“Are you a chicken or a pig?” – The definition of commitment

The Concept:

“Are you a chicken or a pig???” It was early summer, 1994, and I was listening, somewhat incredulously, as one of our best facilitators asked this odd question. Bob was one of our most seasoned facilitators, a switch technician with 25 years of experience in telecommunications. Bob also had a great way with words. He continued, “On the farm breakfast table, you’ll find eggs and bacon, ham and grits. The way I see it, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed! So which one are you, a chicken or a pig?”

I’ve always felt that Bob’s story perfectly captures the essence of the challenge that corporations face when trying to improve performance through process improvement. Over the course of my 20 year career, I have worked with/for countless corporations that were expending great energy to improve their processes – more often than not, these companies did not achieve the level of improvement that they sought. The funny thing is, it surely wasn’t for lack of effort. Literally hundreds of teams, numerous steering committees, KPI dashboards, training classes, statistical analysis efforts, consulting hours, executive briefings…you name it, they tried it. And there was nothing wrong with the things that were tried. In most cases, there was sound thinking behind their efforts and in many cases progress was made. But real success, real, fundamental change and lasting improvement remained beyond their grasp. Why? There were as many reasons as there were efforts but, in the end, it really boils down to one key problem and that problem is at the heart of Bob’s question -- commitment.

In all of these companies, commitment was preached, professed, counseled, proclaimed, etc. Executives said the right things and in most cases probably believed what they said. Yet again and again, their words were out of synch with their actions. When push came to shove, process efforts were repeatedly given short shrift. Readouts were postponed. Funding was delayed if not eliminated altogether. Team conclusions were analyzed to death, a classic demonstration of “analysis paralysis.” In several cases, executives placed staff on teams for the express purpose of protecting their individual fiefdoms. Team charters were ignored and many teams were directed to arrive at a foregone conclusion championed by one or more of the executives. Key team members were pulled from meetings to work on more important things. And then the recriminations would begin. What happened? Why are our teams failing? Don’t they care? It must be the methodology. Or the team leaders are weak. Or the advice we have been given was off-base. We must get to the bottom of this! And usually the answer was right in front of them – vice presidents, EVP’s, C-level executives, all searching for answers but ignoring the one obvious place to look. The mirror.

So by now you are probably thinking, well that’s a bit harsh, isn’t it? You shouldn’t be so hard on these poor souls, their jobs are tough. True enough, their jobs are difficult. But again and again, their lack of real commitment to the task at hand hindered the progress of their teams’ efforts. Again and again, chickens and pigs. Lots of involvement, very little commitment. When I was a young man, my father gave me this advice. He said, “Don’t focus on what people say, focus on what they do. ” In so many cases I have witnessed executive teams “say” the right things yet not follow through with consistent, appropriate action. In fact, I believe that the number one cause of process improvement failure, more than all the other reasons combined, is lack of commitment. As Bob would say, “too many chickens clucking in the barnyard, not enough pigs getting down and dirty in the mud.”

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE EXECUTIVE:

How should you go about solving this problem? Start with the following:

1. Charter your executive steering team – Require all members to actually sign the charter. This may seem a bit contrived, but we have found that the mere act of signing the charter causes many executives to take the process effort more seriously. In addition, require each executive team member to define at least one charter goal.
2. Tie the corporation’s executive performance appraisals to the process improvement effort – Countless times we have suggested this to executives only to be met with grimaces and eye rolls. And we are still going to recommend it yet again . Nothing focuses the mind like seeing the process work included in performance appraisals.
3. Meet individually with executive team members and assess their level of commitment to the effort – Discuss your expectations with each of them and ask each member to provide you with 3 ways they intend to support the effort.
4. Provide a monthly status report to all staff regarding progress – Publish the team charter (with signatures) and discuss progress toward achieving the charter goals. If progress is lagging, explain why and provide concrete examples of actions that will be taken to get the effort back on track.

Determine your team makeup, i.e., “Chickens or Pigs…” – This is the most important step. Both individually and collectively, assess the level of commitment of the executive team. Discuss your conclusions with the team and work jointly to resolve the issues uncovered. If you are unable to resolve these issues, stop the process effort until a consensus is achieved and all members are on board with the identified solutions. We cannot over-emphasize this point. Ensuring real executive commitment from the start will give your effort the best chance to succeed. Just remember Bob’s words… the chicken is involved but the pig is committed!

About the Author:

Jon Windley is a former co-founder/managing partner at NextWave Performance LLC.

©2007 NextWave Performance LLC