Use bottom-line thinking to make decisions.
What method do you use to determine the bottom line for your company, business, department, team, or group of individuals? A company’s bottom line is often referred to as “the bottom line.” Whether or whether you are successful is determined by how much money you make.
However, money should not always be the key metric of success in any endeavor or endeavor. How much money you have at the end of the month or the end of the year would you use as a yardstick to determine the ultimate success of your family? And if you are in charge of a non-profit or a volunteer group, how would you know whether you were operating at peak performance? Bottom line, what do you believe the scenario is?
THE BOTTOM LINE OF A NONPROFIT
This is precisely the question Frances Hesselbein had to ask herself in 1976, when she took over as national executive director of the Girl Scouts of America. Her involvement with the Girl Scouts was initially for fun, and she had no intention of becoming the organization’s leader. The couple owned Hesselbein Studios, a modest family firm that produced television commercials and promotional films.
She and her husband, John, were also partners in the company. His screenplays were written by her, and she directed the flicks. As a volunteer troop leader at the Second Presbyterian Church in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the 1950s, she was recruited by the church’s mission committee. The fact that she only had a boy and no girls made it much more uncommon. She, on the other hand, consented to do it on an as-needed basis. The fact that she commanded the unit for nine years indicates that she enjoyed it.
She rose through the ranks to become president of the council and a member of the national board of directors. After that, she worked as the executive director of the Talus Rock Girl Scout Council, which was a full-time, salaried post for many years. The Girl Scouts were in serious difficulty by the time she took over as CEO of the national organization.
The organization lacked direction, young girls were losing interest in scouting, and it was becoming more difficult to attract adult volunteers, particularly with the increase in the number of women joining the workplace. During this time period, the Boy Scouts considered expanding its membership to include women. For Hesselbein, the most important thing was that his company’s bottom line was restored.
In order to keep things basic, she adds they continued asking themselves simple questions. “Can you tell me about your company? ” Do you know who we are talking about?
The customer’s perception of value is also important. The Girl Scouts, IBM, and AT&T all have to manage for a goal,” explains the author.
With her attention focused on the purpose, Hesselbein was able to determine what the Girl Scouts’ bottom line was. “There is just one reason why we are here: to assist a young woman in reaching her full potential. ” The fact that this made a difference was more important than anything else. As a result, when you are clear about your purpose, your company goals and operational objectives will follow naturally.”
As soon as she determined her bottom line, she was able to devise an action plan to attempt to meet that goal. She began by overhauling the whole national workforce, which took many months. Afterwards, she devised a planning system that would be utilized by each of the 350 regional councils around the country. And she was responsible for bringing management training into the company.
Hesselbein didn’t limit herself to improvements in organizational structure and leadership. Girls’ lives and the nation had changed dramatically throughout the 1960s and 1970s — but the Girl Scouts had remained steadfast in their beliefs and ideals. The subject was addressed by Hesselbein, as well.
For example, rather of holding a party, the group tailored its activities to be more relevant to today’s society by providing more possibilities for computer usage. Among other things, she encouraged minority participation, developed multilingual materials, and reached out to low-income families.. In order to achieve its goal of helping females attain their full potential, why not be more proactive in assisting girls who have historically had less opportunities? In this case, the plan was spot on!
The Girl Scouts saw a threefold increase in minority membership.
The Girl Scouts were a first-class organization when Hesselbein departed in 1990, after he had transformed them into one. Following that, she went on to become the founder and president-CEO of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, where she now serves as chairman of the foundation’s board of governors. The Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented to her in 1998, was also given to her.
In remarks to Hesselbein at the White House event, President Clinton remarked, “She has shared her unique formula for inclusion and brilliance with numerous organizations whose bottom line is measured not in money, but in the number of lives that have been transformed.”
He couldn’t have said it any better himself.
Use bottom-line thinking to make decisions.
WHY YOU SHOULD ENJOY THE RETURN OF BOTTOM-LINE THINKING
If you’re used to thinking about the bottom line exclusively in terms of financial issues, you may be overlooking some important considerations that are important to you and your business. Instead, think of the bottom line as the conclusion, the takeaway, or the intended outcome. Every activity has a distinct bottom line that is distinct from the others. If you have a job, your labor has a monetary value.
If you are involved in religious service, your work has a monetary value. As does your work as a parent, or as a spouse, if you are one.
Consider the following as you investigate the notion of bottom-line thinking: It may benefit you in a variety of ways:
1. Bottom-line thinking provides a great deal of clarity.
What’s the difference between bowling and going to work? When it comes to bowling, it only takes three seconds to find out how you’ve done! One of the reasons why people like sports so much is because they are entertaining.
There is no waiting or speculating about the result.
Bottom-line thinking allows you to assess results more quickly and readily than you could otherwise. It provides you with a baseline against which to compare your performance. It may be utilized as a concentrated method of ensuring that all of your little efforts are meaningful and work together to attain a greater objective.
2. Bottom-line thinking assists you in evaluating all situations.
When you understand your bottom line, it becomes much simpler to determine how you are doing in any particular area.
When Frances Hesselbein took over as leader of the Girl Scouts, she measured everything against the organization’s goal of assisting girls in reaching their full potential—from the organization’s management structure (which she changed from a hierarchy to a hub) down to the badges that the girls could earn. There is no greater measuring instrument than the bottom line.
3. Bottom-Line Thinking Aids in the Making of the Best Decisions
When you know what your bottom line is, making decisions becomes lot simpler. When the Girl Scouts were floundering in the 1970s, other groups attempted to persuade its members to become women’s rights activists or door-to-door canvassers. However, under Hesselbein, it became much easier for the Girl Scouts to say no. It was aware of its bottom line, and it wished to pursue its objectives with determination and zeal.
4. Bottom-line thinking results in high morale.
When you know what you want and go for it, you considerably boost your chances of winning. And nothing boosts morale quite like a victory. What words do you use to characterize championship-winning sports teams, successful business divisions, or volunteers who accomplish their goals? They’re giddy with excitement. When you hit your objective, you experience a rush of adrenaline. And you can only strike it if you know what you’re aiming at.
5. Bottom-line thinking ensures your long-term success.
If you want to be successful tomorrow, you must focus about the bottom line now. That is exactly what Frances Hesselbein accomplished, and she was instrumental in turning the Girl Scouts around. Look at every successful, long-lasting organization, and you’ll discover CEOs that understand the importance of their bottom line. They make their judgments, allocate their resources, recruit their employees, and organize their organizations in order to attain that bottom line.
HOW TO ENJOY THE RETURN OF BOTTOM-LINE THINKING
It’s not difficult to recognize the importance of the bottom line. The majority of individuals would agree that bottom-line thinking yields a high rate of return. Learning how to be a bottom-line thinker, on the other hand, might be a difficult skill to master.
1. Determine the true bottom line.
The practice of bottom-line thinking starts with a clear understanding of what you’re truly aiming for. Organizations’ big-picture vision, goal, and purpose may be as high as their own personal aspirations. Alternatively, it might be as specific as what you want to achieve on a certain project. What matters is that you be as detailed as possible. If your aim is something as nebulous as “success,” you will have a tough time attempting to harness bottom-line thinking in order to attain it.
The first step is to put your “desire” items aside. Get to the outcomes you’re actually seeking for, the substance of the aim. Set aside any emotions that may impair your judgment, as well as any political considerations that may impact your perspective. What exactly are you aiming to accomplish? What do you feel motivated to do when you remove away all of the things that don’t actually matter? What is required to occur? What is appropriate behavior? That is the true bottom line.
2. Emphasize the importance of the bottom line
Have you ever been in a discussion with someone whose motives did not seem to be what they claimed? Occasionally, the circumstance shows deliberate dishonesty. However, it may also happen when a person isn’t aware of his or her own position.
The same phenomenon occurs with businesses. For example, sometimes an idealistically declared purpose and the actual bottom line may not match up. Profits and the pursuit of a greater good are in competition.
Earlier, I mentioned George W. Merck, who observed, “We strive never to forget that medicine is for the people.” It is not for the sake of profit. Profits follow, and if we keep this in mind, they have never failed to materialize.” He most likely made the comment to serve as a reminder to people in his company that revenues serve a purpose rather than competing with it.
If generating a profit were the ultimate goal, and assisting people was only a means to that end, the firm would suffer. Its focus would be split, and it would be unable to aid people as effectively as it could, nor would it be able to generate as much money as it sought.
3. Develop a strategic plan for achieving the bottom line.
Bottom-line thinking produces outcomes. As a result, any plans that arise as a result of this kind of thinking must be tied directly to the bottom line—and there can be only one, not two or three, of these plans. Once the bottom line has been established, a plan for achieving it must be devised. In businesses, this often entails identifying the critical pieces or functions that must be correctly functioning in order to accomplish the desired results.
This is the leader’s duty.
The crucial thing to remember is that when the bottom line of each activity is accomplished, then THE bottom line is attained. If the aggregate of the smaller objectives does not equal the true bottom line, then your approach is wrong or you have not identified the true bottom line.
4. Align Team Members with the Company’s Bottom Line
Once your plan is in place, make certain that your personnel are on the same page as you are. Ideally, everyone in the team should be aware of the overall aim as well as their particular contributions to achieving it. They must understand their own personal bottom line as well as how it contributes to the achievement of the organization’s bottom line.
Continue to use the same system and monitor results on a regular basis.
Dave Sutherland, a friend and former president of one of my firms, feels that some organizations get into difficulties by attempting to blend systems. He believes that many different types of systems may be effective, but that combining multiple systems or switching from one system to another repeatedly would result in failure. Bottom-line thinking cannot be accomplished in a single session, says Dave. It must be included into the system of working, relating, and attaining.
You can’t merely tune into the intended outcome every now and then. Getting things done with bottom-line thinking has to be a way of life, or else it will convey mixed signals. I am a bottom-line thinker. It is a component of my overall “system” for success. Every day, I put it into action. There will be no additional measures, and there will be no wasted effort.
Dave used to phone members of his field team every night and ask them the bottom-line question they were expecting to hear.
He maintained a constant eye on the bottom line of the firm by keeping track of it in each of its primary areas.
When it comes down to it, excellent thinking may make a difference in your bottom line, regardless of what it is. Bottom-line thinking also has a high rate of return since it aids in the transformation of ideas into tangible outcomes. It is unlike any other kind of mental processing in that it may assist you in realizing the full capacity of your mind and achieving anything you choose.
ONE FINAL CONCEPT
I hope you liked this book as much as I did. I wish you well in your future endeavors and recommend that you remember…
1. It all starts with an idea.
“A man’s life is made up of what he thinks about all day.”
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON RALPH WALDO EMERSON RALPH WALDO EMER
2. Who we are is determined by our thoughts. What we do is determined by who we are.
“The finest translators of men’s ideas are their acts.”
JOHN LOCKE, JOHN LOCKE, JOHN LOCKE, JOH
3. Our ideas shape our future. Our legacy is determined by our fate.
“You have arrived where your ideas have led you today. Tomorrow, you’ll be wherever your ideas lead you.”
—JAMES ALLEN JAMES ALLEN JAMES ALLEN JAMES
4. Those that get to the top have a different mindset than the rest of the population.
“Small thinking restricts success; freed thought multiplies possibilities.”
WARD, WILLIAM ARTHUR
5. We have the ability to alter our thinking patterns.
“Whatever is real… noble… just… pure… gorgeous… is of excellent reputation.” Consider these things if there is any merit or anything worthy of praise.”
—THE APOSTLE PAUL
