According to Melanie Little, senior vice president of Operations and Environmental, Health, Safety and Security for Magellan Midstream Partners LP, having a planned outcome and setting goals to achieve that outcome are probably things most people do in both their personal and professional lives, "even though we may not all think about it in those terms," she said.
But, Little observed, as industry leaders think about outcome statements and goals, "it is very different when you actually work through a process and know what you need to be successful, versus a 'git 'er done' type of attitude."
Identifying an outcome, Little explained, consists of defining exactly what success will look like.
"It's the question that you answer with 'who, what, when, where, why and how,'" Little said in her keynote address at the International Liquid Terminals Association (ILTA) International Operating Conference & Trade Show held recently in Houston. "Those questions are important because all of us have a lot of tasks, and our teams have a lot of daily intermittent tasks that they have to do to be successful."
The kinds of outcomes she refers to, Little said, are not the responsibility of frontline workers' or contractors' daily jobs.
"It is the leadership team [that determines] daily organization -- what needs to change and what needs to be worked on to actually see an improved performance," she said.
Little recommended that, in order to create outcomes, leaders should think about what changes would make their companies more successful.
"Start broadly with your ideas to foster creative outcomes, and do not focus on the tactical until you have drafted your outcomes," she suggested.
If resources required to accomplish an outcome are unavailable, that outcome should be tabled in order to focus on those that are within practical reach.
"Goals should explain how success translates into tangible results -- for example, financial impact, cultural impact, and safety and compliance," Little said. "Then create focus areas when you have multiple goals tied back to the same outcome."
When focus is intentional, she explained, the result is increased engagement, which in turn sets the stage for improved performance.
"It also provides the ability to better measure performance," she said.
Setting the success strategy
Strategy is not difficult to understand, but it takes time and commitment from a company's leaders to make sure the team knows what the strategy is, what it is trying to achieve and why their jobs are important.
It's fairly easy to create a written strategy or mission statement. "But why do you want to do that?" she queried. "It provides an opportunity to be transparent and provides a platform for leaders and other groups to set up outcomes and goals to actually achieve that strategy."
In addition to promoting delegation and development, setting strategy also allows issues "that hinder success to surface more quickly and creates a cycle of success that is easier to repeat," Little said.
Little estimates Magellan committed to this strategy process in 2014.
"Ten years ago, if you had asked anyone from our senior leadership down to our newest employee what our strategy was, you probably would have gotten a blank stare," she said. "Today if you ask, I'm confident that 100 percent of our team knows what our business strategy is, why we have that strategy and how their job ties into it. That's a pretty big, audacious goal to have achieved."
As the company evolves and the workforce changes due to employees retiring, "we need to make sure we're all aligned and heading in the same direction," Little concluded. "Remember, success builds upon success when everyone pulls in the same direction."
