Be Different or be dead

June 17, 2019

Why is emotion really important to a winning business plan?

Source: Unsplash

Why is emotion really important to a winning business plan?

Without emotion, you’re business plan is lifeless and probably useless.

What makes one organization wildly successful and another either fail or achieve lookalike mediocrity?

There is no shortage of opinions on this. Academics, consultants, subject matter experts and thought leaders all weigh in on the ingredients necessary for an organization to outperform their competition and solidify themselves as consistent long term winners.

A good business plan

Having a strategy, of course, is important and it should conform to these guidelines:

—  It should be simple. It should define in simple language the end game the organization has in mind;

— It should be just about right. It should define in loose terms what must be achieved in order to be successful. A perfect strategy — one that management spends copious amounts of time developing with the belief that if more time is invested, the plan will be ‘more perfect’ — doesn’t exist;

A strategy is formulated with the best information and insights available when it is created, and by definition this is a flawed process. No sooner is the strategy finished, the world changes and some part of the information used to develop it is no longer relevant.

— It should be driven to carve out a unique space in the market. Value propositions that are similar to the competition will likely fail because they don’t provide a compelling reason why a potential customer should buy from them as opposed to their competitor.

The special sauce

But even a strategy built in the image of these principles won’t guarantee success unless it is mixed with a special sauce.

A strategy is useless unless it captures the hearts and minds of the people on an emotional level.

If people intellectually understand the strategy they won’t necessarily be compelled to deliver it consistently day-in and day-out.

They may understand that ‘unleashing the power of the internet’ is the strategic intent, but unless they are emotionally driven to act on it, execution is dysfunctional and lacklustre and no real progress toward realizing that goal is made.

A strategy without emotionally charged people to execute it will fail. The good plan on paper won’t progress beyond that stage if the special sauce is absent.

This is definitely NOT an OMG! moment for the reader; it’s not a revolutionary thought that you’ve never heard of before. Quite the contrary; the “we need motivated employees” notion is promulgated ad nauseam by the pundits of strategy.

So, if highly motivated people is a well known requisite to effective strategic execution, why are there so many strategies that fail?.

Here are 5 reasons.

1. There’s no ‘energized visioning’

Energized visioning is needed to get the juices flowing.

Communicating strategic intent must be an emotional experience for the employee audience. They must be excited and moved by the picture that leadership paints about the journey that awaits.

Pedantic, monotonic and left brained people have no place articulating the chosen path, for it will turn people off and do nothing for execution.

2. There’s no line of sight for people

Line of sight clarity is necessary for people to know what to do.

When people know specifically what to do to support strategic intent, magic happens.

The problem most organizations have is they don’t spend the time to translate what the strategy means to each function and each position in terms of the new outcomes expected and the old ways that must be discarded.

3. There’s not enough action people

Hiring people who love to do stuff as opposed to think about stuff is critical.

Pontificators block effective execution. They love to talk about possibilities rather than get down and dirty to start doing stuff.

You can’t train people to cast off their intellectualization proclivity; you must hire people who have a natural bent to do it — action must run through their veins.

4. There’s no serving leaders

Leadership by serving around unearths the grunge and barriers that get in the way.

Leaders in the workplace asking “How can I help?” separates the hyper effective executioners from the bland ones. Brilliant execution is all about a “clean” internal environment where barriers to getting things done frustrate people who want to deliver what is expected of them.

And this happens when leaders get out of their office or the boardroom and assimilates with the crowd of employees charged to implement. They discover what’s preventing amazing execution and they fix it (and people love them for it).

5. There’s not a ‘tries’ culture present

The more tries that are made, the greater the likelihood of success.

Strategic intent is never deterministic; it never turns out the way it was originally conceived. Despite the rhetoric of the academics, real progress is made when people try things — a lot.

The end game may be clear but the way to get there is not; and this requires different tactics: some work and others don’t.
The truth is, however, if you’re not maximizing the number of tries you’re making you’re unlikely to arrive at your desired destination.

Strategy is important but it is smoke unless it’s infused with passion and emotion.

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

• Posted 6.17.19 at 04:43 am by Roy Osing
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June 10, 2019

When your leadership results go unnoticed what’s the right move?

When your leadership results go unnoticed what’s the right move?

When you always find yourself in a no-win situation where you do whatever the organization expects of you and yet you come up empty in terms of recognition and reward for your efforts.

There are times when you can’t win for losing.

I received an email recently from Bill, who experienced this dilemma. Here is his story…

“For years I was in charge of a (declining legacy) unit within my large organization. I was a good day-to-day manager but wanted to lead change and turn things around - to be a leader, not just a manager; to be transformative, not transactional.

I had a lot of ideas for turning around demand, collaborating with other units, and expanding our product line, and did as much as I could within the unit. But serious change required new resources and/or support at higher levels.

So I spent long hours thinking and brainstorming with my team, crunching numbers, practicing presentations, and building relationships across the organization to make evidence-based cases for change that aligned with our organization’s strategic goals.

When your ideas are ignored

But most were turned down, and I never did reverse the decline. And I now realize that I probably never had a chance. It suited the organization to keep our legacy unit the way it was, producing declining but still considerable value without needing to make any new investment or disrupting other more high-performing units.

But no one told me this. Instead, I was openly encouraged to keep pitching new ideas, even when I expressed concerns that I didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.

Feedback was always affirmative, just ‘not right now’ and ‘try again.’ So I kept going further on the same path, feeling change was always just around the corner. But I was throwing good money after bad.

After six years I finally got out with a lateral move elsewhere in our organization. Looking back I now see the real problems.

My direct manager for the entire time was overburdened and a poor communicator and coach. He actually tried to treat everyone as fairly as possible, but that meant saying the same thing to every unit leader, not disrupting the existing structure, and following a single resourcing model regardless of context.

Second, previous leadership at the top was more dysfunctional than I knew. The strategic plan was followed inconsistently and was useless guidance for someone at my level.

When you realize you’ve wasted precious time

But I wasted a lot of years and effort there, setting back my entire career. I wish I had been able to see things a lot earlier.

How can someone recognize they are in a no-win leadership situation? Especially when they receive mixed or misleading signals from the organization and their superiors?

Throughout my time I became increasingly obsessed with the distinction between managing and leading that is found in so much of the leadership literature. I always thought that “if I am a real leader, I will turn this around.”

I probably ended up downplaying my actual management skills - I ran a good, productive shop with high morale despite our gloomy long-term prospects. In retrospect, I would have invested even more in fixing day-to-day stuff rather than trying to come up with shiny new things.”

Sound familiar? Although the signs are in front of us, we keep believing that our efforts sooner or later will be recognized and that we will be rewarded for them.

Well guess what? Some people will suck the life out of you and give you nothing in return. They don’t care about you and want only to use you to further their own personal gains.

Be alert to the information in front of you

That said, how do you spot the tipping point: the point where you actually have enough information in front of you to make a call?

Bill actually had all the information he needed:
— his new ideas were consistently turned down;
— he spent a number of years trying to play a transformational role, but was unsuccessful;
— his leadership skills were not valued;
— he wasn’t recognized for his uniqueness; he was viewed as a common tribe member;
— the organization was dysfunctional in terms of executing their strategic plan;
— his superiors gave mixed signals on what was valued and expected by the organization.

The information to make an informed decision was there, but Bill didn’t act. He hoped that if he stuck to his game plan of innovation and providing leadership his worth would eventually be rewarded.

If you are disappointed once, shame on them but if you keep coming back for more, and are repeatedly turned down, shame on you.

So my advice: look at and listen to the evidence in your face and ACT! Things don’t get better by hoping that things will change.

Choose change and avoid being stuck

Improvements in your career and your life only happen when you decide to take a new course and find out if you chose well. If you don’t choose change,  you’ll be stuck as Bill was.

Your choice may not pan out but at least you will have more experience and information to make another choice, and another until you reach the right fit for you.

Never expect and trust others to do the right thing for you. They might, but you have no certainty that they will. If you want the right outcome, YOU you have to take responsibility and do it yourself

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

• Posted 6.10.19 at 04:28 am by Roy Osing
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June 3, 2019

6 important reasons why I really don’t like some types of salespeople

6 important reasons why I really don’t like some types of salespeople.

If you think about it, competencies in any craft are distributed in binomial fashion. At the far right are those precious few individuals who excel, while the crowd hugs the middle of the distribution curve and bulges around the vertical or y-axis.

Then there are those who linger at the far left of the curve. These are the people who are in a role but don’t display the skills or attitude necessary to satisfactorily practise their craft.

And you see it in every industry and in every discipline, be it a medical practitioner who lacks empathy and a caring bedside manner or a landscaper who fails to remove their grass cuttings and debris after they have completed their work.

But the profession that really annoys me when I am confronted by a left winger in sales; those individuals who profess to be salespeople but lack the human fundamentals to back their claim.

They leave a bad taste in my mouth because I have such respect for people who practise the art with perfection. And they, unfortunately, reinforce the stereotypical view of sleazy sales held by many.

These 6 things people to the far left practise that really p*** me off.

1. They grin me

The big grin that masks how they really feel. It’s false, phoney, plastic, superficial and painted on.
It’s the bait to lure you in; to grease the skids for them to push their wares at you.

These phoneys obviously went to grin school where the focus was on how to display a perfect grin while at the same time hiding their indifference.

I hate the grin because I have seen it at least a million times and know what’s coming. It’s disgusting and I can’t believe how they get away with it.

Lesson: if you see the grin, run.

2. They don’t listen

Lefties want to consume the airwaves with their words not yours. I honestly think these people have an insecurity issue because they don’t seem to be comfortable in a conversation unless they are transmitting rather than listening.

I hate this type of sales behaviour because they have zero ability to understand what your needs are when words are spewing from their mouths in abundance.

And I have no idea where they have learned that it’s acceptable; certainly not from any credible sales teaching source I know.

Lesson: shout back and leave.

3. They don’t care

The extreme left represent the epitome of narcissism; their energy is all about them and no one else.
With such an inward focus how can they care about anyone else? They can’t.

Getting their own needs met consumes them; they have nothing left to give to others — even if it occurred to them that such an act was demonstrative of appropriate sales behaviour.

Lesson: Stop them in this mode. Put your hand up with your palm facing them and say “Stop! It’s about me!”

4. They intrude in my space

It’s kinda like an incoming mortar attack. You try to protect yourself and you just want to be left alone, but here them come with their intent to beat you up with their agenda.
It’s a barrage of words and (what they think) are clever one-liners to get a conversation started.

They don’t trust that you will stop and engage them in a conversation, so they try to impose themselves to start one.
This slippery slope tactic from left learners never works and is always unpleasant for me. I hate it.

They show no respect for me; they really don’t care about what’s on my mind at the time. All they want to do is intervene on my reality at the time and push their narrative.

As I’m motoring past a sales rep on the beach path, he launches his words in an attempt to grab me: “Hey how long have you owned at the Marriott? Want to look at a better option at the Hyatt?

Lesson: Don’t stop; don’t answer; keep your feet moving.

5. They malign their competitors

Salespeople on the left constantly berate their competitors.
The only way they know to communicate their value proposition is to discredit the opposition. And it shows they really don’t understand the competitive strategy of their organization.

Rather than advocate an element of value they offer — service level, product features, warrantee — they talk about what is wrong with what their competitors offer.

This approach is so egregiously inappropriate, it proves that the salesperson doesn’t know their left from their right.
I hate it.

Lesson: ask what they offer and why is is better than what their competitors offer.

6. They make me feel stupid

“What’s the matter (with you)? Don’t you want to save money?” I’ve actually had numerous lefties blurt this at me when I have pushed back on what they were trying to sell me.

This is their version of trying to find a cost effective solution that more than meets your needs.
But it puts you down; like you are incapable of appreciating a deal.
Rubbish. I hate it.

Lesson: Suggest they learn some manners and walk.

There you have it. 6 traits of salespeople who occupy the extreme left of the normal distribution curve.
They don’t deserve to be in the profession.

So why do we hire people like this?

I suspect it’s because besides being the antithesis of what respectable sales is, they’re clever like a laser raptor.

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

• Posted 6.3.19 at 04:06 am by Roy Osing
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May 27, 2019

5 necessary ways to beat a toxic colleague and win

5 necessary ways to beat a toxic colleague and win.

We’ve all had to work with and for toxic people in an organization we don’t particularly like; individuals we can’t trust, who always seem to have a hidden agenda.

I had such a colleague when I held a number of executive positions for a major telecommunications company.

My toxic colleague thrived on advancing his own personal agenda, finding fault with what others did and working behind their back to sabotage them and position himself as the shining example of the way things should be done.

But he managed, through all of his destructive behaviour, to fool senior people in the organization — including the EVP of Human Resources — and get promoted.
In the end, he was eventually found out to be the horrific person he really was, but that was unfortunately after he did considerable damage to other people and the organization.

I had to learn to deal with this person from several different perspectives; as the boss, a peer and a direct report. The most challenging relationship was as a peer; the easiest was as a direct report — having this person reporting to me was not pleasant because he would always be undermining my direction and trying to discredit the other members of my reporting team.

As his boss I had the power and he was smart enough to hide his dark side. As his direct report, he had the power and didn’t have to display his real side.
But as a peer he showed who he really was — calculating, spiteful, a bully and toxic to those around him who he felt threatened and competed with him for attention and opportunities.

This is how I survived him as a peer. It was not a put-down or take-out plan but a survival plan to withstand the personal threat he constantly posed in hopes that leadership in the organization would figure him out and do what was right to remedy the situation.

1. Always do the right thing

I always led with what was right for the organization.

The dilemma you have in this type of situation is if you go one-on-one with Mr Toxic, you run the risk of being seen by those around you as jealous and vindictive. And the toxic ones will always paint you in that light once they see that you are in the attack mode.

So my strategy was to avoid making it personal by putting the business plan of the organization first. The idea was to sell my ideas over his as the better solutions to the company’s problems and therefore show him as someone who really didn’t understand what was required to succeed in the highly competitive marketplace we served.

This tactic was difficult because you were always having to resist the emotional personal response to his actions and reframe the debate in terms of what was best for the company.

2. Never underestimate them

I never underestimated him. The toxic ones are clever — no, cunning — like a laseraptor. That’s why they are so dangerous to others. It’s really unfortunate they direct their intelligence towards destroying another person rather than towards solving the problems of the organization.

This factor drove me to always prepare for his attack on any solution I came up with. I had to look at my proposal through his ill-intentioned eyes and try to anticipate his objections to it.

Literally every plan or proposal anyone else developed was met with either his outright disapproval or his condemnation of some portion of it.
Some might say that he forced people to create their best work because of his malicious oversight, but the reality was that people had to be fastidious because they wanted to avoid his personal attacks on their work.

3. Don’t believe them

I didn’t believe anything he said. It’s always tempting to accept what people say as being truthful; I think humans are born with the innate desire to trust others and believe in them.

But with a toxic one, this can be deadly because they never tell the truth. They are always looking for opportunities to advance their own agenda through a narrative that looks and sounds believable.

My strategy was to listen carefully and NOT respond until I could figure out what he was really up to. Exhausting, right? But absolutely necessary to avoid getting sucked in to a situation that could hurt you.

4. Contact their team members

I was in regular contact with key members of his team. Having real time data on what toxic ones are doing is an essential survival tool. Not only from the perspective of the actions that are taking on organizational issues, but also on how people in their organization are feeling about how they are being treated.

Regular meetings with his direct reports were on my agenda every week. I gathered information on what they discussed at their own team meetings with him and what projects they were treating as priorities.

The activity data base I developed on him was essential in creating my plan and in making adjustments to it based on his current behaviour.
You may think that this was overkill, but consider the consequences of not being able to take countermeasures when you are being hunted. I did this religiously and was always positioned to avoid his onslaught (much to his chagrin).

5. Form alliances to combat them

I formed alliances with other executives. Negative impacts are created by toxic people throughout the organization and they must be neutralized.
It’s important to come together with colleagues who share a common view of the toxic one; the credibility of the opposition often is based on the strength of numbers.

My plan was to organize like-minded executives to counteract the toxic actions he took. We met regularly to review what he did and developed an action plan to remedy anything we felt needed an intervention and to create a communications strategy to talk about what we decided to do and why.
We spread our word widely in the organization.

To many of you, my 5-point action plan probably seems unnecessarily complicated and in excess of what is needed to survive a toxic one.

But I assure you it is absolutely necessary.

Toxic ones are smart; they are dangerously deliberate and the manipulate exceedingly well to achieve their selfish ends.

So an exhaustive approach is needed to survive the war — unless you decide to leave the organization to escape their punishment.

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

• Posted 5.27.19 at 04:48 am by Roy Osing
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