INTRODUCTION TO CAM STRUCTURE
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The Four Dimensions of Leadership Environment 1.
What is the culture of the organisation, and the culture of the team?
What is their purpose? Their goals? Their values?
What is the emotional aptitude of the team?
ENVIRONMENT
2. STRUCTURE
3. IMPLEMENTATION
4. PEOPLE
Structure
What measures are in place to measure performance and progress?
What KPI’s are used and how?
What policies and procedures are expected?
Implementation
What systems are actually used? How?
How are these systems taught and how is the success of the education assessed?
How are the systems usage measured and communicated?
People
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What training has the person received in the structure and the systems?
What ongoing feedback is given and what criteria for success is being used?
CAM as a framework CAM stands for the four dimensions of experience we will find in any situation or context. IT INCLUDES –
Environment – The qualitative aspects of the situation, including the vision, the values, the beliefs, the attitudes, the standards, the expectations and the purpose of the context we’re within
Structure – The quantitative aspects of the situation, including the benchmarks for success, the divisions of a company or within a team, the product centres, the operations manuals, the checklists, the policies, the procedures, and the lead measures and the lag measures
Implementation – What actually occurs, when it occurs, how often it occurs, who does it, when, and how do they demonstrate they’ve done it, what evidence is there it’s done, and who tracks it, how often, and how
People – Who is developed, what are they developed in (what areas), what skills do they have, how are those skills assessed and developed, what scope is there to go beyond their current abilities or skills, or often are they mentored, what’s expected of them within the mentoring, whether it’s formal or informal Each of these dimensions has other forces at play, but these are the main areas we would consider when assessing and improving a team, an organisation or any context we find ourselves within. It’s beholden upon each of us to bring the very best aspects of each of these areas to where we find ourselves as leaders.
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It’s for us to set the benchmarks, maintain the benchmarks, demonstrate the benchmarks and improve the benchmarks. Then it’s for us to show others how to do the same, and thus creating leaders. Question the standards, their usefulness, their purpose and how well they allow the purpose to be achieved. A leader wouldn’t simply accept the benchmarks they’re told. Find out why they’re there, how they work, how they’re measured. Seek to understand if they’re the right measures or whether they can be changed, improved or completely replaced. Never settle for the benchmarks you inherit. Question them, not to assume they’re wrong, but to see how you can add value and improve upon what you find. Show others how you do this. Constantly hand your learning onto someone else. There are always areas to improve. There is always something to learn about how something is done, could be done, should be done and will be done. Learning CAM is not a script. It’s not ‘I now get what it is’, it’s ‘I now see it wherever I go’. CAM (a terrible name) is about becoming faster and more effective at assessing a situation and seeing what can be done to improve it or enjoy it. It’s a framework by which we can make decisions, solve problems, change markets, win markets, develop people, give feedback, recruit, performance manage, and develop products. Its use is across all contexts and situations. It can be used at the most micro level of detail, all the way to the most abstract concept or idea. It can be used to drill down into tight solutions, or to move up into how a task links to a purpose. When thinking about anything, if you can link it to its purpose, measure how to achieve that purpose, take the steps to achieve that purpose and show others how to do the same, you are leading.
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Structure Structure is the quantitative characteristics of the organisation. Its focus is on four different areas: 1. The categories we can impact and influence 2. The infrastructure we can access 3. The strategies we could and should be applying 4. The benchmarks for all actions Whilst this is a little simplistic, it’s a great starting point for this discussion. The structure is the content we can impact. It’s the things we have access to. The infrastructure. It includes (and is not limited to): The divisions of the business The departments within a business The infrastructure The physical environment The equipment The systems The operations manuals The checklists The templates The procedures The policies The plans The best practices The benchmarks we are striving to achieve The Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)
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Let’s put these into the four categories… 1. The categories we can impact and influence The divisions of the business The departments within a business The areas of impact within a department The areas of impact within an operations manual
2. The infrastructure we can access The infrastructure The physical environment The equipment The systems
3. The strategies we could and should be applying The operations manuals The checklists The templates The procedures The policies The plans
4. The benchmarks for all actions The best practices The benchmarks we are striving to achieve The Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)
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Structure, is what we can and should access to achieve our stated objectives. It’s the measurable aspects of what we need to be doing. For example, if we need to rank on page 1 for Google, the category is online marketing; the infrastructure is the tools to do this, including Google analytics; the strategy is what works, step by step; and the benchmark is the lead measure that achieves this. There are so many times I see someone struggle with their busy-ness because they don’t know how to organise and plan what needs to be done. Short term thinking comes from lack of planning and organisation. If someone wants to delegate to someone else, and they haven’t got a procedure documented, then they will rely on word-of-mouth, with all its challenges, to pass the work to the other person. Important benchmarks get lost in the translation. What matters – the reason why this is done this way – is forgotten as the person takes on what seems much to learn to them.
The why – the environment – is gone.
What’s left is the task. There is just doing the job, because the leader didn’t delegate in a way that allowed the person to expand into the role. All they can do is keep up. People start to get micro managed. People get unhappy and less attentive to what they’re doing. The leader wonders why things aren’t being done well or accurately. Things get misplaced. Productivity becomes impacted. The goal is not achieved. The Golden Rule is – if it’s done more than once, there needs to be a documented procedure for it. All procedures can be updated and improved as often as needed. We have version controls to ensure we always work with the latest version. On a more macro level, unless the leader is across all aspects of their business they are limiting how effective they can be for their team. A team leader that only sees what’s below and in front of them can’t predict the play, can’t see consequences and isn’t across what to protect their team from. The team leader who looks down, rather than out and across is bringing limited new ideas. They’re relying on what’s in front of them rather than what’s innovative.
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Our capacity to see the multiple layers of a business, and how each layer is a subset of the previous, is essential for organisation of thoughts and ideas. We can drive a strategic idea if we see the moving parts, the impact points, who needs to be told and what the consequences are. If all we think is that we have a good idea and want to do it, we become part of the chaos and it hurts the business. The effective leader is aware of the characteristics of a driven, high performing culture. They are across and care about the business, and its values. They see how the different departments interact and are interdependent. They are aware and value the communication across different areas, and see impact points that must be taken care of. They are focused on the benchmarks and best practice to ensure the lead measures that get achieve the goal are taken care of. They maintain the repetitive tasks because they know the discipline of repetition is where much business is won. They care about the updating of all procedures and see it as an opportunity to improve and innovate normal business practices. But they don’t get so stuck in the details of the policies to lose sight of the bigger picture – why they are there and how they contribute to the success of the organisation.
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SHARON PEARSON Disruptive Leadership Module 2 Introduction to CAM Structure Edition 1 | Version 5 | December 16 Published by The Coaching Institute Copyright 2016 Š The Coaching Institute All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. In some instances, people or companies portrayed in this book are illustrative examples based on the author’s experiences, but they are not intended to represent a particular person or organisation.
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