Be Different or be dead

August 5, 2013

One simple reason why an organization can’t be customer focused

Source: Unsplash

One simple reason why an organization can’t be customer focused.

Can an organization be passionately engaged in serving its customers?

I don’t think so.

Organizations are a collective.

They are pluralistic.

They are an amalgamation of individuals that comprise it.

If the people within the organization don’t have an innate desire to serve another human being, the organization will (despite declaring its aspirations) never be customer focused.

For organizations who truly want to ‘be one’ with their customers, the imperative is to recruit people that “love” people.

Education is ok. But it is table stakes to playing the customer loyalty game

Serving isn’t an intellectual activity. It’s an emotional one.

It’s not based on an algorithm or formula.

It’s based on an attitude and drive to take care of someones’s needs, desires and cravings.

You can’t teach people to do it. You can’t train people to do it.

You have to recruit people who are born with it.

And if you recruit enough people with the serving ethic you can become the customer-centric organization that you aspire to be.

Check out your recruitment program. Look at the questions you ask a prospective employee. Examine the experience they have in serving others; ask for their stories.

Hire for goosebumps.

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

• Posted 8.5.13 at 06:15 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink

July 29, 2013

3 actions leaders can take when on the brink of a disaster

Source: Unsplash

3 actions leaders can take when on the brink of a disaster.

First what does it mean to be on the brink of disaster?

It’s not an operating margin problem, an inventory turn issue or the need to rationalize your product line.

The end is near when you are no longer relevant to your fans

CEO’s can be good denial artists. They suddenly turn into rationalizing speech makers who explain away the fact that the grim reaper is at their doorway and that they are becoming irrelevant.

Yellow Pages believed they could compete with Google; Blackberry believed they were not in a death spiral yet were never able to respond successfully to Apple and other smart phone suppliers.

Rhetoric rules the airwaves. Intent abounds. Aspirations are plentiful.

But no tangible counter play is offered.

Defensive retreat. Saving face. Appeasing the investment community.

The truth is, leadership does not want to believe they are on a path to irrelevance. That they no longer deliver the value they once did. They want to believe that somehow a miracle will happen and new relevance will be pulled from the hat.

Believing in something is a long way from doing it

Leaders need to recognize when the end is near.

They need to be honest enough to admit that they are going under unless a drastic intervention is done to re-create themselves.

That they need to start a revolution. Cast aside tradition.

It’s not about leveraging current strengths. It’s about building new capabilities that will create new relevance for people.

Create a new game not a new play

3 questions that leaders should ask themselves:

◾️ What would your weirdest fan suggest you do to save your business? Why do all CEO’s believe the big consulting companies know what you should do? They don’t have all the answers.

◾️ What if you went in the opposite direction to your competitors? What would a 180-degree plan look like?

◾️ What desperate things can you do right now? What, you don’t think you are desperate? You’re fooling yourself. Desperate times (like becoming irrelevant) demand desperate measures. And I don’t mean just cost cutting.

Execute 3 desperate acts over the next 24-hours even if you’re not in the middle of a storm.

Urgency is always the right thing to do.

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

• Posted 7.29.13 at 05:41 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink

June 29, 2013

Why don’t organizations recruit and honour ‘weird’ people?

Source: Unsplash

Why don’t organizations recruit and honour ‘weird’ people?

✔️ You’re unreasonable;
✔️ You’re not normal;
✔️ You’re weird;
✔️ You’re crazy;
✔️ You’re off the wall:
✔️ You’re ridiculous;
✔️ You’re unpredictable.

These are common accusations made when someone doesn’t conform to someone else’s expectations:

— When someone stands-out from the commonplace crowd and is noticed;

— When someone makes another person feel uncomfortable;

— When a person casts ‘normal’ aside to be who they are, not what others expect them to be.

Innovation and creativity comes from weirdness. It doesn’t come from being like everyone else

Strong leadership comes from crazy notions of what people value and are prepared to pay for. It does not come from fitting-in and doing what everyone else does.

Great companies have a ‘ridiculous’ DNA structure, always searching for products and services that excite people’s emotions and make them happy.

They aren’t made great by following best of breed.

Traditional HR practices sorely lack the ability to attract weirdness because they don’t look for it.

Look for it.

Declare that it is a strategic imperative for you.

Include it in your statement of values.

“We treasure weirdness and ridiculousness”.

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

• Posted 6.29.13 at 08:44 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink

June 24, 2013

Why people can be too focused on producing results

Source: Unsplash

Why people can be too focused on producing results.

Results focused—a characteristic of an effective person in an organization. Keeping your eye on the prize and pulling out all the stops to get it

Mindless pursuit of your target. is there anything wrong with this picture?

Don’t get me wrong. I am an absolute zealot of delivering results on time on expectations and on budget.

But there is a potential downside if the process of delivering the results is not done thoughtfully.

Delivering results without considering how they are delivered can leave road kill along the way

It can cause devastating collateral damage to bystanders and others who are involved in delivering the results.

Get your thinking around the long term impact of what you are delivering.

The long term lens will encourage you build relationships with people who will play an important role in delivery.

Take time to build trust between yourself and your stakeholders. Distance yourself from thinking about what you are delivering as a transaction.

What’s important is the longevity of what you are delivering. It is sustainability.

Short term transactions rarely yield long term value.

Results delivered through a process of trust, mutual respect and caring will deliver a quality result that will endure for a long time.

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

• Posted 6.24.13 at 05:03 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink