The Leader's Dilemma

Drawing on their work on performance management within the ‘beyond budgeting’ movement over the past ten years, including many interviews and case studies, Jeremy Hope, Peter Bunce and Franz Röösli set out in this book an executive guide to building a new management model based on  eight key change management issues: 1. Governance: From rules and budgets to purpose and values 2. Success: From fixed targets to relative improvement 3. Organization: From centralized functions to customer-oriented teams 4. Accountability: From narrow targets to holistic success criteria 5. Trust: From central control to local autonomy 6. Transparency: From closed information to open book management 7. Rewards: From individual incentives to team-based reward 8. Risk: From complying with rules to understanding pressure points This book is about rethinking how we manage organizations in a post-industrial, post credit crunch world where innovative management models represent the only remaining source of sustainable competitive advantage.[i] The changes suggested by the authors will enable and encourage a cultural climate change that will help organizations to attract and keep the best people as well as drive continuous innovation and growth. Above all, The CEO's Dilemma is about learning how to change business  - based on best practice and innovation drawn from  leaders world-wide who have built and managed successful organizations.

Foreword v Preface vii Some definitions ix Introduction The organization as an adaptive system 1 1 Principle #1 – Values 33 Bind people to a common cause, not a central plan 2 Principle #2 – Governance 57 Govern through shared values and sound judgment, not detailed rules and regulations 3 Principle #3 – Transparency 89 Make information open and transparent; don’t restrict and control it 4 Principle #4 – Teams 105 Organize around a seamless network of accountable teams, not centralized functions 5 Principle #5 – Trust 121 Trust teams to regulate and improve their performance; don’t micro-manage them 6 Principle #6 – Accountability 139 Base accountability on holistic criteria and peer reviews, not on hierarchical relationships 7 Principle #7 – Goals 157 Set ambitious medium-term goals, not short-term fixed targets 8 Principle #8 – Rewards 179 Base rewards on relative performance, not fixed targets 9 Principle #9 – Planning 203 Make planning a continuous and inclusive process, not a top-down annual event 10 Principle #10 – Coordination 225 Coordinate interactions dynamically, not through annual budgets 11 Principle #11 – Resources 239 Make resources available just-in-time, not just-in-case 12 Principle #12 – Controls 257 Base controls on fast, frequent feedback, not on budget variances 13 Implementation insights 283 14 Make management change your legacy 305 Notes 309 Index 325