communication skills. Rate yourself. Are you and your team accomplishing a healthy and balanced work pace? If not, are you moving in the right direction with sustainable habits?
Rating ____

7. Are you introducing new products, innovative technology and features to existing oﬀering as fast or faster than your toughest competitor? No market is static. Most of today’s products are aging fast, and the lifespan of next generation products will likely be even shorter. New competition, peddling ‘better mousetraps,’ is surfacing at an alarming rate. No business product or service can aﬀord to remain static for long. Unless we stay ahead of the curve, we can slip behind before we know it. How do you measure up in your market(s)? How do you know? What are you doing on an ongoing basis to improve your position? The future of your company and team depends on your ability to attain healthy market share based on value, quality and tangible diﬀerentiation in features and performance. How does your product or service look today as compared to 18 months ago? Five years ago? If you answered “same old, same old,” you get a 1. Conversely, if steady innovation and improvement are a part of your ﬁrm’s culture, you may be a 10.
Rating ____

8. Are your ﬁnancial and operati ng reports timely, reliable, and valuable to you in managing the business? Many businesses struggle due to a lack of vital operating information. Do your team members have, and understand, the timely critical data necessary to track performance against company and personal goals? Do they know how they impact your numbers? Do their compensation and performance evaluations reﬂect this impact? Such accountability is critical for a high performance environment. Leading a business without such relevant information would be like a baseball manager not knowing the batting averages, ﬁelding or pitching statistics of his players. He’d be forced to make his decisions purely based on emotion, personalities, or ‘gut instinct.’ Rate your ﬁnancial and operating data. If you trust it, routinely use it, and your people do as well, knowing their accountability, you rate a 10. If no one pays attention to it until quarter-end or year-end, you’re below 5.
Rating ____

9. Are your ﬁnancial and operati ng reports timely, reliable, and valuable to you in managing the business? Many businesses struggle due to a lack of vital operati ng information. Do your team members have, and understand, the timely critical data necessary to track performance against company and personal goals? Do they know how they impact your numbers? Do their compensation and performance evaluati ons reﬂect this impact? Such accountability is criti cal for a high performance environment. Leading a business without such relevant information would be like a baseball manager not knowing the batti ng averages, ﬁelding or pitching statistics of his players. He’d be forced to make his decisions purely based on emoti on, personalities, or ‘gut instinct.’ Rate your ﬁnancial and operating data. If you trust it, routinely use it, and your people do as well, knowing their accountability, you rate a 10. If no one pays attention to it until quarter-end or year-end, you’re below 5.
Rating ____

10. Have your recent initiatives been successful? By initiatives, we mean signiﬁ cant changes of all kinds (e.g., entering new markets, installing equipment or a new IT system, launching new oﬀerings, etc.). Big and small initiatives need to be continually undertaken by progressive leaders seeking to grow based on serving the changing needs of their customers. We institute changes to ensure healthy growth and development by improving processes or procedures, reducing waste, improving responsiveness, quality or value, or enhancing our company’s culture. Determining the scope and pace of change is a leadership function that should involve clear thinking, acceptance of risk, thorough planning, and implementation accountability. We won’t grow in a purposeful, orderly way if we’re deﬁcient in any of these areas. ‘Luck’ is too ﬁckle a partner in which to entrust our future. It’s wrong to be either a ‘stick in the mud’ or to run oﬀ ‘half-cocked.’ Building a great business requires objective and forward-looking thought based on sound market intelligence. It also requires balance between strategy and execution. If your latest eﬀorts to introduce changes have failed, take a hard look at the process that you’re using to conceive and roll-out initiatives. If two of your last three moves have gone according to ‘plan,’ give yourself a nice score. If you’ve done nothing but practice your ‘crash and burn’ recovery drill, be grateful for 1!
Rating ____

Rating Total ____

Moving Forward toward Excellence

Add up all 10 ratings to compute your total score. If you scored 80 or higher, your check-up is worthy of celebration! You’re company is essentially ﬁt and healthy. If you scored below 60, you might need to be referred to a specialist for further examination and perhaps a few special scans and prescriptions! This check-up is like the quick physical an MD might provide… sort of a fast ‘once over’ to search for areas of immediate concern. Simply passing such a physical doesn’t guarantee good health. And, as conditions change, your ﬁtness level won’t last without a solid maintenance program. Still, such objective assessments are a good practice that when used regularly, can minimize the likelihood of unwelcome surprises.

As we so often recommend, why not share this C12 10-Point Check-Up with your key staﬀ. Discussing their input will be a valuable exercise in uncovering ‘the brutal facts’ and developing unity around the key areas that need to be addressed. It will also conﬁrm or challenge the validity of your own observations and plans. Further, be ready to do this every 6-12 months to keep things in focus, together, as today’s answers and perspectives will certainly change in a dynamic market and economy.

If you scored lower than you’d like in any area, or overall, don’t be discouraged. Recognition is the ﬁrst step toward resolution. Be proactive and take responsibility for initiating eﬀorts to correct deﬁciencies. Whatever you pay attention to always gets better, so focus on the areas that need shoring up. On the other hand, if your scores were high and things seem great, don’t be complacent. The second law of thermodynamics, suggesting that systems proceed from order to disorder, has not been repealed! It’s at work in our businesses and markets. Stay ‘in the saddle’ and lead your business. Last decade’s approach won’t be suﬃcient to address your company’s opportunities and obstacles this decade. Don’t back up, press on. Make a good platform even better!

Integrity

Troy Blackmon — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Modern dictionaries deﬁne ‘integrity’ as “The state of being whole, complete, undivided or undiminished” and “in a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition.” Synonyms include “incorruptibility, honesty, coherence, entireness, purity, unity, and virtue.” The term is derived from the root word ‘integrate,’ meaning “To make or form into one whole.” For Christians, integrity is a basic virtue and essential character quality. Would it be God-honoring for a Christian to be described as “wholly committed to Christ, but lacking integrity?” Of course not! It doesn’t ‘compute’ for us, does it? Few would seriously argue that integrity isn’t a vital aspect of a fruitful Christian walk. But what does integrity really mean in simple words everyone can grasp? If we can deeply understand it, perhaps we can better cultivate this essential attribute in our everyday lives. As we’re fond of saying in C12, if we can understand something, we can measure it, teach it, manage it, improve it, reinforce it, and celebrate it. Next, let’s consider whether, for Christians, the concept of integrity has an even deeper meaning than the dictionary provides.

Using Kingdom Terms

Practically speaking, integrity means that we live without obvious contradiction between what we say we believe and what we actually do. There’s an observable consistency about them, linking their words to their actions. A common slang expression for people with integrity is that they “walk their talk,” meaning that what they say and do are consistent. A ‘high integrity’ person lives out of one value system, not two or more. Consider Chuck Swindoll’s paraphrased comments on integrity:

“You have integrity if you complete a job when no one is looking, keeping your word and promise even when no one checks up on you. Integrity means the absence of duplicity and is the opposite of hypocrisy. What you declare, you will do your best to be. Integrity also includes ﬁnancial accountability, personal reliability, and private purity. A person of integrity doesn’t manipulate others and isn’t prone to arrogance or self-praise. Integrity even invites constructive criticism because it applauds accountability. Integrity is having the guts to tell the truth, even if it may hurt to do so and even though cheating may bring about a ‘better’ result. It’s sound. It’s solid. It’s complete. The important thing is not what work you do, but whether you do your work with integrity.”

Integrity’s opposite is ‘hypocrisy,’ which occurs when we ‘compartmentalize’ our lives and live according to varying standards in diﬀerent spheres or circumstances. Dictionaries deﬁne hypocrisy as “feigning to be what one is not; insincerity; a counterfeiting of religion.” Synonyms include “deceit, double-talk, duplicity, falsity, lip-service, phariseeism, phoniness, pretense, sanctimoniousness, self-righteousness, and two-facedness.” ‘Hypocrite’ is derived from an ancient Greek word that refers to wearing a mask. Behind the ‘front’ of our mask we’re someone else. Hypocrites ‘pose’ in order to hide their true character while living out of multiple, often contradictory, value systems.

Simply put, we must stop presenting ourselves as the message and begin presenting Jesus. We imperfect saints will always fall short when we point to our own feeble eﬀorts. Our message is that we’ll always fall short and that Jesus is the answer!

I’ve Got It! Or do I?

At this point, a fair question might be, “Why take so much time to merely state the obvious?” The answer: “Because the obvious is not so obvious in practice.” Think about it. If we agree that Christians must display integrity – living out of one value system – what is that value system and where does it come from? Is it simply a matter of honesty, truthfulness, and sincerity? Is such virtue only practiced in the context of church relationships or between believers? Is integrity a unique Christian virtue? Or do other religions call for integrity as well? Let’s look at these questions one at a time.
First, integrity is not exclusively Christian ‘claim’ since other religions call for it as well. Jews preach integrity and Muslims demand it. Even Satanists expect adherents to be consistent in their faith. Integrity within ‘relativist’ sects demands legalistic adherence to ‘tolerance’ in which no other ‘exclusive truth’ will be tolerated.
Actually, regarding consistency, Christianity asks no more than other religions. It’s in the object of this requirement that Christianity is quite distinctive. While other religions ask for basic honesty, truthfulness, and sincerity, they can be, in some ways, even more demanding than our faith. Since Christianity is the only faith built upon grace – not works – others can’t extend forgiveness when their followers fail. Against the standard of our perfectly holy and righteous God (i.e., Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” [Mt 5:48]), we clearly fail in our own strength. However, those ‘in Christ’ receive full pardon by the blood of Christ. Many other ‘religious’ adherents will never know the privilege of such lavish grace!

Compromise is the enemy of integrity. We often ‘package’ it for easier consumption by carefully rationalizing, so as not to seem like we’re rejecting godly principles… a bit here, a little there, a white lie, a truth omitted. Compromise is nearly always presented as a ‘pragmatic’ or seemingly reasonable way forward, but never delivers. Attempting to live on such a slippery slope, explaining away compromise based on circumstances, never satisﬁes! In fact, we incur great eternal cost as we deprive ourselves and others the opportunity to see God’s power displayed and end up masking His sovereignty!
To compromise godly principles is always sin. It makes no diﬀerence whether it enables us to generate a proﬁt or apparent ‘long-term’ gain. When we compromise the things of God, we sin. Why would we do things at work that we’d never dream of doing in church? Why do we live so much for this world and so little for the next?

Psychologists say that there are two primary motivators in our day-to-day lives: the fear of loss and the hope of reward. Like Peter leaving the boat to meet Christ, we constantly choose fear or faith (see Ps 112). Sometimes we compromise because we fear losing something the world might give us more than the loss of what Christ oﬀers. Other times it’s because our hope is really in earthly rewards, rather than those we’ll enjoy for eternity. Most of us fall victim to both of these temptations! One thing’s certain; we won’t make much of an impact on others if we fail to model Christian integrity.
Do you want to change the world for Christ through the marketplace? Our character and conduct are prerequisites to enabling fruitful ministry. What we do (i.e., how we make a living) is not as important as who we are (i.e., how we make a life) expressed through our integrity in Christ. By extension, the character of our company results from translating shared values into action in a way that others can see. This requires that we have the guts to do what’s right, even when others wouldn’t blame us for compromising. Let’s be counted among the few that aren’t “posers” by leading others with genuine transparency and trust. May our Lord enable us to have the guts to stand ﬁrm, speaking the truth in love, in a society that expects hypocrisy!

Application:

Consider engaging your staﬀ in a conversation regarding how well you and your ﬁrm operate with obvious Christian integrity in the way you currently serve stakeholders. Ask them where your company’s approach to business might be causing oﬀense or damaging your witness. As issues are raised, challenge yourselves to develop remedies for each one, within the context of running a solid business while enabling your people to lead lives of integrity, so as to strengthen your ﬁrm’s fruitfulness for Christ.

The Lean Company

Troy Blackmon — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

How Lean Is Your Enterprise?

Maybe You Need a Breakthrough
June 2009

Achieving lean focus can certainly be a lifeline when business conditions are tough. But, in fact, thousands of companies over the past generation have learned that lean focus brings advantages in all economic conditions. In fact, truly lean companies become unquestioned market leaders precisely because the economy is always cycling through growth, contraction, and technological change, thereby rewarding competitors who remain lean and nimble.

In his informative book, The Breakthrough Company (Crown Business, 2008), Keith McFarland shares findings from an extensive five-year study of 7000 small-to-midsized companies in which he analyzed the attributes and events which set apart nine firms. These 'breakthrough' companies grew to $250+ million in sales while maintaining healthy company performance and strength. One of their distinguishing characteristics is the ability to successfully navigate what McFarland terms 'the Business Bermuda Triangle' where so many firms sink: (1) giving customers what they want, (2) keeping costs low and (3) reacting quickly. This is a nice summary statement of what lean enterprise thinking is all about!

In the early 1990s, American consultants renamed this new paradigm, begun in Japan as the 'Toyota Production System,' as the infinitely more promotable 'Lean Thinking' in the best-selling book of the same name. In the two decades since, the principles associated with this superior approach have been applied to everything from hospitals, to builders, schools, service providers, distributors, retailers, and yes, manufacturers. 'Lean' is not for the 'get-rich-quick' crowd or for those who merely want to lead from the corner office. Rather, it requires engaged servant leaders who listen attentively to their customers while equipping and encouraging employees and suppliers in a never-ending process of deeply understanding the fundamentals of their business, becoming the best, and continually resetting the benchmarks in their field! The highly pragmatic Japanese discovered and adapted timeless servant leadership and stewardship principles. Consider these common servant leadership attributes which typify lean enterprises:

Humble, yet firm, leadership
Applying timeless principles
Stewardship of resources
Excellence and responsiveness
Interdependence and team unity
Transparent, real-time, communication
Authority flows from wisdom and objective truth, not position The Japanese have applied these principles with great patience, diligence and determination over the past 60 years - adopting them with a 'religious' zeal - to build high-performing teams of aligned and trained workers, executing at a level which would make the U.S. Marine Drill Team proud!

Start by Dropping your Preconceived Notions

So, just what is 'lean' and why is it relevant for us? If we're already the most expert roofer, plumber, physician, or architect in our area, isn't 'lean' just more consulting mumbo jumbo? No! In fact, 'lean enterprise' is a winning banner under which several supporting methods have been developed to drive superior performance and healthy long-term organizational development. This encompasses product development, supply chain management, project management, operations management, physical layout and housekeeping, equipment maintenance, capacity planning, processing of daily orders, employee training and motivation, and many other areas relevant to most companies.

Lean is extremely hands-on, straight-forward, visual and participative in its elements; attributes which commend it in nearly all types of businesses. Better yet, it doesn't involve highly mysterious and expensive 'black-box' systems. Visit the web's finest 'lean' bookshelf (www.ProductPress.com) and you'll see resources specifically aimed at healthcare, distribution, project firms, office environments, and manufacturing. Lean principles apply to all businesses that have regular activities, process and workflows. How can one system be so universal in its application? Let's look at a few key aspects of lean enterprise before briefly discussing the first one further. In many ways, lean thinking can be summed up as follows:

1) Time-Based Management: eliminating friction and waste to achieve fast, efficient, uninterrupted 'flow' of products and services to customers. This contrasts with traditional 'departmentalized' structures, which feature lots of 'hand-offs,' poor coordination and communication (and, therefore, waste) and considerable waiting time between steps.
2) Team Discipline: using a 'pull system' which responds, real-time, to customer demand by cascading back through preceding company operations with frequent/small replenishment orders (also applies to new product development). This contrasts with the traditional 'push system' of scheduled 'batch' activity according to imperfect forecasts.
3) Lifelong Learning: constantly seeking excellence and continuous improvement in all aspects required to pursue 'perfection' in executing steps (1) and (2). This requires an overall vision and operating model to provide the framework for continual improvement and learning by all team members.

Would you want to compete head-on with a firm like Toyota in your field; already 'high-performing' and keenly focused on continuous improvement? Most of us have an opportunity, through diligent long-term application of lean principles, to become that leader in our markets! 'Lean' isn't a quick-fix prescription for those wanting to quickly become 'rich and famous'. It takes a long-term journey and ongoing discipline to build a healthy lean culture. Lean flourishes best under servant leadership with a vision to finish strong by operating with excellence and respect with those engaged in the process. Lean companies develop an uncommon 'team' focus, across all levels and functions, as they provide the best value, quality and responsiveness by systematically shedding activities and approaches that don't support these goals across the entire value stream.

Looking at Ourselves

So far, we've spoken in generalities. Let's stop to evaluate how we might each benefit from adopting lean principles as we lead our companies forward. To better 'see' our opportunities today, we'll just focus on the issue of speed.

Where does your company currently stand in its 'response speed' in fulfilling new orders, answering requests for quotations, developing new commercial offerings, and adjusting supply based on real (not just forecast) demand? Many firms engage in all of these activities. How are you doing in each one compared to your fastest competitor? More importantly, how are you doing compared to the theoretically quickest possible response time given the limits of currently available methods and technology? The gap between current and 'ideal' performance is stunning for nearly all of us. In fact, few companies exceed 5% of attainable response speed (meaning 95% of the clock is wasted on waiting and other non-value-added activity). Many companies offer products or services that involve just a few hours of 'value-added' work effort, yet customer order lead-times may be 10 days or more. The clock efficiency of such a response would be, say, 3 hours divided by 240 hours (i.e., 10 days x 24 hours available each day) for a rousing 1.25% of perfect response speed! In departmentalized companies, where the work flows in and out of multiple inboxes, storage and staging areas, and specialists are loosely scheduled, the waste of time and effort is horrendous. The fact is that companies making the conversion to 'lean' thinking typically cut their overall effort and response times by 50-80%!

As we've often said in C12, "what you measure tends to get better." Are you currently measuring your customer response cycle times? How well are you using the clock? Compared to the theoretical ideal, how efficient is your use of time? The best way to determine this is to simply add up all of the value-added work steps required to produce your product or service.

By now, you've probably already thought of a few reasons why comparing your performance against a 24/7 clock or a continuous flowing 'value stream' is impractical or infeasible. While you're making excuses, what if your leading competitor figured out how to address this by using 'breakthrough' thinking?

Not surprisingly, lean firms have found that achieving the quickest 'throughput' rates necessarily involves valuable learning and problem-solving along the way that also serves to drive improved quality along with reduced waste and inventory. The pay-off for pursuing the shortest 'cycle time' is to generally achieve the best quality, customer loyalty and return on investment in the industry.

Let's ask ourselves a few questions:

1. How does your current order response time compare to the theoretical minimum response time? Estimate by adding up the value-added work steps that can't be done simultaneously and compute your attainment % (i.e., theoretical minimum hours divided by your typical delivery time).
2. What competitive advantage or new marketing possibilities would open up to you if you cut your customer delivery times in half? Would this generate more business and enable you to become an indispensable partner or supplier in your niche? How can you begin to remove limitations or 'engineer out' interruptions to the continuous flow of work through your company?
3. Have you set objective goals and metrics to drive long-term continuous improvement in this area? What are the key product lines or service offerings which need to become flowing 'value streams' in your business? Consider 'mapping' the process flow of each one to determine what you are actually doing and then begin to compare the 'current state' to what's actually possible given fresh thinking. This will begin to tell you how much of your current activities are waste instead of true value-added!

Addressing the 'speed' issue to improve overall business performance requires that we engage our employees and suppliers in a continuous learning process aimed at reaching theoretically 'ideal' performance. This requires that we provide vision, framework, tools and motivation for our team. We'll look at these issues in more detail next month by looking at specific lean methods to help us become more responsive, eliminate operating waste, and increase the productivity of our assets.

Each month CEOs and business owners from all across Middle TN, meet together and discuss topics like this, sharpening each other and their business in the process. Additionally, CEOs bring issues "to the table" where the advice and counsel of like-minded peers can bring new perspectives to painful problems or opportunities.

Contact me to learn more about how C12 Group can strengthen you and your business.

Troy Blackmon
troy.blackmon@c12group.com
615-866-0827