Build Up to Breakthrough
This is AML: Trajectory
By: Robert Haydock, CEO - AML Oceanographic
How committed are you to your favourite thought leader? Myself: maybe too much so. Both of my teenage children have found copies of ‘Good to Great’ under our Christmas tree. Roll it: tentative look, strained smile, and the speedy recovery to “Wow, Dad, thank you…”
Jim Collins is the author of ‘Good to Great’; I was fortunate enough to see him lecture this past week in Chicago. I have multiple copies of every one of his books, each annotated with my sketched-out ideas of how his frameworks applied to AML at that specific point in time. Leafing through these pages feels like taking a journey through AML history.
Jim is the brain behind such well-known business concepts as the BHAG - Big Hairy Audacious Goal; the Hedgehog - the one thing you need to do relentlessly well; the Flywheel - your momentum builder; and the Profit per X - your economic engine. At AML, we’ve worked our way through each of these concepts, iteration after iteration, a constant turning of the dial.
Certainly, these tools have had an impact. But Collins’ single most important gift to AML has been his vehement belief that BEFORE any greatness can happen, you MUST get the right people on the bus. First who, then what; always, first who, then what. At AML, we have bought into this concept lock, stock, and barrel. In my most recent blog post - “Culture is our Competitive Advantage” - I spoke about this in detail.
Getting the right people on the team is necessary - but insufficient - to succeed. Collins’ model of the journey towards breakthrough has three phases:
- Disciplined people;
- Then disciplined thought; and
- Finally disciplined action
We’ve traveled through each of these phases - two steps forward, one step back - and are now experiencing a profound shift, as growth accelerates and our trajectory changes.
It’s tempting to want to explain how AML landed on our BHAG - the north star that is our long-term goal; on our Hedgehog Concept, that one thing that we must be relentless perfectionists about; on our Flywheel, the creator of energy and forward momentum; or on our Profit per X, the distillation of our economic engine. But this is not the time, nor the place. You can read about these concepts in business literature.
You should know that the journey to clarity took almost ten years. It took discipline: regular, quarter-by-quarter revision to land on what we have today. Recognition and confrontation of “the brutal facts” was the engine that spurred the right conversations. At AML we say that if we’re not talking about the brutal facts - delivered gently, of course - then we’re having the wrong conversations. Know this: even when delivered gently, the brutal facts sting. I often hear things I wish not to hear. But knowing is better than not knowing…
Perhaps most powerful is to share the way these theories have become embedded in our daily and weekly rhythms. Why? Because if not used to guide practical decisions at all levels of the organization, the BHAG, the Hedgehog, and the Profit per X, become useless. My CEO coach - Shannon Susko of Metronomics - taught me early that strategic concepts have minimal impact unless means are found to make them ‘alive’ for the entire team. It was she who taught AML the importance of disciplined rhythm.
In our daily huddles, we leverage the Profit per X to communicate what we call “THE SCORE”: that one number that tells the team if we’re winning or losing the game. Playing well as a team without a score? Impossible. We also use Profit per X to compare AML activities by market segment, by geography, and by product line.
In our weekly departmental meetings, we use the Hedgehog to inventory all the things that our team is working on. Do they reinforce or strengthen this concept? If not, why are we working on these things? Are there issues to resolve that do align? In essence, the Hedgehog is used as our ‘focus generator.’
In our monthly town hall meetings, we ask all AMLers if they believe in the achievability of our BHAG. Similarly, we ask if they feel we are making progress towards the BHAG. Why? Why not?
When quarterly planning, we colour code the nodes of our flywheel: red, yellow, or green. We ask the owners of each node to put forward their plans to fortify their piece of the flywheel in the upcoming quarter.
We have found disciplined people, and we have nurtured disciplined thought. By connecting that disciplined thought to daily rhythm, we create disciplined action…and thus traction. How do we know we’re breaking through? Twofold: 1) growth has further accelerated, well beyond our 17% annual average; 2) the frequency of revision to these core concepts has slowed…in spite of the brutal facts.
Upon rereading what I’ve written, I worry that I might sound too AML-centric. After all, success is all about customers and their experience, right? In fact, this journey that I’m describing helped us to solidify our business systems…just so that we can better serve our customers.
So, perhaps you’re thinking, what would it mean to be part of this? Well, we believe AML’s growth trajectory is poised to accelerate. Our team has grown by a third over the past year. Mind you, while we’ve been building our foundation, AML has been growing at an average rate of 17% per year, compounded annually. Imagine the career opportunities that arise in such an environment!
If you're imagining - and you're interested - keep an eye on our careers page.
