The operations storyboard

Its election season and the messaging gets shorter and shorter.  And focused on the least complex issues and never really going to the heart of the matter.  Frustration has set in among voters and they are happy to vote in the most outrageous person based on the clarity of the message.  And of course those clear messages are usually too simple to tell the whole story and are often going to get the nation nowhere.

How many executives in large complex organizations are beginning to find that their ability to communicate complex operations in sound bites is more critical than ever.  I think that maybe it has always been there; or as long as the Peter Principle has existed.  Many a manager has scratched their head wondering how that person got promoted.  Many a women manager has thrown back her shoulders in defiance of the fact that some guy who knew half as much got listened to and hence promoted.  Maybe the political sound bite problem was born in complex business units and not in politics.

How do executives move beyond or even embrace the soundbite?  A consistent, data driven and focused message can be crafted out of complex issues.  It takes discipline and a "storyboard" to frame what you want to get across and how you want to be remembered in the decision-making process (so that your access increases).  This in healthcare has been a particular problem for the safety and quality officer who has incredibly difficult process changes to explain; for the IT folks who need to steer the organization from the snazziest demo to a capital decision that balances long term goals and short term incentives.  And the manager who manages the unique (the poor persons clinic) or the mundane (revenue cycle) or the executive who needs to invest capital for safety and not for glamorous hi-tech marketing friendly toys. 

The story board needs to be graphic in that the message has to be seen, heard and understood immediately.  It needs to also educate the audience about the opportunity this complicated matter has to either move the organization toward success or save it from disaster.  Even the most mundane processes can be told in a way that the Board or top leadership team can see their success dependent on it.

I have had a client who was being relegated to the second tier of senior executives even though this exec had the largest budget and FTEs?  Why, because the SVP was a "team player", a workhorse and did not communicate the importance of their product/processes to the CEO proactively but only reactively.  Professional to a fault, this person was leading the team to potential budget cuts in some of the most complex and backbone operations because of this failure.

Disney designed the storyboard to hone their message.  Each frame tells the story and makes a clear impression.  Your storyboard can be bulletpoints but you have to know who the protoganist, antagonist, action and result are for each frame.  10 frames will tell your story.