Be Different or be dead

October 26, 2015

The 2 simple questions that guarantee you will be innovative

Source: Unsplash

The 2 simple questions that guarantee you will be innovative.

There are significant challenges facing innovation in any organization.

People are taught to be cautious and to make “informed” decisions based on thorough and rigorous analysis. As a result the process tends to be long and arduous and faces numerous levels of scrutiny before a decision is finally reached.

Paralysis by analysis often sets in and current business momentum is maintained. Nothing changes.

People are taught to avoid making mistakes. They witness how punishment is handed out to their colleagues and decide that risky actions have too much personal downside; they prefer the status quo. Nothing changes.

These powerful forces act against creativity in most organizations; here is my formula for letting the innovative juices flow:

Creativity = “How do we get there?”

If you know how to get from A to B the Creative Incentive Quotient – CIQ – is zero. On the other hand, if you have absolutely no idea how to reach your destination the CIQ is high.

Creativity is not spawned by applying analytical tools that draw upon historic performance to predict future results. Trend line thinking stultifies breakthrough action as it merely extends past performance with the expectation that the future will somehow mirror it.

Creativity is driven by declaring a goal without knowing exactly how it will be achieved and doing the hard entrepreneurial work to figure it out. It’s about having the intestinal fortitude to enter uncharted waters, pointing your ship in the general direction you want to go, and navigating – creating – as you go.

Creativity is killed by not wanting to go forward without knowing how the end goal will be achieved. I see people shut down when confronted with the objective of doubling revenue in 24 months because they don’t know how to do it. They stop, say the objective is “unrealistic” and adopt an uninspiring target that they think they can achieve. CIQ = 0. Creative juices don’t flow.

Creative juices flow more when the way to achieve the goal is unclear when you begin.

Creativity = “What do we have to do differently?”

Listen to the conversation that pervades most organizations today: “What is best in class doing?” is the driver of most activity. Benchmarking the leader of the pack and copying them absorbs everyone’s time and energy; yet even if you are successful you remain in the pack like everyone else.

Benchmarking is the tool of sameness.

It does not get the creative juices, and you won’t separate yourself from the pack. CIQ = low (some juice might flow as improvements are made based on others’ experience). And if you don’t stand-out from the pack, what does your long term future look like?

Sameness = mediocrity = invisibility = irrelevance = dying = dead (sooner or later).

To be successful in the long run, your CIQ must be high; creativity must force you out of the pack and make you relevant and unique.

Creativity is launched by asking these questions:

▪️“How can we be different from our competitors?“;
▪️“How can we be contrarian and seek uncommon ground to cover?”;
▪️“How can we go in the opposite direction to the leader of the pack?”.

The unknown and uniqueness are the drivers of creativity; what’s your CIQ?

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

• Posted 10.26.15 at 04:28 am by Roy Osing
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October 12, 2015

5 easy ways to clear the clutter in your way

Source: Pexels

5 easy ways you can clear the clutter in your way.

If you are trying to get through a door 25 feet away and there are 25 people in front of you all vying for position; how effective are you at achieving your goal?

If you are trying to calm your mind when you have monkey chatter and thousands of thoughts spinning around your head, can you achieve a meditative state?

If you have a new business plan you want to implement and there are conflicting messages in the workplace and internal roadblocks facing you will you be able to reach your goal?

Exactly.

Executing anything when there is clutter in your face is virtually impossible.

Effective execution requires that you cleanse the environment of clutter. Clutter that diffuses energy necessary to move ahead.

This is the clear-the-clutter process:

▪️Define 3 or 4 key tactics that must be achieved if you are to make progress on executing your strategy. This is not a grocery list of things that could be done; rather it’s a selection of the critical few things that serve as resource allocation criteria and as beacons of progress;

▪️inventory all communications programs in the organization. Examine every piece. Is it clearly aligned with and critical to understanding the strategy and what is needed to play your part? If “yes” keep it; if “no”, it’s clutter so dump it;

▪️Inventory all major projects; defer those no longer in line with the first point above;

▪️Spend copious time explaining the strategy to your frontline; ask them to identify roadblocks to implementation and do what they say;

▪️Appoint a “clutter chief”. Hold them accountable for clutter removal. Pay them on the results.

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

• Posted 10.12.15 at 07:36 am by Roy Osing
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October 5, 2015

Why great salespeople are amazing because they really don’t sell

Source: Unsplash

Why great salespeople are amazing because they really don’t sell.

Seriously.

Selling is generally what pisses people off!!

The sales person descends on the unsuspecting customer, plummeting them with noise and pressure to buy what they are flogging.

Most sales people exist in the moment; driven to achieve short term product unit sales and revenue targets.

This scene gets repeated over and over with the customer either getting beaten into buying or running for cover.

The role of sales must change to meet the challenges of new markets and changing customer values.

The new customer wants someone to trust in business (in a time where the reputation of organizations is generally declining).

They want good experiences.

They want their problems solved; their life enhanced.

Satisfying wants and desires can’t be done by ‘in your face’ selling.

It can only be achieved by serving.

Sales needs to change, and quickly.

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

• Posted 10.5.15 at 06:45 am by Roy Osing
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