Year: 2013

Categories Commitment, Focus

The Three Rules for Success!

Business is so complex. If only they could boil it down to a few, simple rules for success.

They can. And they have. The authors of a recent HBR article looked at over 25,000 companies across 44 years and deduced … dadada, daaaaa … the three rules for success! (Caution: You may not want to get too excited yet.)

Rule number one: Better before cheaper. OK, hard to break into or upend a market with a so-so product regardless of the price. Got it.

Rule number two: Revenue before cost. No revelation here. You can’t efficiency your way to success if you don’t have revenue. Get the lifeblood flowing before you obsess over cost.

Rule number three: There are no other rules. Cute. I guess “The Two Rules of Success” seemed a touch light for a title, so they came up with this third rule.

So there you have it. Feel better now? No, me neither.

Think I’ll stick with my three rules for success: Develop and sustain the right focus. Continually create the right environment. And get the right people. Do those three things with ruthless consistency and your people will do what it takes to win.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Team

The Motivation Contagion

Surround an employee with highly motivated people and what happens? Their drive and performance increases. Surround an employee with less motivated people and what happens? Their drive and performance decreases.

Motivation is contagious. That was a key finding from a series of studies by researchers at the University of Rochester. We are influenced by and mimic the people in our environment. For better or for worse.

Two big surprises: 1) Workers were unaware of the influence that others had on their performance. 2) Inserting even a single highly motivated or less motivated individual in the workplace can impact the performance of others.

Hire, cultivate and reinforce highly motivated people. People who are driven to achieve. You’ll find it’s contagious.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Environment

The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth

As a leader you need candid and specific input from your people. The straight goods. Not just generalizations or feel-good fluff. So how do you make sure you’re getting it? Answer: Ask the right type of questions.

Don’t Ask: General Questions

“How are things going at the plant?” “Good.”

General questions produce answers that yield little if any information. And they leave too much room for spin. “Good” could mean anything from “Well, the place hasn’t burnt to the ground yet,” to “We’re starting to see some solid productivity improvements.”

Don’t Ask: Positive-Assumption Questions

“Is morale still strong at your location?” “Ya, pretty strong.”

Faced with a positive-assumption question, most employees are reluctant to disappoint. So they respond by weakly confirming the positive assumption. “Ya, pretty strong,” could mean, “Sure, among those who haven’t jumped ship yet.”

Do Ask: Negative-Assumption Questions

“What’s the number one challenge you’re facing in your department?” “Our main supplier has become unreliable at meeting delivery commitments. It’s causing havoc with our production schedule and ultimately we’re disappointing our customers.”

That’s real information that points to a line of constructive questions: “Do we understand what is causing supplier unreliability? Do we know how long it’s likely to continue? How could we adjust our schedules to take this into account? What short-term alternatives are there?”

Psychological research has found that respondents are far more likely to divulge problems when asked negative-assumption questions (87%) versus positive-assumption questions (59%) or general questions (10%).

The point? To get real information, ask negative-assumption questions with positive intentions.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment, Focus

The Four Levels of Brand Equity

Last week I provided three benchmarks to test the strength of your brand. This week: what is the value, the equity, in a strong brand? Consider the Brand Pyramid TM shown above.

1) Awareness

If the people who you want to know about your brand don’t know about it, even when they see or hear your name, then congratulations, you have zero brand equity. But if they recognize your name or, even better, can recall it, then at least you have some brand equity.

2) Associations

Your brand has more value if people have positive associations with it. Meaning, what they think and feel about your organization and offerings, and more importantly what they think and feel about themselves when they engage you.

3) Attraction

Your brand has even greater equity if it creates attraction during the buying process. Do they merely consider you? Or do they prefer you? Will they explicitly request you? Most powerfully, will they insist on using you?

4) Advocacy

If people are asked, will they recommend you? Even better, will they promote your brand even if they’re not asked? If so, you’ve reached the top of the pyramid.

Today, how much equity is there in your brand? To compete and win, how much equity does there need to be? Build the pyramid.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment, Focus

The Three Attributes of a Strong Brand

How strong is your brand? Here are three benchmarks against which to test it:

1) Focused and Memorable

It‚Äôs often said that you can‚Äôt be all things to all people. You can‚Äôt be both Courvoisier and Coca Cola. Every strong brand is known for something. That something has to be memorable. It can‚Äôt be convoluted and it can‚Äôt be too conceptual. What is BMW known for? Performance. That‚Äôs why their tagline is (can you complete it?) ‚Äúthe Ultimate _______  _______.‚Äù

2) Desirably Different

Everyone talks about differentiation but there are many ways to differentiate yourself that are irrelevant (or even offensive) to the market. You have to be different in a desirable way. Colgate Kitchen Entrees, BIC disposable underwear, and Harley-Davidson perfume were all different. Quick test: desirable or not?

3) Ruthlessly Consistent

If you crave a burger from time to time and you find yourself traveling, you want to know that the Big Mac in Austin will taste like the Big Mac in Boston. Your desire is based on an expectation and if your experience doesn’t match it then you’re disappointed with the brand. With strong brands, your brand experience consistently matches your expectations.

How does your brand measure up against these three attributes? And which attribute should you strengthen to be more competitive?

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment

The Unintended, Unrecognized and Unforgiveable Consequences of Failure

Most organizational change initiatives fail. Statistics bear this out regardless of the type of initiative.

So is there a hidden cost of failure? Absolutely. When change initiatives fail you create a track record of failure. You build an expectation of failure. You establish an acceptance of failure. And you create a culture of failure. Failure becomes the norm.

Hold on, you think, we don’t exactly fail. And it’s not like we fail all the time. We’ve made progress in a lot of areas. There are things we get done.

That’s it? That’s your defense? And you’re the leader?

The real cost of failure is that people rationalize anything less than success. Starting with you. And when you’ve created a culture of failure how easy is it to inspire your people to execute the next big thing? Good luck. No, great luck, because you’re going to need it.

Look back at your change initiatives over the past couple of years. What kind of culture have you created?

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Focus

Prioritize Your Priorities

It feels like you’ve got a thousand projects on the go and everything is a triple-A-one priority. Sound familiar? So how do you prioritize all those priorities?

Answer: Rate each project against a set of criteria. The few projects that best meet your criteria become the true priorities. Here are examples of criteria:

  • Resource requirements
  • Availability of resources
  • Time to complete
  • Probability of success
  • Organizational trauma
  • Return-on-investment
  • Payback timeline
  • Strategic Impact

First, decide which criteria are most relevant for your situation. Next, using a 5-point scale for each criterion, rate every project. For example, a project with no real strategic impact would receive a “1” while a project with a very high strategic impact would receive a “5”. If some criteria are more important than others, then you might weight them (e.g., return-on-investment could get twice the points of resource requirements).

Once you’ve completed the set of ratings for each project, see what the numbers tell you. Finally, do they pass the “gut-test?” Do those projects that stand out seem like the top priorities?

Everything can’t be a triple-A-one priority. Prioritize those priorities.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Environment

Respecting the Rhythm of Performance

I’m returning from a week on Isla Mujeres, a small jewel of an island that Bernadine and I have visited regularly for over 20 years. So how do I feel after immersing myself in the “island state of mind?” The same as I do after each trip: refreshed, refocused, recharged and ready to go.

The fundamental rhythm of life is binary: exertion and recovery, waking and sleep, exercise and rest. Respecting this rhythm keeps us strong.

When leaders discourage downtime, they unwittingly compromise productivity. And even if they don’t explicitly discourage it, employees may be anxious about how they’ll be judged when they do take time off.

How can you encourage your people to take downtime? 1) Be seen to take downtime. 2) Communicate the value of and your support for downtime. 3) Mandate downtime for that dedicated employee who is worn down but won’t take time off.

Enjoy your downtime!

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Environment

Building Rapport

Years ago, management theory distinguished between “Task Management” and “Relationship Management” styles. Modern-day thinking recognizes that you need both to be effective.

Today’s competitive demands mean you can’t survive without effectively managing tasks. Yet the evidence is overwhelming that employees who feel positively engaged with their boss and their work are more productive and give more discretionary effort. Their efforts are amplified. So how do you elicit engagement, how do you build rapport?

Respect
Whether you like an employee, dislike them or are indifferent, you must always demonstrate respect. No, you must always be seen to demonstrate respect in everything you say and everything you do.

Caring
Think how you would interact with a child. Genuinely caring about an employee means being joyful at their successes and compassionate and encouraging with their struggles. It also means knowing what’s important to them.

Understanding
Employees are more open to your world when you show you are willing to enter their world. As Stephen Covey wrote: seek first to understand, then to be understood.

It’s not complicated and it’s not difficult. But it takes intentional effort to become habit. Demonstrate respect. Show you care. Strive to understand.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Focus

Turning Strategy into Reality

A strategy is simply intention. It doesn’t become real until it’s paired with structure and action.

  1. Sponsorship. If it’s important enough to be a strategy, then someone on the executive team needs to own it and be accountable.
  2. A Champion. The strategy needs someone who is responsible for overseeing its management and execution. That’s the champion.
  3. Milestones & Timelines. You don’t want to find out at the 11th hour that the strategy is off-track. That’s why it’s important to have 5-8 high-level, time-linked milestones that indicate if sufficient progress is being made.
  4. Resources. Identify the required financial, material and people resources at the front end of the strategy. Don’t be surprised if you discover you need to secure additional resources or stretch timelines with existing resources.
  5. Progress Tracking. The strategy team should meet no less than monthly to review commitments, track progress and set new commitments. It builds a team culture of expectations, report-out and accountability.
  6. Recalibration. Reality changes. So the plan may need to change. Set a dedicated semi-annual meeting to review new information, test your original assumptions, and discuss implications for the strategy. Make changes as required.

Many so-called strategies never translate into results. Following these six steps will maximize your chances.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Environment

Accountability: It’s Really About You

One of the toughest things for leaders to do is to hold their employees accountable. Why? Confrontation is uncomfortable. We’re uncertain how things are going to play out.

So how do you constructively confront an employee and reduce the uncertainty and discomfort? Here’s a roadmap for the accountability conversation:

  1. Convey the Common Purpose. Show how employee expectations are aligned with the organizations’s goals. Emphasize that you and the employee are allies, not adversaries.
  2. Confront Reality. Place the facts on the table. Don’t judge the employee’s motivation or their attitude. The focus should be on the performance not the person.
  3. Offer Support. To engage in a real conversation about performance, you need to disarm the employee. Ask what you can do to help them. It will put them at ease. You don‚Äôt have to agree with all their suggestions, just use your best judgment.
  4. Clearly State Your Expectations. Fuzzy expectations lead to fuzzy results. Clear expectations take the form: what do you expect by when.
  5. Rigorously Follow-Up. This is the moment of truth. Before you leave, establish a follow-up meeting. Now the employee knows they need to take action.

Accountability isn’t easy. But following a structured process can give you more confidence and make it less uncomfortable.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Environment

Creating Comfort WIth Change

Most employees are anxious about change. Why? Change brings uncertainty. What if I don’t like it? What if I’m not good at it? Will I be less secure in my job? And it’s rational for employees to doubt the need for change. Why don’t we just keep doing what we’re doing?

The antidote to this anxiety and doubt is a simple one: Regular, interactive communications.

1. Elaborate on the ‚ÄúWhy‚Äù of Change. Sure, it‚Äôs important they understand the ‚Äúwhat‚Äù and the ‚Äúhow.‚Äù However, answering why is what makes change meaningful.

2. Put Their Concerns on the Table. Acknowledge that it‚Äôs human nature to be concerned about change. Elicit their concerns. Understand and empathize with them. Discuss them.

3. Offer Support. Using their concerns as a starting point, discuss how you might offer support. Get their reactions and input.

4. Exude Confidence and Commitment. Employees feel better about change when they see their leaders exhibiting strong, positive behaviors ‚Äì and that doesn‚Äôt mean ‚Äúselling‚Äù change.

Employees aren’t apprehensive about change because they’re set in their ways. Often, they simply need information, reassurance and support.

Your thoughts?

Michael

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