Be Different or be dead

April 29, 2013

6 proven ways to do a better job of innovating

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6 proven ways to do a better job of innovating.

Innovate! is critical to the success of any organization, and these innovation strategies have been proven to work

But the process must be guided by a strategy to be different from the competition and provide people reasons why they should buy from them and no one else.

These 6 actions will help you do a better job of innovation.

▪️Establish a context for Innovate! — Idea generation and brainstorming is a waste unless it is guided by strategic direction. Use your strategic business plan as the frame to drive your Innovate! activity.

▪️Develop specific objectives with accountability and time-frames assigned. — Establish specific Innovate! objectives in your game plan to focus on the specific elements which require you to create a “new box”.

▪️Target your Innovate! objectives around your ONLY Statement — It should be your beacon to follow because it establishes your unique position in the market.
Many organizations follow best practices. This works if you want to improve delivery of your core service but it’s NOT OK if you want to stand-out from the competition.

Copying a best practice is a catch-up game at best; it’s not strategic.

Innovate! rule — Consider best practices to deliver flawless core service and your ONLY statement to leave the herd.

▪️Develop your Human Resources plan — to acquire and develop the Innovate! skills and competencies you need as defined by your game plan?

▪️Design reward and recognition programs — around your Innovate! objectives. If you don’t, you will do nothing but encourage the status quo.

▪️Leverage your customer learning capabilities — to drive the Innovate! process. Use both analysis and observation to know everything there is to know about WHO you have chosen to serve. Follow their lead.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.29.13 at 06:53 am by Roy Osing
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April 22, 2013

Amazing customer experiences can happen by doing these simple things

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How do you create a customer experience that blows a customer away and can’t be boxed?

Amazing customer experiences can happen by doing these simple things.

It can’t be time-bound. It can’t be created with an employee trying to get a customer on and off the phone in 20 seconds or less.

It can’t be engineered or architected. It can’t be manufactured from a blueprint. It doesn’t come from a can.

A magic moment is created when someone ‘puts in the time’ with another person, showing caring and thoughtful behavior.

It’s created through a process of listening, asking questions and responding with a serving attitude.

The spellbound customer experience cannot be managed with efficiency in mind.

This is how to create a customer experience with magic moments:

▪️Remove time restrictions on people who deal with customers. Let them take as much time as they need to serve them well and deliver the magic.

▪️Establish loyalty- building outcomes as the prime objective of any customer contact not how long it takes to unload a customer.

▪️Redefine how you use ‘work force management’ to manage your call center. These are useful tools to diagnose problems and issues but they shouldn’t be used to drive behavior of the call center rep.

▪️Hire employees with a proven track record of taking care of others. You can teach them your business but you can’t teach them to be customer experience moment magicians.

▪️Empower people to do the right thing for a customer, not enforce organizational rules and policies that do nothing but piss them off.

▪️Encourage the surprise element in your customer service strategy. What can be done to surprise a customer in a moment?

▪️Recognize and reward moment magicians. Make a big deal of treating them as heroes.

▪️Talk to customers. Mechanized touch points are limiting in their ability to create magic. They are designed to minimize engagement time and simply cannot replicate the experience humans can create for other humans.

The customer experience riddled with magic moments will propel your organization to the top because your customers will never leave you.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.22.13 at 06:29 am by Roy Osing
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April 8, 2013

Why ‘comfy food’ will deprive you of a successful career

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Why ‘comfy food’ will deprive you of a successful career.

If you are to have a successful career, you must give up your comfy food and get out of your comfort zone

We all love our comfy food.

Food that makes us feel good. Food that takes away the pain when we hurt. Food that smooths the feelings of anxiety and apprehension when we are in a stressful situation.

Ice cream. Banana splits. Chocolate. Cheese cake. It’s different for everyone.

But when we discover our comfy food, we rarely go to anything else.  If chocolate ice cream soothes us, we tend to stay with it. we are creatures of habit and get sucked into our momentum track.

People in organizations behave similarly. They get on a track that is familiar.

They repeat the things that worked before; things that they know and understand.

They tend not to venture out of their comfort zone. It’s risky out there. It’s unknown. It will feel different. We might not succeed.

Unfortunately, comfy food robs us of taking on the new stuff that will help us and our organization grow.

And we don’t have sufficient time at our disposal to both continue to eat comfy food and try new food that will supply us with a different experience and renew us in some way.

Make a choice.

Choose comfy food. Stay with the tried and true all the way to the bottom.

Or, choose a different menu and open up the possibilities to grow and flourish. Career success awaits.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.8.13 at 09:11 am by Roy Osing
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April 1, 2013

Why the world needs ‘crazy ones’ to inspire and lead it

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Why the world needs ‘crazy ones’ to inspire and lead it.

I am sure that many of you have seen or heard this before, but it bears repeating. This was one of Apple’s very early ads. It personifies who Steve Jobs was and captures the “Think Different” culture he created.

This piece not only captures the persona of Jobs, it also paints a picture of what we might shoot for if we truly want to make a difference.

There was only ONE Steve Jobs, but maybe, just maybe we can try to emulate the character that separated him from everyone else.

And maybe, just maybe we can be tolerant with those we discover around us that look a bit like Steve. Cherish them. Nurture them. Make a pathway for them to succeed.

Check the video out and follow along…

“Here’s to The Crazy Ones
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things. They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

WOW!

Thus manifesto should be a major element in how organizations recruit people in today’s world of uncertainty, unpredictability and chaos.

Are we actively looking for people with these attributes?

Are we trying to create a culture in our organization that fosters craziness? Or are we, by our very actions, forcing everyone into a pre-determined mold — a crowd of commonness and sameness?

I get that Steve Jobs was probably one of a kind, and we are unlikely to produce another one like him.

But what if leaders could, by inspiring craziness in our people, be lucky enough to stumble on 10 of them?

Would that make a difference? I’m thinking it would.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.1.13 at 09:57 am by Roy Osing
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