Shayne Magee, director, Client Solutions, Diversified Information Technologies
When you talk to prospects, what do they tell you is their biggest document processing challenge, and why?
Our prospects and clients typically have many customers. The relationship they have is one that requires efficient management of inbound and outbound documents and data. The biggest challenge has been finding a partner that has a complete solution. The solutions needs to seamlessly capture, output, processing, and preservation of increasingly compliant centric environments.
What is your company doing to address this challenge?
Diversified is continuing to develop our virtual mailroom and information lifecycle management solutions. Our solutions can be combined and interfaced seamlessly with our clients infrastructure and systems. All of our offerings are specifically designed to deploy quickly and solve this previously unmet industry challenge for a single source solution.
Additionally, We have been adding integrated document facilities across the country to support the requirements of our financial, healthcare, enterprise and government clients. We added five in the last 12 months and continue to invest in quality programs and certification to support our clients needs. Currently, Diversified holds the following certifications: NARA, ISO 9001, SaS 70 Type II, HIPAA, and, most recently, NAID.
What do you believe will be the major storyline in document processing over the next 12 months, and why?
We are in the middle of a swiftly moving trend of SaaS technology, which is allowing organizations to collaborate and communicate in real time streamlined processes that in many cases eliminate previous steps, antiquated systems, and documents. We feel SaaS-deployed applications, and the inclusion of the mobile Internet tsunami, will be the major ECM storyline in the next 12 months.
What’s the most interesting thing in the documents processing space that you’ve read about recently (that wasn’t put out by your own company)?
Some new data points from some AIIM research have been very interesting regarding the change in paper-based policies in a Facebook era. They forecast an evolution from systems of records to systems of engagement and potentially the end of email, wet signatures, and paper based transactions.
What do you think?
Showing posts with label business process improvement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business process improvement. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
The business value of managed content
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Managed content can deliver 30 percent productivity gains and a 25 percent in efficiency improvements, according to new research co-sponsored by OpenText and AIIM.
One of the more notable findings from the survey of more than 450 information technology professionals and business managers is that the productivity of professional staff would be improved by 30 percent if they could only find internal information and documents as quickly and as easily as they find information on the Web. Along the same lines, respondents said customer service levels and response times could be improved by 33 percent if all customer-facing staff could immediately access and share all of the customer-related and case-related information.
Additional opportunities for improvement included:
• The productivity of administrative staff could be increased on average by 33 percent through use of workflow, scanned forms and automated data capture.
• Changing to a culture of electronic-only filing would reduce the office space allocated to filing storage from 14.5 percent to 5.9 percent – a 60-percent reduction.
• The size of server farms dedicated to unstructured content and emails could be reduced by between a third and a half if each document or email attachment was stored only once.
• A collaborative, widely accessible team-site environment could improve project delivery by 23 percent on average in terms of time and project costs.
• Respondents indicated they believe that Enterprise 2.0 applications could improve staff productivity and engagement by about 18 percent.
• The improved efficiency from providing office staff with comprehensive mobile access to company information would likely be between 20 and 25 percent.
While the survey indicates a compelling case for adopting enterprise content management (ECM) technologies, it also exposes the significant challenges for companies that get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of documents and content accumulating on shared drives, email, laptops and mobile device and paper files.
According to 61 percent of the survey respondents, organizational knowledge is the first thing to suffer in a badly managed environment, causing the organization to lose its competitive position due to poor decisions and a lack of accumulated corporate expertise. Innovation is considered to be another significant victim of poor collaboration and restricted knowledge-sharing, followed by the productivity impact of information search fatigue.
Compliance breaches and information and data leaks also weighed heavily on the minds of the survey respondents. For instance, 40 percent of organizations would take a financial hit from a compliance breach while fully 66 percent would suffer bad – and costly – publicity. Over a third of organizations reported they would have no way of finding out who was responsible if sensitive data was “leaked” to a competitor or to the press by a trusted employee. Only a quarter could readily point to a specific employee based on activity logs. For 60 percent of the largest organizations, the potential impact of such a leak would be high, and for 13 percent it would be “disastrous.”
“As the research confirms, companies that claim, control and capitalize on content increase their people’s contribution, deliver better customer service, and save money – all of which leads to better business,” said James Latham, chief marketing officer, OpenText. “At the same time, succumbing to fast-growing unstructured content inside the enterprise will increase risk, stifle innovation, or worse yet, leak sensitive documents. The case for ECM has never been stronger.”
What do you think?
Managed content can deliver 30 percent productivity gains and a 25 percent in efficiency improvements, according to new research co-sponsored by OpenText and AIIM.
One of the more notable findings from the survey of more than 450 information technology professionals and business managers is that the productivity of professional staff would be improved by 30 percent if they could only find internal information and documents as quickly and as easily as they find information on the Web. Along the same lines, respondents said customer service levels and response times could be improved by 33 percent if all customer-facing staff could immediately access and share all of the customer-related and case-related information.
Additional opportunities for improvement included:
• The productivity of administrative staff could be increased on average by 33 percent through use of workflow, scanned forms and automated data capture.
• Changing to a culture of electronic-only filing would reduce the office space allocated to filing storage from 14.5 percent to 5.9 percent – a 60-percent reduction.
• The size of server farms dedicated to unstructured content and emails could be reduced by between a third and a half if each document or email attachment was stored only once.
• A collaborative, widely accessible team-site environment could improve project delivery by 23 percent on average in terms of time and project costs.
• Respondents indicated they believe that Enterprise 2.0 applications could improve staff productivity and engagement by about 18 percent.
• The improved efficiency from providing office staff with comprehensive mobile access to company information would likely be between 20 and 25 percent.
While the survey indicates a compelling case for adopting enterprise content management (ECM) technologies, it also exposes the significant challenges for companies that get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of documents and content accumulating on shared drives, email, laptops and mobile device and paper files.
According to 61 percent of the survey respondents, organizational knowledge is the first thing to suffer in a badly managed environment, causing the organization to lose its competitive position due to poor decisions and a lack of accumulated corporate expertise. Innovation is considered to be another significant victim of poor collaboration and restricted knowledge-sharing, followed by the productivity impact of information search fatigue.
Compliance breaches and information and data leaks also weighed heavily on the minds of the survey respondents. For instance, 40 percent of organizations would take a financial hit from a compliance breach while fully 66 percent would suffer bad – and costly – publicity. Over a third of organizations reported they would have no way of finding out who was responsible if sensitive data was “leaked” to a competitor or to the press by a trusted employee. Only a quarter could readily point to a specific employee based on activity logs. For 60 percent of the largest organizations, the potential impact of such a leak would be high, and for 13 percent it would be “disastrous.”
“As the research confirms, companies that claim, control and capitalize on content increase their people’s contribution, deliver better customer service, and save money – all of which leads to better business,” said James Latham, chief marketing officer, OpenText. “At the same time, succumbing to fast-growing unstructured content inside the enterprise will increase risk, stifle innovation, or worse yet, leak sensitive documents. The case for ECM has never been stronger.”
What do you think?
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
10 most common mistakes leaders make
Posted by Mark Brousseau
There are people in every organization you know whose titles indicate they are leaders. Often, and unfortunately, their employees beg to differ. Oh, they don’t say it directly, not to the boss’s face, anyway. They say it with their ho-hum performance, their games of avoidance, their dearth of enthusiasm. Leaders—real leaders who have mastered their craft—don’t preside over such lackluster followers. If reading this makes you squirm with recognition, leadership expert John Hamm says you may have a problem lurking.
You’re really just masquerading. You haven’t yet earned the right to lead.
“When times are good, not-so-great leaders can get by,” says Hamm, author of Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership (Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint, February 2011, ISBN: 978-0-47092843-1, $24.95, www.unusuallyexcellent.com). “They’re cushioned by a surplus of cash, and their missteps are covered up by the thrill of top-line growth, which hides a multitude of sins. But when the cloak of prosperity falls away, their mediocrity is ruthlessly exposed.
“Real leadership equity is only earned, not bestowed,” he adds. “Just because you have been granted authority doesn’t mean you’re getting the full, collaborative engagement of your employees. You may have their bodies and time forty or fifty hours a week, but until you earn the privilege, from their point of view, you’ll never have their hearts and minds.”
Hamm has spent his career studying the practitioners of great leadership via his work as a venture capitalist, board member, high-level consultant, and professor of leadership at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. In his new book, he shares what he has learned and brings those lessons to life with real-world stories.
“These aren’t radically new ideas,” asserts Hamm. “Human nature hasn’t changed that much over the millennia, so neither have the core laws of leadership. It’s just that in the heat of the day-to-day battle, leaders inevitably lose their grip on the basic principles of leadership. In other cases, they never learned these fundamentals or mastered them earlier in their career. And finally, sad to say, some people just aren’t cut out to lead and need to understand why.”
“Normal” leadership is a complex system of behaviors that can tolerate a lot of little mistakes, explains Hamm. Extraordinary leadership cannot.
Think about it this way: Anyone can snap a photo that looks okay or cook a meal that satiates hunger. However, when an award-winning photographer takes the picture, or a five-star chef prepares dinner, anyone can tell a master has been at work. The same is true of leadership. The small deficiencies in how the novice leads, as opposed to the unusually excellent professional, create a radical difference in the outcome.
So how can you tell whether you really are a great leader in the minds of your employees—or whether, to paraphrase the old television commercial, you’re just playing one on TV? Unfortunately, the depth and breadth of the mistakes you make often tell the true tale.
Below, excerpted from Unusually Excellent, Hamm reveals ten of the most common, deeply destructive mistakes organizational leaders make:
MISTAKE #1: “Role playing” authenticity rather than living it. Authenticity is about owning your failures and shortcomings. It’s about allowing others to really know you, vulnerabilities, warts, and all. It’s about having the guts to seek feedback from others in a sincere and genuine fashion. And it’s about being able to maintain your authentic self in a situation of meaningful consequence—where your decisions affect others, sometimes on a grand scale and sometimes in very personal or dramatic ways.
Knowing who you really are and holding true to yourself in the most difficult moments is the “ground zero” of leadership credibility. It’s the only way to create the trusted connections you need to lead with real influence. Unfortunately, leaders stumble for a variety of reasons: They get scared and veer away at the last moment, or they sacrifice the truth on the altar of protecting other people’s feelings, or they simply seek to avoid the pain of conflict.
“When we make the decision to compromise our authenticity, we end up delivering a message that may feel ‘easier’ but that isn’t truly what we want or need to say,” explains Hamm. “Deception conspires with fear and seduces us down a dark road of believing we can ‘fake it,’ just this one time and it will all be okay.
“But the downstream impact of making such a choice in a moment of stress or carelessness can be devastating,” he adds. “For one thing, it compromises the integrity of that all-important communications channel between leader and follower by changing expectations about the behavior of both. Worse, it sets a precedent for this type of authentic behavior that over time can trap a leader into an expectation or pattern of always behaving that way—and over the course of years this is a soul-destroying situation.”
MISTAKE #2: Underestimating the impact of small acts of dishonesty. In his book, Hamm describes an incident that took place at a famous, fast-growing technology company. A young, inexperienced, but talented associate had what he thought was a plan for a powerful new marketing initiative. So he asked the CMO to broker a meeting with the CEO to make a presentation on the subject. The CMO agreed, and the meeting took place.
During the presentation the CEO was polite, if noncommittal. He gave the presenter a sort of passively accepting feedback—“Nice point,” “Interesting,” and so on—and wrapped up the meeting quickly, thanking the presenter for his initiative. But the CMO could sense a duplicity in the CEO’s behavior and attitude as the parties all headed back to their respective offices. Then, ten minutes after the meeting, the CEO called the CMO into his office and said, in essence, “That presentation was absolutely terrible. That guy’s an idiot. I want you to fire him, today.”
“The story of the firing spread (as it always does) throughout the company, morale slipped, and the CMO never completely trusted his boss again,” writes Hamm. “The CEO’s reputation for trustworthiness had been wounded forever. The wreckage from one seemingly small act of dishonesty was strewn all over the company and could never be completely cleaned up.”
MISTAKE #3: Being two-faced (and assuming others won’t notice). In another scenario from Hamm’s book, a CEO had one executive on his team whom he really trusted and in whom he could confide. One day, a couple of other members of that company’s executive team made a presentation at a board meeting that didn’t go so well. Later, as they were walking down a hallway, the CEO turned to his trusted executive and said, “We need to get rid of those guys. They were a disaster at the board meeting—they embarrassed me.”
But then nothing happened. Life at the company went on as before, and the targeted executives remained in their jobs. In the months that passed, the trusted executive found himself in meetings attended by both the CEO and the targeted executives. And it was as if the whole incident had never happened. The CEO joked with the men, complimented them on their work, and treated them as long-term team members.
As the trusted executive watched this, he asked himself: Did the boss mean what he said? Does he ever mean what he says? Did he change his mind—and when did that happen? Or is he too gutless to follow through with his plans? And if he’s willing to stab those guys in the back and then pretend to be their trusting partner, how do I know he hasn’t been doing the same thing with me? Just how duplicitous is this guy?
“Such are the dangers of shooting from the hip without realizing that a communication such as the one just described does not qualify as a ‘casual’ comment—once said, it must be resolved, and if it is not, there is a lingering odor that in one way or another, will remain smelly until fixed,” writes Hamm.
MISTAKE #4: Squelching the flow of bad news. Do you (or others under you) shoot the messenger when she brings you bad news? If so, you can be certain that the messenger’s priority is not bringing you the information you need: It’s protecting her own hide. That’s why in most organizations good news zooms to the top, while bad news—data that reveals goals missed, problems lurking, or feedback that challenges or defeats our strategy—flows uphill like molasses in January.
Unusually excellent leaders understand this reality, says Hamm. To combat it they work hard to build a primary and insatiable demand for the unvarnished facts, the raw data, the actual measurements, the honest feedback, the real information.
“We must install a confidence and a trust that leaders in the organization value the facts, the truth, and the speed of delivery, not the judgments or interpretations of ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ and that messengers are valued, not shot,” writes Hamm. “If we can do this then the entire behavior pattern of performance information flow will change for the better…Very few efforts will yield the payback associated with improving the speed and accuracy of the information you need most to make difficult or complex decisions.”
MISTAKE #5: Punishing “good failures.” Great organizations encourage risk-taking. Why? Because innovation requires it. There can be no reward without risk. But if your employees take a risk and fail, and you come down on them like a hammer, guess what? They’ll never risk anything again. Unusually excellent leaders deliberately create high-risk, low-cost environments—a.k.a. cultures of trust—where people don’t live in fear of the consequences of failure.
Hamm says a digital camera is the perfect analogy to the kind of culture you want to create.
“There is no expense associated with a flawed digital photograph—financial or otherwise,” he explains. “You just hit the ‘delete’ button, and it disappears. No wasted film, slides, or prints. And we are aware of this relationship between mistakes and consequences when we pick up the camera—so we click away, taking many more photos digitally than we would have in a world of costly film. Because we know failure is free, we take chances, and in that effort we often get that one amazing picture that we wouldn’t have if we were paying for all the mistakes.”
MISTAKE #6: Letting employee enthusiasm fizzle. A big part of a leader’s job is to be compelling. That means you must recruit “A players” through a big vision of the future and a personal commitment to a mission. But it’s not enough to recruit once and then move on. Never assume “once enrolled, always enrolled.” Even the best followers need to be reminded again and again how fun, rewarding, and meaningful their work is.
In other words, when people seem to be losing their spark, they need to become “born again” employees. (Time to put on your evangelist cloak!)
“Enthusiasm is a renewable resource,” says Hamm. “Part of being compelling is reminding yourself that people want and need to be reenrolled all the time. This message doesn’t have to be over the top to be compelling. It may just entail reminding your team, once per quarter, why you come to the office every day, and letting them reflect on the reason they do the same.”
MISTAKE #7: Refusing to deal with your “weakest links.” Chronic underperformers spoil things for everyone else. They create resentment among employees who are giving it their all, and they drag down productivity. Leaders must have a plan for getting these problem children off the playground—and they must act on that plan without procrastination.
“The worst scenario of all is to have a plan for dealing with underperformers, to identify who those individuals are, and then not pull the trigger on the announced consequences, for reasons of sentimentality, weakness, or favoritism—or worst of all, an attempt to preserve leadership popularity,” writes Hamm.
Nothing can be more damaging to the morale and esprit de corps of a team than that kind of leadership. It destroys your authenticity, your trustworthiness, and your ability to compel others to act. It is the end of you as a leader. Indeed, it is better to have no weakest-link plan at all than one with obvious liabilities.
MISTAKE #8: Allowing people to “fail elegantly.” There are two basic operating modes for organizations under high-stakes execution pressure, writes Hamm. One is the mentality of winning, which we know about; the other, less obvious to the untrained eye, the disease of failing elegantly, is a very sophisticated and veiled set of coping behaviors by individuals, the purpose of which is to avoid the oncoming train of embarrassment when the cover comes off the lousy results that we’d prefer no one ever sees.
Essentially, when people stop believing they can win, some then devote their energy to how best to lose. This fancy losing often manifests as excuse-making, blaming, tolerating cut corners, and manipulating and editorializing data. Unusually excellent leaders know how to recognize these symptoms and intervene with urgency and strength of conviction to get everyone on the high road—a.k.a., the winner’s mindset.
“Passive acceptance of failure, and the rationalization that always goes with it, is a cancer that can begin anywhere in the organization, then metastasize to every office, including your own,” says Hamm. “You can prevent it by setting clear and precise standards of behavior for everyone on the team, as well as clear consequences for the violation of those standards. And you can control it through continuous and open communication with every member of your team (some who will spot the problem before you do) and, where necessary, redundant processes and systems.
“Most of all, you can cure the acceptance of failure by setting yourself as an example of zero tolerance (along with a welcome for honest admissions of error), of precision and care in all of your work, a clear-eyed focus on unvarnished results, and most of all, an unyielding and unwavering commitment to your success.”
MISTAKE #9: Delaying decisions until it’s too late. Not making a decision is almost always worse than making a bad decision, says Hamm. As long as they aren’t utterly ill-advised and catastrophic, bad decisions at least keep the organization moving in pace with changing events—and thus can often be rectified by a course correction.
Not making a decision at all, although it may seem the safe choice—because, intellectually, it positions you to make the right move when the reality of the situation is more revealed—actually strips your organization of its momentum, stalling it at the starting line, and makes it highly unlikely that you can ever get up to speed in time to be a serious player.
“Unusually excellent leaders don’t just make decisions; they pursue them,” writes Hamm. “Because the speed of the organization is often its destiny—and because that speed directly correlates with the speed with which its decisions are made or not made—these leaders are haunted by the fear that somewhere in the organization a critical decision is being left orphaned and unmade.”
MISTAKE #10: Underestimating the weight your words—and your moods—carry. Hamm tells the story of John Adler, who, prior to his CEO tenure at Adaptec, was a senior vice president at Amdahl, one of the pioneering computer companies of Silicon Valley. One morning as he was walking down the long hallway to his office, he encountered some maintenance guys who were doing repairs. He greeted them cheerfully and then, just to make conversation, mentioned how difficult it must be to work in such a dark hallway.
The next morning when Adler came to work, he was surprised to find five maintenance men all carefully replacing every light bulb in the hallway. When he questioned the flurry of activity, the men said, “We’re replacing the light bulbs, boss. You said it was too dark in here.” Hamm says this story illustrates why leaders need to think carefully about every word they say—because others certainly will.
“Every conversation with, and every communication from, a leader carries added weight because of the authority of the position behind it,” writes Hamm. “Have a bad day and snap at one of your subordinates, and that person may go back to a cramped cubicle and start updating his résumé, or go out and get drunk, or miss a night’s sleep. Your momentary bad day could be his nightmare—and something he will remember forever. Your mood matters; don’t make it your employees’ problem.”
So if you recognize any of these mistakes in yourself, are you forever doomed as a leader? Of course not, says Hamm. We’re all human, and we can all learn from our errors and redeem ourselves. And yet, he adds, there is no shame in realizing that leadership is not for everyone—or in declining to lead if it’s not for you. (In your heart you probably already know.)
“Leadership is a choice,” he says. “It is a deep, burning desire to engage with people and rally a community to achieve greatness. Leadership can be difficult, thankless, frustrating, maddening work at times. It is only the passion of leading on the field—the thrill of looking other human beings in the eyes and seeing their energy, willingness, trust, and commitment—that makes it all worthwhile, in a very quiet, private way.”
What do you think?
There are people in every organization you know whose titles indicate they are leaders. Often, and unfortunately, their employees beg to differ. Oh, they don’t say it directly, not to the boss’s face, anyway. They say it with their ho-hum performance, their games of avoidance, their dearth of enthusiasm. Leaders—real leaders who have mastered their craft—don’t preside over such lackluster followers. If reading this makes you squirm with recognition, leadership expert John Hamm says you may have a problem lurking.
You’re really just masquerading. You haven’t yet earned the right to lead.
“When times are good, not-so-great leaders can get by,” says Hamm, author of Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership (Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint, February 2011, ISBN: 978-0-47092843-1, $24.95, www.unusuallyexcellent.com). “They’re cushioned by a surplus of cash, and their missteps are covered up by the thrill of top-line growth, which hides a multitude of sins. But when the cloak of prosperity falls away, their mediocrity is ruthlessly exposed.
“Real leadership equity is only earned, not bestowed,” he adds. “Just because you have been granted authority doesn’t mean you’re getting the full, collaborative engagement of your employees. You may have their bodies and time forty or fifty hours a week, but until you earn the privilege, from their point of view, you’ll never have their hearts and minds.”
Hamm has spent his career studying the practitioners of great leadership via his work as a venture capitalist, board member, high-level consultant, and professor of leadership at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. In his new book, he shares what he has learned and brings those lessons to life with real-world stories.
“These aren’t radically new ideas,” asserts Hamm. “Human nature hasn’t changed that much over the millennia, so neither have the core laws of leadership. It’s just that in the heat of the day-to-day battle, leaders inevitably lose their grip on the basic principles of leadership. In other cases, they never learned these fundamentals or mastered them earlier in their career. And finally, sad to say, some people just aren’t cut out to lead and need to understand why.”
“Normal” leadership is a complex system of behaviors that can tolerate a lot of little mistakes, explains Hamm. Extraordinary leadership cannot.
Think about it this way: Anyone can snap a photo that looks okay or cook a meal that satiates hunger. However, when an award-winning photographer takes the picture, or a five-star chef prepares dinner, anyone can tell a master has been at work. The same is true of leadership. The small deficiencies in how the novice leads, as opposed to the unusually excellent professional, create a radical difference in the outcome.
So how can you tell whether you really are a great leader in the minds of your employees—or whether, to paraphrase the old television commercial, you’re just playing one on TV? Unfortunately, the depth and breadth of the mistakes you make often tell the true tale.
Below, excerpted from Unusually Excellent, Hamm reveals ten of the most common, deeply destructive mistakes organizational leaders make:
MISTAKE #1: “Role playing” authenticity rather than living it. Authenticity is about owning your failures and shortcomings. It’s about allowing others to really know you, vulnerabilities, warts, and all. It’s about having the guts to seek feedback from others in a sincere and genuine fashion. And it’s about being able to maintain your authentic self in a situation of meaningful consequence—where your decisions affect others, sometimes on a grand scale and sometimes in very personal or dramatic ways.
Knowing who you really are and holding true to yourself in the most difficult moments is the “ground zero” of leadership credibility. It’s the only way to create the trusted connections you need to lead with real influence. Unfortunately, leaders stumble for a variety of reasons: They get scared and veer away at the last moment, or they sacrifice the truth on the altar of protecting other people’s feelings, or they simply seek to avoid the pain of conflict.
“When we make the decision to compromise our authenticity, we end up delivering a message that may feel ‘easier’ but that isn’t truly what we want or need to say,” explains Hamm. “Deception conspires with fear and seduces us down a dark road of believing we can ‘fake it,’ just this one time and it will all be okay.
“But the downstream impact of making such a choice in a moment of stress or carelessness can be devastating,” he adds. “For one thing, it compromises the integrity of that all-important communications channel between leader and follower by changing expectations about the behavior of both. Worse, it sets a precedent for this type of authentic behavior that over time can trap a leader into an expectation or pattern of always behaving that way—and over the course of years this is a soul-destroying situation.”
MISTAKE #2: Underestimating the impact of small acts of dishonesty. In his book, Hamm describes an incident that took place at a famous, fast-growing technology company. A young, inexperienced, but talented associate had what he thought was a plan for a powerful new marketing initiative. So he asked the CMO to broker a meeting with the CEO to make a presentation on the subject. The CMO agreed, and the meeting took place.
During the presentation the CEO was polite, if noncommittal. He gave the presenter a sort of passively accepting feedback—“Nice point,” “Interesting,” and so on—and wrapped up the meeting quickly, thanking the presenter for his initiative. But the CMO could sense a duplicity in the CEO’s behavior and attitude as the parties all headed back to their respective offices. Then, ten minutes after the meeting, the CEO called the CMO into his office and said, in essence, “That presentation was absolutely terrible. That guy’s an idiot. I want you to fire him, today.”
“The story of the firing spread (as it always does) throughout the company, morale slipped, and the CMO never completely trusted his boss again,” writes Hamm. “The CEO’s reputation for trustworthiness had been wounded forever. The wreckage from one seemingly small act of dishonesty was strewn all over the company and could never be completely cleaned up.”
MISTAKE #3: Being two-faced (and assuming others won’t notice). In another scenario from Hamm’s book, a CEO had one executive on his team whom he really trusted and in whom he could confide. One day, a couple of other members of that company’s executive team made a presentation at a board meeting that didn’t go so well. Later, as they were walking down a hallway, the CEO turned to his trusted executive and said, “We need to get rid of those guys. They were a disaster at the board meeting—they embarrassed me.”
But then nothing happened. Life at the company went on as before, and the targeted executives remained in their jobs. In the months that passed, the trusted executive found himself in meetings attended by both the CEO and the targeted executives. And it was as if the whole incident had never happened. The CEO joked with the men, complimented them on their work, and treated them as long-term team members.
As the trusted executive watched this, he asked himself: Did the boss mean what he said? Does he ever mean what he says? Did he change his mind—and when did that happen? Or is he too gutless to follow through with his plans? And if he’s willing to stab those guys in the back and then pretend to be their trusting partner, how do I know he hasn’t been doing the same thing with me? Just how duplicitous is this guy?
“Such are the dangers of shooting from the hip without realizing that a communication such as the one just described does not qualify as a ‘casual’ comment—once said, it must be resolved, and if it is not, there is a lingering odor that in one way or another, will remain smelly until fixed,” writes Hamm.
MISTAKE #4: Squelching the flow of bad news. Do you (or others under you) shoot the messenger when she brings you bad news? If so, you can be certain that the messenger’s priority is not bringing you the information you need: It’s protecting her own hide. That’s why in most organizations good news zooms to the top, while bad news—data that reveals goals missed, problems lurking, or feedback that challenges or defeats our strategy—flows uphill like molasses in January.
Unusually excellent leaders understand this reality, says Hamm. To combat it they work hard to build a primary and insatiable demand for the unvarnished facts, the raw data, the actual measurements, the honest feedback, the real information.
“We must install a confidence and a trust that leaders in the organization value the facts, the truth, and the speed of delivery, not the judgments or interpretations of ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ and that messengers are valued, not shot,” writes Hamm. “If we can do this then the entire behavior pattern of performance information flow will change for the better…Very few efforts will yield the payback associated with improving the speed and accuracy of the information you need most to make difficult or complex decisions.”
MISTAKE #5: Punishing “good failures.” Great organizations encourage risk-taking. Why? Because innovation requires it. There can be no reward without risk. But if your employees take a risk and fail, and you come down on them like a hammer, guess what? They’ll never risk anything again. Unusually excellent leaders deliberately create high-risk, low-cost environments—a.k.a. cultures of trust—where people don’t live in fear of the consequences of failure.
Hamm says a digital camera is the perfect analogy to the kind of culture you want to create.
“There is no expense associated with a flawed digital photograph—financial or otherwise,” he explains. “You just hit the ‘delete’ button, and it disappears. No wasted film, slides, or prints. And we are aware of this relationship between mistakes and consequences when we pick up the camera—so we click away, taking many more photos digitally than we would have in a world of costly film. Because we know failure is free, we take chances, and in that effort we often get that one amazing picture that we wouldn’t have if we were paying for all the mistakes.”
MISTAKE #6: Letting employee enthusiasm fizzle. A big part of a leader’s job is to be compelling. That means you must recruit “A players” through a big vision of the future and a personal commitment to a mission. But it’s not enough to recruit once and then move on. Never assume “once enrolled, always enrolled.” Even the best followers need to be reminded again and again how fun, rewarding, and meaningful their work is.
In other words, when people seem to be losing their spark, they need to become “born again” employees. (Time to put on your evangelist cloak!)
“Enthusiasm is a renewable resource,” says Hamm. “Part of being compelling is reminding yourself that people want and need to be reenrolled all the time. This message doesn’t have to be over the top to be compelling. It may just entail reminding your team, once per quarter, why you come to the office every day, and letting them reflect on the reason they do the same.”
MISTAKE #7: Refusing to deal with your “weakest links.” Chronic underperformers spoil things for everyone else. They create resentment among employees who are giving it their all, and they drag down productivity. Leaders must have a plan for getting these problem children off the playground—and they must act on that plan without procrastination.
“The worst scenario of all is to have a plan for dealing with underperformers, to identify who those individuals are, and then not pull the trigger on the announced consequences, for reasons of sentimentality, weakness, or favoritism—or worst of all, an attempt to preserve leadership popularity,” writes Hamm.
Nothing can be more damaging to the morale and esprit de corps of a team than that kind of leadership. It destroys your authenticity, your trustworthiness, and your ability to compel others to act. It is the end of you as a leader. Indeed, it is better to have no weakest-link plan at all than one with obvious liabilities.
MISTAKE #8: Allowing people to “fail elegantly.” There are two basic operating modes for organizations under high-stakes execution pressure, writes Hamm. One is the mentality of winning, which we know about; the other, less obvious to the untrained eye, the disease of failing elegantly, is a very sophisticated and veiled set of coping behaviors by individuals, the purpose of which is to avoid the oncoming train of embarrassment when the cover comes off the lousy results that we’d prefer no one ever sees.
Essentially, when people stop believing they can win, some then devote their energy to how best to lose. This fancy losing often manifests as excuse-making, blaming, tolerating cut corners, and manipulating and editorializing data. Unusually excellent leaders know how to recognize these symptoms and intervene with urgency and strength of conviction to get everyone on the high road—a.k.a., the winner’s mindset.
“Passive acceptance of failure, and the rationalization that always goes with it, is a cancer that can begin anywhere in the organization, then metastasize to every office, including your own,” says Hamm. “You can prevent it by setting clear and precise standards of behavior for everyone on the team, as well as clear consequences for the violation of those standards. And you can control it through continuous and open communication with every member of your team (some who will spot the problem before you do) and, where necessary, redundant processes and systems.
“Most of all, you can cure the acceptance of failure by setting yourself as an example of zero tolerance (along with a welcome for honest admissions of error), of precision and care in all of your work, a clear-eyed focus on unvarnished results, and most of all, an unyielding and unwavering commitment to your success.”
MISTAKE #9: Delaying decisions until it’s too late. Not making a decision is almost always worse than making a bad decision, says Hamm. As long as they aren’t utterly ill-advised and catastrophic, bad decisions at least keep the organization moving in pace with changing events—and thus can often be rectified by a course correction.
Not making a decision at all, although it may seem the safe choice—because, intellectually, it positions you to make the right move when the reality of the situation is more revealed—actually strips your organization of its momentum, stalling it at the starting line, and makes it highly unlikely that you can ever get up to speed in time to be a serious player.
“Unusually excellent leaders don’t just make decisions; they pursue them,” writes Hamm. “Because the speed of the organization is often its destiny—and because that speed directly correlates with the speed with which its decisions are made or not made—these leaders are haunted by the fear that somewhere in the organization a critical decision is being left orphaned and unmade.”
MISTAKE #10: Underestimating the weight your words—and your moods—carry. Hamm tells the story of John Adler, who, prior to his CEO tenure at Adaptec, was a senior vice president at Amdahl, one of the pioneering computer companies of Silicon Valley. One morning as he was walking down the long hallway to his office, he encountered some maintenance guys who were doing repairs. He greeted them cheerfully and then, just to make conversation, mentioned how difficult it must be to work in such a dark hallway.
The next morning when Adler came to work, he was surprised to find five maintenance men all carefully replacing every light bulb in the hallway. When he questioned the flurry of activity, the men said, “We’re replacing the light bulbs, boss. You said it was too dark in here.” Hamm says this story illustrates why leaders need to think carefully about every word they say—because others certainly will.
“Every conversation with, and every communication from, a leader carries added weight because of the authority of the position behind it,” writes Hamm. “Have a bad day and snap at one of your subordinates, and that person may go back to a cramped cubicle and start updating his résumé, or go out and get drunk, or miss a night’s sleep. Your momentary bad day could be his nightmare—and something he will remember forever. Your mood matters; don’t make it your employees’ problem.”
So if you recognize any of these mistakes in yourself, are you forever doomed as a leader? Of course not, says Hamm. We’re all human, and we can all learn from our errors and redeem ourselves. And yet, he adds, there is no shame in realizing that leadership is not for everyone—or in declining to lead if it’s not for you. (In your heart you probably already know.)
“Leadership is a choice,” he says. “It is a deep, burning desire to engage with people and rally a community to achieve greatness. Leadership can be difficult, thankless, frustrating, maddening work at times. It is only the passion of leading on the field—the thrill of looking other human beings in the eyes and seeing their energy, willingness, trust, and commitment—that makes it all worthwhile, in a very quiet, private way.”
What do you think?
The lost art of face-to-face communication
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Communicating meaningfully is becoming more difficult than ever before. While technology has created an ever increasing number of ways to communicate rapidly over great distances, many people are now so well insulated and protected by these devices we use that we are losing the skills and abilities to communicating in the most influential way – face to face.
Stacey Hanke, a Chicago-based management consultant and author of the book Yes You Can has serious concerns about the ever-increasing use of technology in business and organizations.
“There’s a real danger to the maintenance and perpetuation of meaningful communications and personal and professional relationships. If you become overly dependent on email or text messages, you focus on the object, but not the person,” Hanke warns.
Hanke says that tweets, text messages, email and Facebook posts, all transmit words over distances so they can be received without presence of the sender. The human element and context is absent.
“It’s a one-sided blast. Take that! Click!” she observes. “You cannot communicate meaningfully with 140 spaces! All you can say is “Wassup!”
These messages are typically short, sequential, controlled and directed. There’s no instantaneous interaction or connection that allows the other person to understand the tone, inflection or emotion that is carried with the words. The sender cannot express or effectively project the elements of trust, confidence, credibility, warmth, empathy, and concern that are crucial to developing and building a personal relationship. The recipient cannot perceive these elements either.
That failure to convey the feelings that accompany the words so people build trust, credibility, and understanding can have a phenomenal impact on business and success.
Meaningful communications that carry these powerful and important characteristics can only be achieved in face-to-face interactions.
Communicating with impact and achieving influence with people is not only about what you say-it’s also how you say it. You have influence on others because you see their face, observe and experience their emotion, and actively listen and engage their interest and support and build relationships.
You know it’s probably time for a face-to-face when:
... You no longer really understand what is important to your listener.
... You think they have become bored or are losing interest in you or your message.
... You feel they are no longer listening and do not understand you.
There are also certain topics of conversation where face-to-face communication will absolutely be the best way to achieve clarity and understanding needed for mutual success and beneficial action.
... Negotiating salaries, vacations, termination;
... Resolving a dispute, a challenge or a conflict between two or more people or organizations;
... Seeking clarification after written communications has failed.
Face-to-face communication is a very crucial skill. It requires you to focus. You have to be able to be comfortable in the presence of other people for more than a few minutes.
Communicating with impact and influence face-to-face also requires discipline, determination, and self-control.
Here are some of her best recommendations:
Make your moments together count. Everyone has the right to speak. Listen before you speak. Earn the right to be heard. Think about what you want to say before you say it. Make every communication moment worth you and your listener’s time. Every word counts. Think before you speak. Tailor what you say to meet your listener’s needs.
Pay attention by listening for the unspoken emotions. Concentrate on the speaker closely. Focus intently on their face. Do not let your eyes dart away and drift off, since that signals you are no longer paying attention. Do not interrupt. Wait to speak only when the person has finished what they want to say. Hear their words and read their face so that you gain maximum understanding of the why behind their words.
Honor the other person’s space and time. Prepare ahead of time. Match the message to the opportunity. Get to the point quickly. Don’t frustrate your listener by taking too long to get the key message across. Don’t ramble and clutter your message with unnecessary points. Ask for the right action. Be clear and be specific. Watch the time. Don’t take 20 minutes when you only asked for ten. Show you know how to respect the other person.
Prepare for your face-to-face meeting ahead of time. Know your listener.
Tailor your agenda and message to achieve the understanding you need and to influence your listener to act on what you have to say.
Watch Your Body Language. Avoid non-verbal abuse. Every movement you make counts. Control your facial expressions. Don’t smile, snicker, whistle, roll your eyes, or grimace, look sideways, wink, or send the evil eye. Your behavior and non-verbal cues are as important as the words you say. Don’t fidget, act nervous, express fear, or allow your posture to convey uncertainty, insincerity, lack of caring, arrogance, overconfidence, dismay or criticism.
Be Sincere and Authentic. Speak in your authentic voice. Be sincere, be genuine and allow others to see the real you.
Maintain the Power of the Floor. Be interesting. If you see the signs that you are no longer the center of attention:
Stop. Break the flow. Earn their attention. Get back on track.
Ask for Feedback. Face-to-face communications is a two way street. Balanced feedback allows people to be relaxed and comfortable. However, when people start feeling comfortable they also may become lazy and lose their professionalism. Don’t forget who you are and what you are doing. Maintain your self-control. Ask for specific feedback…about the points you raised, the manner in which you presented, the way you responded. Ask for balanced feedback about how to improve and immediately begin applying this feedback.
What do you think?
Communicating meaningfully is becoming more difficult than ever before. While technology has created an ever increasing number of ways to communicate rapidly over great distances, many people are now so well insulated and protected by these devices we use that we are losing the skills and abilities to communicating in the most influential way – face to face.
Stacey Hanke, a Chicago-based management consultant and author of the book Yes You Can has serious concerns about the ever-increasing use of technology in business and organizations.
“There’s a real danger to the maintenance and perpetuation of meaningful communications and personal and professional relationships. If you become overly dependent on email or text messages, you focus on the object, but not the person,” Hanke warns.
Hanke says that tweets, text messages, email and Facebook posts, all transmit words over distances so they can be received without presence of the sender. The human element and context is absent.
“It’s a one-sided blast. Take that! Click!” she observes. “You cannot communicate meaningfully with 140 spaces! All you can say is “Wassup!”
These messages are typically short, sequential, controlled and directed. There’s no instantaneous interaction or connection that allows the other person to understand the tone, inflection or emotion that is carried with the words. The sender cannot express or effectively project the elements of trust, confidence, credibility, warmth, empathy, and concern that are crucial to developing and building a personal relationship. The recipient cannot perceive these elements either.
That failure to convey the feelings that accompany the words so people build trust, credibility, and understanding can have a phenomenal impact on business and success.
Meaningful communications that carry these powerful and important characteristics can only be achieved in face-to-face interactions.
Communicating with impact and achieving influence with people is not only about what you say-it’s also how you say it. You have influence on others because you see their face, observe and experience their emotion, and actively listen and engage their interest and support and build relationships.
You know it’s probably time for a face-to-face when:
... You no longer really understand what is important to your listener.
... You think they have become bored or are losing interest in you or your message.
... You feel they are no longer listening and do not understand you.
There are also certain topics of conversation where face-to-face communication will absolutely be the best way to achieve clarity and understanding needed for mutual success and beneficial action.
... Negotiating salaries, vacations, termination;
... Resolving a dispute, a challenge or a conflict between two or more people or organizations;
... Seeking clarification after written communications has failed.
Face-to-face communication is a very crucial skill. It requires you to focus. You have to be able to be comfortable in the presence of other people for more than a few minutes.
Communicating with impact and influence face-to-face also requires discipline, determination, and self-control.
Here are some of her best recommendations:
Make your moments together count. Everyone has the right to speak. Listen before you speak. Earn the right to be heard. Think about what you want to say before you say it. Make every communication moment worth you and your listener’s time. Every word counts. Think before you speak. Tailor what you say to meet your listener’s needs.
Pay attention by listening for the unspoken emotions. Concentrate on the speaker closely. Focus intently on their face. Do not let your eyes dart away and drift off, since that signals you are no longer paying attention. Do not interrupt. Wait to speak only when the person has finished what they want to say. Hear their words and read their face so that you gain maximum understanding of the why behind their words.
Honor the other person’s space and time. Prepare ahead of time. Match the message to the opportunity. Get to the point quickly. Don’t frustrate your listener by taking too long to get the key message across. Don’t ramble and clutter your message with unnecessary points. Ask for the right action. Be clear and be specific. Watch the time. Don’t take 20 minutes when you only asked for ten. Show you know how to respect the other person.
Prepare for your face-to-face meeting ahead of time. Know your listener.
Tailor your agenda and message to achieve the understanding you need and to influence your listener to act on what you have to say.
Watch Your Body Language. Avoid non-verbal abuse. Every movement you make counts. Control your facial expressions. Don’t smile, snicker, whistle, roll your eyes, or grimace, look sideways, wink, or send the evil eye. Your behavior and non-verbal cues are as important as the words you say. Don’t fidget, act nervous, express fear, or allow your posture to convey uncertainty, insincerity, lack of caring, arrogance, overconfidence, dismay or criticism.
Be Sincere and Authentic. Speak in your authentic voice. Be sincere, be genuine and allow others to see the real you.
Maintain the Power of the Floor. Be interesting. If you see the signs that you are no longer the center of attention:
Stop. Break the flow. Earn their attention. Get back on track.
Ask for Feedback. Face-to-face communications is a two way street. Balanced feedback allows people to be relaxed and comfortable. However, when people start feeling comfortable they also may become lazy and lose their professionalism. Don’t forget who you are and what you are doing. Maintain your self-control. Ask for specific feedback…about the points you raised, the manner in which you presented, the way you responded. Ask for balanced feedback about how to improve and immediately begin applying this feedback.
What do you think?
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Making the most of the economic recovery
Posted by Mark Brousseau
The U.S. economy is finally on an uptick. According to Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke, the economy is set to grow by 3-4 percent in 2011. That’s great news for businesses that have been seeing decreasing or stagnant numbers on their revenue reports for the last couple of years. But now that more growth is possible, Dan Adams warns that it’s time to make sure your company is poised to get its share of the economic recovery.
"The best way to shape your company’s economic recovery into the most profitable form possible is to deliver more than your share of customer value,” says Adams, author of New Product Blueprinting: The Handbook for B2B Organic Growth. "Specifically, you need to develop differentiated products that provide benefits your customers crave. Products they can’t get anywhere else at a comparable cost. Doing so will accelerate your growth in the upturn and insulate you from the worst of the next downturn.”
Adams notes that you must keep in mind that your competition won’t be standing idly by while you innovate and grow during the improving economy. To stay ahead of your competition, you should keep a targeted focus on what sets your company apart in your industry.
“There could be any number of marketable differences,” explains Adams. “Are your scientists smarter? Do you spend more on R&D? Do you have a longer time horizon? These things can give you an incremental edge, but the best way to deliver substantial new customer value is this: Don’t approach the problem the same way your competitors do.”
Adams recommends using a differentiated approach for differentiated products. He says most competitors approach product development with a supplier-centric mentality, meaning they develop new products based on what they think their customers need. Instead, suppliers should use a customer-centric view, focusing on what their customers know they need.
To avoid this trap, he suggests following the five tips below:
Implement your customers’ ideas, not yours. Do you have a new product development process, perhaps with stages and gates? Is the first stage labeled “New Idea”? If so, that’s fine, but here’s the question: Whose ideas are listed in this stage—yours or your customers’?
“I’ve trained clients in hundreds of B2B industries and find suppliers nearly always begin product development with their ideas rather than their customers’,” says Adams. “The result is that they don’t know if they are truly meeting their customers’ needs until they can watch the sales results of their new product!
“Most companies make the critical mistake of starting with the supplier solution and ending with market needs,” he continues. “But what if they inverted their process by starting with market needs and ending with supplier solutions? Actually, two things would happen. First, because B2B customers are more insightful, rational, and interested than their B2C counterparts, suppliers would learn much more about customer needs than their competitors. Second, they’d prime those B2B customers to buy their new product by engaging them with highly interactive interviews.”
Conduct B2B-optimized interviews. Of all the ways to learn about customer needs—telephone, mail survey, Internet—nothing comes close in effectiveness to face-to-face customer interviews. If the information being sought is new, complex, or ambiguous—as with B2B product design—the advantages of interviews become even greater. So is the customer interview a key fixture in most new product development processes? For many producers, the answer is no.
Perhaps with so many routine customer interactions, it’s assumed much of it must be interviewing. But if you examine the call frequency of your sales and technical service staff, you will likely find that over 90 percent of face-to-face customer communication is of the “tell-and-sell” variety. Some might protest, “But we get lots of input from our customers on what they want in new products.” The reality, though, is that most new product discussions are actually customer-reactive meetings, not market-proactive interviews.
“You’ll know a market-proactive interview when you see it,” says Adams. “First, a team targets an attractive market segment. Then it schedules interviews with customers, prospects, and their customers’ customers. Two-or-three-person technical-commercial teams prepare their questions and interviewing roles in advance. During the interviews, these teams use advanced listening, probing, and interviewing skills to plumb incredible depths…and the customers love it!”
Get everyone listening to the voice of the customer. Some large firms keep a small staff of highly trained VOC (voice of the customer) experts poised for action. These folks parachute into a project as dawn streaks the morning sky, interview your customers for you, and hand you a report of “what the customer wants.” This is a flawed model, says Adams. Most businesses chalk up thousands of face-to-face customer meetings during the course of a year, as sales reps, technical service reps, and others go about their normal duties—so why not train these people to become VOC experts?
“They’ve already gained the customer’s trust, they know the customer’s language, and there’s no extra travel cost,” he points out. “Best of all, you’ll develop a reputation among customers as ‘that supplier who really listens to us.’ Now that’s how to protect today and position for tomorrow. So keep that handful of experts…but let them become trainers and coaches for the masses, not primary interviewers.”
Get quantitative. After you perform great qualitative customer interviews, you’ll have dozens and dozens of customer ideas you could work on. But which ideas do you target in your new product design? At this point in the process, it’s time to get quantitative.
“You need to understand which customer outcomes are most important and least satisfied today,” explains Adams. “The metric I’ve developed for this is called the Market Satisfaction Gap. It tells you precisely which ideas the customer is eager for you to pursue. The Market Satisfaction Gap prevents a fortune from being spent on developing supplier-centric products that will make customers yawn. Skip this step if you’ve got extra R&D resources you’re trying to keep busy. But make this a priority if you want everyone working on projects that will catapult you out of the recession faster than competitors.”
Research your customers’ alternatives. We often talk about competitive products. That’s okay, but it’s actually healthier to think in terms of customers’ alternatives. For example, if your company makes structural adhesives, alternatives for you might be other adhesives, but they could also be welding or mechanical fasteners.
“In my experience, suppliers don’t look at customers’ alternatives rigorously or early enough during product development,” says Adams. “Proper side-by-side testing requires answers to four key questions:
1) Which attributes should I test?
2) What test procedures should I use?
3) What test result is barely acceptable?
4) What test result leads to total satisfaction?
“The good news for the B2B supplier is that your customers are smart enough to answer all of these questions. Well-designed, customer-centric side-by-side testing will help you properly price your product and avoid getting blindsided by competitors’ products.”
“Research shows that only one in four new products succeeds once a project enters the costly product development stage,” says Adams. “I doubt there is any other function within your company where this level of failure and waste is tolerated. And supplier-centric product development is at the heart of the problem. The key to taking advantage of the recovering economy is in changing the way your company approaches offering new products. Start now and you’ll be well on your way to shaping a truly great economic recovery at your company.”
What do you think?
The U.S. economy is finally on an uptick. According to Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke, the economy is set to grow by 3-4 percent in 2011. That’s great news for businesses that have been seeing decreasing or stagnant numbers on their revenue reports for the last couple of years. But now that more growth is possible, Dan Adams warns that it’s time to make sure your company is poised to get its share of the economic recovery.
"The best way to shape your company’s economic recovery into the most profitable form possible is to deliver more than your share of customer value,” says Adams, author of New Product Blueprinting: The Handbook for B2B Organic Growth. "Specifically, you need to develop differentiated products that provide benefits your customers crave. Products they can’t get anywhere else at a comparable cost. Doing so will accelerate your growth in the upturn and insulate you from the worst of the next downturn.”
Adams notes that you must keep in mind that your competition won’t be standing idly by while you innovate and grow during the improving economy. To stay ahead of your competition, you should keep a targeted focus on what sets your company apart in your industry.
“There could be any number of marketable differences,” explains Adams. “Are your scientists smarter? Do you spend more on R&D? Do you have a longer time horizon? These things can give you an incremental edge, but the best way to deliver substantial new customer value is this: Don’t approach the problem the same way your competitors do.”
Adams recommends using a differentiated approach for differentiated products. He says most competitors approach product development with a supplier-centric mentality, meaning they develop new products based on what they think their customers need. Instead, suppliers should use a customer-centric view, focusing on what their customers know they need.
To avoid this trap, he suggests following the five tips below:
Implement your customers’ ideas, not yours. Do you have a new product development process, perhaps with stages and gates? Is the first stage labeled “New Idea”? If so, that’s fine, but here’s the question: Whose ideas are listed in this stage—yours or your customers’?
“I’ve trained clients in hundreds of B2B industries and find suppliers nearly always begin product development with their ideas rather than their customers’,” says Adams. “The result is that they don’t know if they are truly meeting their customers’ needs until they can watch the sales results of their new product!
“Most companies make the critical mistake of starting with the supplier solution and ending with market needs,” he continues. “But what if they inverted their process by starting with market needs and ending with supplier solutions? Actually, two things would happen. First, because B2B customers are more insightful, rational, and interested than their B2C counterparts, suppliers would learn much more about customer needs than their competitors. Second, they’d prime those B2B customers to buy their new product by engaging them with highly interactive interviews.”
Conduct B2B-optimized interviews. Of all the ways to learn about customer needs—telephone, mail survey, Internet—nothing comes close in effectiveness to face-to-face customer interviews. If the information being sought is new, complex, or ambiguous—as with B2B product design—the advantages of interviews become even greater. So is the customer interview a key fixture in most new product development processes? For many producers, the answer is no.
Perhaps with so many routine customer interactions, it’s assumed much of it must be interviewing. But if you examine the call frequency of your sales and technical service staff, you will likely find that over 90 percent of face-to-face customer communication is of the “tell-and-sell” variety. Some might protest, “But we get lots of input from our customers on what they want in new products.” The reality, though, is that most new product discussions are actually customer-reactive meetings, not market-proactive interviews.
“You’ll know a market-proactive interview when you see it,” says Adams. “First, a team targets an attractive market segment. Then it schedules interviews with customers, prospects, and their customers’ customers. Two-or-three-person technical-commercial teams prepare their questions and interviewing roles in advance. During the interviews, these teams use advanced listening, probing, and interviewing skills to plumb incredible depths…and the customers love it!”
Get everyone listening to the voice of the customer. Some large firms keep a small staff of highly trained VOC (voice of the customer) experts poised for action. These folks parachute into a project as dawn streaks the morning sky, interview your customers for you, and hand you a report of “what the customer wants.” This is a flawed model, says Adams. Most businesses chalk up thousands of face-to-face customer meetings during the course of a year, as sales reps, technical service reps, and others go about their normal duties—so why not train these people to become VOC experts?
“They’ve already gained the customer’s trust, they know the customer’s language, and there’s no extra travel cost,” he points out. “Best of all, you’ll develop a reputation among customers as ‘that supplier who really listens to us.’ Now that’s how to protect today and position for tomorrow. So keep that handful of experts…but let them become trainers and coaches for the masses, not primary interviewers.”
Get quantitative. After you perform great qualitative customer interviews, you’ll have dozens and dozens of customer ideas you could work on. But which ideas do you target in your new product design? At this point in the process, it’s time to get quantitative.
“You need to understand which customer outcomes are most important and least satisfied today,” explains Adams. “The metric I’ve developed for this is called the Market Satisfaction Gap. It tells you precisely which ideas the customer is eager for you to pursue. The Market Satisfaction Gap prevents a fortune from being spent on developing supplier-centric products that will make customers yawn. Skip this step if you’ve got extra R&D resources you’re trying to keep busy. But make this a priority if you want everyone working on projects that will catapult you out of the recession faster than competitors.”
Research your customers’ alternatives. We often talk about competitive products. That’s okay, but it’s actually healthier to think in terms of customers’ alternatives. For example, if your company makes structural adhesives, alternatives for you might be other adhesives, but they could also be welding or mechanical fasteners.
“In my experience, suppliers don’t look at customers’ alternatives rigorously or early enough during product development,” says Adams. “Proper side-by-side testing requires answers to four key questions:
1) Which attributes should I test?
2) What test procedures should I use?
3) What test result is barely acceptable?
4) What test result leads to total satisfaction?
“The good news for the B2B supplier is that your customers are smart enough to answer all of these questions. Well-designed, customer-centric side-by-side testing will help you properly price your product and avoid getting blindsided by competitors’ products.”
“Research shows that only one in four new products succeeds once a project enters the costly product development stage,” says Adams. “I doubt there is any other function within your company where this level of failure and waste is tolerated. And supplier-centric product development is at the heart of the problem. The key to taking advantage of the recovering economy is in changing the way your company approaches offering new products. Start now and you’ll be well on your way to shaping a truly great economic recovery at your company.”
What do you think?
Monday, February 14, 2011
Lessons in leadership
Posted by Mark Brousseau
If strong leadership was important during the recession, it will be especially important as organizations try to distinguish themselves from their competitors during better economic times.
The good news is that anyone can make a difference and anyone can lead. But not everyone chooses to do so. That’s according to Steve Boehlke, author of a new book titled, “50 Lessons on Leading for those with Little Time for Reading.” The book, published by Lilja Press (www.liljapress.com), is a compilation of actionable leadership lessons from people of diverse and varied backgrounds who have helped Boehlke learn about leadership. Among some of the leadership lessons Boehlke shares:
… Leadership is more about value than success.
… Leadership is passing the ball when you want to take the shot.
… Leadership is having vision – even in the dark.
… Leadership is calling forth the best in others.
… Leadership is letting go but not giving up.
… Leadership is setting a good example.
… Leadership is acknowledging your limits in order to go beyond them.
Any leadership lessons you can share?
If strong leadership was important during the recession, it will be especially important as organizations try to distinguish themselves from their competitors during better economic times.
The good news is that anyone can make a difference and anyone can lead. But not everyone chooses to do so. That’s according to Steve Boehlke, author of a new book titled, “50 Lessons on Leading for those with Little Time for Reading.” The book, published by Lilja Press (www.liljapress.com), is a compilation of actionable leadership lessons from people of diverse and varied backgrounds who have helped Boehlke learn about leadership. Among some of the leadership lessons Boehlke shares:
… Leadership is more about value than success.
… Leadership is passing the ball when you want to take the shot.
… Leadership is having vision – even in the dark.
… Leadership is calling forth the best in others.
… Leadership is letting go but not giving up.
… Leadership is setting a good example.
… Leadership is acknowledging your limits in order to go beyond them.
Any leadership lessons you can share?
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Outsourcing hits plateau?
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Given the slow economic recovery, outsourcing hit a plateau for most industries in 2010, though there were a few important bright spots, including financial services, which witnessed a number of large IT deals, and also the travel industry, as more hotel chains sourced their key technology functions, according to research from law firm Morrison & Foerster.
Following are a few highlights from Morrison & Foerster’s research:
... Market uncertainty continues: nagging high unemployment and near-bankruptcies of some European countries have left companies unsure about the value of entering into long-term outsourcing arrangements.
... As Business Process Outsourcing picks up, companies will increasingly demand innovation from providers, hoping to ensure more long-term and embedded value in the sourcing relationship. “Successful innovation can have a multiplier effect which can lead to increased savings going forward,” the report says.
... Cloud computing has become the biggest money-saving sourcing tool – but privacy concerns have generated industry-specific “private clouds.” Morison Foerster expects the development of a new niche market devoted exclusively to cloud computing security.
... Financial services bounced back in 2010 due to large restructurings and the adoption of outsourcing by middle market institutions. Regulators’ close watch on the industry means banks and insurance companies will insist on stable and creditworthy sourcing providers – who might even be called upon to assume responsibility for system failures at banks. Financial services outsourcing should also get a boost from implementation of the Basel II and III and Solvency II international finance accords.
... Heathcare and pharma deals hardly budged in 2010 but the new U.S. healthcare legislation should spur activity in the near future.
... As the recession eases and short-term cost-cutting is replaced by a longer outlook, “green IT” will become more popular, driven by corporate social responsibility agendas, government requirements, and bottom-line savings. More companies are holding sourcing service providers to green standards of energy efficiency and minimizing waste.
... In the U.S., a significant exception to outsourcing’s relatively tepid performance in 2010 was Legal Process Outsourcing, which law firms are adopting at an unprecedented rate. Further, the types of work being outsourced continues to increase in complexity and sophistication, suggesting a rosy future for LPO – something investors and other strategic buyers have noticed.
How do these findings compare to what you are seeing in the market?
Given the slow economic recovery, outsourcing hit a plateau for most industries in 2010, though there were a few important bright spots, including financial services, which witnessed a number of large IT deals, and also the travel industry, as more hotel chains sourced their key technology functions, according to research from law firm Morrison & Foerster.
Following are a few highlights from Morrison & Foerster’s research:
... Market uncertainty continues: nagging high unemployment and near-bankruptcies of some European countries have left companies unsure about the value of entering into long-term outsourcing arrangements.
... As Business Process Outsourcing picks up, companies will increasingly demand innovation from providers, hoping to ensure more long-term and embedded value in the sourcing relationship. “Successful innovation can have a multiplier effect which can lead to increased savings going forward,” the report says.
... Cloud computing has become the biggest money-saving sourcing tool – but privacy concerns have generated industry-specific “private clouds.” Morison Foerster expects the development of a new niche market devoted exclusively to cloud computing security.
... Financial services bounced back in 2010 due to large restructurings and the adoption of outsourcing by middle market institutions. Regulators’ close watch on the industry means banks and insurance companies will insist on stable and creditworthy sourcing providers – who might even be called upon to assume responsibility for system failures at banks. Financial services outsourcing should also get a boost from implementation of the Basel II and III and Solvency II international finance accords.
... Heathcare and pharma deals hardly budged in 2010 but the new U.S. healthcare legislation should spur activity in the near future.
... As the recession eases and short-term cost-cutting is replaced by a longer outlook, “green IT” will become more popular, driven by corporate social responsibility agendas, government requirements, and bottom-line savings. More companies are holding sourcing service providers to green standards of energy efficiency and minimizing waste.
... In the U.S., a significant exception to outsourcing’s relatively tepid performance in 2010 was Legal Process Outsourcing, which law firms are adopting at an unprecedented rate. Further, the types of work being outsourced continues to increase in complexity and sophistication, suggesting a rosy future for LPO – something investors and other strategic buyers have noticed.
How do these findings compare to what you are seeing in the market?
Thursday, January 6, 2011
7 Deadly Sins that Stunt Organic Growth
Posted by Mark Brousseau
You already know that organic growth makes for a stronger company. It just makes sense to grow from within by developing outstanding products and services that win over new customers and keep current ones coming back. (The alternatives are to grow via debt financing or an army of flush-with-cash buyers on a spending spree—and recovery or no recovery, neither is easy to come by these days!) Problem is, your competitors are playing by the same rules. But according to Dan Adams, you can outwit them…simply by putting a halt to the mistakes you (and they) are making right now.
"Unless your company has smarter employees, some inherent unassailable advantage, or a markedly different approach to satisfying customers, those competitors always seem to throttle your growth,” notes the author of New Product Blueprinting: The Handbook for B2B Organic Growth. “But what if you and your competitors were committing some serious mistakes that stunt organic growth—and you corrected them? Wouldn’t that be enough to propel you to the front of the line?”
It makes sense. And Adams should know: He has spent his career helping some of the largest business-to-business companies in the world overcome the obstacles that clog up their organic growth engines—the ability to develop new “stuff” that customers want to buy. Through New Product Blueprinting (the process described in his book), his company helps clients bring clarity to the “fuzzy front end” of product development.
“In 20 years the common mistakes B2B companies make will be as glaring as trying to improve quality with inspectors rather than statistics,” he says. “Correct them now and you’ll enjoy a substantial head start on years of healthy organic growth.”
Adams identifies the seven deadly sins that too many B2B companies commit:
Sin #1. Imagining customers’ needs in your conference rooms. Does your new product process begin with the word “idea,” perhaps with a light bulb next to it? So whose idea is it: yours or your customers? Unfortunately, says Adams, most suppliers start with their solution, “validate” it by showing it to some customers, and measure market needs by watching sales results…after the product launch!
“Companies should invert this process: Begin with customer needs and end with supplier solutions,” asserts Adams. “While doing things in the wrong order may ‘feel’ better to you, it is far less likely to result in sales and customer satisfaction. Besides, intelligent B2B customers can detect your ‘validation’ a mile away. They correctly sense you are more interested in your idea than in them…and that doesn’t do much for the long-term relationships you need to build.”
Sin #2. Relying on sales reps to capture customer needs. A salesperson is unlikely to uncover a full set of market needs if he is a) rewarded for near-term selling, b) unable to reach true decision makers, or c) not calling on most of the customers in your target market segment. But put a good salesperson on a team with marketing and technical colleagues, train all in advanced B2B interviewing methods, and you’ll run circles around your competitors.
Be wary of VOC (voice-of-the-customer) consultants who want to exclude your sales force from interviews because “they can sell but not listen,” warns Adams. In the long run, your company will fall behind competitors that have taken steps to develop a team of engaged and enlightened salespeople.
Sin #3. Counting on just a few VOC experts. Some companies rely on a handful of internal VOC experts to interview customers. You’ll do far better training a critical mass of employees—who routinely interact with customers—to gather customer needs. Keep your VOC experts as coaches and trainers, but implement “VOC for the masses.” You’ll overwhelm competitors by turning a trickle of customer feedback into a torrent.
Sin #4. Using hand-me-down consumer goods methods. “Traditional VOC methods rely on questionnaires, tape recorders, and post-interview analyses,” says Adams. “That’s fine for consumer goods, but your B2B customers are insightful, rational, interested, and fewer in number. They’re smart and will make you smarter if you engage them in a peer- to-peer dialogue. Use a digital projector, let them lead you to their areas of interest, probe with skill, and you’ll be shocked at how much you’ll learn you never knew.”
Sin #5. Gathering only qualitative customer feedback. “I once had a new client who came to me extremely frustrated,” recalls Adams. “He had spent months interviewing customers, only to hear his boss say, ‘Nah, I don’t think they want that; they want this.’ Unfortunately, interviewers often hear want they want to hear... and then parade some customer quotes for support.”
What you need, adds Adams, is quantitative data, which measure customer importance and satisfaction on key outcomes. Skip quantification and your new product will be based on assumptions, bias, and wishful thinking.
Sin #6. Listening only to immediate customers. Unlike B2C producers, your product might be part of your customers’ products, your customers’ customers’ products, and so on. It’s a mistake to interview only your direct customers, because they are usually unable or unwilling to disclose downstream customers’ deepest needs. Also, B2C producers assign “one vote” per consumer...while you need to weight the buying power and value chain position of downstream customers.
Sin #7. Ignoring competitors when you design your product. “I find most product development processes are far too casual—and late—in assessing competitive offerings,” says Adams. “Your new product makes a lot of money only if two conditions are satisfied: a) it offers significant value to customers, and b) customers cannot get this value elsewhere. Interviews tell you only about Condition A. You need side-by-side testing to learn about Condition B. This allows you to attack competitive weak spots, avoid getting blind-sided, and optimize pricing.”
What do you think?
You already know that organic growth makes for a stronger company. It just makes sense to grow from within by developing outstanding products and services that win over new customers and keep current ones coming back. (The alternatives are to grow via debt financing or an army of flush-with-cash buyers on a spending spree—and recovery or no recovery, neither is easy to come by these days!) Problem is, your competitors are playing by the same rules. But according to Dan Adams, you can outwit them…simply by putting a halt to the mistakes you (and they) are making right now.
"Unless your company has smarter employees, some inherent unassailable advantage, or a markedly different approach to satisfying customers, those competitors always seem to throttle your growth,” notes the author of New Product Blueprinting: The Handbook for B2B Organic Growth. “But what if you and your competitors were committing some serious mistakes that stunt organic growth—and you corrected them? Wouldn’t that be enough to propel you to the front of the line?”
It makes sense. And Adams should know: He has spent his career helping some of the largest business-to-business companies in the world overcome the obstacles that clog up their organic growth engines—the ability to develop new “stuff” that customers want to buy. Through New Product Blueprinting (the process described in his book), his company helps clients bring clarity to the “fuzzy front end” of product development.
“In 20 years the common mistakes B2B companies make will be as glaring as trying to improve quality with inspectors rather than statistics,” he says. “Correct them now and you’ll enjoy a substantial head start on years of healthy organic growth.”
Adams identifies the seven deadly sins that too many B2B companies commit:
Sin #1. Imagining customers’ needs in your conference rooms. Does your new product process begin with the word “idea,” perhaps with a light bulb next to it? So whose idea is it: yours or your customers? Unfortunately, says Adams, most suppliers start with their solution, “validate” it by showing it to some customers, and measure market needs by watching sales results…after the product launch!
“Companies should invert this process: Begin with customer needs and end with supplier solutions,” asserts Adams. “While doing things in the wrong order may ‘feel’ better to you, it is far less likely to result in sales and customer satisfaction. Besides, intelligent B2B customers can detect your ‘validation’ a mile away. They correctly sense you are more interested in your idea than in them…and that doesn’t do much for the long-term relationships you need to build.”
Sin #2. Relying on sales reps to capture customer needs. A salesperson is unlikely to uncover a full set of market needs if he is a) rewarded for near-term selling, b) unable to reach true decision makers, or c) not calling on most of the customers in your target market segment. But put a good salesperson on a team with marketing and technical colleagues, train all in advanced B2B interviewing methods, and you’ll run circles around your competitors.
Be wary of VOC (voice-of-the-customer) consultants who want to exclude your sales force from interviews because “they can sell but not listen,” warns Adams. In the long run, your company will fall behind competitors that have taken steps to develop a team of engaged and enlightened salespeople.
Sin #3. Counting on just a few VOC experts. Some companies rely on a handful of internal VOC experts to interview customers. You’ll do far better training a critical mass of employees—who routinely interact with customers—to gather customer needs. Keep your VOC experts as coaches and trainers, but implement “VOC for the masses.” You’ll overwhelm competitors by turning a trickle of customer feedback into a torrent.
Sin #4. Using hand-me-down consumer goods methods. “Traditional VOC methods rely on questionnaires, tape recorders, and post-interview analyses,” says Adams. “That’s fine for consumer goods, but your B2B customers are insightful, rational, interested, and fewer in number. They’re smart and will make you smarter if you engage them in a peer- to-peer dialogue. Use a digital projector, let them lead you to their areas of interest, probe with skill, and you’ll be shocked at how much you’ll learn you never knew.”
Sin #5. Gathering only qualitative customer feedback. “I once had a new client who came to me extremely frustrated,” recalls Adams. “He had spent months interviewing customers, only to hear his boss say, ‘Nah, I don’t think they want that; they want this.’ Unfortunately, interviewers often hear want they want to hear... and then parade some customer quotes for support.”
What you need, adds Adams, is quantitative data, which measure customer importance and satisfaction on key outcomes. Skip quantification and your new product will be based on assumptions, bias, and wishful thinking.
Sin #6. Listening only to immediate customers. Unlike B2C producers, your product might be part of your customers’ products, your customers’ customers’ products, and so on. It’s a mistake to interview only your direct customers, because they are usually unable or unwilling to disclose downstream customers’ deepest needs. Also, B2C producers assign “one vote” per consumer...while you need to weight the buying power and value chain position of downstream customers.
Sin #7. Ignoring competitors when you design your product. “I find most product development processes are far too casual—and late—in assessing competitive offerings,” says Adams. “Your new product makes a lot of money only if two conditions are satisfied: a) it offers significant value to customers, and b) customers cannot get this value elsewhere. Interviews tell you only about Condition A. You need side-by-side testing to learn about Condition B. This allows you to attack competitive weak spots, avoid getting blind-sided, and optimize pricing.”
What do you think?
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
10 Habits of Highly Effective Managers
By Wes Friesen, Portland General Electric
“Sow a thought and you reap an act; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”
Right in the middle of the quotation above is the importance of our habits. A habit is “an acquired mode of behavior that has become our common practice.” Our habits mold our character and ultimately determine our destiny in the world. Want to further develop your character and develop in to a highly effective manager? Intentionally pursuing and building worthwhile habits is the key.
Following are ten of the habits of highly effective managers. This is not an exhaustive list – but these will build a strong foundation on your road to increased management effectiveness:
1) Habit #1: “Expanding Self-Awareness.” Having a high level of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is essential to being an effective Manager – and EQ starts with having accurate self-awareness. Self-awareness can help us gain self-control and be helpful to people around us – not hurtful. Some tools to help expand our self-awareness include: get feedback from others such as using 360 degree surveys; have a mentor to speak into your life; and constantly seek feedback from others on how we are doing.
2) Habit #2: “Pursue Continuous Learning and Continuous Improvement.” Are you a perfect manager and person? Me neither! What we can do is to commit ourselves to be like-long learners and seek to continuously improve ourselves as managers and as human beings. I have been inspired by this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King: “I may not be the man I want to be; I may not be the man I ought to be; I may not be the man I can be; but praise God, I’m not the man I once was.”
3) Habit #3: “Always do the Right Thing.” Too many people have been victimized by the unethical behavior of those in leadership roles. Remember Enron? My co-workers and I at Portland General will never forget – we were owned by Enron at time of their bankruptcy and our retirement savings were decimated. Mark Twain said “Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.” My former pastor Loren Fischer said “it’s always right to do right” – and I agree.
4) Habit #4: “Be Results AND Relationship Oriented.” As leaders we are expected to get results – and we should. At the same time, building positive relationships is the right thing to do – and it leads to great results. One tool to help build relationships is to consistently practice the 3 Rs with people. Recognize people for who they are and what they do; Reward people for individual and team achievements; and show people Respect – everybody wants to be respected as the classic Aretha Franklin song emphasizes.
5) Habit #5: “Achieve Big Goals one small step at a time.” I remember a grade school friend telling me the following riddle: “Question: how do you eat an elephant? Answer: one bite at a time”. Get the point? We need to set long-term visions and big goals for ourselves and our teams. And we need to break down the journey towards the vision and goals into manageable steps that inspire others to move forward.
6) Habit #6: “See the glass as half-full.” Are you normally a pessimist or an optimist? Studies have shown that the most effective leaders are strong optimists. Being optimistic does not mean that we ignore the half of the glass that is empty. It does mean we are thankful for the half that is full, and we work together to fill the rest of the glass as best we can.
7) Habit #7: “Look for the win-win.” Effective managers don’t get locked into specific positions, but look for ways to meet interests of themselves and others so everybody gets something (a “win-win” versus a “win-lose”).
8) Habit #8: “Spend much time in Quadrant 2.” Stephen Covey popularized the importance of intentionally spending significant time doing “Important, Not Urgent” items. These include things like building relationships, reading and other learning activities, planning and thinking, exercise, etc. To spend more time in Quadrant 2, we need to spend less time in Quadrants 3 & 4 (i.e. “Urgent, Not Important” and “Not Urgent, Not Important”) activities like watching TV, playing video games and wasting time doing things that add no value to our lives or the lives of others.
9) Habit #9: “Enjoy the journey.” Management (and life!) is a journey – filled with both positive and negative experiences. The journey will be much more pleasant and we will go farther if we learn to laugh and be thankful. A Yiddish proverb says “what soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.” Studies have shown that laughter makes us physically and emotionally healthier – and more fun to be around too. Find a funny friend; enjoy a funny TV show or movie – and just laugh! Being thankful is also important. The reality is that we all have much to be thankful for, and our lives will be more joyful and productive if we learn to develop an “attitude of gratitude.”
10) Habit #10: “Remember - your health is your wealth.” Gandhi said “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” Living a healthy lifestyle will increase your energy, stamina and emotional well-being – and help us be more effective in all that we do. A holistic healthy lifestyle includes developing and using our mental capabilities (read a good book lately or taken a class just for the learning?). We are also spiritual beings, and finding faith and serving others can nourish our spiritual health.
Let me leave you with a challenge to not settle for mediocrity, but to get in the game and go for management excellence. Listen to this President Teddy Roosevelt quote “It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doers of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly … who spends himself in a worthy cause.”
Wes can be contacted at Wes.Friesen@pgn.com.
“Sow a thought and you reap an act; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”
Right in the middle of the quotation above is the importance of our habits. A habit is “an acquired mode of behavior that has become our common practice.” Our habits mold our character and ultimately determine our destiny in the world. Want to further develop your character and develop in to a highly effective manager? Intentionally pursuing and building worthwhile habits is the key.
Following are ten of the habits of highly effective managers. This is not an exhaustive list – but these will build a strong foundation on your road to increased management effectiveness:
1) Habit #1: “Expanding Self-Awareness.” Having a high level of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is essential to being an effective Manager – and EQ starts with having accurate self-awareness. Self-awareness can help us gain self-control and be helpful to people around us – not hurtful. Some tools to help expand our self-awareness include: get feedback from others such as using 360 degree surveys; have a mentor to speak into your life; and constantly seek feedback from others on how we are doing.
2) Habit #2: “Pursue Continuous Learning and Continuous Improvement.” Are you a perfect manager and person? Me neither! What we can do is to commit ourselves to be like-long learners and seek to continuously improve ourselves as managers and as human beings. I have been inspired by this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King: “I may not be the man I want to be; I may not be the man I ought to be; I may not be the man I can be; but praise God, I’m not the man I once was.”
3) Habit #3: “Always do the Right Thing.” Too many people have been victimized by the unethical behavior of those in leadership roles. Remember Enron? My co-workers and I at Portland General will never forget – we were owned by Enron at time of their bankruptcy and our retirement savings were decimated. Mark Twain said “Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.” My former pastor Loren Fischer said “it’s always right to do right” – and I agree.
4) Habit #4: “Be Results AND Relationship Oriented.” As leaders we are expected to get results – and we should. At the same time, building positive relationships is the right thing to do – and it leads to great results. One tool to help build relationships is to consistently practice the 3 Rs with people. Recognize people for who they are and what they do; Reward people for individual and team achievements; and show people Respect – everybody wants to be respected as the classic Aretha Franklin song emphasizes.
5) Habit #5: “Achieve Big Goals one small step at a time.” I remember a grade school friend telling me the following riddle: “Question: how do you eat an elephant? Answer: one bite at a time”. Get the point? We need to set long-term visions and big goals for ourselves and our teams. And we need to break down the journey towards the vision and goals into manageable steps that inspire others to move forward.
6) Habit #6: “See the glass as half-full.” Are you normally a pessimist or an optimist? Studies have shown that the most effective leaders are strong optimists. Being optimistic does not mean that we ignore the half of the glass that is empty. It does mean we are thankful for the half that is full, and we work together to fill the rest of the glass as best we can.
7) Habit #7: “Look for the win-win.” Effective managers don’t get locked into specific positions, but look for ways to meet interests of themselves and others so everybody gets something (a “win-win” versus a “win-lose”).
8) Habit #8: “Spend much time in Quadrant 2.” Stephen Covey popularized the importance of intentionally spending significant time doing “Important, Not Urgent” items. These include things like building relationships, reading and other learning activities, planning and thinking, exercise, etc. To spend more time in Quadrant 2, we need to spend less time in Quadrants 3 & 4 (i.e. “Urgent, Not Important” and “Not Urgent, Not Important”) activities like watching TV, playing video games and wasting time doing things that add no value to our lives or the lives of others.
9) Habit #9: “Enjoy the journey.” Management (and life!) is a journey – filled with both positive and negative experiences. The journey will be much more pleasant and we will go farther if we learn to laugh and be thankful. A Yiddish proverb says “what soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.” Studies have shown that laughter makes us physically and emotionally healthier – and more fun to be around too. Find a funny friend; enjoy a funny TV show or movie – and just laugh! Being thankful is also important. The reality is that we all have much to be thankful for, and our lives will be more joyful and productive if we learn to develop an “attitude of gratitude.”
10) Habit #10: “Remember - your health is your wealth.” Gandhi said “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” Living a healthy lifestyle will increase your energy, stamina and emotional well-being – and help us be more effective in all that we do. A holistic healthy lifestyle includes developing and using our mental capabilities (read a good book lately or taken a class just for the learning?). We are also spiritual beings, and finding faith and serving others can nourish our spiritual health.
Let me leave you with a challenge to not settle for mediocrity, but to get in the game and go for management excellence. Listen to this President Teddy Roosevelt quote “It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doers of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly … who spends himself in a worthy cause.”
Wes can be contacted at Wes.Friesen@pgn.com.
Are you Fred?
By Wes Friesen, Portland General Electric
“There is only one boss – the customer. If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will.”
Fred Shea was a postal carrier who really took to heart and embodied the following quote from Martin Luther King: “If a man is called to be a street sweeper (or work in A/P or A/R!), he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great sweeper who did his job well.’”
Fred provided exceptional service to all his customers, and constantly went the extra mile – he would even drive through the neighborhood to check on people on his days off! One of Fred’s very satisfied customers was motivational speaker and author Mark Sanborn, who wrote a book about exceptional customer service called “The Fred Factor.” I highly recommend getting the book and the video training series and going through it with your team.
Here are four cardinal principles about being a “Fred:”
1) Principle #1: Everyone Makes a Difference - every individual can choose to do his or her job in an extraordinary way, regardless of the circumstances.
2) Principle #2: Success is Built on Relationships - the quality of the relationship determines the quality of the product or service.
3) Principle #3: You Must Continually Create Value for Others, and It Doesn’t Have to Cost a Penny - you can creatively find no-cost ways to exceed expectations of your customers.
4) Principle #4: You Can Reinvent Yourself Regularly - every morning you wake up with a clean slate. We can choose to follow the advice of John Wooden’s father Joshua who taught “make each day your masterpiece.”
One tool to measure how well your team provides customer service, is to conduct a periodic customer survey. By analyzing the results of the survey you can reinforce what is going well, and identify areas that can be improved. Because people are busy these days, I prefer to keep the survey simple and short. Here is a sample survey that you can use as a starting place:
CUSTOMER SURVEY
Timeliness:
Are your jobs completed in a timely manner?
Below Expectations ____
Meets Expectations ____
Exceeds Expectations ____
Quality:
How is the overall quality of the work that our team provides for you? (same scale)
Responsiveness:
Is the staff responsive to your special requests? (same scale)
Helpfulness:
Do you find that our staff are helpful and offer solutions to your needs? (same scale)
Overall Performance: (same scale)
Are there services that you would like to see that are not currently provided?
What do you feel are some areas of strength in how we serve you?
What ideas do you have on how we can serve you better in the future?
Unfortunately Fred-like service is not common – as Roger Staubach says “there are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” Being a Fred is a choice – how will you and your team choose?
Let me close with a final quote to think about that comes from Andrew Carnegie: “There are two types of people who never achieve very much in their lifetimes. One is the person who won’t do what he is told to do, and the other is the person who does no more than what he or she is told to do.” Good luck as you commit you and your team to go the extra mile and be “Fred’s!”
Wes can be contacted at Wes.Friesen@pgn.com.
“There is only one boss – the customer. If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will.”
Fred Shea was a postal carrier who really took to heart and embodied the following quote from Martin Luther King: “If a man is called to be a street sweeper (or work in A/P or A/R!), he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great sweeper who did his job well.’”
Fred provided exceptional service to all his customers, and constantly went the extra mile – he would even drive through the neighborhood to check on people on his days off! One of Fred’s very satisfied customers was motivational speaker and author Mark Sanborn, who wrote a book about exceptional customer service called “The Fred Factor.” I highly recommend getting the book and the video training series and going through it with your team.
Here are four cardinal principles about being a “Fred:”
1) Principle #1: Everyone Makes a Difference - every individual can choose to do his or her job in an extraordinary way, regardless of the circumstances.
2) Principle #2: Success is Built on Relationships - the quality of the relationship determines the quality of the product or service.
3) Principle #3: You Must Continually Create Value for Others, and It Doesn’t Have to Cost a Penny - you can creatively find no-cost ways to exceed expectations of your customers.
4) Principle #4: You Can Reinvent Yourself Regularly - every morning you wake up with a clean slate. We can choose to follow the advice of John Wooden’s father Joshua who taught “make each day your masterpiece.”
One tool to measure how well your team provides customer service, is to conduct a periodic customer survey. By analyzing the results of the survey you can reinforce what is going well, and identify areas that can be improved. Because people are busy these days, I prefer to keep the survey simple and short. Here is a sample survey that you can use as a starting place:
CUSTOMER SURVEY
Timeliness:
Are your jobs completed in a timely manner?
Below Expectations ____
Meets Expectations ____
Exceeds Expectations ____
Quality:
How is the overall quality of the work that our team provides for you? (same scale)
Responsiveness:
Is the staff responsive to your special requests? (same scale)
Helpfulness:
Do you find that our staff are helpful and offer solutions to your needs? (same scale)
Overall Performance: (same scale)
Are there services that you would like to see that are not currently provided?
What do you feel are some areas of strength in how we serve you?
What ideas do you have on how we can serve you better in the future?
Unfortunately Fred-like service is not common – as Roger Staubach says “there are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” Being a Fred is a choice – how will you and your team choose?
Let me close with a final quote to think about that comes from Andrew Carnegie: “There are two types of people who never achieve very much in their lifetimes. One is the person who won’t do what he is told to do, and the other is the person who does no more than what he or she is told to do.” Good luck as you commit you and your team to go the extra mile and be “Fred’s!”
Wes can be contacted at Wes.Friesen@pgn.com.
Want to Improve Performance? Measure It!
By Wes Friesen, Portland General Electric
“Improving performance does not happen by accident. It is the result of a commitment to excellence, intentionality and focused effort.”
Peter Drucker was the considered the Father of professional management. He said “Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” Being in a management role provides us the opportunity to intentionally raise the performance levels of our teams – and the individuals that comprise them.
To improve the performance of our teams, we need relevant performance measures to inspire, provide a common focus and allow us to track progress. Here are some tools to help develop powerful performance measures:
Ask the Right Performance Questions
The Right Questions express the critical few things by which to judge our performance results. Put yourselves in the shoes of your key stakeholders (investors, customers, employees) and ask what is important to them?
Organizational Development expert Brad Fishel points out that when you answer the Right Performance Questions realize that some measures you develop in response will be Quantitative (numeric) in nature (e.g. how many pieces of mail were produced last month), but some will be Qualitative (subjective) in nature (e.g. how satisfied are our customers). Don’t ignore qualitative measures – consider the usage of surveys and other rating instruments. Fishel also says “Better to have subjective judgments about important questions than objective data about unimportant questions”.
Develop “balanced” measures to judge success
Effective teams add value to all important stakeholders and avoid a singular focus (e.g. being low cost) to the detriment of other important outcomes (e.g. high quality). Following are potential types of measures to consider. For each measure that gets used, we should have a target/goal to compare actual results against:
1) Productivity (productivity is simply a measure of Goods/Services produced divided by Resources Used)
2) Quality (e.g. reliability, accuracy, mistake free, meets requirements, etc)
3) Volume (how much is being produced)
4) Timeliness (are work products completed when needed)
5) Service (are customers satisfied with the service they receive)
6) Compliance (are postal regulations, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPPA, and other regulations being met)
7) Cost (e.g. measure overall costs and/or cost per unit)
Intentionally focus on improving performance
How can we strive to improve productivity and overall performance? Following are some tools to choose from:
1) Lay out a challenge (illustrated by the closing story)
2) Enhanced Training & Development
3) Provide recognition and use incentives
4) Pursue wise use of technology
5) Look for process improvements
6) Be a better servant leader and show more care for your employees
7) Solicit ideas from your team members
8) Learn from other successful teams
Let me close with the following story from the life of Charles Schwab, former head of U.S. Steel. Schwab said:
I had a mill manager who was finely educated, thoroughly capable and master of every detail of the business. But he seemed unable to inspire his men to do their best.
One day I asked him: “How is it that a man as able as you, cannot make this mil turn out what it should?” “I don’t know” he replied. “I have coaxed the men; I have pushed them; I have sworn at them. I have done everything in my power. Yet they will not produce.”
It was near the end of the day; in a few minutes the night force would come on duty. I turned to a workman who was standing beside one of the red-mouthed furnaces and asked him for a piece of chalk. “How many heats has your shift made today?” I queried. “Six” he replied. I chalked a big “6” on the floor, and then passed along without another word.
When the night shift came in they saw the “6” and asked about it. “The big boss was in here today”, said the day men. “He asked us how many heats we had made, and we told him six. He chalked it down.”
The next morning I passed through the same mill. I saw that the “6” had been rubbed out and a big “7” written instead. The night shift had announced itself. That night I went back. The “7” had been erased, and a “10” swaggered in its place. The day force recognized no superiors. Thus a fine competition was started, and it went on until this mill, formerly the poorest producer, was turning out more than any other mill in the company.
Good luck as you partner with your team and intentionally pursue a higher level of performance!
Wes can be contacted at Wes.Friesen@pgn.com.
“Improving performance does not happen by accident. It is the result of a commitment to excellence, intentionality and focused effort.”
Peter Drucker was the considered the Father of professional management. He said “Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” Being in a management role provides us the opportunity to intentionally raise the performance levels of our teams – and the individuals that comprise them.
To improve the performance of our teams, we need relevant performance measures to inspire, provide a common focus and allow us to track progress. Here are some tools to help develop powerful performance measures:
Ask the Right Performance Questions
The Right Questions express the critical few things by which to judge our performance results. Put yourselves in the shoes of your key stakeholders (investors, customers, employees) and ask what is important to them?
Organizational Development expert Brad Fishel points out that when you answer the Right Performance Questions realize that some measures you develop in response will be Quantitative (numeric) in nature (e.g. how many pieces of mail were produced last month), but some will be Qualitative (subjective) in nature (e.g. how satisfied are our customers). Don’t ignore qualitative measures – consider the usage of surveys and other rating instruments. Fishel also says “Better to have subjective judgments about important questions than objective data about unimportant questions”.
Develop “balanced” measures to judge success
Effective teams add value to all important stakeholders and avoid a singular focus (e.g. being low cost) to the detriment of other important outcomes (e.g. high quality). Following are potential types of measures to consider. For each measure that gets used, we should have a target/goal to compare actual results against:
1) Productivity (productivity is simply a measure of Goods/Services produced divided by Resources Used)
2) Quality (e.g. reliability, accuracy, mistake free, meets requirements, etc)
3) Volume (how much is being produced)
4) Timeliness (are work products completed when needed)
5) Service (are customers satisfied with the service they receive)
6) Compliance (are postal regulations, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPPA, and other regulations being met)
7) Cost (e.g. measure overall costs and/or cost per unit)
Intentionally focus on improving performance
How can we strive to improve productivity and overall performance? Following are some tools to choose from:
1) Lay out a challenge (illustrated by the closing story)
2) Enhanced Training & Development
3) Provide recognition and use incentives
4) Pursue wise use of technology
5) Look for process improvements
6) Be a better servant leader and show more care for your employees
7) Solicit ideas from your team members
8) Learn from other successful teams
Let me close with the following story from the life of Charles Schwab, former head of U.S. Steel. Schwab said:
I had a mill manager who was finely educated, thoroughly capable and master of every detail of the business. But he seemed unable to inspire his men to do their best.
One day I asked him: “How is it that a man as able as you, cannot make this mil turn out what it should?” “I don’t know” he replied. “I have coaxed the men; I have pushed them; I have sworn at them. I have done everything in my power. Yet they will not produce.”
It was near the end of the day; in a few minutes the night force would come on duty. I turned to a workman who was standing beside one of the red-mouthed furnaces and asked him for a piece of chalk. “How many heats has your shift made today?” I queried. “Six” he replied. I chalked a big “6” on the floor, and then passed along without another word.
When the night shift came in they saw the “6” and asked about it. “The big boss was in here today”, said the day men. “He asked us how many heats we had made, and we told him six. He chalked it down.”
The next morning I passed through the same mill. I saw that the “6” had been rubbed out and a big “7” written instead. The night shift had announced itself. That night I went back. The “7” had been erased, and a “10” swaggered in its place. The day force recognized no superiors. Thus a fine competition was started, and it went on until this mill, formerly the poorest producer, was turning out more than any other mill in the company.
Good luck as you partner with your team and intentionally pursue a higher level of performance!
Wes can be contacted at Wes.Friesen@pgn.com.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
6 Companies that Didn't Get it Done in 2010
Posted by Mark Brousseau
It's that time of year again: time for business owners and senior executives to take stock of the past twelve months. What did 2010 look like for you and your company? Did you struggle to regain your post-recession footing? Were employees engaged and focused? Are financials on track? The questions you could ask during your year-end assessment are endless. But according to Rick Lepsinger, there's only one that really matters: Did your company effectively execute its plans and initiatives?
"If an organization can't get things done, nothing else matters—not the smartest strategy, not the most innovative business model, not even game-changing technology," observes Lepsinger, president of OnPoint Consulting and author of Closing the Execution Gap: How Great Leaders and Their Companies Get Results. "And for many companies, there is a clear gap between intent and execution—we've seen plenty of evidence this year."
Lepsinger's assertion is backed by hard evidence. Recently, his company, OnPoint Consulting—which specializes in helping clients close the gap between strategy and execution and create a culture of getting things done—conducted a study of over 400 companies. They found that 49 percent of the leaders surveyed in the study reported a gap between their organization's ability to formulate and communicate a vision and strategy and its ability to deliver results.
This wasn't the surprising part, though. What really shocked Lepsinger and his team was that only 36 percent of leaders who thought their company had an execution gap had confidence in their organization's ability to close the gap between strategy and execution. That means a staggering 64 percent of leaders who saw an execution problem didn't believe their company could fix it.
Lepsinger's research uncovered five characteristics and competencies, which he calls "The Five Bridges," that enable people to traverse this execution gap. It is these bridges that differentiate the companies that are consistently able to get things done from those that aren't. (Lepsinger calls the former "Gap Closers" and the latter "Gap Makers"—and he profiles some well-known examples of each in his book.)
Of course, time has marched on since Lepsinger's book was written, and plenty of other well-known companies have dropped the execution ball in the meantime (BP in the most spectacular fashion). To help the rest of us learn from what he calls the "living laboratory" of real-world companies, he presents the following lists—the first lamentably longer than the second!
OnPoint Consulting's 2010 Execution Gap Maker Round-Up...
Execution Gap Maker #1: BP (Need we say more?)
It's obvious from recent events that BP experienced an enormous execution gap. (More like a chasm, really.) Had the company focused on recognizing and closing that gap, it would have prevented this year's unprecedented disaster. Lepsinger says that while the oil spill is a complex and tragic event, the cause can be traced back to BP's failure to build the critical bridges described in his book Closing the Execution Gap.
Lepsinger notes that leading up to and after the oil spill BP violated almost all the guidelines of effective execution, including lacking an effective structure and lacking clear accountability. These gaps created another problem for them: In the critical stages following the spill, BP was unable to get input from those who had the knowledge and experience to make the best decisions about how to handle it.
What's more, BP failed to empower people to use their best judgment and take appropriate action. Consider that hours before the explosion the rig crew was arguing about the best way to finish the oil well and move the rig to the next site. A Transocean mechanic testified that he overheard a "company man" telling rig workers "how it's going to be," and that although the rig workers felt the plan was too risky, they reluctantly agreed. And just after the explosion, as workers were scrambling for safety, a worker was yelled at by the captain (who worked for the rig's owner, Transocean) for pressing the distress button without authorization, and when another worker was asked if he had called to shore for help, he said he had not because he did not have permission to do so.
The "BRIDGE" that failed: Employee Involvement in Decision Making...among others.
THE LESSON:
In order for any company to execute successfully, the right people have to be involved with the right decisions. BP provides a devastating example of what can happen when this isn't the case.
"Obviously, this lesson is even more critical when there is as much at stake as there was in the BP disaster," notes Lepsinger. "But really for any company trying to gain footing in a constantly changing business environment and tough economy, empowering the right people to make the right decisions can be the difference between landing that next great customer or account or not."
Execution Gap Maker #2: Nokia
Nokia's share of the worldwide market for mobile phones continued to slip in 2010. It may surprise you to learn that about five years before Apple introduced the iPhone and three years before it launched an online applications store, Nokia was ready to introduce its own Internet-ready touch screen handset with a large display and had an early design of an online applications store. So what happened? Why was this once-dominant player unable to execute and maintain its market position?
"It appears Nokia was not able to coordinate decisions and activities across departments or levels of management," says Lepsinger. "Many innovative ideas became the victims of in-fighting among managers who had competing objectives. Plus, as a result of a lack of cross-organizational coordination and cooperation, Nokia wasn't able to improve its proprietary operating system, Symbian, which would have allowed it to support a more sophisticated smartphone."
Execution Gap Makers #s 3 and 4: The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and the Agriculture Department
In August of this year, thousands of consumers became ill after eating eggs that were contaminated with salmonella. The discovery of the contamination resulted in over half a billion eggs being pulled from store shelves. How could something like this, and on this scale, have happened?
"Much of the blame has been attributed to poor federal oversight," says Lepsinger. "And the cause appears to be a significant lack of coordination across federal agencies. You see, the responsibility for food safety is split between two agencies: The Agriculture Department is responsible for chickens, the grading of eggs for quality, and regulating liquid eggs that are used in industrial food production. But the FDA oversees the safety of eggs still in their shells."
So who inspected the Iowa farms to make sure the eggs were safe for human consumption? "It turns out that no one did," observes Lepsinger. "It just fell through the cracks. The lack of coordination between these two agencies is one reason why so many consumer advocates believe we suffer from a dysfunctional food safety system."
The "BRIDGE" that failed for Gap Makers #2, 3, and 4: Company-Wide Coordination and Cooperation.
THE LESSON:
It's critical that organizations learn to coordinate and collaborate decisions across organizational boundaries. But doing so requires more than faith and words alone.
"Shared goals and clearly defined roles provide the foundation upon which cooperation and coordination can be built," notes Lepsinger. "In addition, people must be held accountable for results. This requires a combination of direct leader behavior and systems that encourage and reinforce the appropriate behavior among employees."
Execution Gap Maker #5: Johnson & Johnson
It's been a bad year for J&J. Since 2009 McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the J&J division that makes over-the-counter drugs, has had eight recalls, including popular children's versions of Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, and Zyrtec. Most disturbingly was what has been called the "phantom recall," in which contractors hired by J&J carried out a scheme to buy every package of Motrin by going store to store without informing the FDA.
"Poor execution doesn't happen overnight," states Lepsinger. "It can often be traced back to a pattern of behavior that gradually erodes a company's ability to deliver consistent high-quality results. At J&J it may go back to 2005 when employees reported a lack of alignment between manager behavior and company values and policies. When one million bottles of St. Joseph aspirin failed a quality test after a sample did not dissolve properly, quality workers who blocked the distribution of the bottles claimed their supervisor ordered them to retest the drugs and then average the scores to get a passing grade.
"Fortunately, there was not a problem with the batch that was released, but it appears that the misalignment of leader behavior with company values in this situation laid the foundation for poor execution, and a potentially dangerous situation, in the future," he adds.
The "BRIDGE" that failed: Alignment Between Leader Actions and Company Values and Priorities.
THE LESSON:
Leader behavior must be aligned with company objectives and values. While Lepsinger admits this phrase has been said so often that it's become a cliché, he says companies can't afford to ignore it.
"You don't really understand how important value alignment is or the impact it has on effective execution until you see what happens when it's not there," says Lepsinger. "That's why stories like the Johnson & Johnson one are so important. They remind us not to take it for granted or assume it's a 'no-brainer.'"
Execution Gap Maker #6: Toyota
During 2010 Toyota recalled millions of cars due to a variety of defects. This was an extraordinary number for a company once recognized for the quality of its vehicles. What went wrong? It appears Toyota's decentralized structure, which served it well for many years, turned into a liability as the company continued to grow and dominate worldwide markets.
"For example, some of Toyota's former U.S. senior executives believe that keeping the U.S. operations separated in a functional structure—rather than reporting to a single headquarters—forced each to report back to Japan," says Lepsinger. "This required customer complaints to first make their way through the U.S. operation and then over to Japan where they were reviewed by a special committee—which would then have to communicate back to the U.S. All this had to happen before a recall could be issued."
The "BRIDGE" that failed: A Structure That Supports Execution.
THE LESSON:
Make sure you have a structure that supports execution. Lepsinger notes that a good structure enhances accountability, coordination, and communication. Plus, it ensures that decisions are being made as close to the action as possible. Toyota's structure slowed down decision making and the company's ability to effectively respond to the recall crisis.
"The Toyota breakdown also illustrates that the five execution bridges are not permanent," notes Lepsinger. "In fact, they are quite fragile. Once you've built them, you must keep vigilant watch over them and work hard to maintain them over time. It's quite possible for a company to have a bridge in place one year, only to discover that over time it has weakened or even crumbled and is no longer able to help your people traverse the gap."
...And Its Execution Gap Closer Round-Up
Execution Gap Closer #1: Netflix
Netflix received considerable media attention this year as it demonstrated its ability to successfully execute its strategy to provide video over the Internet. The company began streaming movies to TV-connected devices such as the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, and a new Blu-ray Disc player, and the strategy is already showing signs of paying off. Although the ability to deliver streaming video has just recently become a reality, Netflix has been preparing to replace its original business model of delivering DVDs through the mail since the company was formed in 1997.
"The company's readiness for change is incredible," observes Lepsinger. "A decade before the technology was even a commercial reality, it recognized that the delivery of movies over the Internet would eventually replace mail. Even the name they chose for the company reflected this awareness. They named the company 'Netflix' and not 'Mailflix,' which would have been an easier concept to understand more than a decade ago."
Execution Gap Closer (Well...Maybe) #2: Barnes & Noble
Lepsinger would like to classify Barnes & Noble as a success, but it's just not clear yet whether the company really fits in that category. The move to electronic books has caused booksellers to take a close look at how they do business, but the jury is still out on whether Barnes & Noble's response to the dramatic changes in the publishing industry will be successful.
"Barnes & Noble appears to be doing a lot of the right things," says Lepsinger. "It developed the NOOK and has devoted significant space in its retail stores to display and promote it, and it has a broad online library. The big question is whether the company is fully committed to this change. Will it turn out like Netflix and successfully make the transition to a new method of delivery? Or will it end up more like Blockbuster, which has struggled to adapt to new technology and shift from bricks-and-mortar stores to an online-based business model?"
The "BRIDGE" that held for Gap Closers #1 and 2: The Ability to Manage Change.
THE LESSON:
The ability to manage change is critical. Yet, despite all the effort and resources that have been devoted to helping them achieve this, managers and organizations still often get poor marks in this area. That said, yet another change management process or program is not the solution, emphasizes Lepsinger.
"Change is made one person at a time," he says. "And our research, as well as the research of others, indicates that successful change is connected more to the individual and collective mindsets of employees than any process. People change when they are ready—not just when they understand the need for change. The most successful companies facilitate change-readiness and don't just rely on making the business case to drive people's motivation to change."
Yes, as these stories illustrate, execution is the real bottom line and Lepsinger's constant battle cry. It's what he pushes his clients to focus on as they seek to improve organizational performance—and it's the lens he urges all leaders to look through as they review 2010 and make their "business resolutions" for 2011.
"Execution is not a single-point event," says Lepsinger. "It's an ongoing process. But since your ability to execute well and consistently is the very fabric of success, I can think of no better place to focus your time and energy."
What do you think?
It's that time of year again: time for business owners and senior executives to take stock of the past twelve months. What did 2010 look like for you and your company? Did you struggle to regain your post-recession footing? Were employees engaged and focused? Are financials on track? The questions you could ask during your year-end assessment are endless. But according to Rick Lepsinger, there's only one that really matters: Did your company effectively execute its plans and initiatives?
"If an organization can't get things done, nothing else matters—not the smartest strategy, not the most innovative business model, not even game-changing technology," observes Lepsinger, president of OnPoint Consulting and author of Closing the Execution Gap: How Great Leaders and Their Companies Get Results. "And for many companies, there is a clear gap between intent and execution—we've seen plenty of evidence this year."
Lepsinger's assertion is backed by hard evidence. Recently, his company, OnPoint Consulting—which specializes in helping clients close the gap between strategy and execution and create a culture of getting things done—conducted a study of over 400 companies. They found that 49 percent of the leaders surveyed in the study reported a gap between their organization's ability to formulate and communicate a vision and strategy and its ability to deliver results.
This wasn't the surprising part, though. What really shocked Lepsinger and his team was that only 36 percent of leaders who thought their company had an execution gap had confidence in their organization's ability to close the gap between strategy and execution. That means a staggering 64 percent of leaders who saw an execution problem didn't believe their company could fix it.
Lepsinger's research uncovered five characteristics and competencies, which he calls "The Five Bridges," that enable people to traverse this execution gap. It is these bridges that differentiate the companies that are consistently able to get things done from those that aren't. (Lepsinger calls the former "Gap Closers" and the latter "Gap Makers"—and he profiles some well-known examples of each in his book.)
Of course, time has marched on since Lepsinger's book was written, and plenty of other well-known companies have dropped the execution ball in the meantime (BP in the most spectacular fashion). To help the rest of us learn from what he calls the "living laboratory" of real-world companies, he presents the following lists—the first lamentably longer than the second!
OnPoint Consulting's 2010 Execution Gap Maker Round-Up...
Execution Gap Maker #1: BP (Need we say more?)
It's obvious from recent events that BP experienced an enormous execution gap. (More like a chasm, really.) Had the company focused on recognizing and closing that gap, it would have prevented this year's unprecedented disaster. Lepsinger says that while the oil spill is a complex and tragic event, the cause can be traced back to BP's failure to build the critical bridges described in his book Closing the Execution Gap.
Lepsinger notes that leading up to and after the oil spill BP violated almost all the guidelines of effective execution, including lacking an effective structure and lacking clear accountability. These gaps created another problem for them: In the critical stages following the spill, BP was unable to get input from those who had the knowledge and experience to make the best decisions about how to handle it.
What's more, BP failed to empower people to use their best judgment and take appropriate action. Consider that hours before the explosion the rig crew was arguing about the best way to finish the oil well and move the rig to the next site. A Transocean mechanic testified that he overheard a "company man" telling rig workers "how it's going to be," and that although the rig workers felt the plan was too risky, they reluctantly agreed. And just after the explosion, as workers were scrambling for safety, a worker was yelled at by the captain (who worked for the rig's owner, Transocean) for pressing the distress button without authorization, and when another worker was asked if he had called to shore for help, he said he had not because he did not have permission to do so.
The "BRIDGE" that failed: Employee Involvement in Decision Making...among others.
THE LESSON:
In order for any company to execute successfully, the right people have to be involved with the right decisions. BP provides a devastating example of what can happen when this isn't the case.
"Obviously, this lesson is even more critical when there is as much at stake as there was in the BP disaster," notes Lepsinger. "But really for any company trying to gain footing in a constantly changing business environment and tough economy, empowering the right people to make the right decisions can be the difference between landing that next great customer or account or not."
Execution Gap Maker #2: Nokia
Nokia's share of the worldwide market for mobile phones continued to slip in 2010. It may surprise you to learn that about five years before Apple introduced the iPhone and three years before it launched an online applications store, Nokia was ready to introduce its own Internet-ready touch screen handset with a large display and had an early design of an online applications store. So what happened? Why was this once-dominant player unable to execute and maintain its market position?
"It appears Nokia was not able to coordinate decisions and activities across departments or levels of management," says Lepsinger. "Many innovative ideas became the victims of in-fighting among managers who had competing objectives. Plus, as a result of a lack of cross-organizational coordination and cooperation, Nokia wasn't able to improve its proprietary operating system, Symbian, which would have allowed it to support a more sophisticated smartphone."
Execution Gap Makers #s 3 and 4: The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and the Agriculture Department
In August of this year, thousands of consumers became ill after eating eggs that were contaminated with salmonella. The discovery of the contamination resulted in over half a billion eggs being pulled from store shelves. How could something like this, and on this scale, have happened?
"Much of the blame has been attributed to poor federal oversight," says Lepsinger. "And the cause appears to be a significant lack of coordination across federal agencies. You see, the responsibility for food safety is split between two agencies: The Agriculture Department is responsible for chickens, the grading of eggs for quality, and regulating liquid eggs that are used in industrial food production. But the FDA oversees the safety of eggs still in their shells."
So who inspected the Iowa farms to make sure the eggs were safe for human consumption? "It turns out that no one did," observes Lepsinger. "It just fell through the cracks. The lack of coordination between these two agencies is one reason why so many consumer advocates believe we suffer from a dysfunctional food safety system."
The "BRIDGE" that failed for Gap Makers #2, 3, and 4: Company-Wide Coordination and Cooperation.
THE LESSON:
It's critical that organizations learn to coordinate and collaborate decisions across organizational boundaries. But doing so requires more than faith and words alone.
"Shared goals and clearly defined roles provide the foundation upon which cooperation and coordination can be built," notes Lepsinger. "In addition, people must be held accountable for results. This requires a combination of direct leader behavior and systems that encourage and reinforce the appropriate behavior among employees."
Execution Gap Maker #5: Johnson & Johnson
It's been a bad year for J&J. Since 2009 McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the J&J division that makes over-the-counter drugs, has had eight recalls, including popular children's versions of Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, and Zyrtec. Most disturbingly was what has been called the "phantom recall," in which contractors hired by J&J carried out a scheme to buy every package of Motrin by going store to store without informing the FDA.
"Poor execution doesn't happen overnight," states Lepsinger. "It can often be traced back to a pattern of behavior that gradually erodes a company's ability to deliver consistent high-quality results. At J&J it may go back to 2005 when employees reported a lack of alignment between manager behavior and company values and policies. When one million bottles of St. Joseph aspirin failed a quality test after a sample did not dissolve properly, quality workers who blocked the distribution of the bottles claimed their supervisor ordered them to retest the drugs and then average the scores to get a passing grade.
"Fortunately, there was not a problem with the batch that was released, but it appears that the misalignment of leader behavior with company values in this situation laid the foundation for poor execution, and a potentially dangerous situation, in the future," he adds.
The "BRIDGE" that failed: Alignment Between Leader Actions and Company Values and Priorities.
THE LESSON:
Leader behavior must be aligned with company objectives and values. While Lepsinger admits this phrase has been said so often that it's become a cliché, he says companies can't afford to ignore it.
"You don't really understand how important value alignment is or the impact it has on effective execution until you see what happens when it's not there," says Lepsinger. "That's why stories like the Johnson & Johnson one are so important. They remind us not to take it for granted or assume it's a 'no-brainer.'"
Execution Gap Maker #6: Toyota
During 2010 Toyota recalled millions of cars due to a variety of defects. This was an extraordinary number for a company once recognized for the quality of its vehicles. What went wrong? It appears Toyota's decentralized structure, which served it well for many years, turned into a liability as the company continued to grow and dominate worldwide markets.
"For example, some of Toyota's former U.S. senior executives believe that keeping the U.S. operations separated in a functional structure—rather than reporting to a single headquarters—forced each to report back to Japan," says Lepsinger. "This required customer complaints to first make their way through the U.S. operation and then over to Japan where they were reviewed by a special committee—which would then have to communicate back to the U.S. All this had to happen before a recall could be issued."
The "BRIDGE" that failed: A Structure That Supports Execution.
THE LESSON:
Make sure you have a structure that supports execution. Lepsinger notes that a good structure enhances accountability, coordination, and communication. Plus, it ensures that decisions are being made as close to the action as possible. Toyota's structure slowed down decision making and the company's ability to effectively respond to the recall crisis.
"The Toyota breakdown also illustrates that the five execution bridges are not permanent," notes Lepsinger. "In fact, they are quite fragile. Once you've built them, you must keep vigilant watch over them and work hard to maintain them over time. It's quite possible for a company to have a bridge in place one year, only to discover that over time it has weakened or even crumbled and is no longer able to help your people traverse the gap."
...And Its Execution Gap Closer Round-Up
Execution Gap Closer #1: Netflix
Netflix received considerable media attention this year as it demonstrated its ability to successfully execute its strategy to provide video over the Internet. The company began streaming movies to TV-connected devices such as the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, and a new Blu-ray Disc player, and the strategy is already showing signs of paying off. Although the ability to deliver streaming video has just recently become a reality, Netflix has been preparing to replace its original business model of delivering DVDs through the mail since the company was formed in 1997.
"The company's readiness for change is incredible," observes Lepsinger. "A decade before the technology was even a commercial reality, it recognized that the delivery of movies over the Internet would eventually replace mail. Even the name they chose for the company reflected this awareness. They named the company 'Netflix' and not 'Mailflix,' which would have been an easier concept to understand more than a decade ago."
Execution Gap Closer (Well...Maybe) #2: Barnes & Noble
Lepsinger would like to classify Barnes & Noble as a success, but it's just not clear yet whether the company really fits in that category. The move to electronic books has caused booksellers to take a close look at how they do business, but the jury is still out on whether Barnes & Noble's response to the dramatic changes in the publishing industry will be successful.
"Barnes & Noble appears to be doing a lot of the right things," says Lepsinger. "It developed the NOOK and has devoted significant space in its retail stores to display and promote it, and it has a broad online library. The big question is whether the company is fully committed to this change. Will it turn out like Netflix and successfully make the transition to a new method of delivery? Or will it end up more like Blockbuster, which has struggled to adapt to new technology and shift from bricks-and-mortar stores to an online-based business model?"
The "BRIDGE" that held for Gap Closers #1 and 2: The Ability to Manage Change.
THE LESSON:
The ability to manage change is critical. Yet, despite all the effort and resources that have been devoted to helping them achieve this, managers and organizations still often get poor marks in this area. That said, yet another change management process or program is not the solution, emphasizes Lepsinger.
"Change is made one person at a time," he says. "And our research, as well as the research of others, indicates that successful change is connected more to the individual and collective mindsets of employees than any process. People change when they are ready—not just when they understand the need for change. The most successful companies facilitate change-readiness and don't just rely on making the business case to drive people's motivation to change."
Yes, as these stories illustrate, execution is the real bottom line and Lepsinger's constant battle cry. It's what he pushes his clients to focus on as they seek to improve organizational performance—and it's the lens he urges all leaders to look through as they review 2010 and make their "business resolutions" for 2011.
"Execution is not a single-point event," says Lepsinger. "It's an ongoing process. But since your ability to execute well and consistently is the very fabric of success, I can think of no better place to focus your time and energy."
What do you think?
Monday, December 6, 2010
Trust in the Workplace: It’s How You Say It
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Trust is all talk – along with the pitch, volume and emphasis of your message, according to new research co-authored by an assistant professor or organizational behavior at Cornell University’s ILR School. The research finds that the volume, pitch and tone of your speech directly correlate with how much another person trusts and understands you.
“If you trust more, you use more emphasis, which is a combination of loudness and pitch,” said Michele Williams, assistant professor in the ILR School’s Department of Organizational Behavior. “A range of volume and pitch is important – it helps the listeners by saying, ‘This is important.’ If you’re really interested, it’s very hard to speak at the same level.”
Williams and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used observation and voice recordings – sorted by computer algorithms measuring pitch and volume – to follow information transfers among 29 nurses in the break room of a 30-bed surgical unit in a New England hospital.
Trust communicated through emphasis helps drive accuracy – an important implication for hospitals, where communication breakdowns are considered the cause of most preventable errors, said Williams and MIT researchers Benjamin Waber, John Carroll and Alex Pentland.
“Few people think about the information carried in their voices,” Williams said.
What do you see in your workplace?
Trust is all talk – along with the pitch, volume and emphasis of your message, according to new research co-authored by an assistant professor or organizational behavior at Cornell University’s ILR School. The research finds that the volume, pitch and tone of your speech directly correlate with how much another person trusts and understands you.
“If you trust more, you use more emphasis, which is a combination of loudness and pitch,” said Michele Williams, assistant professor in the ILR School’s Department of Organizational Behavior. “A range of volume and pitch is important – it helps the listeners by saying, ‘This is important.’ If you’re really interested, it’s very hard to speak at the same level.”
Williams and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used observation and voice recordings – sorted by computer algorithms measuring pitch and volume – to follow information transfers among 29 nurses in the break room of a 30-bed surgical unit in a New England hospital.
Trust communicated through emphasis helps drive accuracy – an important implication for hospitals, where communication breakdowns are considered the cause of most preventable errors, said Williams and MIT researchers Benjamin Waber, John Carroll and Alex Pentland.
“Few people think about the information carried in their voices,” Williams said.
What do you see in your workplace?
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
7 Leadership Skills CIOs Need
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Technology is the single most powerful enabling force available in business today, but as executives and boards of directors recognize its potential, CIOs must have the right leadership skills in place to deliver on heightened expectations, warns Gartner, Inc. and Korn/Ferry.
There has never been a more energizing time to be a CIO, the analysts say. However, the flip side to this is that today’s most successful CIOs must deliver exceptional results.
In the recently published book “The CIO Edge – Seven Leadership Skills You Need To Drive Results”, (Harvard Business Review Press November, 2010, $29.95), Graham Waller vice president and executive partner with Gartner Executive Programs; George Hallenbeck director, intellectual property development, for Korn/Ferry Leadership and Talent Consulting; and Karen Rubenstrunk, formerly with Korn/Ferry’s CIO practice, examine the key skills CIOs need and how to develop them.
“CIOs understand they need to manage IT processes in order to deliver results and to meet key expectations. They also understand the need to lead people in order to deliver on those goals. However, what many don’t understand is the incredibly important interplay between the two,” says Waller. “Focusing on leadership and people skills - the ‘soft’ things that many CIOs tend to minimize in their quest to keep up with their day-to-day responsibilities of managing IT - is in fact the biggest determinate of their success, or failure.”
IT executives who have the best relationships and can earn ‘followership’, not only with their employees, but more importantly with their business partners within and outside the organization, tend to make the most effective business technology executives.
“During the course of our research, we observed the CIOs with the best people skills used these soft skills to influence expectations well ahead of when priorities were set or a project began,” Hallenbeck says. “Before a dime was budgeted, or staff time allocated, they were meeting with their colleagues and engaging in candid two-way conversations that defined what success would look like. Then they delivered against the expectations they helped set and as a result, the organization felt the investment of time and money in IT was worth it. Soft skills produced hard results.”
Rubenstrunk says, “Cynics might argue that CIOs who excel at soft skills might deliver soft results. However, a clear pattern from our interviews showed that the best CIOs, the ones who excel at people leadership, also set the most aggressive goals and hold their people accountable to the highest performance standards.”
Following three years of data-driven research, Waller, Hallenbeck and Rubenstrunk distilled their findings down to the behavioral patterns and key skills they believe to be the most critical to success. Specifically, high-performing CIOs distinguish themselves by mastering the following seven skills:
1. Commit to Leadership First and Everything Else Second.
Gartner and Korn/Ferry’s research reveals that the highest performing CIOs are effective because they embrace the idea that everything they need to accomplish will be achieved through people, by people, and with people. They don’t pay lip service to that idea. They live it. They lead.
2. Lead Differently than You Think.
A high-performing CIO is an incredibly complex and creative thinker. Yet when the time comes to lead, they don’t rely on their superior ‘smarts’ and analytical skills to come up with the best possible solution. They act collaboratively.
3. Embrace Your Softer Side.
Effective CIOs manage the paradox of gaining more influence by letting go of control and allowing themselves to be vulnerable. In turn, that vulnerability enables them to create deep, personal connections — connections that provide the ability to inspire people both inside and outside their organization.
4. Forge the Right Relationships to Drive the Right Results.
This skill may not be surprising. High performing CIOs spend a greater percentage of their time and energy managing relationships that exist sideways: with internal peers, external suppliers, and customers. They purposely invest in horizontal relationships which form the foundation to drive extraordinary results.
5. Master Communication.
The best CIOs know that their colleagues - especially the people who work for them - are always watching. These executives understand they are always on stage. They take advantage of that situation by constantly reiterating core messages and values. Through their focus on clarity, consistency, authenticity, and passion, they make sure their message is not only understood but also felt. They want to communicate a feeling that compels people to take the right actions.
6. Inspire Others.
In exchange for a regular paycheck, most people will give an adequate performance. But they will only give their best work if they believe they are involved in something greater than themselves. The best CIOs provide a compelling vision that connects people to how their enterprise wins in the marketplace and that their contributions are meaningful and valued.
7. Build People, Not Systems.
By developing people all around them, these CIOs increase their capability and capacity to deliver results. They also know that leaving behind the next generation of leaders is the best thing they can do for the organization—it will be their lasting legacy.
The three authors warn CIOs that mastering soft skills can never be a replacement for the key management aspects of the job. It is instead a powerful enabler and an amplifying force that allows individuals to exceed expectations and maximize the value from IT.
“All CIOs must deliver results. What distinguishes the best is how they do it: through people, by people, and with people,” Waller concludes.
Technology is the single most powerful enabling force available in business today, but as executives and boards of directors recognize its potential, CIOs must have the right leadership skills in place to deliver on heightened expectations, warns Gartner, Inc. and Korn/Ferry.
There has never been a more energizing time to be a CIO, the analysts say. However, the flip side to this is that today’s most successful CIOs must deliver exceptional results.
In the recently published book “The CIO Edge – Seven Leadership Skills You Need To Drive Results”, (Harvard Business Review Press November, 2010, $29.95), Graham Waller vice president and executive partner with Gartner Executive Programs; George Hallenbeck director, intellectual property development, for Korn/Ferry Leadership and Talent Consulting; and Karen Rubenstrunk, formerly with Korn/Ferry’s CIO practice, examine the key skills CIOs need and how to develop them.
“CIOs understand they need to manage IT processes in order to deliver results and to meet key expectations. They also understand the need to lead people in order to deliver on those goals. However, what many don’t understand is the incredibly important interplay between the two,” says Waller. “Focusing on leadership and people skills - the ‘soft’ things that many CIOs tend to minimize in their quest to keep up with their day-to-day responsibilities of managing IT - is in fact the biggest determinate of their success, or failure.”
IT executives who have the best relationships and can earn ‘followership’, not only with their employees, but more importantly with their business partners within and outside the organization, tend to make the most effective business technology executives.
“During the course of our research, we observed the CIOs with the best people skills used these soft skills to influence expectations well ahead of when priorities were set or a project began,” Hallenbeck says. “Before a dime was budgeted, or staff time allocated, they were meeting with their colleagues and engaging in candid two-way conversations that defined what success would look like. Then they delivered against the expectations they helped set and as a result, the organization felt the investment of time and money in IT was worth it. Soft skills produced hard results.”
Rubenstrunk says, “Cynics might argue that CIOs who excel at soft skills might deliver soft results. However, a clear pattern from our interviews showed that the best CIOs, the ones who excel at people leadership, also set the most aggressive goals and hold their people accountable to the highest performance standards.”
Following three years of data-driven research, Waller, Hallenbeck and Rubenstrunk distilled their findings down to the behavioral patterns and key skills they believe to be the most critical to success. Specifically, high-performing CIOs distinguish themselves by mastering the following seven skills:
1. Commit to Leadership First and Everything Else Second.
Gartner and Korn/Ferry’s research reveals that the highest performing CIOs are effective because they embrace the idea that everything they need to accomplish will be achieved through people, by people, and with people. They don’t pay lip service to that idea. They live it. They lead.
2. Lead Differently than You Think.
A high-performing CIO is an incredibly complex and creative thinker. Yet when the time comes to lead, they don’t rely on their superior ‘smarts’ and analytical skills to come up with the best possible solution. They act collaboratively.
3. Embrace Your Softer Side.
Effective CIOs manage the paradox of gaining more influence by letting go of control and allowing themselves to be vulnerable. In turn, that vulnerability enables them to create deep, personal connections — connections that provide the ability to inspire people both inside and outside their organization.
4. Forge the Right Relationships to Drive the Right Results.
This skill may not be surprising. High performing CIOs spend a greater percentage of their time and energy managing relationships that exist sideways: with internal peers, external suppliers, and customers. They purposely invest in horizontal relationships which form the foundation to drive extraordinary results.
5. Master Communication.
The best CIOs know that their colleagues - especially the people who work for them - are always watching. These executives understand they are always on stage. They take advantage of that situation by constantly reiterating core messages and values. Through their focus on clarity, consistency, authenticity, and passion, they make sure their message is not only understood but also felt. They want to communicate a feeling that compels people to take the right actions.
6. Inspire Others.
In exchange for a regular paycheck, most people will give an adequate performance. But they will only give their best work if they believe they are involved in something greater than themselves. The best CIOs provide a compelling vision that connects people to how their enterprise wins in the marketplace and that their contributions are meaningful and valued.
7. Build People, Not Systems.
By developing people all around them, these CIOs increase their capability and capacity to deliver results. They also know that leaving behind the next generation of leaders is the best thing they can do for the organization—it will be their lasting legacy.
The three authors warn CIOs that mastering soft skills can never be a replacement for the key management aspects of the job. It is instead a powerful enabler and an amplifying force that allows individuals to exceed expectations and maximize the value from IT.
“All CIOs must deliver results. What distinguishes the best is how they do it: through people, by people, and with people,” Waller concludes.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Nailing Down Resource Allocation
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Resource allocation may be the key to IT project investment. Mike Kerrigan (mkerrigan@laurustech.com), vice president of business applications for Laurus Technologies (www.laurustech.com), explains:
The economic downturn may finally be changing directions but it still has a damper on every aspect of business, including IT departments. Even with some of the recent signs of recovery, businesses remains keen on cost savings, and spending is still prioritized around maintaining operations versus new initiatives and challenges. With budgets and resources remaining limited, companies need to be mindful of projects of significant value going by the wayside.
Businesses can recover by working smarter with fewer resources while maintaining high levels of quality and service. This is no easy task, but if everyone – from top down to bottom up – carefully considers what they’re implementing – the dollars spent will go toward the most worthwhile programs. To best allocate available resources, you’ll need to break down the type of information you have, identify the tools needed to pull that information together and focus on document management and workflow.
Breaking Down the 4-1-1
To start with, no matter what type of IT task it is, there is one common element – information. Information about what you want to do, information about how you are going to do it, information about how the plan is progressing (or not) and information about the end result. So a good place to start is a breakdown of the definitions associated with project information.
By Use
Project Governance: This type of data is used to steer individual projects at a high level, such as program and project portfolio management. It is typically referred to as “master data” or “status” information. This is mainly used by project owners or steering committee members on the single project management level, the portfolio manager, portfolio owner/ portfolio management team or other stakeholders.
Project Collaboration: These pieces of information are mainly used to deliver expected results. Major interest groups are Project Managers or Project Team Members. This data enables the whole team to carry out program tasks.
By Type
Project Management: This contains everything used to keep things running smoothly and in an organized fashion. It is strongly project-independent, but is similar across the board. For example, it may include meeting minutes, action item lists, open issue lists, schedules with delivery status information, timesheets, etc.
Project Content: Items needed to reach goals and attain desired results fall into this category. This may include technical plans, construction plans, ingredient lists, recipes, letters to third party suppliers, contracts, etc.
Getting a Grip on the Data – Tools You’ll Need
Now, how do you facilitate the governance of all of this information? It has become essential to manage, monitor, and assess the status of all projects through Enterprise Project Management (EPM). This is a set of uniform processes, methods and application packages. Typically, organizations that adopt EPM set up a Project Management Office (PMO) and select and adopt a specific Project Management Methodology (or create a proprietary method). They might even select and implement software tools to support Enterprise Project Management and collaboration.
EPM Tools: Enterprise project management tools focus on supporting single projects, no matter what type of program or content is involved. Also, this single-project information can be used for multi-project management or project portfolio management based on the master data and status information of all the work in an enterprise. Examples are pure tools for planning and controlling such as MS Project (Microsoft) or sophisticated solutions for managing the lifecycle of a single project. It may bring idea management, approvals, etc. to program and portfolio planning and control, like Clarity (computer Associates), MS Project Server (Microsoft), Primavera, etc. It includes components such as a project master data database, a workflow engine or a reporting engine.
Collaboration tools: These are often developed for various purposes, not just for project management. Facilitating collaboration within groups, these tools allow users to store documents, set up group folders and enable other features like group calendars and forums. Examples are eRoom/ Documentum (EMC) and SharePoint (Microsoft).
De-clutter Your Documents
The next step to optimal resource allocation is to review your document management. Have you ever stopped to think about how much time is wasted searching for documents? It doesn’t matter if you use a shared drive or document management platform – unless standards are in place, you are wasting resources to find what you need. The same can be said for saving documents. You spend time sifting through folders to figure out where something belongs. In the end, you wind up creating a new folder to add to the rest. This is computerized clutter at its finest!
The purpose of document management is to move information from individual computers to a shared space for broad access. By learning from historical data, you can reuse instead of recreating and stop flooding email inboxes with documentation. If project teams use a business process to create, access, and edit information in a centralized location, the need to constantly email documents would decrease tremendously. Only accurate versions of documents would be used. Best of all, team leaders and top management would know how and where to check on progress at all times.
Shared drives, which are just virtual filing cabinets, are very limiting and not so user-friendly. It is too easy to bury information in the multiple layers of folders. A document management platform (DMP) has many more features for easy navigation and searching. DMPs bring the ability to create wiki pages, a knowledge base, shared calendars and document version control. However, like the virtual filing cabinet, DMPs can be just as burdensome unless the following items are addressed:
• Blue Print: Plan a layout of how the tool will be used within the company
• Appoint: Name a Project Manager(s) to manage various areas within the tool
• Architect: Devise a structure and naming standard
• Instruct: Document and teach how to use the system
• Broadcast: Formally communicate the new way of saving and retrieving information
• Verify: Conduct reviews of the platform and hold people accountable
Workflow
Once you’ve taken care of the document stream, it’s time to work on overall project flow. You need to reach consensus on the methodology and process to be used for ALL efforts. If this is already defined, then review how well it is working, make any adjustments and communicate the process to everyone. Next, decide on baseline criteria for project selection – if it doesn’t meet the initial baseline, stop. If you do proceed, plan for continual assessments to ensure business alignment. We all know business needs, goals, and strategies continually change. And there’s no need to continue investing in a project that doesn’t fit in with your overarching business goals. Moving forward in the planning process requires many steps but there are two critical elements to include:
1. Breakdown Structure
2. Risk Register
A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a graphical representation of the entire project with a forecast from beginning to end. By being graphical, a WBS fosters ease of communication of all the details. Think of a WBS like the instructions that come with a “do-it-yourself” kit. If you take time to review the instructions and lay out all of the components in advance, you minimize interruptions caused by searching for parts or tools that were indicated up front.
A risk register contains an ongoing list of anything positive or negative that might cause changes. An owner should be assigned to each risk and this “ownership” should continue throughout the project’s lifecycle. With proper risk evaluation, the team can get a probability of the threats that could cause the greatest impact. Based on this, contingency plans can be created. If needed, the risk owner – not the project manager, takes ACTION by putting the back-up plan in motion. It should have a minimal effect, since the risk was identified and built into the project timeline and budget.
Even in times of fiscal frugality, you can implement successful programs by applying a disciplined approach to all of your resources.
What do you think?
Resource allocation may be the key to IT project investment. Mike Kerrigan (mkerrigan@laurustech.com), vice president of business applications for Laurus Technologies (www.laurustech.com), explains:
The economic downturn may finally be changing directions but it still has a damper on every aspect of business, including IT departments. Even with some of the recent signs of recovery, businesses remains keen on cost savings, and spending is still prioritized around maintaining operations versus new initiatives and challenges. With budgets and resources remaining limited, companies need to be mindful of projects of significant value going by the wayside.
Businesses can recover by working smarter with fewer resources while maintaining high levels of quality and service. This is no easy task, but if everyone – from top down to bottom up – carefully considers what they’re implementing – the dollars spent will go toward the most worthwhile programs. To best allocate available resources, you’ll need to break down the type of information you have, identify the tools needed to pull that information together and focus on document management and workflow.
Breaking Down the 4-1-1
To start with, no matter what type of IT task it is, there is one common element – information. Information about what you want to do, information about how you are going to do it, information about how the plan is progressing (or not) and information about the end result. So a good place to start is a breakdown of the definitions associated with project information.
By Use
Project Governance: This type of data is used to steer individual projects at a high level, such as program and project portfolio management. It is typically referred to as “master data” or “status” information. This is mainly used by project owners or steering committee members on the single project management level, the portfolio manager, portfolio owner/ portfolio management team or other stakeholders.
Project Collaboration: These pieces of information are mainly used to deliver expected results. Major interest groups are Project Managers or Project Team Members. This data enables the whole team to carry out program tasks.
By Type
Project Management: This contains everything used to keep things running smoothly and in an organized fashion. It is strongly project-independent, but is similar across the board. For example, it may include meeting minutes, action item lists, open issue lists, schedules with delivery status information, timesheets, etc.
Project Content: Items needed to reach goals and attain desired results fall into this category. This may include technical plans, construction plans, ingredient lists, recipes, letters to third party suppliers, contracts, etc.
Getting a Grip on the Data – Tools You’ll Need
Now, how do you facilitate the governance of all of this information? It has become essential to manage, monitor, and assess the status of all projects through Enterprise Project Management (EPM). This is a set of uniform processes, methods and application packages. Typically, organizations that adopt EPM set up a Project Management Office (PMO) and select and adopt a specific Project Management Methodology (or create a proprietary method). They might even select and implement software tools to support Enterprise Project Management and collaboration.
EPM Tools: Enterprise project management tools focus on supporting single projects, no matter what type of program or content is involved. Also, this single-project information can be used for multi-project management or project portfolio management based on the master data and status information of all the work in an enterprise. Examples are pure tools for planning and controlling such as MS Project (Microsoft) or sophisticated solutions for managing the lifecycle of a single project. It may bring idea management, approvals, etc. to program and portfolio planning and control, like Clarity (computer Associates), MS Project Server (Microsoft), Primavera, etc. It includes components such as a project master data database, a workflow engine or a reporting engine.
Collaboration tools: These are often developed for various purposes, not just for project management. Facilitating collaboration within groups, these tools allow users to store documents, set up group folders and enable other features like group calendars and forums. Examples are eRoom/ Documentum (EMC) and SharePoint (Microsoft).
De-clutter Your Documents
The next step to optimal resource allocation is to review your document management. Have you ever stopped to think about how much time is wasted searching for documents? It doesn’t matter if you use a shared drive or document management platform – unless standards are in place, you are wasting resources to find what you need. The same can be said for saving documents. You spend time sifting through folders to figure out where something belongs. In the end, you wind up creating a new folder to add to the rest. This is computerized clutter at its finest!
The purpose of document management is to move information from individual computers to a shared space for broad access. By learning from historical data, you can reuse instead of recreating and stop flooding email inboxes with documentation. If project teams use a business process to create, access, and edit information in a centralized location, the need to constantly email documents would decrease tremendously. Only accurate versions of documents would be used. Best of all, team leaders and top management would know how and where to check on progress at all times.
Shared drives, which are just virtual filing cabinets, are very limiting and not so user-friendly. It is too easy to bury information in the multiple layers of folders. A document management platform (DMP) has many more features for easy navigation and searching. DMPs bring the ability to create wiki pages, a knowledge base, shared calendars and document version control. However, like the virtual filing cabinet, DMPs can be just as burdensome unless the following items are addressed:
• Blue Print: Plan a layout of how the tool will be used within the company
• Appoint: Name a Project Manager(s) to manage various areas within the tool
• Architect: Devise a structure and naming standard
• Instruct: Document and teach how to use the system
• Broadcast: Formally communicate the new way of saving and retrieving information
• Verify: Conduct reviews of the platform and hold people accountable
Workflow
Once you’ve taken care of the document stream, it’s time to work on overall project flow. You need to reach consensus on the methodology and process to be used for ALL efforts. If this is already defined, then review how well it is working, make any adjustments and communicate the process to everyone. Next, decide on baseline criteria for project selection – if it doesn’t meet the initial baseline, stop. If you do proceed, plan for continual assessments to ensure business alignment. We all know business needs, goals, and strategies continually change. And there’s no need to continue investing in a project that doesn’t fit in with your overarching business goals. Moving forward in the planning process requires many steps but there are two critical elements to include:
1. Breakdown Structure
2. Risk Register
A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a graphical representation of the entire project with a forecast from beginning to end. By being graphical, a WBS fosters ease of communication of all the details. Think of a WBS like the instructions that come with a “do-it-yourself” kit. If you take time to review the instructions and lay out all of the components in advance, you minimize interruptions caused by searching for parts or tools that were indicated up front.
A risk register contains an ongoing list of anything positive or negative that might cause changes. An owner should be assigned to each risk and this “ownership” should continue throughout the project’s lifecycle. With proper risk evaluation, the team can get a probability of the threats that could cause the greatest impact. Based on this, contingency plans can be created. If needed, the risk owner – not the project manager, takes ACTION by putting the back-up plan in motion. It should have a minimal effect, since the risk was identified and built into the project timeline and budget.
Even in times of fiscal frugality, you can implement successful programs by applying a disciplined approach to all of your resources.
What do you think?
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Companies Eye Supply Chains
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Economic pressures are forcing companies to employ their supply chains, primarily the sourcing and procurement functions, to contain costs and boost revenue, according to the 2009 Global Survey of Supply Chain Progress from CSC, Supply Chain Management Review, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and Michigan State University (MSU).
The survey, completed by supply chain executives representing more than 20 industries and every major geographical segment of the world, shows the extent to which the economy has impacted the supply management function. Survey respondents cited an immediate need to cut costs as the top economic pressure on their supply chains. An overwhelming 88 percent of respondents have set objectives for purchasing to generate cost savings in the next 12 months.
This enhanced focus on supply chain management (SCM) demonstrates its use as a counter-cyclical tool for improved business performance.
"The global economic downturn has impacted every aspect of business operations, and supply chain is no exception," said Chuck Poirier, author of several books on SCM and a partner in CSC's Global Business Solutions and Services group. "In the face of a renewed focus on cost reduction, supply chain management continues to show a positive impact on business performance. During the past year companies have turned to their supply chains to cut costs and grow revenues. To a large degree, the supply chain has delivered, helping companies get through some tough times."
The survey shows 33 percent of respondents indicate they leveraged supply chain initiatives to reduce costs between one to five percent in the last three years. Twenty-seven percent report realizing even higher cost reductions, ranging from six to 10 percent. "These results were comparable to last year's," said Poirier. "However, the most significant improvement over 2008 was in the number of respondents who reported no impact - or did not know the impact - of supply chain initiatives on costs. That number dropped significantly, from 22 percent in 2008 to 13 percent in this year's survey."
In spite of the difficult economy, 32 percent of respondents saw their revenues increase between one to five percent in the past three years as a result of supply chain initiatives, while another 24 percent identified revenue increases in the six to 10 percent range.
"That's a total of 56 percent, a significant number given the current downturn," noted Poirier. "We see this trend as evidence of the fact that supply chain is finally becoming entrenched as a company-wide improvement effort. Leaders are implementing strategic supply chain efforts to transform business processes to achieve near-optimum operating conditions. At the same time, most firms identified as followers and laggards have not reached the limit of what can be done to enhance financial performance with their supply chains."
While a majority of respondents indicate they are already using their supply chain to trim logistics costs, source more strategically and generate additional savings by leveraging the purchasing function, companies that are considered supply chain leaders are going a step further: accelerating revenue generation by integrating the supply chain organization with key internal groups such as finance, IT and product development. "The leaders, in short, understand the central role supply chain management can play in the company's business success and are playing that role to the fullest," said Poirier.
What do you think? Post your comment below.
Economic pressures are forcing companies to employ their supply chains, primarily the sourcing and procurement functions, to contain costs and boost revenue, according to the 2009 Global Survey of Supply Chain Progress from CSC, Supply Chain Management Review, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and Michigan State University (MSU).
The survey, completed by supply chain executives representing more than 20 industries and every major geographical segment of the world, shows the extent to which the economy has impacted the supply management function. Survey respondents cited an immediate need to cut costs as the top economic pressure on their supply chains. An overwhelming 88 percent of respondents have set objectives for purchasing to generate cost savings in the next 12 months.
This enhanced focus on supply chain management (SCM) demonstrates its use as a counter-cyclical tool for improved business performance.
"The global economic downturn has impacted every aspect of business operations, and supply chain is no exception," said Chuck Poirier, author of several books on SCM and a partner in CSC's Global Business Solutions and Services group. "In the face of a renewed focus on cost reduction, supply chain management continues to show a positive impact on business performance. During the past year companies have turned to their supply chains to cut costs and grow revenues. To a large degree, the supply chain has delivered, helping companies get through some tough times."
The survey shows 33 percent of respondents indicate they leveraged supply chain initiatives to reduce costs between one to five percent in the last three years. Twenty-seven percent report realizing even higher cost reductions, ranging from six to 10 percent. "These results were comparable to last year's," said Poirier. "However, the most significant improvement over 2008 was in the number of respondents who reported no impact - or did not know the impact - of supply chain initiatives on costs. That number dropped significantly, from 22 percent in 2008 to 13 percent in this year's survey."
In spite of the difficult economy, 32 percent of respondents saw their revenues increase between one to five percent in the past three years as a result of supply chain initiatives, while another 24 percent identified revenue increases in the six to 10 percent range.
"That's a total of 56 percent, a significant number given the current downturn," noted Poirier. "We see this trend as evidence of the fact that supply chain is finally becoming entrenched as a company-wide improvement effort. Leaders are implementing strategic supply chain efforts to transform business processes to achieve near-optimum operating conditions. At the same time, most firms identified as followers and laggards have not reached the limit of what can be done to enhance financial performance with their supply chains."
While a majority of respondents indicate they are already using their supply chain to trim logistics costs, source more strategically and generate additional savings by leveraging the purchasing function, companies that are considered supply chain leaders are going a step further: accelerating revenue generation by integrating the supply chain organization with key internal groups such as finance, IT and product development. "The leaders, in short, understand the central role supply chain management can play in the company's business success and are playing that role to the fullest," said Poirier.
What do you think? Post your comment below.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Ameriprise Emphasizes Process Improvement
By Mark Brousseau
As the economic slowdown drags on, many operations are looking for ways to reduce expenses and improve productivity. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is one such organization.
“We have had a long-term strategy of process improvement and innovation,” explained Juan Paz, director, Document and Payment Operations, Service Delivery New Business and Transaction Services, for Ameriprise Financial. “This has paid off big time for us during the economic slowdown. We have achieved new efficiencies, which have allowed us to decrease costs and significantly reduce staff through attrition.”
During the recession, Ameriprise has adjusted on-shore and off-shore staffing based on business volumes and process re-engineering, Paz noted, and it has instituted "heavy" cross-training to provide support across business units, and deploy staff on-demand.
Paz said that Ameriprise also has a strong performance management process with solid performance measurements. This has kept the organization’s productivity and quality high, and assisted in rewarding and retaining high performing staff members. “We have a strong value-based company with an ‘It begins with me’ attitude. We would not have been as successful without the commitment of our associates.”
Paz added that Ameriprise also makes a conscientious effort to invest in technology that will yield the highest payback for the investment. The organization typically looks for projects that will provide a six-month return on investment, he said. From a cultural standpoint, Ameriprise also places great emphasis on its employees having a customer service orientation.
“Together, these initiatives have made us very successful and allowed us to grow and mitigate risk, while keeping us profitable,” Paz said.
What is your organization doing to control operations expenses? Post your comments below.
As the economic slowdown drags on, many operations are looking for ways to reduce expenses and improve productivity. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is one such organization.
“We have had a long-term strategy of process improvement and innovation,” explained Juan Paz, director, Document and Payment Operations, Service Delivery New Business and Transaction Services, for Ameriprise Financial. “This has paid off big time for us during the economic slowdown. We have achieved new efficiencies, which have allowed us to decrease costs and significantly reduce staff through attrition.”
During the recession, Ameriprise has adjusted on-shore and off-shore staffing based on business volumes and process re-engineering, Paz noted, and it has instituted "heavy" cross-training to provide support across business units, and deploy staff on-demand.
Paz said that Ameriprise also has a strong performance management process with solid performance measurements. This has kept the organization’s productivity and quality high, and assisted in rewarding and retaining high performing staff members. “We have a strong value-based company with an ‘It begins with me’ attitude. We would not have been as successful without the commitment of our associates.”
Paz added that Ameriprise also makes a conscientious effort to invest in technology that will yield the highest payback for the investment. The organization typically looks for projects that will provide a six-month return on investment, he said. From a cultural standpoint, Ameriprise also places great emphasis on its employees having a customer service orientation.
“Together, these initiatives have made us very successful and allowed us to grow and mitigate risk, while keeping us profitable,” Paz said.
What is your organization doing to control operations expenses? Post your comments below.
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