Thinktank: Firms need doers, not just shouters Dixons reduced the number of staff in its stores by a fifth and yet saw their customers" willingness to recommend them leap from 42pc to 73pc. The employee survey results went up at the same time, too. Sebastian James, CEO of Dixons, is unabashed as he explains how the facts made this possible. We shared data that showed there was no correlation between the number of staff in a branch and sales for that branch and that, although most customers came into stores on Saturdays, the day with most assistants on the shop floor was Wednesday. When people realised this, they were quick to appreciate that we needed to change, even though this would mean that some of them would lose their job. For the commercial non-executive directors who joined the boards of government departments, the biggest shock was the lack of reliable data. There are plenty of mid-cap companies that are just as factually challenged when it comes to understanding profitability by customer, the cost of servicing different market segments and even the rate, or whereabouts, of unwanted employee departures. Corporate chiefs who dream of being James Bond would do well to recall that, when asked what he wants, he invariably replies "information." That is far more use in the boardroom than a vodka martini. Earlier this year, the World Management Survey found that the companies that persistently overperformed set clear goals for individuals, assessed their performance regularly and reinforced both with incentives and learning programmes. The businesses that did these things even just a little bit better ended up performing a lot better. No data means no meaningful goals against which to assess performance and so no objective way to incentivise. In the Civil Service, only 37pc of staff think that poor performance is dealt with well. Few private sector corporations score that much higher. While poor information is part of the problem, this is mainly because managers shy away from challenging conversations. In a culture where it pays to play safe, careless talk costs jobs. I spent much of last week interviewing the leadership team of a global financial services company. When I asked what kind of people flourish, I got the response: "Hyper-conservative types who keep their heads down." And who leaves? Instigators who challenge the status quo. Unsurprisingly, this company struggles with putting strategy into practice. As a result, only a minority of their front-line staff believe that the bosses can, or will, lead them to a successful future. "Truth" is the first of Sir Terry Leahy's "management in 10 words." "Act" is the fifth. It's sensible to recruit people who have a bias for action. Equally, most leaders have to make the best with whom they've got. And so, while it's vital to reward people for coming up with ideas, the real trophies need to go to those who put them into practice. Not everyone has a proclivity to keep going and so it pays to educate people on how to deal with brick walls. This is more about how to neutralise saboteurs and win over the fence-sitters than project management methodologies. It's also about resilience. As Professor Randy Pausch put it: "Brick walls are a way of reminding you how much you want something." Whatever reform is planned, the most important thing is to stick with it. A month after embarking on the implementation of a major transformation strategy for 35,000 people, the much admired CEO of one company resigned to join a competitor. In most organisations the project would stall, subject to a further review pending the arrival of his successor. However, this company's leaders didn't miss a beat. The plans for change had already been well socialised with the senior team and so they made sure that the programme continued unaffected. Get the facts, make people accountable, congratulate those who "do" over those who shout, show people how to navigate the blocks and hold the course. That's a plan for action. Octavius Black is CEO of Mind Gym (www.themindgym.com)