1. a whitepaper from
Results Management: A Primer
What It is. Why Now. And How To Get Started.
Performance
Management
Goal Setting &
Strategic Planning
Business
Intelligence
Project
Management
Document
Management
Collaboration

2. Results Management: A Primer2
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Quest to Achieve
Management Excellence. ������������������������������������������������������������� 4
Results Management Emphasis
by Organizational Role. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
What is the Process to
Implement Results Management? ���������������������������������������������� 8
The Results Management Cycle:
Plan, Execute, Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
How Pervasive is the
Practice of Results Management? ��������������������������������������������10
What are impediments to
Results Management?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The Solution: A Dedicated Platform
for Results Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The AchieveIt Results
Management Platform. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Conclusion: The Time is
Right for Results Management ��������������������������������������������������16
Results Management: A Primer

3. 3| achieveit.com
Introduction
This whitepaper discusses the business philosophy
of Results Management. As a discipline, Results
Management is the culmination of thought leadership
inmultipleareas—goalsetting,executionmanagement,
objectives and key results (OKRs)—among other
avenues of business research. It is time that a more
explicit picture of this key emerging managerial
concept be set forth.
Moreover, there is a pressing need for Results Management right now.
To understand why, it helps to gain some historical perspective.
In the late 1970’s and into the 1980’s, Japanese auto manufacturers were
taking the US market by storm. Among their numerous advantages, they
could produce things cheaper and better than their American counter-
parts. This revolution was led primary by the Toyota Production System
(TPS). Interestingly, TPS was not a revolution in industrial manufacturing
processes. Rather, it was a redefinition of how physical work occurred and
was managed. Visual cues were used to regulate jobs. The interrelationship
among tasks was made incredibly clear. Employees could stop the pro-
duction line if they suspected that quality was off track. Ultimately, these
practices were largely adopted by all automobile manufacturers, leveling
the playing field once again.
Since that time, economies in all developed nations have become increas-
ingly based on services. From the most low-skilled services to the most
sophisticated knowledge worker service product, these elements of the
economy are directly delivered by people. Managing people
to deliver services has become an incredibly important com-
ponent of strategic advantage and competitive differentiation.
Unfortunately, no overriding methodology and supporting
mechanism has arrived that allows managers to consistently
get results through their teams of people. Results Management
presents an answer to this pressing problem.
Unfortunately, no overriding
methodology and supporting
mechanism has allowed
managers to consistently
get results through their
teams of people

4. Results Management: A Primer4
Managers are the primary articulators of resources required
to propel an organization forward. Consequently, performance
levels of organizations with “great” managers differ significantly
from those that have average or sub-par management staffs.
The Quest to Achieve
Management Excellence.
Where Results Management Begins.
Organizations all over the world realize that a primary lever for their success
is achieving a state of Management Excellence. The need is simple to under-
stand. Managers are the primary articulators of resources required to propel
an organization forward. Consequently, performance levels of organizations
with “great” managers differ significantly from those that have average or sub-
par management staffs.
As proof of this belief, there are thousands of business schools and hundreds of
thousands of executive coaches whose mission it is to create better managers.
Researchers have even established a proven link between management
excellence and actual organizational performance. For example, McKinsey
Company partners Scott Keller and Colin Price demonstrate in their author-
itative book Beyond Performance, most organizations are “managed for
mediocrity”. In fact, according to their research, only a third of organizations
that reach a level of excellence are able to maintain it over a decade or more
while an even lower percentage are able to navigate successful transformation
or change management programs.
Business scholars agree that Management Excellence is composed of several
characteristics. For example, Henry Mintzberg, a seminal scholar in the area
of management traits, lists key attributes of managers in the following table:

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Key Attributes Found in Leaders Exhibiting Management Excellence
Category Roles
Interpersonal
Figurehead
Leader
Liaison
Informational
Monitor
Disseminator
Spokesperson
Decisional
Entrepreneur
Disturbance Handler
Resource Allocator
Negotiator
Source: Henry Mintzberg, The nature of managerial work, and The manager’s job: folklore and fact
Others define the attributes of Management Excellence differently. For example, the Canadian
Civil Service defines management excellence by breaking it down as follows:
• Action Management – Design and Execution
• People Management – Individual and Workforce
• Financial Management – Budget and Assets
Finally, we have a quite cynical quote from management guru Peter Drucker. “Most of what
we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their jobs done.”
Regardless of how you break down the definition, we believe that the common threads that
tie excellence in management—or management excellence—together can be summarized
into two major buckets of activity:
Management Excellence = Inspirational Leadership + Results Management
That is, there is a personality aspect of leadership related to being able to articulate a vision
of where the group is headed and motivating individuals to perform. At the same time, there
is a core aspect of managing teams of people to consistently achieve results. Results matter,
and managers are the primary drivers to achieve them.
So it is with the quest for management excellence that results management truly begins.

6. The Executive Guide to Goal Setting6
Results Management Emphasis by
Organizational Role
In an organization with just one person, the individual
is both leader, manager, and doer. The person identifies
where the organization needs to go from a strategic
perspective, organizes the work that needs to be
done, and ultimately does the work that moves the
organization forward.
As organizations get bigger, they have more human resources to deploy
to move an organization forward. Thus, layers of management are intro-
duced to help coordinate these human resources. At the Fortune 500 level,
they may have tens or hundreds of thousands of line workers and thou-
sands or tens of thousands of managers. These managers are necessary
to coordinate the action of line employees in pursuit of organization goals.
In turn, these managers may have managers as well who help coordinate
their activities, and so on and so forth all the way up to the CEO.
Looking at an organization, the required mixes of Inspirational Leadership,
Results Management, and Doing (Task Execution) change depending
upon an employee’s level within an organization. The CEO may spend
much more time Leading than a manager close to the line level. A line
manager will spend proportionately more of his or her time Doing than
the CEO. However, both of them have responsibilities in each area
– Leadership (determine where to go), Management (coordinate and facil-
itate resources), and Doing (complete individual work items).
Results Management
Requires Different Things
From Different People:
1. CEO’s provide more
leadership
2. Line of Business Leaders
will do more managing
3. Managers will focus more
on doing
But everyone provides
a mix of them all.

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The following chart shows a possible distribution of time for an organization
with three levels of management:
In this diagram, it is apparent that the bulk of time spent by anyone in the orga-
nization who is not a line employee is dedicated to Managing resources. That
is because managers are critical to ensuring that all resources are appro-
priately deployed towards organization objectives. They ensure that there is
visibility to activities up and down the organization and that resources are
coordinates to achieve the organization’s objectives.
Management and leadership expert F. John Reh theorized that “A Manager is
the person responsible for planning and directing the work of a group of indi-
viduals, monitoring their work, and taking corrective action when necessary.”
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a manager as “A person responsible
for controlling or administering an organization or group of staff.”
Given that managers direct resources for the benefit
of their organizations, the definition of a manager, in
essence, is this: Managers are responsible for getting
results through groups of people. Managers are
expected to deliver results.
This is the discipline of Results Management.
CEO
Function VP Function VP
Department Mgr Department Mgr
Line Employee
Line Employee
Leading
Managing
Doing
Key: Time Spent
Time Distribution
By Organizational Role

8. The Executive Guide to Goal Setting8
What is the Process to Implement Results Management?
As discussed thus far, some managers are better than others. They
more consistently deliver results than their peers. Much of that success
can be attributed to following a pattern of behaviors and actions that are
universally required in the execution of plans, initiatives, and projects.
We divide this pattern for the execution of plans, initiatives, and projects into three phases that
managers need to follow to be successful into three steps; Plan Execute, Monitor.
These steps are required regardless of plan or project size. Clearly, to
execute a strategic plan or annual operating plan, it must be carefully
planned, executed, and monitored. So too must a quality improvement,
cost reduction or change management initiative. In order to effect
change, planning, execution, and monitoring must exist. Even at the level
of week-to-week activities or projects, successful managers employ this
pattern of activities to ensure that their teams deliver results.
Consider these examples of targeted results for different types
of leaders:
• COO – Ensure all new customer installations occur on time
• VP of Customer Support – Maintaining customer satisfaction of 95%+
• VP of Marketing – Reaching lead gen targets across multiple
marketing channels
• CFO – Closing the books on a monthly basis
• VP of Product Development – Ensuring that all products are moving
successfully towards launch
Steps for Successful
Management:
1. Plan
What is it that needs to
occur in what timeframe
using which resources?
2. Execute
How are actual activities
going to get done? Who is
going to help, and how will
progress and final results be
documented?
3. Monitor
Is the plan being executed
towards a successful
conclusion? Where does
the manager need to
intervene in order to get
things back on track? How
is performance assessed at
the plan and individual level?
How do I feed key learnings
back into the next plan,
initiative, or project?

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The Results Management Cycle – Plan, Execute, Monitor
Each of these targeted goals (or desired results) must be planned, executed, and monitored.
Thus, the Results Management cycle—Plan, Execute, Monitor—is required for both Change
Management (big plans, initiatives, and projects) and Steady-State Management (small plans,
initiatives, and projects).
Applies to Both Steady State and Change Management Initiatives, Plans and Projects
Change
Management
Steady State
Management

10. The Executive Guide to Goal Setting10
How Pervasive is the Practice of Results
Management?
Unfortunately, even though the principles of Results
Management are clear, and the need for it is certain,
they are not widely practiced on a formal basis within
organizations today.
Here are just a few examples of research on the topic, and why the need for
such a process is steadily increasing:
• “90% of organizations fail to successfully implement their strategies…”
(Kaplan and Norton, Creators of Balanced Scorecard methodology)
• “Organizations realize just 60% of the potential value of their strategies…”
(Economist Intelligence Unit)
• “50% of respondents…indicated that their project failed to consistently achieve
what they set out to achieve…” (KPMG)
A University of Michigan study sought to determine the causes of failing to
consistently achieve objectives. They addressed major strategic projects
in four different categories/types of organizations:
1. Repeat Performers
Organizations attempting to execute the same strategies and initiatives
2. Direction Changers
Organizations attempting to pursue new strategies using existing practices
3. New Tools
Organizations pursuing existing strategies using new practices
4. Brave New World
Organizations pursuing new strategies using new practices

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As show in the chart below, management was blamed in three out of the four catego-
ries for failure to execute. In the fourth category (Brave new world), management was
still the second highest ranked source of failure.
Barriers to success/cause of failure of organization to achieve
objectives as reported by managers themselves in four types
of organizations
Success
Barrier
Repeat
Performers
Direction
Change
New Tools
Brave New
World
External Factors 2.4 2.4 2.3 2.4
Leadership 2.5 2.7 2.7 2.2
Process 2.0 2.4 2.3 2.1
The takeaway from this study is essential to our own findings. Despite the fact that
leaders and managers are smart, driven people, the evidence points back to a lack of
effectiveness in management with respect to driving organizations forward.
All of which makes the need for a process such as Results Management that much
more important.

12. Results Management: A Primer12
What tool does the COO use to keep the trains running on time?
What is his or her management operating system? How about
the CFO? The VP of Marketing? In most cases, the answer is
generally individual office produc­tivity software plus email.
What are impediments to Results Management?
The main impediment to success in consistently executing
Change Management and Steady-State Management
initiatives is the lack of appropriate tools.
With so many kinds of business software available, this may
be difficult to believe, but it is true. Results Management
may be one of the very few facets of management where
this is the case.
Consider this. The staff accountant has a general ledger system to keep track of
entries. The customer support agent has a ticketing system to direct his or her
work. The sales representative has a Sales Force Automation (SFA) or Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) system to keep track of contacts and activities.
What does the COO use to keep the trains running on time? What is his or her
management operating system? In most cases, the answer is generally individual
office productivity software plus email.

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In some cases, these individuals try to leverage disparate tools designed for tasks such
as goal setting, strategic planning, project management, collaboration, document man-
agement/sharing or business intelligence. Unfortunately, none of these alternatives are
designed to help coordinate the efforts of teams in support of common objectives. Nor are
they designed to work together.
Current Tools Used to Plan, Execute, and Monitor are Siloed from
One Another and Don’t Provide an Integrated Solution to Address
Results Management
Upon closer inspection, it becomes more obvious why these tools do not adequately address
the challenges of Change Management and Steady-State Management. Generally office
productivity tools only cover actually completing tasks within the plan, initiative, or project.
Other alternatives only cover a small portion of the Results Management cycle.
Performance
Management
Goal Setting
Strategic Planning
Business
Intelligence
Project
Management
Document
Management
Collaboration

14. The Executive Guide to Goal Setting14
The Solution: A Dedicated Platform for
Results Management
Clearly, leaders and managers would be much better
positioned for success if they had a dedicated
enterprise platform that helped them repeatedly
conduct the Results Management cycle. Rather than
trying to leverage tools that were intended for individual
work productivity or enterprise systems that only
address a small portion of the Results Management
cycle, a complete platform would make executing both
Change Management and Steady-State Management
activities easier and more consistent.
AchieveIt has built the world’s first Results Management platform that intel-
ligently combines functionality from multiple software domains to create
a management operating system environment dedicated to enabling man-
agers to take their performance to the next level.
Performance
Management
Goal Setting
Strategic Planning
Business
Intelligence
Project
Management
Document
Management
Collaboration

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The AchieveIt Results Management Platform
The Operating System For Management Excellence
AchieveIt Combines Key Functionality from Disparate
Software Packages to Create the First Purpose-Built
Platform for Results Management
It is not surprising that our mission at AchieveIt is to “Revolutionize the way that
businesses drive results through innovative technology”. We believe that technol-
ogy is a key part of the next wave of management innovation.
Just as CRM has changed how sales organizations accomplish their objectives,
AchieveIt’s Results Management platform is enabling managers at all levels to
consistently deliver results by supporting all phases of the Results Management
cycle, and the achievement of management excellence by leaders and their
teams across a full range of departments within an organization.
• Integrated plan , initiatives, and projects
• Dependencies/Gantt View
• Completion Tracking
Project Management
• Team or Individual Objectives
• Visual plan construction and
relationship mapping
Goal Setting
• Document Sharing
• Version Control
Document Management
• Contextual Discussions
• Real-time tasking
• Email Workflow
Collaboration
• Performance Tracking
• Individual and plan-level assessments
Performance Management
• Custom Dashboards
• Drill-down
• Attribute Reporting
Business Intelligence

16. Results Management: A Primer16
Conclusion: The Time is Right for Results
Management
It is time for a revolution in how organizations
enable their managers to consistently deliver results.
Management Excellence has long been recognized
as a component of organization performance. Now,
more than ever, businesses, governments, healthcare
organizations, educational institutions, and even
non-profit organizations need to elevate the level of
performance of their managers to compete and be
relevant in the modern economy.
Results Management is a concept that is a natural outgrowth
of studies of what constitutes Management Excellence and
how managers drive plans, projects, and initiatives to success-
ful conclusions. Managers can be empowered by software in
support of the Results Management Cycle.
AchieveIt’s Results Management platform is the first in the
market to address this vital need.
About AchieveIt
AchieveIt is the leading
platform in the emerging
space of Results Management.
Our cloud-based platform ties
the creation of strategy to
the execution of the business
plan. It also provides powerful
reporting tools for executives
to view, track, and manage
organizational progress
towards the achievement
of results. This new way of
approaching execution—
Results Management—is
empowering organizations
across industries to achieve
new levels of success.