Beyond Performance Management: A book review by Bob Morris

Beyond Performance Management: Why, When, and How to Use 40 Tools and Best Prsctices for Superior Business Performance
Jeremy Hope and Steve Player
Harvard Business Review Press (2012)

Invaluable advice for results-driven, principled managers at all levels and in all areas of business operations

Jeremy Hope and Steve Player provide a crystal clear explanation of why they wrote this book: It’s purpose is “to critically review a wide range of management tools and provide a number of guidelines that will help leaders select the right ones, implement them in the right way, and gain maximum value for their use,” More specifically, their focus is on “forty tools and practices – those that typically represent a major change initiative and significant capital investment. We will examine these tools and practices through five perspectives of what is often known as `performance management’: strategic planning, shareholder and customer value, lean cost management, performance measurement, and performance evaluation.” Hope and Player devote a separate Section to each of the five. Also, they devised a generic format that is used within each of the 40 chapters:

o What is this practice and how effective is it?
o What is the performance potential of this practice?
o What actions do you need to take or avoid maximizing the potential of this practice?
o Conclusions (i.e. summary points)
o Further reading (excellent suggestions to those who “want to know more” about the given subject

To what does the word “Beyond” refer in this book’s title? Although Hope and Player do not provide a specific explanation, my inference is that whatever is effective management today may not be (indeed, almost certainly will not be) adequate to meet tomorrow’s challenges. Especially in today’s global business world, change is the only constant. Moreover, the challenge to change management is exacerbated by the ever-increasing speed, complexity, and impact of the changes that occur.

Therefore, all of the information, insights, and counsel that Hope and Player provide in abundance will directly or indirectly help business leaders to establish and then sustain continuous improvement of the management at all kevels and in all areas of operation throughout their enterprise.

As I re-read this book while preparing to review it, I realized that it would be an excellent gift to those who are preparing for or have only recently embarked on a career in business. That said, I think this is not only a “must read” but also a “must have available to consult” for all business leaders who recognize the need to understand why, when, and how to master and then use essential tools and best practices to help achieve superior business performance, not only as individuals but with their associates.

Before I conclude this review, please allow a personal digression. I became friends with Jeremy Hope years ago. I read and reviewed his previous books and was eager to read this one, his latest. Tragically, he did not live to see it published. He died much too young and left a loving family and countless friends. Jeremy’s heart was even bigger than his brain. He will be missed but never forgotten.

Josh Linkner on “Swiss Army Knife Innovation”

Here’s a recent post by Josh Linkner at his website. To check out the wealth of resources that he provides, please click here.

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That ubiquitous red contraption contains just about every feature you can imagine.  A nail clipper, ice pick, and Philips screwdriver.  None of the individual tools are especially remarkable – you could buy a corkscrew that is higher quality and more beautifully designed – but all of these mediocre features are crammed into one product. Is that what your company does? Spending nearly every waking moment with entrepreneurs, a common mistake is to try to drive progress by adding product features.  Website isn’t attracting enough users?  Throw in an extra function to the site.  Mobile app missing revenue targets?  Must need some new bell or whistle.

I call this the Swiss Army Knife trap.  It’s the erroneous conclusion that adding more will create more, while the truth is that the best companies focus their energy on simplicity.

Apple is legendary for removing buttons and features to offer customers beautiful, simple, clean design.  A key reason Facebook crushed MySpace was their ability to offer an elegant, uncluttered user experience.  The best companies focus on having fewer product features, but having the ones that remain deliver something truly special.

Instead of adding yet another function or service to your mix, try the opposite approach.  Great sculptors throughout history believe that their work of art already exists within that giant block of granite. Their job is to remove the unnecessary rock to reveal their masterpiece.  Think about your own product or service.  What can you remove, streamline, or simplify to reveal an uncluttered work of beauty?  Create an offering that’s easy to understand and solves real customer problems in a remarkable way.
You’re far better off doing one thing really, really well than trying to toss in every feature imaginable.  Direct your creative energy toward being the best at something and making it so compelling that it can’t be ignored.  Too many ingredients in the soup makes it taste horrible… the same applies to your business.

It’s time to resist the diabolical temptation to add a toothpick, leather punch, or tweezers.  Stop worrying about adding new menu items and make sure you are delivering incredible value with your core offering. Your customers, investors, team members, and accountant will all thank you.

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Josh Linkner is the New York Times bestselling author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, named one of the top 10 business books of 2011. Josh is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners. Together with business partners Earvin “Magic” Johnson and NBA team owner Dan Gilbert, Josh is actively rebuilding urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Josh is also Adjunct Professor of Applied Creativity at the University of Michigan. For more information on creativity, visit his website by clicking here.

“In addition to my blog, you’ll find free videos, quizzes, articles, eBooks and more to help fuel your creative fire!”