washington business
are all laid out and so everybody after two and a half hours knows
everything about what the plan is, what the status is and what
areas need special attention. We actually color-code every chart
and the author, the person who is responsible for the business
unit in Europe, Asia, etc., actually color code their section of the
plan for green, yellow and red. Green is it’s going well, yellow,
we have some issues but we have a plan for it, red, this is a new
issue, we don’t have a solution yet but we’re working on it. So
very quickly everybody around the world can see what the status
is versus the plan and we can work together on areas that need
special attention. It allows everybody — not only the leadership
team, but this cascaded throughout the company, worldwide
— everybody knows the plan, everybody knows the status and
everybody’s helping each other because they know the areas that
need special attention. It’s the very same process we used on each
airplane and leading Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Boeing
Information, Space and Defense Systems.
It sounds like transparency is really critical to the plan.
Absolutely. There are some great stories about
transparency in the book [“American Icon:
Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor
Company” by Bryce Hoffman, 2012]: We started
out, we shared the profit for 2006 which was
a $17 billion loss. This was in September of ’06
and three months later we had achieved it! So
it wasn’t a forecast accuracy issue. We clearly
needed a new strategy and a new plan. We
came together around a compelling vision, a
comprehensive strategy and plan, and a reliable implementation
plan and we started the Business Plan Review. We started color
coding each part of the plan and all of the charts were green —
about 320 charts and they’re all green. So I stopped the meeting
and said, ‘Team, is there anything that’s not going well? We’re
going to lose $17 billion.’ Then a couple weeks later, Mark
Fields, who was running all the Americas business, ran into an
issue with the lift gate actuator on the new Edge and he colored
his chart red. That was the first time and was a breakthrough
in transparency. We made it safe to share the issues and not
be intimidated or bullied. It is so important that everyone can
see the issues as “gems” because you can’t manage a secret. If
everybody could see what the issues are, then everybody can
pitch in and help turn the reds to yellows to greens and deliver
the plan, strategy and vision.
I have found people are using this process in larger businesses and
smaller businesses and in their personal lives. Working Together
really can work for everybody!
Since leaving Ford, you joined the board of Google. What
drew you to that opportunity and what have you learned
from it?
What really drew me to Google was their vision of organizing all
of the world’s data and information and making it easily available
and accessible to everyone around the world. Google is really
committed to making a difference and improving people’s lives.
They’re a technology company, because they’re using technology to
push the boundaries and open up all the possibilities to help people
around the world, and I love that. I loved that also at Boeing and
Ford, connecting people around the world with safe and efficient
transportation. It was so compelling when I was asked by Google to
join the board. Joining Google was an extension of what I dedicated
my life to over the last 45 years at Boeing and Ford — Working
Together to make a difference.
We clearly needed a new plan. Everybody knew we were going
out of business. We started the Business Plan Review, we
started color coding every part of the plan and all of the charts
were green — about 320 charts and they’re all green. So I
stopped the meeting and said, ‘Team, is there anything that’s
not going well? We’re going to lose $17 billion this year.’
How could small- and medium-sized businesses
implement something like this?
I believe the management process/system, expected behaviors
and resulting culture is applicable to any size organization.
That’s the neat thing about Working Together, using these
fundamental principles and practices of including everybody.
alan mulally at a glance
President and chief executive officer of The Ford Motor Company
from 2006 to 2014, where he “is widely seen as the man behind
one of the most impressive corporate turnarounds in history,”
according to a 2013 McKinse 䀘