And so if you give me the job, I won't tell your boss you haven't understood a single word I've said
What makes something relevant to someone? People, are most interested in things that help them and their business become more successful. Success for businesses, of course, is made up of specific combinations of –
* profit
* market share
* share price
* turnover
* customer satisfaction
* regulatory compliance
Success for business departments, obviously, depends on their function in the business, but for a quick reference, based on my bitter personal experience, how about-
Sales Departments
Success for sales professionals (after driving a great car, wearing lovely clothes and talking, endlessly about themselves) will be about the volume of sales achieved versus their targets, the ratio of wins vs. opportunities, the price achieved for those sales and the cost of those sales to the business.
Marketing Departments
Success for marketers (as well as being able to look great, wear lovely clothes and talk a good game about how sales is really all about marketing), success for marketers is all about the brand and their support of sales through targeted and effective marketing and advertising campaigns. The brand effectiveness can be measured in terms of identity, awareness in their target groups and the demonstrable value of the brand in tangible terms; and campaign effectiveness can be measured through many complex and abstract means.
Production Departments
Measure their success (after how much blood they’ve shed for this company and how hard their working life is compared to all of the ‘tossers’ in …. add name of any/every other department in the business here) in terms of total production achieved, the quality of that production vs. targets and the costs of that production vs their targets.
HR Departments
Tend to be measured in their ability to deliver the right people with the right knowledge, skills, attitudes and habits at the right costs for the business to do what it must. But remember they think they run the business and like to be treated as ‘First Among Equals’. So whatever you know, they’ll have read a paper on it, so will know more than you!
Finance Departments
Are measured by the effectiveness of their financial controls on the business and the quality of advice they give to the Board. They have the attitude that every single penny spent on people is money burned, so be prepared to be able to explain how you personally will repay the CFO if the project fails.
