Now that you have seen the basic outline for META, this section takes a deep dive into the specifics, at each of the four levels where META applies: strategy, the organization, teams, and leaders.
Chapter 6, on how to accelerate strategy, observes that many companies do a curious thing: They may focus 100 percent of their effort on things they can control, even though analysis shows that 45 percent or more of a companyâs profitability depends on events in the environment, outside its control. This chapter explains how to sense better whatâs going on in the environment and then respond faster, to turn that 45 percent-plus from uncertainty into opportunity. The chapter goes through 13 factors that can either create drag or drive performance. For instance, it explains how to fail fastâmost companies hold on to failing strategies for too long. The chapter explains how to check for âexecution feasibilityââmany companies set strategy without fully understanding whether they can make it work, rather than trying to develop a strategy with the fewest execution hurdles in front of it. The chapter also describes how to respond rapidly, based on less-than-perfect information, and how to get to the goal ahead of the competition.
In Chapter 7, on how to accelerate organizations, we note that it has been a very long time since there has been fundamental innovation in organizational structure. As a result, developments in technology and other factors that change the pace and nature of work are creating real pressures that need to be resolved. Given the complexity of these nuanced issues, the only way to act with accuracy is through the data. So, based on our research, we lay out the 13 factors that our analysis has shown determine drag and drive at the organization level, and then we delve into the 3 actions that are most important to take for each of the 13 factorsâso, 39 action steps in all. We describe how to co-innovate with customers and how to use a higher purpose as fuel that can excite employees and align them behind the companyâs goals. We also explore how to get employees to speak truth to power, how to act as one firm, how to learn from mistakes, how to either improve or atomize the corporate center, how to develop what we call digital dexterityâand much more.
Chapter 8, on how to accelerate teams, provides a telling statistic: Our research found that, on average, a high-performing team (called accelerating, on our scale) delivered 22.8 percent more economic value than a low-performing team (derailing, on our scale). We also found that teams that dealt directly with customers generally performed far better than those with an internal focusâsuggesting that ways need to be found to put all teams, especially top teams, directly in contact with customers. Creating âpsychological safetyâ is also crucial, to allow for open and productive conversationsâa study by Google found that that was the most important factor in determining the success of its teams. In all, we identified 16 drag and drive factors for teams, with two key actions that will generate the best performance for each factor. The chapter includes an extended look at Nationwide Building Society, where the chief operating officer has been working on these accelerating principles with his top team since 2012. While he would acknowledge that he still has work to do, he has made such progress that, in the first quarter of 2016, Nationwide was ranked number one for customer service satisfaction among its peers and has assets larger than the remaining 44 British building societies combined.
In Chapter 9, on how to accelerate leaders, we observe that, in a world where capital costs essentially nothing, all value comes from leaders who harness and implement ideas better than their competitors do. Yet most companies say their leaders only reliably get 50 percent of the full potential of their people. As we sought to understand this crucial issue of leadership, our research identified 11 drag and drive factors that must be addressed. How leaders manage energy turned out to be a key issue. For instance, the best leaders adopt tactics such as looking at the 80-20 rule and deciding that, if 80 percent of the outcomes come from 20 percent of the activities, they will identify the 20 percent and ignore the rest. Our research also turned up a plethora of other practical adviceâfor example, that leaders need to embrace the power of doubt and that, no matter how hard it may be to act otherwise, itâs not okay to be grumpy.
A note on examples: We use lots, to illustrate our points, and name names wherever we can. We typically use a company as an example only once, in the interests of readability, but we make an exception for the superaccelerators. The material from our interviews with them was so rich, and their success so significant, that we include their observations and stories wherever they are relevant, even though that means repeating names at times.
