Driving Performance Through Structured Visits

You were recently promoted to a Regional VP position within your organization.  As part of your new role, you have multiple District Managers as direct reports.  The business is struggling to perform at the levels in years past and you decide to accompany each DM on visits to the locations they oversee.  These visits are done with the purpose of observing the DM and how he or she is approaching each General Manager to learn where you can assist. 

During the first visit, you notice several areas of opportunity as well as some very positive things that are taking place.  In the next market you see other areas of opportunity, and so on.  What you learn is that your DM’s are all conducting visits based on their own instinct and how they perceive these visits should flow.  There is no alignment on a process and therefore each DM is conducting each visit the way they feel comfortable, which is typically what they saw when they were GM’s and their DM would visit their location.  Since there is no purpose, it then turns in to a disjointed meeting where the DM points out all things, they see that are wrong, and then leaves the GM and team feeling beaten down and dreading any future visits.  The visit does not help the business and more importantly does not help the GM grow in their personal development. 

I too have witnessed this.  I have been an active participant in this scenario.  As a young DM, I was not trained on a system or a process for executing location visits.  Over time, bits and pieces were distributed and through some of my personal mentors and personal experience, we have tweaked our process so that we are able to remain focused, guide GM’s through a discovery process where they learn how to be better operators, set action items based on business priorities, and maintain accountability.  These outcomes lead to a better run and more profitable business unit.

Knowing that all businesses are not the same, the thought is that it is not specific to any business, however the general framework of these visits can be employed in any environment.

·         Pre-Work:

o   As a DM or above, we must conduct our pre-work in order to establish our assumptions for the “root cause” of the performance (good or bad).  This should include P&L reviews, KPI, and Month to Date production review for a better understanding of the business unit.

o   As we note the assumptions around performance, we must ensure that they align with the company priorities.  We don’t want to get distracted trying to fix everything in one visit.  Your company should have some key measures of success that you can refer to and you will build your assumptions around those specific priorities.

·         Ask Questions:

o   Often as leaders we want to tell the GM or the team member the answers.  “You are underperforming because your conversion % is too low.  I want you to start training your team on conversion and make it improve”.  It is extremely critical that as a leader we allow them to learn through our questioning.  “Let’s take a look at our performance”.  “What do you think the key driver is”?  If you ask a question about a specific item and they provide an answer that is NOT in line with what you found in your pre-work, try to avoid saying they are wrong and telling them the answer, try saying “okay, let’s take a look at that and show me how you came up with that”.  This will give you an opportunity to see how they analyze their business.  Be prepared to work through their answers.  If you feel that conversion % is an issue and the GM says they feel that traffic is the issue, walk them through their traffic and conversion rates to guide them to the answer instead of just telling them. 

·         Set Action Items:

o   Once you identify the area of opportunity for that business, there should be a conversation around “Action Items” which will be implemented by the GM to improve that area of the business.  1-3 simple things they can do to improve the performance.

·         Set “From-To” Targets:

o   Once the action items are identified, set an expectation for improvement.  Keep it S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely).

o   Include a time frame for the desired outcome.

·         Schedule a “Finish Line Discussion”

o   In order to maintain credibility and ensure the GM is held accountable for the action items discussed, it is critical to schedule a “Finish Line” discussion.  That can be a follow up visit, a phone call, or even an email recap.  Having the GM send a calendar invite with the expectations while you are still there helping drive the importance of this.

·         Depart with Encouragement:

o   Finish the visit by displaying thankfulness for the time they spent with you, the attention they gave, and confirming your confidence in them and their team.

Following this framework has been a critical piece to the success I have seen in my roles.  It has led to better performance and a better trained GM who is grateful and looks forward to the coaching they receive during visits.  This has also led to GM’s leading their teams in the same manner and developing their bench strength in the same way.

My hope is that you can take this framework from the bullet points above to help drive your business and your team to the next level.