The Performance Power Grid, The Proven Method to Create and Sustain Superior Organizational Performance, David F. Giannetto and Anthony Zecca, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 2007
When focusing a camera, the picture becomes a clear unhindered image. Putting on a pair of prescription eye glasses will – for most people -bring the scenery or text into a clear and understandable view.
The business model presented in The Performance Power Grid, The Proven Method to Create and Sustain Superior Organizational Performance provides readers with a strong framework (power grid)to help employees focus on “what really matters to a company.”
When all employees find the focus through the power grid, companies and organizations are able to create and sustain success. With all of the business models available to companies today, this particular methodology sets itself apart because it adds sustainability to the mix.
The Performance Power Grid by authors and consultants David F. Giannetto and Anthony Zecca focus employees “from the boardroom to the cubicle” on three main power drivers:
According to the authors “They (employees) can’t meet management goals because they are too busy fighting fires that arise daily during the workday. Their focus changes daily. Employees need clear, practical ways to understand exactly what they should be doing…every hour every day.”
The Performance Power Grid is revolutionary in that its intent is to improve performance by focusing employees on revenue, profits and customer value. It does so without placing blame, pointing fingers or making employees feel that do not know how to do their jobs.
Instead, the Grid shows how to help employees improve – not fix – their performance which in the end improves the company or organization’s bottom line.
David Ginnetto, considered a well-versed leader and practitioner in business performance management and his co-author who is a partner-in-charge in one of the nation’s largest consulting firms have written a relatively short (only 178 pages) management book. It is an easy-to-read self-help book for companies and organizations of any size or any type.
The authors compare their model to other well used performance improvement models such as activity-based management, management by objectives, The Balanced Scoreboard, supply chain, kaizen, lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. Improvement can be obtained with these models but the improvement is not sustainable in many cases.
The Performance Power Grid uses the power drivers (revenue – profits – customer value) to convert strategic objectives into tangible objectives that can be achieved and sustained because (through the use of the Grid) objectives are linked to daily activities and specific job tasks for every employee.
The Grid continually provides the structure for CEOs, managers and employees to ask “What must we do today to achieve our objectives?”
To measure results, metrics are developed and implemented specifically for each employee. These metrics allow employees to know exactly what their piece of the performance puzzle is and how they can contribute to the ultimate success of the company.
Most of the models try to change the organization and change the people in the organization while the Performance Grid changes what people work on as well as focusing on the future instead of continually reviewing the past.
The authors use applicable metaphors and relevant case studies throughout the book. While the language is forceful and sure of itself, the book is not written in as a technical language as the cover makes it appear. While most of us declare we do not judge a book by its cover – we do just that. The cove of this book makes it look like a technical book and the title does its part to add to that image.
Offering a straightforward, linear presentation, the authors provide details of the performance puzzle in the first chapter while subsequent chapters tell the reader about the Impact of Power, Harnessing the Power, Focusing the Power, Measuring the Power, The Power of Why and Managing the Grid.
This book is an undemanding and a quick read plus it presents a reasonable and applicable business model.
