- ISBN13: 9780470259559
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
This groundbreaking guide provides a deep understanding of how to achieve enterprise performance management objectives, backed up by first-hand accounts from Fortune 500 companies who are winning by building accountability, intelligence, and informed decision-making into their organizational DNA. Drive Business Performance explains the competitive advantage experienced by organizations that create and manage a “Culture of Performance.”… More >>
Drive Business Performance: Enabling a Culture of Intelligent Execution
Tags: accountability, Business, business performance, competitive advantage, Culture, Drive, drive business, Enabling, enterprise performance management, Execution, fortune 500 companies, hand accounts, Intelligent, management objectives, organizational dna, Performance, remainder mark
#1 by Jim D on April 21, 2010 - 12:11 am
Is it just me, or possibly the fact that I am listening to the audio version of this book, but I don’t see what others claim to see in this book.
Even though the book bills itself as a “practical roadmap” and “jargon-free” book that “demystifies performance management”, I find it just a content-light amalgamation of jargon and consultant speak, that is both incomprehensible and trite.
I am 2 discs into the 6 disc set, and still haven’t found anything worthy of jotting down. I’ve stopped listening and will return the book to get something more worth my money and time.
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by Patrick Husting on April 21, 2010 - 1:52 am
I manage a consulting firm and the #1 issue I see my business customers deal with is the perceived complexity of Performance Management. My customers struggle to determine the people, processes and technologies to turn their high-level strategy into a successful execution plan and results.
In this book, I have found a pragmatic guide that helps business managers and IT get together, assess where they are and start the discussions required to succeed in Performance Management. Sure – the book doesn’t solve everything on its own, but it at least gives an easy and effective model to follow.
Finally, I enjoyed how the book reads. The authors give plenty of company success stories and have extracted some great best practice examples that help me remember them. Very sticky. I’ve also had success using the methodology, which appears well adopted given all the companies in the book saying they’re “moving to a Culture of Performance”. The Six Stages & 3 Capabilities (MAP) framework help me to assess what stage my clients are at today & explain the steps they need to take to garner greater competitive advantage.
All in all, a good & very useful read!
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Scott Monteith on April 21, 2010 - 3:06 am
The authors did their homework before writing this book. There are many solid real life examples of how successful performance management implementations help company’s exceed their goals. They go into great detail that you can take and apply to your situation. This book is another great read in the Microsoft Exec Leadership series. Order a copy if you are planning to embark on the BPM path or if your company needs a better way to manage by performance.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Ron W. Dimon on April 21, 2010 - 3:53 am
Bottom line: this is a very good book on the business benefits and high-level “how to” of enterprise performance management (EPM).
While the authors refer to this domain as `performance management,’ it’s not to be confused with the annual Human Resources review process, but rather all of the people, process, and technology involved in sustainably executing your strategy: including monitoring, analyzing, and planning the key drivers of value for your business.
This book is not too technical nor too theoretical. It has the right balance of business perspective, systems enablement, and process maturity to give a good overview of the promise of EPM and strategy execution. It makes liberal use of case studies, examples and stories to illustrate points and give more depth to the insights.
Some highlights:
* Fact-based, data-driven decision making (p.12)
* Strategic, Operational, and Tactical Decisions (p28)
* The Foundation for Decisions: information & trust (p32)
* Competitive Benchmarking (p16)
* The `right’ metrics (p49, 69)
* Line of Sight visibility (p.93)
* Accountability Mapping (p 226) and also how difficult it is to visualize and map metric relationships (p. 69)
* A very good “uber” model for determining where to focus your efforts (p.254)
They also follow-up the book with more information on their companion website at http://www.cultureofperformance.com
All in all, a very good read and certainly belongs on the bookshelf of any EPM manager and any CIO and CFO….hopefully dog-eared and well-worn.
Rating: 4 / 5
#5 by Nicholas Barclay on April 21, 2010 - 5:09 am
With a foreword by none other than Drs Kaplan and Norton you can be sure that software is not central to this book’s message. Drive Business Performance is part of Wiley’s Microsoft Executive Leadership Series, however the only time “Microsoft” is mentioned is when referencing quotes from Steve Ballmer or Chris Liddell. The intended audience is a business one not technical, although technical people would do well to get their hands on a copy nonetheless.
Fitts and Aziza provide a comprehensive look at what Performance Management (PM) is and just how successful organisations can be when they succeed in creating a “Culture of Intelligent Execution”. Central to the book’s philosophy are what the authors have dubbed the “Six Stages of Performance Management Value”. Targeted lists of questions at the end of each section enable readers to assess their organisation’s current PM capabilities.
For mine the book’s greatest strength are the anecdotes and quotes peppered throughout to underscore each topic. It is obvious the authors went to a great deal of effort to interview high-ranking members of companies who spearheaded some very successful PM implementations. The information gathered in these interviews coupled with well-chosen quotes from the likes of Winston Churchill, Henry Ford and many others serve as evidence to support Fitts and Aziza’s Six Stages and the culture of performance management in general.
PM is not just something that can be thrown together in a few weeks by a couple of interns, it is an organisation-wide paradigm shift that takes time, effort and dedication to bear fruit. As recounted many times within the book, the rewards to organisations who implement an effective PM initiative can be very substantial.
This is a great book to hand to anyone who is considering implementing any form of PM. It details plenty of good “See! They did it, why can’t we?” case studies as well as providing practical guidance describing how to do it within your own organisation. Highly recommended reading.
Rating: 5 / 5