Musings on Efficiency

As I write, it is raining non-stop. A fair time to pop-up a little note on effectiveness.

Actually I want to refer you to a research article from Noble and Mokwa.[1] The paper itself is about research into the drivers behind successful project implementations. If you are interested, it is a key paper in Marketing Management. I was both interested and surprised by one of the results around motivation, commitment and success.

The research project evaluated the contribution of "Organisational Commitment" to successful project implementation. Surprisingly, there was no correlation between commitment and "Implementation Success". By contrast, two key success indicators were: "Role Commitment" on the personal level, and "Strategy Commitment" at the workgroup level[1, p.70]. That set me to thinking ...

Who give me the best outcome? A loyal friend or a focused 'professional' (and/or 'amateur')? Yes the focused individual with a commitment to "doing the best shoe shine" possible!

Are there learnings and implications for business and the development of your ideas; your product or service? And my answer is "Yes." Unfortunately (for you), I see this a lot with solo and small-team collaborations. First salient points of 'best practice' -- A competitive endeavour (project, business or mission) must have several key in place factors (in this order), with some 'roles' so you know who I mean.

• Market Orientation (Marketing Technology)
• Sense of adventure (you)
• Management & financial information systems (Accountant, CPA, Business Analyst, Book Keeper)
• Manufacturing, Production and Business process management systems (Marketing Technology, Business Analyst, Systems Analyst, Process Engineer, Software or Information Engineer, other Engineering)
• Marketing Intelligence and Process management system (Business Analyst, Marketing Technology, Systems Analyst, Marketing Technology)
• Your Business model (Management Consultant, Marketing Technology, Business Systems engineer, CPA)
• Sense of humour (you)

And at times you may need more than one of 'each', or a mixed-bag ... Depending on your purpose. What I find very interesting, is that your book keeper, as skilled and efficient as he/she is ... Is not necessarly an especially "Role Commit"-ed person for your Marketing Technology! To my mind, the "why" is simple. Book keepers like order and systems and a balanced ledger, statement of financial position, etc. (With all due respect to balancing the books ...)

Does that person commit to the role :: "best marketing person", "best systems analyst", or "best engineer" they can be. On reflection, who would expect a book keeper or graphic artist to do your engineering, or to do your plumbing ...

Now the "gift" from this thinking ... How to choose a consultant, business partner, etc.

• Is this person committed to the role (or profession)?
• Do you get along personally?
• Do you respect each other, and can you accept that your 'expert' is a source of appropriate wisdom?
• Can you accept an informed viewpoint, that is in conflict with your passion or opinion?

I would personally prefer a committed 'expert' that I find abrasive to a well meaning person with the appropriate skills; or worse a motivated "willing to learn" staffer, that's not committed to the position.

Think about that. What's the difference for your bottom line? If your potential is honestly ready for the world, it's millions. Are you so rich that you can let go of thousands of thousands of dollar$? Wow, .... Will you adopt me!!

William.

References ...

1. Authors:Michael P. Mokwa, Charles H. Noble Title: Implementing Marketing Strategies: Developing and Testing a Managerial Theory Source: Journal of marketing, ISSN 0022-2429, Vol.63, Nº.4, 1999,pp. 57-73.

Labels: effectiveness, motivation, professional, roles

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