Be Different or be dead

July 28, 2010

16 surprising actions to take that you won’t know are strategic

Source: Pexels

16 surprising actions to take that you won’t know are strategic.

Normally, ‘strategic acts’ in any business plan are thought of to be complicated and theoretically driven; that they are authored by people with impressive academic credentials and a rift of letters behind their name.

Not true. in my experience strategic acts are driven by simple behaviours because they deliver results rather than looking awesome on paper.

In no particular order…

1. Recruit people who genuinely ‘love’ human beings. Yes, liking other people is strategic!

2. Take notes. It’s an expression of the fact that someone cares enough about what you are saying to record it for further deliberation and ACTION.

3. Do stuff. Action gets results, thinking takes the number two position.

4. Apologize when things are screwed up. Recovery depends on assuming responsibility for what has happened. ’ am truly sorry’ starts off the loyalty building process the right way regardless of whether it was your fault or not.

5. Cut the CRAP in the organization that is no longer relevant AND that clogs the wheels of progress (Tom Peters’ call it the GRUNGE - awesome word!).

6. Over-react when a customer is screwed over. over reaction to a service mistake is a strategic act.
Again, successful recovery demands speed to get things right.

7. Problem solve. Things never go right the first time. SH*T Happen. Solutions are needed.

8. Form cross-functional teams. Results are produced across the organization demanding people working together harmoniously.

9. Tell stories. It’s a vital element of strategy. The best way of explaining to someone what the strategy means is to tell a story about it in action.

10. Use internal report cards to measure service quality on the inside of the organization. If internal customers aren’t dazzled it is highly unlikely (no, impossible) that external ones are.

11. Recognize service heroes constantly.

12. Encourage employees to successfully fail. A successful failure results in learning which advances the organization. An unacceptable failure has no learning element and simply destroys value.

13. Practice leadership by serving around is rampant across the organization.

14. Gather customer secrets. They are the fuel that powers your marketing and service machine.

15. Change your business language to be more customer-centric.

Wash your mouth out with customers

16. Get feedback on your performance from your boss, peers and direct reports 360 feedback.

Are you practising these?

If not, start the journey…

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

• Posted 7.28.10 at 01:00 pm by Roy Osing
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