Another Story to Highlight the Second 3 of 6 Key Characteristics of a Strategic Business Partner - P

The Story:

Bill Thegoat eventually moved into new and exciting roles and found himself, several years later, but in the same company, working on a very high-profile project while serving as the Finance Manager for a commercially-oriented business. The project was to transform a major franchise the company had acquired, more closely aligning its structure and value proposition with the company's strategy. The stakes were high and there was a fair bit of misalignment.

The critical issue was to strike a balance between what franchisees would voluntarily agree to (and find compelling) and what would maintain and then grow the company's profitability. Bill was asked to partner with a small team - a Sales VP, a Marketing VP and a few project management folks to sort this out. Working against them was a bewilderingly complicated cost structure, lack of product cost and profitability information from a franchisee point of view, various market uncertainties with material impact to forward costs and pricing and the unknown of how a franchisee would view what we came up with anyway. So they set about doing this - as a part time gig until all of them (and many more) were "promoted" onto the project full time after about 3 months. And Bill worked on the project for the next year.

After the "big launch" and the realization that they had secured enough franchisee conversions to make the deal work, Bill and Steve Geterdone, the Sales VP, were being interviewed for an article in the company newsletter - and this is an excerpt from the discussion:

JULIE ZEITSCHRIFT (the newsletter writer): "How did you guys land on the final commercial terms that successfully ended up with a majority of franchisees opting in?"

STEVE: "Well, we did a lot of work looking at market, past product trends, data from the franchise organization, etc. - but really it came down to Bill and his team and their ability to not only cut through the layers of fog, but to persist despite many, many attempts by various stakeholders to debunk the analysis and several rocky strategy sessions - including me at various times! Bill - why don't you elaborate?"

BILL: "Thanks Steve - hearing you say that, makes me realize it was awfully foggy and rocky, wasn't it! You came close to torpedoing me at one point! Julie - the key was that I had Detail Orientation, a Project Delivery Mindset and was both a Thought and People Leader throughout the project - even when it was tough to do. Let me explain.

Our financial and CRM systems, especially given 2 different upgrades and implementations over the last year, coupled with how we run our business with commercial products, franchise and supply chain organizations pretty isolated (nearly firewalled), made it difficult to figure out existing profitability, model various offer scenarios and show future profitability in a way that made sense and got all stakeholders on board. By being able to build from a detailed knowledge of all of the data in our systems, coupled with careful attention to detail and focus on accuracy, we were able to build the right amount of credibility over time.

There were several key meetings where the numbers came under intense scrutiny, but because we had done our homework, I was able to explain them in multiple ways to various people, depending on their perspective and biases. And when it appears numbers didn't add up, I was able to clearly show what numbers were concrete, which were estimates and which were merely guesses - along with how sensitive the overall economics were to each. Because of this we got to a final commercial offer with full buy in. Having a Detail Orientation built credibility, ensured our analysis was right enough and got us where we needed to be on time."

JULIE: "How about doing all of that while also putting together all negotiating materials, working through all existing franchisee product contract workouts and building out databases to house all of the historical and future information related to the project? How did you manage all those priorities?"

BILL: "That is where a Project Delivery Mindset was required. Quite simply, failure was not an option, and we could not get any more resources to help. So our team went through some dark days as we stared up at the mountains of work in front of us. At times I had to drive hard, but most of the time everyone did what needed to be done, not because I was watching, but because I had built up a clear sense of project timeline, accountabilities and milestones within each team member. We all knew whose work depended on each person's work, knew the key milestones and whether we were ahead or behind schedule and had clear processes in place to address emergent issues. It helped everyone stay focused on the overall goal - even when multiple things were behind schedule, new problems cropped up and all seemed quite daunting. The right mindset simply enables you to focus on the big picture while working through the small details according to a plan. And it causes you to maintain the right positive attitude."

STEVE: "Bill - didn't you have a couple people almost quit on you about 4 months ago?"

BILL: "Yes - and boy am I lucky they didn't! That was such a critical phase - where we had the offer details worked out and were singularly focused on pulling each franchisee's franchise and products agreement details together, working out the customized solutions for each one, all while trying to build that into a very complex set of standardized (format) but customized (content) negotiating packages. The Project Finance Team had swelled by that phase to 12 people and all were stretched thin. But I did a few things that I think helped us all get through it:

First, I recognized the difficulties each team member faced and made sure I was responsive when anything personal came up, ensuring backup was in place and flexibility was maintained - I showed I was empathetic.

Second, I was tough a few times when the folks tried to "rebel" against the deadlines. All I did, in a non-threatening way, was acknowledge that my plan clearly "sucked" and asked them to get back to me the next day with a better one so we could implement it immediately. I did, however, remind them of the date of the launch event and asked them to keep that firmly in mind. The next day, the team came back and proposed a plan that was largely the same as what we had been working, but with a few changes. When I asked why it hadn't restructured much and whether they were OK with that, the answer was that they couldn't figure out an easier way that would still meet the deadlines. They said I had been tough on them, but that they appreciated me being easy to work with and having given them a chance to recast the plan.

Third, there were several times when team members, whose workstreams were colliding with other parts of the project, got strong support from me. Not that I turned into Stonewall Thegoat or anything. I had simply, like I always do, built up decent relationships with my peers on the project so that I could easily intervene when any problems arose, not in a challenging way - more of a peer leadership way. I found positive ways to help them around whatever issue they had, which in turn helped my folks out.

All three of these things and more showed the team enough support and built up enough trust, that even when folks were nearing a breaking point, I was able to show them that we were almost there and it would let up soon - and they could trust and believe me, and get back to a positive space. And ultimately I didn't lose anyone from the team as a result of it. I had shown People- and Thought-Leadership.

JULIE: "Thanks Bill, thanks Steve."

Summary:

1. How is a "Detail Oriented Person" Defined?

They do these things well:

a. Get it right the first time

b. Hit deadlines

c. Detect issues early

d. Compliant/correct accounting

e. No big mistakes

>>>In short, they lend credibility to financials, accounting and analysis through detailed reviews<<<

2. How is a "People- and Thought-Leader" Defined?

They:

a. Lead peers

b. Challenge “status quo”

c. Are creative

d. Are analytical

e. Are charismatic

f. Are tough (but easy to work with)

g. Are empathetic (but set a great example w/ high standards)

>>>In short, they Lead the business forward.<<<

3. How is "Project Delivery Mindset" Defined?

It enables someone to:

a. Prioritize multiple (and changing) priorities

b. Build cross-functional support

>>>In short, it enables delivery of important projects and results.<<<

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