What became of your expectations..?

A new year waits, just ahead, in full view. Just curious about one thing: This time a year ago you set some pretty aggressive goals, resolutions, objectives…whatever you termed them…essentially you defined a new set of expectations of yourself. How did that work out? In fact, if you are like most people (including me) the odds are that you did something similar two, three, maybe even five years back. How successful were you in realizing your objectives?

Full disclosure: I was successful on a couple of fronts, generally involving my business and this blog. At best, I batted about .500, which isn’t great, but it could have been worse. In these volatile times setting just about any goal and achieving it is at least worth some celebration.

The reason I ask in the first place is that I wonder if we sometimes layout some lofty targets, without enough forethought to realize whether or not they are attainable, and then just hope for the best. I don’t know about you but I really don’t have an abundance of time to devote to planning every aspect of my big-picture hopes and dreams. Most of my time is spent dealing with the here-and-now (also referred to as the “tyranny of the urgent” by many).

So this year, rather than set myself up for failure, I am going to create a moving set of outcomes to work against; the “steps to a resolution” if you will. For example, rather than declare that I am finally going to complete my forthcoming book, I am instead going to define some key milestones which are yet to be completed (most of them, in all honesty) and position myself for success instead. I may not get the entire work ready for presentation to a publisher but I am pretty sure I can pass several waypoints on that course.

We are conditioned to aim high; to be lofty in our ambitions. And we are also conditioned to accept failure, as long as we made some progress. I’m not so sure that’s a good plan. Being ambitious is good, don’t get me wrong. However, if we decide to undo years of paradigms, reprogram our behavior, and/or channel our focus in an entirely new direction, we may have honorable intentions without being realistic.

Instead, how about if we organize a strategic personal goal for twelve months, and create four quarterly tactical plans to get us there? Of course it makes sense. But how many of us put that level of thought into our “New Years Resolutions”? This approach forgoes the bravado of “I’m going to lose 30 pounds this year!”  In place of that, I declare that, “By March 31st I am going to have moved from two big meals a day, to four small meals a day with fewer carbs and more leafy greens”? Not as exciting, but doable, and moves me closer to where I can sustain a positive change.

Is this a good idea? I don’t know. But having largely never accomplished a New Years’ Resolution suggests that maybe it’s time to rethink a failed process. That counts for something, doesn’t it?

The imagination you inspire just might be your own…

Please. Put down the laser pen and back away slowly. Can we all just agree that in 2012 we will find a new, better way to deliver a message? If not for all the innocents who will have to endure the prattle, then do it for me, or for yourself.  Do it for the planet, to save the whale, or to bring peace to war-torn countries around the globe. Whatever your motivation, I emplore you, stop the madness.  P.S. Thank you, Tom Fishburne, for all the chuckles, all the grins, all the hearty laughs you brought to so many face in 2011. May everyone learn to love http://tomfishburne.com .

 

It’s easier to “commodify” a product than it is a company…

The notion that virtually all products and services have become commodities to some degree is no surprise anymore. The same is true for most B2B solutions. If there isn’t a directly comparable competitive option, there are always alternative avenues for a customer to pursue that are designed to deliver comparable results.

This is one of the biggest arguments against benchmarking. If your goal is to be “as good as” or “better than”, you are essentially making it an objective to become a commodity provider.

I recall hearing a long time ago that the market price of a commodity will eventually be equal to the average cost of goods for a given product or service. Doesn’t seem like a goal I would want to establish for my company.

So what do you do in order to rise above the expanding array of alternatives available in the marketplace that are chasing the same funding you are? One way is to forget about the benchmarking process, and to create an entirely new category for your product or service. Sounds good, but is often near impossible to attain. What else can you do?

Products can be made to appear similar, in form as well as function, and different iterations or approaches to deliver similar results will end up eventually being evaluated on the “lowest common denominator”, such as cost per unit of measure. Your product or service may be viewed as “indispensable”, but when viewed along with three other solutions that do the same thing, it is hard to stand out, unless you are the “cheapest”.

Instead, I would offer up that you need to make your company indispensable. What is it about your company that distinguishes you from your competition, in aspects other than product (features, functionality, design, etc.) or pricing? If you are not planning to be the low-cost provider, then you need to make sure that your customer is buying your company, not just your product or service.

The only thing that will engage a customer as much as a product that can’t be replicated anywhere else, or an outcome that can’t be delivered by anyone else, is a company that can’t be replaced by any other. Factors such as culture, flexibility, responsiveness, innovation, access, commitment, focus, accountability, and integrity are each measurable points of differentiation. Taken in total, these considerations create a compelling and complete story. Ask yourself: When a customer looks at my product (or service), how much of my company do they see?

If you take the time to strategically map out the elements that define the complete customer experience, you can readily find significant opportunities to stand apart from others in your space. Before you or one of your salespeople present a solution and a price, make sure you have already demonstrated the “fit” between your customers’ objectives, requirements and expectations and the relevant aspects of your company that assure a successful, enduring relationship. Doing so won’t replace the need for a competitive, reasonable price. But is should remedy the need to be the lowest price.

Why do so many engagement initiatives fail to launch..?

In an economy marked by slow/no growth, and rising commodity prices boosting raw materials costs globally, many organizations have bought into the benefits of reducing unwanted churn and improving productivity by better connecting employees to the company. At best, these efforts are complex, calling into review many facets of the relationship that associates have with their employers. Elements that may be considered include trust, alignment, perceptions (real and imagined), expectations, satisfaction, compensation, growth potential, culture and values, to name just a few.

Linkages between employee loyalty and consumer preferences  (as well as employee loyalty and channel partner effectiveness) have been drawn. Satisfied, productive and committed employees are increasingly sought after as a source of competitive, financial advantage. One essential book on the subject is titled, “Employees First, Customers Second” (Harvard Business Press, 2010) by Vineet Nayar. The author focuses on transparency, trust, and top-down accountability as key factors in transforming the organization and engaging the employees. By accessing, nurturing and rewarding employees for bringing forward innovative ways to add value to their customers, Nayar believes he has found a new source of competitive advantage, in shifting the center of strategic thinking from the executive suite to those closest to the needs and opportunities of the marketplace.

A brand-new paper published this week by McKinsey is titled, “Finding The Right Place To Start Change”. Similar in some regards to the prescriptive messages of Vineet Nayar and other thought leaders, the McKinsey piece espouses that the first step in driving engagement is to identify those in the organization that are most connected, and to leverage their support to build momentum across the company. If you have read more than one or two posts on Ideationz, you will recognize that a number of the foundational elements in both the book and the McKinsey article center on factors that we have promoted as essential to corporate health and longevity. Specifically:

  1. The need to align your employees (or channel partners or consumers) with the mission and the values of the organization as well as their role in propelling the vision forward,
  2. The tandem aspects of willingness (to change) as well as ability to see, plan and act differently, and,
  3. Identifying and tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) to mark progress in critical areas.

I have seen this play out in many global organizations, particularly those who seek to capitalize on talent and innovation in far-flung geographies worldwide. It’s hard enough to capture and operationalize new thinking within a single corporate entity or on a headquarters campus. It is another story altogether to build not just the technology, but the connectedness among associates in different geopolitical  environments, cultures, and time zones.  Technology helps, but it takes more than that.

Those who are successful have a distinct upper hand on those that cannot implement the “one company, one world” credo. You never know where the next great idea, product/service, technology or scientific breakthrough is going to come from. As such, the strategic need for inclusion and connectedness transcends an HR practice or policy. The value of engagement reaches across disciplines, and demands a complex plan for execution. The rudiments to getting started, however, need to be simple and consistent. Everything begins with a vision for the future. From the vision will emerge a mission, or a purpose for being, which complements the future vision. The core values set the tone for marking off what are acceptable boundaries for the firm. Goals cascade into objectives, and those who are responsible for driving results must build actionable plans that address the four cornerstones of engagement which are summarized above (alignment, willingness, ability, and measurement).  These plans of action need to be designed with implementation in mind, and monitoring stations created to determine the operational success of the effort (i.e., is the plan being implemented across all key audiences, and where – if any – are the gaps), as well as the impact the initiative is having on behavioral outcomes. The impact may be cited in metrics such as enrollment, activity, milestones achieved, etc. The culmination of engagement efforts are the business results which are manifested (i.e., is the organization achieving the goals and objectives defined at the start of the process).

These are complex, big-picture aspects of a process that, if adhered to, will create forward motion while shedding light on those groups which lead/lag the middle of the organization. Those who are on the leading edge represent an emerging point of leverage, effectively opening up a broader base of engaged constituents to nurture and encourage.

More will come of this in future posts. For now, I would advocate that you examine how well aligned the executive team is, and to carefully consider the stated vision, mission, values, goals and objectives for the company as well as the plans that cascade from them. This will become your launching pad for everything which follows. From there, you can begin to assess how well you are meeting the needs of the four defined cornerstones, and then move deeper into determining where gaps or roadblocks may exist. Gaps are, on one level, simply unmet opportunities, often occurring as a result of misaligned expectations or processes. Roadblocks serve to define previously undiscovered synergies.  The value which comes from beginning with a broad coalition of executive support, encompassing HR,  operations, finance, administration, manufacturing, sales/marketing, r&d  and technology represents the fuel that will get your efforts off the ground. And that is, after all, the most basic requirement of a successful launch isn’t it?