Moving through one fiscal period to the next, Team PCU repeatedly scrutinizes metrics of performance, always looking for the nugget to continuously improve results. Unfortunately, countless forests have been harvested in order to produce the reams of reports, charts, and scorecards that provide this degree of insight. And often to our collective frustration, the results don't always reflect the desired outcome, and usually highlight an organizational shortcoming of some sort. In light of evidence to the contrary, Team PCU knows there is no substitute for tracking key performance metrics and using this information to support decisions.

The sixty four thousand dollar question becomes then how best to manage results when the data being analyzed reflects historical performance. How does Team PCU manage order intake or shipments for the past month? How about direct labor costs, support expenses, and nonconformance costs on completed projects? If the results are not what we think they should be, what is it that we are missing? Relax; Team PCU is not missing anything. The reality is that you can't manage results; you manage behavior, monitor metrics related to the desired behaviors, and report results! If we collectively exhibit the behaviors that are known to generate the desired results, and monitor those behaviors, the results will take care of themselves.

The difficulty is not identifying the behaviors that are proven effective. They are usually obvious, rather basic, and don't require a manual to learn. The difficulty is becoming proficient at exhibiting these behaviors over a sustained period of time as a normal course of doing ones job. Truth be told, we all know it is not as easy as it sounds and takes intestinal fortitude to put forth the effort for as long as it takes to have the behavior become a habit. Ouch, it hurts just thinking about!

Don't fret, it doesn't have to be a painful ordeal, and is the ultimate beauty of habits; once it becomes one, it becomes second nature and easy to repeat. We all have our share of habits that can be debated on weather they are good or bad. For Team PCU, the desired job performance habits incorporate embracing the reality of the current economy, accepting the reality of constant changes occurring in established markets, and signing up to performance expectations that reflect the character, values, and excellence that have been at the core of PCU's success for over 60 years.

Since August, Team PCU has been exhibiting the behaviors of regular communication with a rhythm that involves daily production meetings, weekly team and staff meetings, monthly operating reviews, quarterly all-employee meetings, and annual business planning. Full year strategic platforms have been parsed down to quarterly priorities that get reviewed monthly, and discussed weekly in conjunction with daily performance expectations. By focusing on the behaviors associated with effective project execution, and monitoring performance to schedules, quality costs, and labor utilization, reported results have steadily improved.

2009 is going to be a challenging year and one that will define the norm going forward. Team PCU doesn't simply have a job to do in delivering financial results; it has a responsibility to use this moment as a defining point in PCU's history! A responsibility to continue exhibiting the behaviors that sustain improving project performance as well as begin exhibiting "hunter" behaviors that uncover new opportunities in nontraditional market segments for alternative applications with new customers. A responsibility to recognize that on-going market turbulence can be your friend; and a responsibility to internalize that "a race's hardest parts, the uphill stages, are where the lead changes hands."