Do You OODA?

Tom Peters must not get much sleep.  Every time I read a post on his blog it’s about another book he read or a reference to an obscure text.  I’d love to know just how he decides what to read (not to mention I’d like to be his bookseller.)

About a week ago he wrote about O.O.D.A. loops…

Air Force Colonel John Boyd re-wrote the modern military strategy book with an
idea called "O.O.D.A. Loops." O.O.D.A. stands for: Observe. Orient. Decide.
Act. Whoever has the shortest OODA cycle tends to win – mostly by confusing the
enemy, who is forced into a permanently reactionary mode of action. In aerial
warfare, the opponents of those with the quickest OODA loop-cycle tend to die
not shot down, but by crashing courtesy disorientation caused by overreacting to
the lightening fast twists and turns of the "keep on moving" pilot.

I’m sure I’ve seen this before but it just now struck me that one of the best things having a strong non-cash incentive strategy in place is the ability to shorten the O.O.D.A. loop.

Any company that has a platform for rewarding and recognizing those that contribute to its success – whether that’s employees, customers or channel partners – will have the ability to react and influence behavior more quickly – shortening the O.O.D.A. loop.

As an example:  Let’s assume a Marketing Manager sees that a competitor is offering a new product in the market place and wants to pro-actively promote a similar product from their mix.  If the company has a strong performance strategy and reward platform they can provide an incentive to their customers immediately for the new product, add a non-cash incentive to their sales force and distribution channel and layer in a customer service non-cash incentive to help with upsell/cross sell opportunities.

All of  that can happen without once talking to a compensation committee or having to create a program.  The company can simply decide and act.  Launch and reward.

So my question is… do you O.O.D.A.?  Take a moment and ask yourself how you would handle a similar example. 

I hope you don’t simply slap your forehead and say "I shooda had a platform in place!"