Be Different or be dead

March 28, 2016

Why great leaders on Friday ask “How can we be really unique?”

Source: Unsplash

Why great leaders on Friday ask “How can we be really unique?”

This is the bookend of the stand-out leader’s week (check out my book).

Friday is change the conversation day.

Language expresses what people view as what’s important around here. Vocabulary paints the picture of the journey that employees see the organization taking.

This day for the leader is focused on changing the conversation in the organization.

Moving away from discussing what needs to be done to improve; to incrementally change the organization. Muting the conversation about the practices of best in class organizations and what is required to copy them.

Today is all about introducing the conversation around how to be different; how to move away from others in the market.

“What do we have to do to leave the herd; to distance ourselves from the common crowd?” “How can we stand-out not blend in; be contrarian and take the opposite direction to everyone else?”

These are the questions Friday is about.

This day involves meeting with team leaders throughout the organization; across all responsibility areas.

This applies if you have 1,000 employees, 10 or 3. The point is to engage with people who represent the various functions of the organization.

This day the leader declares that the ‘how can we be different?’ conversation will define the new communications in the organization.

This day the leader has a simple agenda when meeting with team leaders. Look introspectively. Dissect the conversations that are common. What topics do they most engage in? What words are used? What questions are asked?

Then disrupt the conversation with questions around divergence not compliance.

▪️“What are we doing to create space between our organization and others?”
▪️“What breakaway projects with new innovative thinking are we pursuing?”
▪️ “What NEW boxes are we building to play in?”
▪️“What contrarian opportunities have we identified that will take us in the opposite direction to the rest of the market?”

Far too many organizations and people think success is fitting in; conforming; being the same as others; going in the direction of the industry. Going with the flow.

This is lazy thinking.

Success has been and always will be a function of being different in some way.

The next time a proposal is brought to you as leader, ask “How does this make us different?” Avoid asking what others are doing and how the proposal conforms with best practices.

▪️Call your head of Marketing and ask what they are doing to move away from flogging products and services meeting the needs of ’ME’ markets?

▪️What is Sales doing to build a unique brand in the market based on building deep and intimate relationships with their clients?

▪️What is Collections doing to distance yourself from virtually all other organizations that impose unfriendly and inhumane credit and collections rules and policies on their customers? The collections experience in most organizations is generally one level above pain and suffering. Copying best practices here is nothing more than replicating a painful experience.

▪️What is Internal Audit doing to simplify processes that touch the customer? Yes, control is important but it must be balanced with serving the customer in a hassle-free caring way.

And follow through to ensure that this theme gets driven into the strategic business plan process and becomes a critical beacon to follow. If your strategy doesn’t enable you to be different, you will fail.

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

• Posted 3.28.16 at 06:07 am by Roy Osing
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March 21, 2016

Why amazing strategies result from making bold and courageous ‘tries’

Source: Pexels

Why amazing strategies result from making bold and courageous ‘tries’.

Making tries is about all you can do in a complicated environment where making progress is exceedingly difficult.
There are no silver bullets in the business toolbox that produce a high probability that any given action you take will succeed and that you will see your plans progress.

The world simply won’t let that happen. There are too many competitors, too many regulations, too many fickle customers, too many unpredictable events and too many advancing technologies all happening at once to allow a single tactic, strategy or project to work the way you want it to.

I think COVID-19 illustrates the point that surviving in the face of this disastrous pandemic was impossible for some and plausible for others. Some organizations made it; others did not.

What is clear, however, is that those that did make it had to try and try and try different approaches to keep their business afloat; they didn’t get it right the first time.

Here’s the thing. Because we live in a world of constant and unpredictable change with so many factors affecting an organization, it’s virtually impossible to create a strategy that addresses and accommodates each and every variable perfectly — we will never ‘figure it all out’.

Innovation today is not a single one-shot event; it’s the end result of a number of successive small nano-wins.

The assumptions that are made to develop any strategy are always flawed — we assume no regulatory intervention and then it happens, or that current technologies will remain stable for the next 12 months and suddenly a new one appears in our markets and completely disrupts our business model, or that demand for our products will increase 8% but it comes in at 4%.

No sooner have we put our business plan to bed, some assumption we made changes, and we are forced back to the drawing board to shift our strategy.

This is permanent; it’s not a temporary phenomenon that will go away. This is organizational life from now on that will only intensify in terms of the number of random forces that will impact us and the weight that each will impose on our success.

Traditional business planning can’t successfully play out in this scenario.

The application of the standard analytical tool set won’t help thwart the unexpected missiles that will strike us; hours of debate over strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats won’t decrease the probability that we will likely have to take a random punch at some point.

And the quest for a perfect plan is time consuming, costly and is doomed to fail — there’s no such thing as a perfect anything.

Survival and success depends on the willingness to try new things constantly; if you’re feet aren’t moving you’re dead

So what’s the answer? How do we prepare our organization to succeed in the face of pandemic market forces?
If the original strategy can’t be depended on to deliver intended results, we need to loosen up on the process employed to create it, focus our efforts on plan execution and on trying new things imposed by the chaos that engulfs it.

Source: Pexels

Progress is a function of the number of tries we make.

The more tries, the more successes and the more progress; the fewer the tries — relying on one approach and not changing it in the face of crazy market forces — the less successes and the less likely the organization will survive.

How do you create a ‘tries’ culture? — First of all, ‘trying’ must be included in the organization’s set of values that describes the way that work is done.

Making more tries than the other guy is the way to achieve competitive advantage and to grow your business

For example the ‘tries’ modus operandi is focussed on skinny business cases — back of a napkin in many instances — and then quickly having a go to discover if something will work. And if changes are required because something doesn’t work, it’s changed on the run.

Contrast this with the traditional approach to undertaking something new: a robust 100-page business case is developed and is circulated to all 10 stakeholders for comment; it’s then modified to incorporate stakeholder input; it’s then re-circulated for final approval; an implementation committee is struck which prepares an action plan to implement the final proposal; the action plan is passed to the stakeholder group for comment and approval; and when approval is given action begins. Whew!

Clearly the ‘try’ culture is necessary to survive the times we’re in now and will be in going forward.

And a critical element of creating a ‘try’ culture is to incorporate the concept into the performance planning system of the organization (as an aside, this holds true regardless of the size of the organization.
A 10-person small business and a 10,000 employee company should have a ‘tries’ value guide it’s performance planning).

Set 30-day ‘tries’ targets throughout the organization. For example, you might want marketing to execute 5 tries for a new product launch process and sales to try 10 times to build a more effective training program. The point is to hold people accountable for the trying activity with the belief that the more activity, the more progress.

Track and monitor the trying results to ensure the trend is growing. Keep a funnel to make sure there is sufficient ‘tries’ activity going on to ensure there is a high likelihood that progress will be eventually made.

And make sure that something is learned from every try; you never want to repeat a try the same way if it didn’t produce the desired results. Each try must be different in some way so that a new possibility can be explored with every try.

In the new normal, progressive organizations will create a ‘try’ culture where progress is measured in baby steps not giant leaps

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

• Posted 3.21.16 at 05:53 am by Roy Osing
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March 14, 2016

10 basic human things amazing leaders actually do most everyday

10 basic human things amazing leaders actually do most everyday.

Leadership doesn’t have to be complicated; it doesn’t have to conform to doctrine advocated by leadership gurus (many of whom have little demonstrated experience in the art in any event).

I have learned that leadership boils down to how well you practice a few basic human acts.

Help others
It’s a basic human instinct to come to the aid of someone in need. When refugees from Syria needed help, the world responded. In an organization, it doesn’t happen as much. When someone is down we seem to pounce on the opportunity to use their misfortune as our own opportunity.

Walk in their footsteps
It’s not all about the business; it’s more about the people IN the business. Decisions get implemented only if people are on board with them. Consider how individuals will be before moving forward.

Practice what you preach
Always show that you only ask others to do what you do yourself. Loyal followers are created when they see you act on your own words.

Keep your promises
If you say you will do something make sure you do it. When you open your mouth others watch your follow up to see if your intent was honest.

Leave the glory to others
Your glory comes only through the success of your employees. Lavish them with praise. Your ego will understand.

Show your emotional side
Real people express their feelings; plastic people hide them. Expose yourself and watch the magic you create.

Look in their eyes and take notes
Paying attention to and showing interest in what people have to say will ignite their passion. A simple act; an amazing impact.

Say “thank you!” a lot
It makes their hard work and ’pain’ endured worth it. And it provides fuel for them to do it again.

Share your status in the hierarchy
Everyone understands the organizational pecking order, but if you spread some of your special privileges around, They get to feel important and will engage on a higher level.

Call someone… everyday
It’s really important to connect and engage with people in your organization. Make a point of reaching out to a different person daily and have a conversation about what’s going on with them. You will gain incredible insights into what is going on in your organization, and they will transformed into a loyal follower.

Leadership is about convincing others that you are a real person by demonstrating basic human acts consistently.

It’s not about practicing textbook theory leadership dogma.

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

• Posted 3.14.16 at 02:05 am by Roy Osing
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March 7, 2016

Why great leaders on Monday ask “What do our customers crave?”

Source: Unsplash

Why great leaders on Monday ask “What do our customers crave?”

This is the beginning of the stand-out leader’s week (check out my book).

Monday is engage with a customer day.

The first day of your week should be about getting in the face of your customers.

The idea is to choose customers who have been loyal to you. And who generate significant economic value for you today and/or have a high upside for you over the near to medium term.

This is a learning day not a show and tell day. This day is to listen, learn and act on what you hear.

It’s not about presenting who you are and what you do. Nor is it about pitching your products and services.

It’s about opening yourself up to engage and get honest feedback. This day you are in a receive mode not a transmit mode.

It’s also a day to honor the people and organizations that have put their trust and faith in you over the years. To thank them for taking the journey with you when there are so many other alternatives available to them.

This day is anything but a meet and greet day. Today knows no superficiality. No No grinning allowed.

This day is honestly connecting with a customer to get a more intimate understanding of them; to discover their secrets and earn their trust. Their decision to continue to do business with you is at stake. You have to earn their business this day and every day.

▪️Leave your entourage at home. No bagmen should be with you to do the work and make you feel important. It’s just you, your customer and your notebook.

▪️Take copious number of notes. It shows that you think what they have to say is important. Hang on their every word.

▪️Make this an informal event. Don’t make it slick. Have a conversation. Your prime objectives are to deepen relationships, build trust, and learn what you should be doing to serve them better.

▪️Review your ONLY Statement with them. Do they know that you are trying to be remarkable and unique; to be the ONLY ones that do what you do?

Does your ONLY statement address a burning need that they have? Do they believe you live it all day every day?

▪️This day is also about getting feedback from previous meetings you may have had with them. Review your notes from these meetings. Discuss your take-a-ways. Describe the action you took and the results achieved.

Ask for their feedback on your performance.

If you allege that customers are your most valuable asset, shouldn’t you start your week with them?

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

• Posted 3.7.16 at 04:37 am by Roy Osing
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