The people at Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. are used to
navigating all over the globe, through seas both rough and calm.
But while the ships are out at sea, Mark Gordon is back at the
home office of the $4.3 million company in Tampa, doing his own navigating of the
business environment surrounding Odyssey.
Much like the captain of an oceangoing vessel, Gordon, the president
and chief operating officer of the company, has to keep his eyes fixed on the
horizon, looking for potential course adjustments that might need to be made.
And when the corporate ship does need to steer in another direction, Gordon
must know how to make the turn at just the right time — not too quickly, not
too slowly.
To make that balance happen, you need stability from your
culture and a willingness on the part of your people to take risks.
Smart Business spoke
with Gordon about how you and your employees can work together to build and
sustain a business plan that is both stable and open to change.
How do you build maneuverability into a business plan?
We have this concept, what we call ‘our rocks,’ which are the
key objectives we’re trying to push up the hill each month. We pick no more
than three, so overall the company has no more than three major objectives or
rocks, and each department has only three. So going back to the question about
flexibility, we’re in sort of a triage process deciding whether those three
objectives at the corporate and department level are the most important at that
point in time, given what is happening around us. And we reserve the right to
replace an objective based on the circumstances of the situation.
What would you tell other business leaders about building a
business plan that is stable yet flexible?
Part of it is looking at the business process. You have to
think of it as being flexible when you start out. As simple as it sounds, I’ve
been a part of organizations in the past where they’re carving something into a
stone tablet when they make a decision. So acknowledging the fact that in this
dynamic world in which we now all operate, things are going to change. So you
have to bring that mindset into the business planning.
In terms of the process, the communication is key. Formulate
the plan from the outset so that it’s, as I call it, an agreement among
consenting adults — so that everyone understands what we’re trying to achieve,
and that things can change.
And then that weekly tempo of having meetings and discussing
what has happened. Are our objectives still the objectives that we should have.
I think that’s critical. I’d highly recommend that once your plans are in
place, you are reviewing them at least weekly — and some businesses do daily
huddles.
