Issue Areas

I specialize in helping organizations that range between 10 to 250 people, which tends to be an especially challenging period of growth where you are frequently missing key executives.

I have a much wider background than most fractional executives. This allows me to ask broad-ranging questions to you and your functional leaders to understand and prioritize solutions that truly help move your business forward rather than simply pigeon-hole you into the solutions I know how to provide.

(Higher items need to reach acceptable, though not necessarily excellent, first.)

CEO Issues

• Strategy and Goal-Setting. Are your company’s Top Quarterly and Yearly Goals the most impactful ones you could have picked?
• Dashboards and Meetings. Are they clearly articulated (measured), understood, and reviewed regularly? Are your executive meetings highly productive?
• Executive Performance. Are you satisfied with the performance of all of your top managers or can you make better use of any of them?
• Teamwork and Values. Are you satisfied with your company’s teamwork or does it feel like a collection of individuals rowing in different directions all the time?

CFO Issues

• Cashflow and Growth. Your maximum sustainable growth rate is often more impacted by your cash conversion cycle than profitability. Is the relationship between cash conversion cycle and optimal growth rate clearly understood and optimized?
• Key Ratios (Valuation) and Benchmarking. Do you know the key ratios that impact valuation in your industry and how you compare to competitors on these measures?
• Management Reporting and Forecasting. Is the relationship between company/individual top goals and monthly financial statements well-understood or are they disconnected processes?
• Treasury and Controls. Are the various accounting and treasury responsibilities delegated cost-effectively and are you satisfied your controls are robust enough?

CHRO Issues

• Recruiting and Assessment. Do you have confidence in hiring, especially for your core sales and delivery roles?
• Morale and Performance. Do you have a recurring way to get feedback on morale, provide feedback on performance, and prioritize issues that is working well?
• Compensation. Do you have a compensation philosophy and is everyone getting paid according to it?

CTO Issues

• Product Direction. Do developers understand the users they’re developing for? (Heading in the right direction.)
• Technical Direction. Is the technical architecture and development methodologies sound? (Going fast enough.)

Organizational Checkup Questionnaire

Filling out the Organizational Checkup at least twice every year shows you how you’re progressing as an organization. Together with your leadership team, you can find the gaps between where you are and where you want to go. The gaps are issues that go on the Issues List. You can then determine if they are a high enough priority to tackle. If so, the solutions become goals for the coming year.

For each statement below, rank your business on a scale from 1 to 5 where 1 is weak and 5 is strong.

1. We have a clear vision in writing that has been properly communicated and is shared by everyone in the company.
2. Our core values are clear, and we are hiring, reviewing, rewarding, and firing around them.
3. Our Core Focus (core business) is clear, and we keep our people, systems and processes aligned and focused on it.
4. Our 10-Year Target (big, long-range business goal) is clear, communicated regularly, and is shared by all.
5. Our target market (definition of our ideal customer) is clear, and all of our marketing and sales efforts are focused on it.
6. Our 3 Uniques (differentiators) are clear, and all of our marketing and sales efforts communicate them.
7. We have a proven process for doing business with our customers. It has been named and visually illustrated, and all of our salespeople use it.
8. All of the people in our organization are the “right people” (they fit our culture and share our core values).
9. Our Accountability Chart (organizational chart that includes roles/responsibilities) is clear, complete, and constantly updated.
10. Everyone is in the “right seat” (they “get it, want it, and have the capacity to do their jobs well”).
11. Our leadership team is open and honest, and demonstrates a high level of trust.
12. Everyone has Rocks (1 to 7 priorities per quarter) and is focused on them.
13. Everyone is engaged in regular weekly meetings.
14. All meetings are on the same day and at the same time each week, have the same agenda, start on time, and end on time.
15. All teams clearly identify, discuss, and solve issues for the long-term greater good of the company.
16. Our Core Processes are documented, simplified, and followed by all to consistently produce the results we want.
17. We have systems for receiving regular feedback from customers and employees, so we always know their level of satisfaction.
18. A Scorecard for tracking weekly metrics/measurables is in place.
19. Everyone in the organization has at least one number they are accountable for keeping on track each week.
20. We have a budget and are monitoring it regularly (e.g., monthly or quarterly).

The real goal is 80 percent or better. If you’re above that level, you have a well-oiled machine with the traction you require. The highest score ever achieved is 88 percent.

The goal is progress, not perfection. You might feel frustrated because you’re not at 88 percent like the Benefits Company. Yet success is not based on where you are, but on how far you have come. If you were at 55 percent last year and at 63 percent this year, that’s success. The next year you’ll be at 72 percent and maybe 80 percent in the year after that. Keep using the principles, and you’ll break through.