Author Archives: Doug Brown

About Doug Brown

As a Coach, Consultant and Facilitator, Doug Brown has guided successful outcomes for executives in the NY/Northern NJ region for over three decades. His extensive client base encompasses over 50 different industries in both for-profit and nonprofit sectors.

Navigating the Road to Success: Strategic and Operating Plans Explained

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In the world of business management, the secret to a company’s ongoing success often lies in adequately assessing vulnerabilities and careful planning. This planning usually splits into two crucial paths: the strategic and operating plans. Understanding these distinctions, differentiating between these plans, and using them effectively is vital when leading an organization.

Cracking the Code: Strategic vs. Operating Plans

Strategic Plan

Top management usually crafts a strategic plan, laying out the long-term direction and goals of the organization, generally stretching over three to five years. It contains the organization’s mission, vision, and central values. It serves as a clear roadmap, aligning the company’s resources and efforts to reach set long-term objectives.

Strategic thinking includes a deeper analysis than is customarily used day-to-day. It typically examines external elements such as market trends, competition, and economic forces, intending to guide the organization through these factors to achieve or maintain a competitive edge. Examples such as a SLOT (Strengths, Limitations, Opportunities, Threats) or PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental) analysis help foresee and prepare the company for potential challenges, vulnerabilities, and opportunities within the broader market. This part of the process should also assess existing internal organizational competencies, longer-term succession planning, and human resources elements.

Operating Plan

On the other hand, an operating plan focuses on the organization’s inner workings and digs deeper into the day-to-day activities and operations of the business. Updated yearly, it splits the strategic plan into short-term, doable steps and tasks. This plan spells out significant initiatives for the upcoming period, resource and budget allocation decisions reached, timelines, and who is responsible for what. It transforms the broad objectives of the strategic plan into specific targets and measurable KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) or GKRs (Goals and Key Results) for different departments and teams.

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Making the Most of Strategic and Operating Plans
Strategic Plan
  1. Vision Alignment: Ensures that the organization’s actions and decisions align with its vision and mission, creating a united effort to reach long-term success.
  2. Resource Optimization: Helps tune resource allocation, centering on projects and initiatives that align with the organization’s strategic aspirations.
  3. Risk Management: Equips organizations to spot potential risks and vulnerabilities early on and develop strategies to counter them effectively.
  4. Innovation and Adaptation: Fosters innovation and enables organizations to change and grow in line with shifting market dynamics or conditions.
Operating Plan
  1. Resource Allocation & Budget Management: Aids in carefully determining and monitoring budgets, clearly reflecting the financial impacts of various activities and projects.
  2. Organizational Alignment: Ensures the organization has the optimal operating structure to execute the strategy successfully. (Think boxes on an org chart)
  3. Task Management: Streamlines task management by clearly defining roles and responsibilities for team members.
  4. Operational Efficiency: Supports operational efficiency by designing streamlined processes and procedures, minimizing inefficiency and wastage.
  5. Performance Measurement: Paves the way for evaluating individual and departmental performance by setting up KPIs and targets.

In conclusion, the synergistic relationship between a strategic and an operating plan is crucial in guiding an organization’s future. While the strategic plan lays out the long-term vision and goals, the operating plan breaks these into practical steps, offering an organized and clear approach to business management. Both plans are essential in navigating the intricate business world and guiding the organization toward success.

Don’t Be Afraid of Strategic Planning

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From my associate Janice Giannini.

Emotions drive most peoples’ actions; we don’t like admitting that. We want to believe that reason and logic drive our business decisions. And in some cases, that is true.

There is one case where that needs to be on point. That case is the “job” of strategic planning. Why does it strike fear in the hearts of some? Let’s get the easy answer out of the way; it takes a lot of time and resources and is not fun.

There are many tools to assist with developing the Plan, so we don’t need to focus on that. Discussing the uncomfortable and risky part of the job is our intent.

The reality is that no one has a crystal ball, and there can be severe consequences for making the wrong choice, no choice, or missing the window of opportunity.

Looking through a critical lens might help us focus on the uncomfortable part of the job versus staying in our collective comfort zone. The questions are simple, but the answers are not.

  • First, we must understand our collective comfort zone, which typically surfaces in conversations about what we do and don’t control. This causes us to entertain the most appropriate balance point, even if we think we can’t get there. A strategy typically has many unknowns and touch points out of our control.
  • Do we understand the difference between a Strategy and a Strategic Plan? The risk is the Strategy. The challenge here is credibly understanding the risk/ reward of the strategic options and objectively discerning those with a low chance of success, regardless of emotional response.
  • What is our comfort level with the Strategy? If we are too comfortable with it, are we on target? A strategy in unpredictable times will likely cause a fair amount of dis-ease. The consequences of not projecting forward enough could be disastrous in the long term.
  • What are the potential single points of failure embedded in our Strategy? Is there a reasoned response to them?
  • Do we have a credible Strategic Plan? Is it simple, straightforward, and understood by the leadership team? If not, it might need additional attention.

As a business critically examines these characteristics of its Strategy, openly recognizing the limitations of available information and bringing in partners with a different lens might also clarify the strategic path.

Strategist or Process Manager?

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From my associate Grant Tate.

There are two kinds of people working in strategic planning:

  • Those who look at a picture in a newspaper and see nothing but a collection of dots. Those are the business analysts.
  • Then there are those who look at a pile of dots and see pictures. Call them strategists.

We used this guideline to select people for our strategic planning department. We needed both. We needed strategists who could see a complex international economic, social, and technological environment, identify opportunities, and set directions.

We also needed analysts to help us gather, parse, organize, and make sense out of mountains of information.

In addition to those specialists, we also had some talented people who could go both ways—they could process the data but also had rare insight and talent to make sense of it and imagine creative ways for our organization to be successful.

After becoming a consultant, I noticed two types of people helping organizations with setting directions.

One type, the strategist, focuses on strategy development—helping an organization understand its situation, dream about the future, and select a path to success. The strategist may employ a proven process, but the process is more like an innovation process than a predetermined standard “let’s make a plan” approach.

The second consultant uses a predesigned and sometimes standard step-by-step process, resulting in a standard strategic plan format. (Search the internet if you want some examples. They’re all over.) Some of these approaches result in a long list of action steps with a low probability of being implemented. It’s almost as if the process strategic planner is saying, “If we keep on following this process, we will find the answers we need. Sorry folks, you won’t find it.

As you can guess by now, I’m a strong believer in the first type, the strategist. Organizations need good strategies, not a book written at the end of a process.

But any strategic approach should start with answering some important questions.

  • What is our dream for this organization? What do we really want?
  • Are we aiming high enough? What would it mean if we shot for the moon?
  • Do we have the right leadership to realize our dream?
  • What is limiting our ability to realize it?
  • Are we willing to do what it takes to realize our dream?
  • What are our guidelines for how we treat each other? What are our guidelines for how we treat the customers?

These may not be the right questions for you or your organization, but you get the idea. Start with the strategic questions you need to answer before ever kicking off a strategic planning approach. Work with your team to develop the right questions and answer them together. Then, you can design an approach to help you answer the questions.

If you need a consultant to help you formulate or facilitate your strategic thinking or your process to answer them, find out what approach that consultant will use with your team. It starts with the questions. So, get with it!

The Double Edged Sword of Personal Assessment Instruments

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Personal assessment instruments, from personality quizzes to aptitude tests, continue to mine their desired niches in professional and personal environments. Many tools promise a glimpse into our traits, potential, and inner workings. However, as with all instruments, they come with benefits and potential pitfalls. This article sheds light on some of the most significant concerns to consider when selecting a tool or instrument.

 

Validity and Reliability: The Foundation of Trust

The fundamental concern for any assessment tool is its scientific robustness. Does the test consistently measure what it claims to (reliability)? Moreover, is it gauging the correct construct (validity)? One must watch out when using those instruments freely available online. They may need significantly more rigorous validation. Users, therefore, must be discerning, seeking out tools with proven track records and scientific backing.

 

Over-Reliance: The Risk of Tunnel Vision

While these instruments often offer intriguing insights, there’s a precarious inclination to see the output as the be-all-and-end-all. Our personalities and capabilities are intricate tapestries woven from myriad threads. No matter how comprehensive, a single test may only capture part of the spectrum of human complexity. Over-reliance on these results risks pigeonholing individuals and overlooking their multifaceted nature.

 

The Privacy Quagmire: What Happens to Your Data?

In our digital age, data privacy has emerged as a paramount concern. Completing an online assessment can mean entrusting platforms with intimate details about ourselves. How securely is this data stored, and who has access? The fear of commoditizing or misusing personal information is real, emphasizing the importance of using reputable platforms with clear data policies and secure infrastructure.

 

Interpreting Results: Navigating a Minefield

A result lacking in context or nuance can lead to gross misinterpretation. The interpretation phase is crucial and often requires expertise. Proper guidance can help the person being assessed draw accurate and beneficial conclusions about themselves, affecting their self-worth and direction in life.

 

Cultural Biases: The Unseen Filters

The world is a mosaic of cultures, each with its unique worldview. Some assessment instruments, unfortunately, carry inherent cultural or unconscious biases, predisposing them to favor one group over another. Skewed results can make them less reflective of an individual’s potential or personality.

 

Cost Prohibitions: An Unseen Barrier

Quality often comes at a price. Many validated instruments carry a higher cost, which could exclude individuals or groups who might benefit most from such insights. Be conscious about potentially perpetuating systemic inequalities.

 

Labels and Stigma: The Unintended Consequences

Being labeled, while simplifying complex traits, can lead to restrictive stereotypes and unintended repercussions. There’s the danger of a self-fulfilling prophecy where individuals consciously or subconsciously limit themselves to their assigned category’s confines.

 

Institutional Misuse: A Cautionary Tale

One of the darkest shadows over personal assessment tools is their potential misuse by institutions. There’s a latent fear that schools, employers, or other entities might use these results unjustly, leading to discriminatory practices or decisions. Review best-in-class practices regularly.

 

Emotional Turbulence: Handling Feedback with Care

Human beings, at their core, seek validation. Unexpected or adverse feedback from an assessment can be quite unsettling. Constructive feedback, while invaluable, must be delivered with empathy and care to ensure it aids growth rather than hinders it.

 

The Evolving Self: This is Only A Snapshot in Time

Change happens. What an instrument measures today might not reflect what will be true or necessary for a person to succeed tomorrow. Recognizing and remembering that these tools provide a snapshot rather than a permanent portrait is crucial.

 

In conclusion, personal assessment instruments, while powerful, come with their set of concerns. Approach instruments with a discerning eye. Understand their limitations and seek expert guidance to help harness their potential while sidestepping pitfalls.

 

I welcome an opportunity to discuss your situation and areas of interest.

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Wait! I’m Your Coach, Not Your Therapist

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People come to us with various business and personal issues and needs. If you’ve had a chance to examine the paradigmassociates.us website, you know about the many services and tools available to help our clients. Coaching is an essential component of our work, helping clients address issues, solve problems, set goals, and develop good habits.

But there is one service you won’t find there: Therapy.

‍Okay. So, what is the difference between coaching and therapy?

‍I went to my trusty assistant, ChatGPT, to explore that question

‍Coaching

Coaching is primarily focused on future-oriented goals and performance enhancement, so coaching targets a specific set of skills or behaviors to improve. Coaches often work with clients seeking professional success, enhancing leadership skills, or attaining personal development. Your role as a senior organizational consultant aligns well with this, as you are likely involved in assisting executives and teams in reaching their potential and achieving organizational objectives.

‍Therapy

Treatment often involves diagnosing and treating mental or emotional disorders. It is more past-oriented and looks into deep-seated issues or trauma to bring healing and psychological wellness. Therapists are trained professionals who employ various therapeutic techniques to help individuals deal with mental health issues, emotional challenges, and personal conflicts.

‍The techniques we use in our day-to-day work with clients are a long way from therapy, but we are trained and certified to use personal assessments. That is where we need to be careful not to engage in therapy, as defined in the preceding paragraphs.

‍Our assessments include professionally designed and researched DISC, Driving Forces, ACI (Hartman Value Profile), and Competencies. Each element is essential to personal development and helps team members better understand themselves and work together more effectively.

DISC clarifies the participant’s behavioral style, including assertiveness, interaction with others, reaction to change, attention to detail, and decision-making (and others).

‍The Driving Forces test demonstrates underlying motivations and values underneath the behavioral layer. If you’ve ever known someone with vastly different viewpoints on issue after issue, that person probably has a different set of driving forces than yours. This test helps examine those deeper drives.

‍These two tests are instrumental when considering how two people might communicate and work together. People with similar profiles can communicate with few words and easily collaborate on tasks or projects. Conversely, those with widely differing profiles require more careful communication, which might take more time and effort. And…often experience conflict.

‍But…diversity counts. Different profiles bring different interpersonal skills and different points of view, which can lead to more effective problem-solving, better creativity, and more considered decisions. Therefore, it’s easy to visualize how the tests are effective in looking at the diversity of a team, highlighting possible points of conflict, and providing insight on what kind of assignments should be given to each team member, considering each person’s particular strengths and styles.

The fourth test, Competencies, assesses twenty skills, providing a distribution of a person’s relative strength for each one. This does not measure if the person can use each skill but helps the participant evaluate their life history and experiences with each. This list assists in designing a personal coaching program for the person.

‍I left the third test (ACI, Hartman Value Profile, or HVP) for last because it goes deeper and is more complex. We often use DISC and Driving Forces in team discussions, but usually we do not reveal the ACI results among a team. Let’s consider why.

‍The third test (ACI, HVP) asks the participant to rank two lists of eighteen items: One list of how the person views the outside world and the people in it, and the other list of how they see themselves, their work, and their role in life. Using a mathematical system called Formal Axiology, the system summarizes the person’s ability to sense themselves and the outside world. At the top level, it evaluates external factors such as understanding others, practical thinking, and system thinking, and, at the internal level, how the person values themselves, understands their role, and the clarity of their self-direction.

‍In other words, the test measures a person’s empathy, ability to see and solve problems, and ability to deal with complexity. At the personal level, the person’s self-confidence/self-esteem, understanding of their role, and sense of self-direction.

‍The test results form a solid foundation for coaching. For instance, if the participant ranks relatively low on self-confidence, coaching can help the person develop attitudes, habits, and practices that have been proven in practice. These often suggest ways to replace self-critical mindsets with more positive messages or affirmations. Yet, the coach cannot move into therapy—therapeutically analyzing the person’s early life experiences that may have caused negative mindsets. It is a thin line that coaches must be careful not to cross.

‍Valid low scores in all three internal measurements may indicate the person is facing short-range challenges. On the other hand, if tests over time show low scores, the person may have significant personal issues. In such a case, a well-trained test interpreter/coach can still explain the test results but must be careful not to cross the therapy line. The coach may suggest the participant seek advice from a professionally trained therapist for further analysis and treatment. The assessments are powerful tools that must be used wisely.

‍Our well-designed coaching program typically includes the assessments. Their results give us the opportunity to design a customized process for each individual. And, the assessment report often opens a client’s eyes to behaviors, and characteristics that may not have been recognized by the person. Starting from there, a person can build on their strengths, set new goals, and forge a new path to a fruitful life.

What Does Effective Leadership Look Like

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From my associate Janice Giannini.

Looking around at our fractured world, I opine that leadership contributes to this unfortunate reality.

But then I ponder: what does effective leadership look like in a highly connected world where fact and fiction blur, when everyday business challenges and risks are steeply escalating, and the two newest entrants, namely cyber-security and AI, are shifting paradigms globally?

I apply the lessons learned in mathematics, business, engineering, dance, fitness, music, and life when in doubt. Go back to basics!

We all know many of the basics. As I coached my children, “it’s not the knowing” that’s the issue; it’s doing that’s the issue!

So, let’s talk about a few critical basics, recasting their descriptors.

Values

What values drive leaders’ thoughts and behaviors? Clearly and understandably, stating them is the starting point, and many or most businesses do that. However, if the stated values do not align with the processes and actions, the actual values are much different. The adage applies: actions speak louder than words.

If this is not the result you need for your business, consider for a moment: if a deviation from the stated values is required (?) addressing the departure might lead to a better outcome. The question mark in parentheses after the word ‘required’ invites one to consider whether it is needed or just easier.

How do the actual values align with the stated values? Look and listen. Ask for specific examples of alignment or non-alignment, making it clear that whatever the response, it is okay. What you do when it is inconvenient telegraphs to the business your values. The ultimate goal is for actual values to be the same as the stated values. If they are not, what needs to change

Responsibility as a Role Model

Leaders in any organization are role models for good or ill. How frequently does the leadership team think through what that responsibility needs to be, affirming each individual’s willingness to behave that way?

For instance:

  • If honor, integrity, and ethics are stated values, list specific examples of when you acted this way and didn’t.
  • If respect for all people is a declared value, go through the same exercise.
  • Repeat for each of your stated values.

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After recognizing the shortfall, what do you do to “fix it”? Acknowledging that everyone falls short sometimes, what you do next matters! And people judge it as consistent or not with your responsibility, values, and reputation.

Focus

Most agree that organizational leaders are frequently pulled in many potentially conflicting directions simultaneously. Maintaining focus is challenging for leaders and all personnel in the ecosystem. A place to start might be:

  • Question the current modes of thinking and processes. Are they helping, or does success depend on constant workarounds?
  • Do they help differentiate the crucial topics from the social subject of the day?
  • Do they enable people to knowledgeably balance among risks, whether traditional risks or newcomers to the table?

 

What needs to change to address any disconnects?

Communication

One can spend a lifetime researching communications, how to improve, what works and doesn’t, and the ultimate impacts of incomplete communications.

The fundamental question for all of us is, do I understand what effective communication entails and whether I am guilty of it?

Effective communication verifies that the message I heard is the same as what you intended. Communication is about 55% based on what is seen, around 38% on how it is said, and 7% on the actual words uttered.

In many businesses, we “word-smith” to death, but that’s only 7% of the job. What about the other 93% of the job?

That 93% of the job comes from your heart and values. Many humans may be unable to articulate why they don’t believe in the message, but humans feel and understand when there are disconnects.

We started down this path, understanding that we would discuss a few of the obvious basics that set the foundation for effective leadership.

In closing, are you satisfied with your foundation? Building on an unstable foundation invites constant trauma.  What do you need to do to strengthen it? What additional knowledge do you and your team require to address the internal and external escalating risks in a highly connected world where fact and fiction blur?

Water Changes Everything

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From my associate Janice Giannini.

Recently, my church invited Scott Harrison to speak. Scott started Charity Water about 17 years ago. If you are interested in his back story, it begins around time marker 40:28; his talk continues to time marker 1:26.10. It is both enlightening and compelling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euncs_tYx48

I listened to him speak and watched the video clips he shared, thinking he was doing good work. I know many people don’t have clean water like most of us. I never truly understood what that meant daily in a person’s life. The part that made me sick to my stomach was time marker 55:27 through 59:20. If you only have a few minutes, it tells the whole story. Warning: It is heartbreaking.

10% of the people on the face of this earth do not have access to clean water. That is 770 million people, BTW. Lack of clean water drives 50% of the health issues in countries without clean water access.

Lack of clean water impacts people’s health, education, and the economy. Access to clean water improves their health, enables children to go to school, especially girls, and positively impacts the economy. Instead of walking five or more hours a day to get dirty, unhealthy, organism-tainted water, the women can start businesses to care for their families and send their healthy children to school.

Why am I sharing this with you? Most people who will read this have access to clean water and would be revolted by what a significant percentage of the global population must endure daily. Perhaps you are asking yourself, what can I do?

As you consider how to make a difference in this world and leave it a better place, would you:

  • Donate; the amount does not matter. The people who will benefit most likely cannot say thank you to you. But it is greatly appreciated; it will change their lives, and you will know you made a difference in a child’s life. There but for the grace of God, go I?
  • We all give gifts: birthdays, anniversaries, significant events, holidays, and no occasion. We often struggle with what is a meaningful gift because many of us don’t need anything. Give a well or part of a well or a gallon of petrol for the equipment.
  • Throw yourself a party, and anyone who comes kicks in $20 or $25; then send it all to the Charity Water. It could strengthen your community and make a     difference in someone else’s life.

 

For those who don’t trust charities, Scott set up Charity Water so 100% of all public donations go to the mission. He has aseparate funding mechanism for staff and infrastructure.

Currently, there are about 8 billion of us on this planet. Governments will do a certain amount. That will not be enough for so many reasons. Sadly, a lot of the aid may not even get to the people who need it the most. As individuals and as a group, we can make a difference. And it is up to us to chart what kind of a world we want to live in.

Because of Charity Water, about 17 million people across 29 countries now have access to clean water. There are still 770 million yet to go. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to enable clean water for everyone who needs it during our lifetime?

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please consider helping and sharing.

The Power of Walking in Your Customer’s Shoes

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From my associate Grant Tate. 

“Meet us in the parking lot,” they said. “How about 10 o’clock? ”These were among my first clients: a fellow who owned a large summer camp for kids and his friend, an investor from the Washington, DC area. They had just purchased a local golf course that needed a radical transformation. Its maintenance was terrible, and customers had been fleeing.

The fellows were waiting when I pulled up. Eight or nine other cars were scattered around in the parking lot, probably occupying about a tenth of the available places. If this clear, sunny spring day is a good example, these guys have a long way to go. I didn’t know about golf courses, had never played a round, and knew nothing about driving, putting, or choosing the right club. But my job as a consultant was to ask the right questions, help these owners set clear objectives, and lay out a plan for success, success as they defined it.

‍After exchanging introductions and pleasantries, Chuck, the camp owner, said, “We think the place has great potential. There’s another golf course in the county, but it caters mostly to members of the gated community. We want to serve the general public.”

‍“Yes, we’ve done the demographics, and there are a lot of potential clients in the five-county area,” added Marty, the investor.

“It’s good that you’ve done the demographics,” I said. “Let’s think about those people. What do they want? How do we make their experience easy and memorable? As a starting point, live a golfer’s experience by following the path of a typical customer and…imagine that person is Bob.”

‍“OK,” Chuck and Marty agreed.

‍“First, when Bob drives up, parks, and gets out of his car, what does he see? What questions would he have?”

‍“Does this place look inviting?” said Marty. “Yeah,” said Chuck.“We have horrible landscaping.”

“OK, we’ll make a note of that.” I moved on. “From here, we can see two walkways leading to doors. One door says, ‘Snack Bar,’ and the other has no label. Where does that lead?”

“My god, that leads to the front desk and the golf shop,” Chuck said. “I never even thought of that. A new customer would not know where to go.”

“So, that’s Bob’s first stop? I asked.

“Unless he’s really hungry,” laughed Marty.

‍We went step by step through Bob’s whole experience, from entering the place, signing up for a round, renting a cart, and teeing off, proceeding hole by hole. We asked ourselves questions along the way, took good notes on observations, and needed changes.

‍After walking the course, we went to the snack bar, reviewed the menu, ordered some refreshments, and discussed our notes. The whole process took about two hours.

‍“How do you feel about this experience?” I asked.

“Frustrated but enlightened,” said Chuck. “We’ve learned so much.”

Marty chimed in, “Yes, but from this, we can lay out our priorities and make a plan to turn this golf course into something special—something that golfers can come to love. And, you know what, this gives us a good foundation for a new advertising and promotional campaign.”

‍“OK. Let’s meet again next week and talk about your plan,” I suggested.

This experience showed me the power of putting customer experience at the top of a business’s transformation priorities. I’ll never forget the expressions on Chuck and Marty’s faces as they discovered new and important details of their potential customers’ experiences.

‍So, live your customers’ experiences. You may be surprised at what you learn.

Why Is Fostering Excellent Customer Service So Challenging

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From my associate Janice Gianinni.

The most succinct description of customer experience is everything related to your business that impacts a person’s feelings and perceptions about your business. Every interaction matters, regardless of how brief, and it is independent of making a purchase.

So, let’s start with a simple question: when did you last call your customer support line anonymously? Or reach out to purchase your products/services anonymously? In this context, anonymously means you do not identify as a company employee or leader.

  • How did that experience strike you? Did you feel valued and respected? Or like a nuisance and unwanted interruption?
  • If you were a fly on the wall, witnessing that experience as a company leader, would you feel proud or embarrassed or someplace in between?
  • Was your concern/question adequately addressed? Did they give you an escalation path to address your concern if not?

 

Customers’ feelings when things go right affect their perceptions. Their perceptions are significantly impacted by how they feel when a problem needs resolving. In addition, emotions drive at least 80% to 90% of buying decisions using logic to justify that choice. Based on your experience above, would you want to do business with you? In all fairness, you should implement this exercise multiple times to get a broader perspective.

I hope that the answer is yes. But do you know the reasons? I encourage you to invest in a deeper understanding of your reaction to the above.

  • Do you know what experience you and your customers honestly want? And how can you get in touch with that emotionally? I understand that for many business leaders, it’s about rational thought and dollars and cents. We don’t discuss emotions. But then again, emotions drive revenue and profit.
  • Are you focused on what you think they want or potentially too focused on short-term profit?
  • Are you sufficiently flexible in recognizing that customers’ wants differ based on the product/service and their current heart-mind space? If you implemented the exercise above a day a month for six months, would you always be in the same space?
  • A potential customer’s first point of contact with your company/brand is critical. Are you investing appropriately in these contacts? Particularly in the people? Successful businesses are not only about people; it’s about follow-through.
  • Lastly, are you wording your customer satisfaction surveys to get the answers that “you think you want” or to learn what is happening? For example, when was the last time you filled out a customer survey, and there needed to be a way to share the feedback you wanted to share?

 

Why is Customer Experience so challenging? Because it’s the people! People are emotional, behave inconsistently based on heart-mind space at the moment, and their needs change over time. Any business’s risk-reward equation concerns more than the technical, operational, financial, sales, supply chain, and marketing challenges. The risk-reward equation needs to incorporate the inconsistency of humans in a highly connected world. That balance will shift ever more frequently as we move to the future. If your customers’ experiences are not meeting your desired outcome, you may want to re-evaluate and re-align your foundational embedded assumptions about peoples’ wants and needs.

Leadership May Be Easier Than You Think

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From my associate Janice Giannini.

If you search the earliest references for leadership – you will see that the Bible talks about it. So the leadership concept has been around for a few thousand years, give or take. While the descriptive words have changed, many, if not most, leadership principles haven’t changed all that much.

Leadership is about three things: understanding and clearly articulating where you are going, effectively sharing why you are taking the business there, and PEOPLE (because you can’t get there alone).

Let’s look at each of these to ponder and consider alternate viewpoints.

Knowing where you are going is about the overall business strategy and the culture (the environment in which you want to work).

While developing a risk-balanced strategy based on potential and marketplace realities may be challenging, it is essential to grow and stay in business.  It is even more critical to clearly articulate this strategy to all parties in words they can connect with. Enabling partners and team members to internalize the plan fosters better decisions and motivations. For example, if investors don’t understand and connect with it, they might devalue your business, or if partners don’t understand it, they might prefer not to work with you.

Culture is part of the foundation of a business. It drives it. The culture either leads it to success or failure. If the published culture differs from reality, that’s a problem; everybody knows that. Consequently, leadership is defining the culture, living it based on individual and collective behavior, and constantly reinforcing it throughout the business. A disconnect between published culture and reality is most evident when deadlines loom and the company struggles to meet them. The choices made during crises say as much, if not more, about culture than when “things are going well.”

Why does Why matter

A motivated and dedicated collaborative team is necessary for a business to thrive.

By and large, people want to do an excellent job for which they can be proud.

However, to do a good job, the team must understand why and how their actions enable the desired outcome. Every day people make a bazillion decisions; if there is an incomplete understanding of alignment, the opportunity to make the wrong decision can be high. Sub-optimal decisions are neither in the best interest of the company nor the individual.

As a result, effectively translating from strategy to operations to actions is essential.

PEOPLE (because you can’t get there alone)

Do you want/need people in your business? How many do you need to achieve your business goals? Do you need 10 or 100, or 1000 plus? Why do you need them? Does it matter if they are motivated, dedicated, and show up with a positive can–do attitude to get the job done? Do you need them to make daily decisions and choices to enable business success?

If the answers to these questions are yes, more than a few, because I can’t do everything myself, yes, and definitely yes to making the most appropriate decisions possible daily, are you doing your part as a leader to enable all that to happen?

As no one will see these answers but you unless you choose to share, I encourage you to be completely honest with yourself. It’s also not a secret as people are pretty astute and can see what is happening before them, so you might as well be honest with yourself.

A potential roadmap as a place to start:

  • Please get to know the people on your team and encourage all of them to get to know the members of their teams. Conversations can be easy: how did you get started; what’s important to you; what do you value; what do you like about being here; what don’t you like about being here? These are just a few questions to signal that you want to understand.
  • Be clear about what your personal Accountability/ responsibility looks and doesn’t look like. If this isn’t what is happening today, why? What are you going to do about it?
  • If the business is doing something that feels wrong in the pit of your stomach, it is. So stand –up and find another way?
  • People generally want to be treated with respect, feel good about what they do, and feel it matters. They want to be valued. Would you experience dignity and value if you were in their shoes in your business today? Would you like to run or stay? What needs to change and why?
  • When in meetings or dealing with people one-on-one, is the goal to advance the business or solve the problem? If neither one of these are happening, are you listening to understand and consider different points of view or only listening to respond? Might you have a better outcome if you listen to learn versus just to respond?

How do you deal with failure/mistakes?

Humans make mistakes; only some approaches work the first time, and machines make mistakes. Does the culture need to adjust to deal with this effectively? Or find another way to address it respectfully.

One of the most significant capabilities for all leaders is connecting with people. When you wake up in the morning, do you expect people will do their best that day, or do you think they will act deliberately with intent to harm? Then, as you walk down the hall, assuming you still do that, do you make eye contact, acknowledge people, and say hi or thanks or good day?

Seemingly small things matter. I sent a sub-contract manager many years ago to negotiate with one of our suppliers. At the end of the last telecon on the results, in front of the team, I said thank you, great job, see you when you get back.

‍Upon his return, he came to my office and said: I have worked for this company for 35 years, and no one ever said thank you, you did great. Anything you need, tell me, and we (the team) will get it done.

People need to feel valued and that they matter. All I did was speak from the heart.

A standard catchphrase in business is “It’s not personal; it’s just business.” In reality, that statement is wrong.

Yes, business is about money, growth, and profits, particularly in a capitalist society.

But it is very personal to every human at every level that interacts with that business.

Is leadership easier than we think? Would we have a better outcome if we admitted it’s about people and treating them respectfully at all levels across a company/ organization? Would we have a better outcome if we faced our own fears/ shortcomings?

Worth considering?