Too Busy to Build Value?

If so, you’ll have plenty of time soon…

How have you been? Is a “throw away” line.
It prompts a superficial response so we can continue on uninterrupted by reality.

Well, at least it used to be.  Now, it might well unleash an emotional litany:

…swamped, buried with projects…barely keeping my head above water, up to my ears in alligators…

Probe a bit and you’ll hear the underlying message:  busy, busy, busy, but lacking in results.

What are we busy doing?  Reorganizing, planning, recording, assessing and messaging.  These things are important, preventing weaknesses from creating crises is a good thing, but most of the time our activities entirely miss the number one charge of any organization – building value.  You see, value is not derived by piecing together activities like fabric to a quilt; value is a derivative of aligning the strategies, vision and direction to do ONE THING – acquire and retain customers.

This means more than buying customers through acquisitions and mergers, but really identifying customer needs, developing a marketing plan, selling and most importantly, building new relationships (organic growth).  In the past five years, research by The Coffman Organization suggests that employees, managers and leaders are increasingly becoming detached from the customer.  Why?  The uncomplicated answer is because customers are challenging and sometimes mess up our well thought out plans and strategies.

It is so much easier to restructure, change reporting channels and create communication plans than to figure out how best to acquire new customers and to sustain these relationships.  While not bad prima facia, these actions may change behavior but they usually have little to no impact on customer acquisition and sustainability.  This should be the litmus test for EVERY initiative, project and hour worked for every single person in the organization.

Let’s be honest, quality standards are far more beneficial to us than to our customers.  We use scalability and standards to protect the organization or our own position in the pecking order by ensuring a cookie-cutter approach (“do it like this”), or delivering a message that you adamantly disagree with.

Contemporary organizations keep it simple and NEVER lose sight of what really determines their success.  Everyone from HR, IT, Accounting, Operations, Marketing and Sales knows how to separate the hay from the horse manure.  There is a widely held expectation that someone knows each and every customer and has a meaningful relationship with them!

When customers voice reasonable needs, great organizations don’t crouch behind the shields of “scope creep” or “out of standard”.  They recognize how a $15 part can ultimately result in a $750,000 purchase of heavy machinery.  For example, an $18 pizza may not seem like much of a value driver, but when one considers that every man, woman and child consumes 23 pounds (43 slices) of pizza per year, the overall contribution (value) is enormous.  Value-building leaders know that creating lifelong customers always trumps the traditional view of satisfying a customer within one transaction.

At The Coffman Organization, we have completed research with hundreds of thousands of employees, managers, leaders and, most importantly, customers.  The results are alarming.  While no one denies the importance of the customer, they have been reduced to a nameless, faceless entity.  Value-driven companies structure themselves around the fact that every touch point results in a stronger or weaker relationship – depending on the human connection.  Our data show that customers are not loyal by nature – they actually prefer to switch.  Despite this disappointing fact, they do crave meaningful relationships with the people they do business with and trust.

Sales, or more succinctly, a sales driven model will yield unprecedented success when organizations do the following:

• Strive to engage employees around their role in creating great customer outcomes – no matter what role they are in.
• Study your best sales people, NOT “how” they do it, but what THEY NEED to sustain their high performance.  Remember that big performance comes with big other stuff too – be ready to manage it.
• Provide meaningful measurements to both sales representatives and their customers – by region, district and territory.
• Use a customer engagement structure as the foundation for excellence.  See employee engagement when alongside customer engagement as a leading indicator of the organization’s success.
• Develop your managers around the right things – knowing their employees and developing the kind of meaningful relationships that will accelerate performance and quickly smooth out the inevitable bumps in the road.
• Don’t assume your managers know how to manage people!  More often than not, they know how to manage things, which doesn’t promote customer acquisition and retention.

Busy?  We want to help you know if what you’re doing is truly building value.  Let us show you how our model can help create a culture that does just that.

How do we burn thee?  Let us count the ways…

• In the hospital, when you are at your wife’s side during a pregnancy crisis…
• When you go out to lunch, and your boss calls your cell to say it’s NOT necessary to come back…
• When you pick up your messages and it’s the phone company calling to disconnect your business line…
• When everyone on the team already knows what you will find out after the meeting…

These are just a few of the ways some organizations demonstrate to people (and their colleagues still standing) that our human resources are our most important resources.  That we care.  Really, we do.

Is it really that inconvenient for your manager to talk to you first,  privately,  in person?

What is it about organizational life that provides permission to re-write the basic rules of human decency?  This is really not a “Miss Manners column,” but we are pretty shocked when being a leader means you can do anything from putting oranges in your pants (don’t let anyone ever tell you we don’t have balls here) to interrupting your child’s birth to announce that you have been terminated.

~Believe It Or Not~

One of the 3rd largest insurance companies in America,
an icon for “family values,” fired an employee via email at 11:50pm Sunday evening.

Indecent seems to be the right word to use when you are told to fire a 20+ year, valued employee because the $400 million dollar bonus the senior staff have divvied up leaves the company a bit too short to afford her $40,000 dollar salary.  Just email her. She’ll find some other job; after all, she knows every one of your clients by voice, and remembers all their spouse and children names and hobbies. That kind of memory will certainly serve her well in the new job market.

We are not big believers in developing classes in ethics, or coursework of that ilk.  After kindergarten, you know that hitting other people hurts them as much as when they hit you.  And you also know that what belongs to other people belongs to other people, the fine print not-with-standing.  Whether or not you choose to live your life by these values is another matter.  A class will only annoy the ethical and give the others an excuse that there is something to discuss.

Doing what is right has never been easy.  Ask a soldier or anyone over 60.  Or ask your children about the choices they are making at school every day.  It is not a generational thing.  It’s a human thing.  Encumbered with the burdens of our own lives we face a fork in the road and one of the paths appears to be downhill.

To that point, a leader we admire a great deal told us this story:
Just entering the shipping department late one afternoon, I interrupted a celebration, with high five hand slapping and people laughing.  The team members were so enthused, it looked like the group was about to hoist “Joe” onto their shoulders.

This is exactly the kind of scene you want to run into all over your organization – and I was eager to get in the moment with them.  I pressed them for the news:  what had happened – what was this success?

With urging from the group, Joe told his story.  It appeared that he had gone to Home Depot to pick up $1800 dollars worth of paint and the clerk forgot to charge him.  That was the cause of the celebration.

“Joe, get your ass back in the truck and go pay for the paint!”

How naturally and spontaneously we communicate our own values!  Without a moment’s hesitation, our leader sent an unequivocal message:  the misfortune of others does not count as our success.  In the chaos and confusion of mistakes and misinterpretations and an uncertain future, we find our way by always doing what is the right thing to do.

We know of an organization which employed a “travel expense review committee” to insure expenses were accurately reported.  Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?  Occasionally, reimbursement was requested for something that was not allowable, and that resulted in “savings” for the organization.

Unfortunately, this group found most of its satisfaction when employees could have claimed an expense (like parking) and forgot to note it on their expense report, even though they had enclosed the receipt.  This oversight was never brought to the employee’s attention and resulted in a win something akin to the paint celebration.

Doing what is right doesn’t imply doing what’s right for the organization over the individual, does it?  The more you find yourself qualifying what is right, the less right it is.

Shouldn’t people appointed to the “travel review committee” actually have traveled extensively themselves?  Those who are never asked to sacrifice for the organization by leaving their homes and families, and never miss a dinner meal or a child’s play at school should probably not be the ones in charge of evaluating the travel patterns of associates whose evenings are entirely dependent on the kindness of strangers.

Layoffs happen.  Economies and fortunes decline over night, sometimes through no fault of our own.  But the way in which we face these challenges speaks volumes about our character or lack thereof.

One organization called several hundred people into a meeting hall to discuss an impending layoff.  Upon leaving, each person would receive an envelope, only some of which contained a pink slip.

When it happens to you, how far down the hall will you walk to open your envelope?  What kind of regard will you have for those who engineered this low courage assault on your self-confidence and security?

When you get burned, the person who guided you, supported you and cared about you, should be there with you, helping you take the next steps just as he/she has been there coaching you for success.  It isn’t necessary for that person to have all the answers, but being there – showing up – is the right thing to do.

Personally, we know some admirable people, great managers, who took the uphill path in the face of these situations and left with the staff who had been wronged or discarded for a cheaper model.  Since their resignation never “saved” that person, we suspect that most took this route as much for themselves, as for their associates, to insure their own solid footing on the path…far away from the slippery slope of convenience.

New ideas are energizing and revitalizing – right?

Hmmm…not always. Actually, unique, original perspectives elicit, on the whole, more negative than positive reactions. How? Why? Seriously, doesn’t everyone love innovation?

Innovation looks much less like a sparkling diamond and more like a lump of coal in the beginning, just waiting to be shaped and transformed into something of value. Tragically, too few can visualize the potential in a lump of coal. Furthermore, our organizational cultures often unintentionally thwart innovation.  So rather than innovation, we settle for a new container, logo or even price. We trademark to protect our “intellectual property,” which even further prevents innovation.

When will we recognize that the most effective defense of our competitive advantage won’t happen in a courtroom? Sustainability will only happen in a culture that props up the lumps of coal and encourages uniqueness in its most raw form.

Makes sense – right? How do we get there? Before innovations can become a vital component of our cultures, we have to embrace some new views:

It takes serious courage to bet on something unseen.

You don’t get to excellence by eliminating risk.

Innovation requires giving up control.

Let’s look at these new cultural challenges more closely.

1. Innovation requires giving up control:

Do we hire people to perform tasks vs. not to think about new ways of doing things? Frankly, it scares us to think that employees could be out there coming up with their own ideas about how things could be done. “Do, don’t think” is often the unspoken mantra.

2. It takes serious courage to bet on something unseen:

Ideas are easy – innovation (what people will actually pay for) is hard. Ideas are shaped and even completely transformed when put through the blender of both Socratic and unfiltered Input from others. It’s naïve to think the best ideas come only from those already sophisticated in the respective area of focus. Fresh, valuable products and services also come from those without bias – those often excluded individuals, who aren’t already subject-matter experts.

3. You don’t get to excellence by eliminating risk.

Obviously, preventing errors and costly mistakes is necessary. If not balanced with promoting excellence, however, our efforts are wasted. The two are complementary, but definitely not the same thing. Our brains function in one of two states at any given time:  fear or vision. Fear always seems more motivational, at least short-term, but without vision and its accompanying risk, cultures grow stale.

Imagine if the BlackBerry, iPod, post-it-note, electric screwdriver, sandpaper and computer mouse had remained someone’s lump of coal.

Do you really want innovation? If so, it’s time for a new pair of glasses.

DOWNLOAD THE PDF HERE

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I never cease to be amazed at how strong people can be in times of trouble and crisis – if they know the honest realities of the situation.  Keep those same people in the dark, or give them “fuzzy facts,” confusing true purpose or direction, and hope diminishes and fear envelops their very being. It’s shocking to look back and see how many very successful organizations, once revered, are now fighting for their life.  Admired for their value and success, both have now evaporated. Through 30 years and the study of literally hundreds of organizations, we know why – and it is shockingly straightforward:  organizations thrive by intentionally managing culture at every turn.

Very talented employees want to join and stay with a great culture; that creates brand equity.  Even more importantly, customers will drive ten more minutes to experience strong culture versus a closer or even cheaper alternative.  The research has provided very rich, yet simple insights into each one of these desired results:

1. Employees must have an emotional connection to the culture.  People act differently when they share a sense of pride in the organizations for which they work.  They view the purpose of their work differently, they form fruitful relationships with co-workers and they are more productive.    Think about it, people don’t want to merely perform tasks; they long to see that they are part of a larger purpose and strategy aimed toward great things.  They want to feel a visceral sense of belonging in the organization and see the value they bring to the mission.
2. Brand equity is rarely an emotional connection to a product, but to a human being that brings the product to life.  This is true from Kashi® bars from Kellogg’s, the comforting milieu of Nordstrom’s or Starbucks to the energy of the Las Vegas strip.    Close your eyes; think about a product or service, and what comes to mind?  That’s brand – strong or weak, but always related to emotions and the people that create them.
3. Customers form loyalty out of emotion not rational evaluation.  We form patterns of buying because of how we are made to feel – not think.  Neuroscience tells us that we are 6 times more driven by our emotional experience than by our analytical assessments.  This brings about one major challenge for the companies of past and future – “how can we manage something as subjective and individual as a person’s emotions?”  The answer is quite simple, actually – through relationships.  Engaged cultures value going to where the customer is, versus trying to bring the customer to where the provider is.  Customers come to you in a vulnerable state.  They are 100% dependent on you to help them meet their needs.  Cultures that connect to that vulnerability (versus minimize or even ignore it) will be and are the true winners of the value and growth game.

Let’s Talk How

But not yet!  Even though the data has been crystal clear in a proven approach and road map, there is a fundamental step that MUST occur before the “how.”  That is the exploration and ability to answer a few questions about your culture past and present.  They are:

• Who are the heroes (past and present) in your organization?
• What do those heroes tell you about the real mission and what is valued?
• How unique, creative and relevant are your organization’s values (over 70% of all companies have the same values)?
• Do your organization’s values stir something inside of you?
• Are people given the time and encouraged to “think/create” or “just do?”
• What about your culture creates positive energy within you?
• What drains your positive energy?

These aren’t difficult, but crucial to explore with yourself and those with whom you work.

The next Coffman Report will lay out the proven approach that sustained organizations follow in keeping highly productive and engaged cultures alive and enriched.

]]> http://coffmanorganization.com/reports/culture-that-rocks-a-bite-size-piece/feed/ 2 http://coffmanorganization.com/reports/marching-to-the-beat-of-different-drummers/ http://coffmanorganization.com/reports/marching-to-the-beat-of-different-drummers/#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:44:09 +0000 Anil Saxena http://coffmanorganization.com/?p=1255 “No, no, no” my daughter’s Marching Band leader screamed.  “We cannot get to the end of the field without ALL of us going in the same direction.  Each section has to be playing the same song.”

As I walked with my daughter back to the car she said, “I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t just try to march to the same beat.  We would look so much better.”  True I thought, too true.

That night I thought about all the organizations I had the privilege of working with.  Many of them launched new strategies all the time trying to capitalize on trends or new technology.  But, well thought out, interesting, and even rational strategies failed at an alarming rate.  Even after John Kotter’s seminal book, Leading Change, organizational change, like introducing a new strategy fail 70% or more.  Why?  What is it that we are still doing wrong?

But it couldn’t be that companies don’t know HOW to implement change.  How could that be possible?  There are 100’s if not 1000’s of books on the subject and just as many consultants.  So if it is not the HOW then it must be something else.

Could it be as easy as marching to the same beat?

Research tells us that successful organizations focus on developing their managers and aligning their culture (teams, departments, operations) to their strategy.  Basically, organizational culture is the personality of the organization. The idea is that you have to get everyone to march to the beat of the same drummer.  That can be accomplished through force, but that is hard and costly.  The alternative is to uncover the current culture and provide managers the tools they need to drive incremental change.

It’s as simple and difficult as 1, 2, 3

1. It starts with understand how engaged the organization is.  Before people can get behind any change, they need to be excited about what they are doing
2. Then you have to uncover the current level of alignment to the strategy and culture
3. Uncover  service alignment between critical departments and service connections  to increase effectiveness

Supporting all of this is an on line Alignment System giving front line managers, leaders and OD/HR regular support, guidance and learning.  The system would help to get everyone on the same page, helping them start to march to the same beat.

My daughter’s band finished the season winning all kinds of awards.  Her director was focused on making sure that each section of the band was “playing the same song” and “paid attention to (and supported) the rest of the band”.

Are you tired of strategies going unfulfilled?  Are you wary that not everyone in your organization is marching to the same beat?  What happens if your new strategy fails?  Learn how to make sure that doesn’t happen….

[download file="/pdf/nurses_leaving_hospitals.pdf"]

Data gathered from the 1970’s to mid 1990’s about what “engages” employees and the key characteristics of a great place to work was organized and later presented in the best selling management book of all time.

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