November 2008

This month’s Ramble is as Random as ever:

• Bring Back The Glamour Of Flying
• Belief And Determination – Part 2
• ‘Arry
• Let Go To Take Control
• Cogito, Ergo Sum
• It’s 11 O’Clock
• Put Up Your Hand If You Didn’t Receive This
• You Are Old Father William
• Circulation Details
• And finally

Bring Back The Glamour Of Flying

Is low cost always good? Last month pictures of the first transatlantic jet flight 50 years ago by a BOAC Comet 4 made me realise just how far we have gone downhill with air travel. The original concept of low cost or budget airlines was good as it brought air travel within the budget of most people. But in our scramble for the best offers, we seem to have forgotten that travel for pleasure should be pleasurable. Can someone explain to me the pleasure of standing in a check-in queue for an hour, sitting in a departure lounge for two hours because the plane is late, buying your own food to take on board because you can’t trust that the airline will have any provisions, sitting with your knees rammed into the seat in front or queuing for the two toilets between 120 people?

And if you are a business traveller and have to endure this treatment on a regular basis, do you find that the experience contributes positively to your health, temper and business effectiveness?

So why do we all put up with being treated in this way? Even in these challenging times, most of us don’t buy our clothes from the cheapest retailer; we don’t patronise the local chippy in preference to a decent restaurant; we don’t drive round in the most basic car that we can find. So why on earth don’t we say enough is enough when it comes to air travel?

Tom Peters says, “You will be remembered in the long haul for the quality of your work, not the quantity of your work ... no one evaluates Picasso based on the number of paintings he churned out.”

I wonder whether there is a lesson for the airlines there, or indeed for any business that thinks that low cost is the be-all and end-all.


Belief And Determination – Part 2

In the October Ramble we looked at the positive effect of self-belief and a determination to succeed. Because it is so important, we will continue along that path this month.

Writing in the Fresh Business Thinking Newsletter, Guy Kingston says, “While thinking like a winner from the start does not itself guarantee success, thinking like a loser – believing that it is inevitable that one will not succeed – practically guarantees failure …”

He also suggests reading the biographies of great or highly successful people because, at some point, practically all of them found themselves in situations worse than the one you or your business might be in now.

He also suggests something that we have touched on in Random Ramblings in the past: “When something is not working, attempt another approach – you always have options, if only you sit down and think about them.”


‘Arry

Portsmouth Football Club striker Peter Crouch believes his return to the England squad has much to do with, then manager, Harry Redknapp's man-management skills. "He builds up players' confidence," said Crouch of Redknapp's style. "He tells you every day you can be a world beater and, eventually, you start to believe it."

Since then ‘Arry, as he is affectionately known, has taken over as manager of struggling Tottenham Hotspur. Result: instant performance transformation. Spurs striker Darren Bent says, "Harry can talk to people one to one and have a proper conversation with them …". "He has made us believe that we're good players and that we shouldn't be where we are.” (in the league).

Maybe management isn’t that hard after all if you talk to people, have proper conversations, and make them believe in themselves.


Let Go To Take Control

‘I don’t know.’ There was an interesting item on those three words in the BBC News magazine. They are words rarely used by people in power and almost never by politicians. But why? No leader or manager can know all of the answers. Why should we expect them to? It is said of Barack Obama that he knows what he doesn’t know. That is a very powerful asset.

If we can’t expect leaders to know everything, neither should we expect them to do everything. Business author and consultant, Trevor Gay, often says that one should let go to take control. By this he means that managers all too often try to do everything, to control everything and end up being so busy that they do not have time to stand back and look at the key issues challenging their department or company. Mark Foscoe posting on Trevor’s blog said, “I hope that President-elect Obama has the good sense to choose great people, to give them some tough but clear objectives and to stand back and let them get on with it. His role is to set the tone, to orchestrate his team and to keep them on track.” Note that: ‘orchestrate the team’ – be the conductor but don’t attempt to play all of the instruments. Surely, that should be the approach taken by all leaders?

Another aspect of letting go is to use outsourced specialists to undertake tasks that they can do as well, if not better, than you or your team. It may seem unwise to be doing this at a time when financial belts are being tightened, but if it allows you to gain control of your own time, so that you can focus on the strategic issues that will ensure survival, then it must be the right approach.


Cogito, Ergo Sum

"Cogito, ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am). René Descartes’ philosophical statement seems to have been extended by some businesses to mean ‘I think I have great products, therefore I am going to sell them’. According to research carried out by market research software providers, i2m, 27% of businesses believe they have a product or service that improves on existing solutions, and yet 13% do not know or are unsure as to why their customers need their product.

In our private lives we spend on discretionary items, whether it be a restaurant meal, clothes or a holiday. In the business world it’s not quite like that – or at least it shouldn’t be! Customers of any business buy products or services because they solve a specific problem. If you don’t know why the customer needs the product, are you likely to sell it to them? Are you absolutely sure that you are not in that 13%?


It’s 11 O’Clock

In the November edition of John Niland’s ‘The Outstanding Professional’ newsletter (www.success121.com), he refers to the daily phone call to clients, suggesting that one should make one. He reports on a business consultant who calls one client every day just to maintain contact. He has set his phone to remind him at 11:00am every day to make the call. Just by this simple expedient his business has increased. Of course, it is important to think of a plausible reason to make the call. In the June 2007 edition of his newsletter, John identifies 12 reasons to pick up the phone. Email me if you’d like a copy.

And I can add a 13th (lucky?) reason. You might get to understand the customer better and ensure that you are not in that 13%!


Put Up Your Hand If You Didn’t Receive This

Twenty percent of you may not be reading this newsletter. Apparently 20% of legitimate emails never reach the recipient’s inbox. This is because they are blocked by the ISP provider in the continuing fight against spam. There could be a whole range of reasons for this. One simple reason could be what is known as ‘hard bounce’. This is caused by a non-existent or unknown address, often the result of a typing error. I have the odd one or two Rambles bounce back, and always intend to try to find out why, but sometimes don’t get round to it. Now I realise that this may be affecting my credibility with ISP providers I’ll check my mailing list more carefully. What about you? You can read the full article by clicking on the link: http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/articles.php?AID=1876&Title=Your+Reputation+Holds+The+Key+To+Deliverability

You Are Old, Father William

‘"You are old, father William," the young man said …’ So goes the first line of Lewis Carroll’s poem. I know the feeling! While in Liverpool I visited the Liverpool Football Club shop. After mooching round the lower level I climbed the stairs to the upper floor. Having walked miles around the city that day I was a bit weary and puffed a bit as I arrived on the top floor. A young sales assistant saw me and pointed out that there was a lift! To which I replied, “I’m not that old.” At least she had the good grace to smile rather than to argue with me! Not sure whether that represents good customer care or ageism!


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And Finally

To finish, this month I am nicking an item unashamedly from John Niland’s newsletter. I have done so for several reasons; it may encourage you to subscribe to John’s newsletter (www.success121.com); it is a very clear explanation of the different aspects of marketing; and most of all because it is amusing.

TYPES OF MARKETING

You meet a woman in a bar and go right up and tell her, ‘I’m really good in bed’.
That’s direct marketing

You see a woman in a bar and get a friend to go right up and tell her, ‘My friend’s really good in bed’.
That’s advertising

You meet a woman in a bar, buy her a drink and next day send her flowers and a card that says, ‘I’m really good in bed’.
That’s PR

You meet a woman in a bar and she comes up to you and says, ‘I hear you’re really good in bed’.
That’s brand recognition!


Enjoy the month (what’s left of it!), whether your brand gets recognised or not!

David

October 2008

This month’s Ramble is totally Random.

• Signs From Above
• A Buffoon At Work
• Quality Behind The Bin
• Big Is Beautiful
• Fanatical Eagles
• Talking Bollocks
• Close The Sales Department!
• Belief And Determination
• Circulation Details
• And finally

Signs From Above

In last month’s Ramble we discovered that experiments have shown that removing the clutter of road signs from our streets, and allowing drivers to take responsibility for their own decision-making, results in reduced speed and fewer accidents.

It is good news then that the Government has taken this on board (who passed Random Ramblings on to Gordon?) and has ordered a countrywide review that may see many signs disappear from our streets. Now, if they could just follow the same approach with businesses, schools and hospitals and remove an unnecessary clutter of legislation, targets and tests …


A Buffoon At Work

I was having a light-hearted email exchange with Emma Jones of Enterprise Nation, which apparently amused her. So I offered my services as Court Jester to her organisation. A few days later I came across an item by Mike Southon of Beermat Entrepreneur fame. It explained how in times past the jester’s role was to make fun of the ruler, to bring them down to earth with buffoonery and simple wisdom.

Southon goes on to suggest that the jester was the forerunner of the management consultant. He says that successful, long-term entrepreneurs always have highly valued cornerstones and mentors who not only have important skills and experience, but also the personal leverage to make fun of the entrepreneur when necessary, to keep them grounded.

Anyone need a buffoon to help them? Not sure I’d want the job of Alan Sugar’s jester though!


Quality Behind The Bin

Recently I ordered a case of wine from Laithwaites. When it was delivered I was in the garden and didn’t hear the doorbell. The fallback instruction was to leave it at the side of the house out of sight. This was duly done, and the delivery person had taken the trouble to move the wheelie bin to provide additional visual security. It suggests that Laithwaites have taken care to outsource their deliveries to a quality organisation. Or perhaps the individual delivery person just cared about doing the job well. Either way, this small act enhanced the quality of the transaction for me.

Back in the eighties we had TQI – Total Quality Initiative. The aim was to get everyone to recognise that their role, whatever it might be, was vital to the success of the company. Total quality means exactly that, it has to go right through an organisation and its intermediaries, so every employee must be ‘up for it’. They will only do that if they are totally engaged in what the business is trying to achieve.

Peter Drucker, Austrian writer, management consultant and university professor said, “Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.”

Would you and all of your team take the trouble that the delivery person did to ensure that the customer perceives that he or she is getting a total quality service?


Big Is Beautiful (not)

If you are an HBOS customer you may think that joining up with Lloyds TSB is a good thing. And in terms of bringing a bit of stability to financial markets, who would disagree. But do you really think that you will receive better customer service than previously? In fact, can you think of any large organisation that really offers exemplary customer service?

Having spent most of my working life in a big organisation I can understand why. However committed you are, it is difficult to feel that your individual contribution makes a REAL difference.

If you haven’t read it yet, Maverick by Brazilian businessman Ricardo Semler is a MUST read book. It explains how he instigated a system of workplace democracy that made all employees responsible for their own part of his company, Semco. It also tells how he has constantly sub-divided the organisation as it grew, so that no one element of the business grew so large as to be impersonal.

He admits that Semco does not pay the highest wages and yet it is recognised as a highly desirable place to work, with a waiting list of people seeking jobs.

Back in the July Ramble we looked at Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Right at the top of Maslow’s categories comes the so-called self-actualisation needs: realising personal potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

Perhaps the opportunities given by Semco to achieve self-actualisation is one reason why salary levels are not seen as that important by its employees … and why the company has been phenomenally successful despite Brazil’s crazy economy.


Fanatical Eagles

If you should receive an email from Andrew Clarke of Eagle Web Solutions, you will note that the footer states: ‘FANATICAL SUPPORT’. Gosh, that ups the ante! With so many large organisations failing to offer good support and customer service, we now have small organisations that have moved from good, through excellent to fanatical!

I was reading an article by US sales expert Jeffrey Gitomer. He was talking about people of influence and said that they are ‘performers’; they are reliable and relentless until the job is done.

Fanatical and relentless are two good words to describe what it takes to succeed.


Talking Bollocks

I can’t wait to read Sir Richard Branson’s new book, Business Stripped Bare. It was from his earlier autobiography that I discovered that the origin of the word bollocks was not quite as I had believed. Apparently it was 18th century slang for a priest – don’t ask me why. It appears that parishioners were often not that impressed with the thoughts coming from the pulpit, hence the term talking bollocks. And on that subject, a couple of weeks back I was looking at the spec for a contract in the public sector. I was reminded of one of Victor Meldrew’s irascible outburst. "I'm sorry, what language are you talking in now? It appears to be bollocks." In this particular case it certainly wasn’t the straightforward English that I was taught at school.

Perhaps, my fellow Ramblers, we could all agree that we will converge to make a transformational change going forward with our communications, or as we might put it from now on, write and speak in simple English.

Dilwyn Scott, National Training Officer for the Association of Speakers Clubs (www.the-asc.org.uk) defines communication as, “The transfer of an idea from one mind to another.” When you are writing or speaking, are your words chosen carefully (and simply) to aid the transfer of your ideas to others, or are they just corporate bollocks?


Close The Sales Department!

Last month I mentioned the perils of the hard sell as opposed to developing a relationship with the customer/potential customer. Since then it seems that every article and business newsletter that has come my way is emphasising the point. The successful salesman is now more like a consultant who is working with the client to find ways to help them to develop and grow their business.

But there is another aspect. There is increasing emphasis on values. John Agate, a leading sales trainer says, “If our sales behaviour does not match the customers' values, then we will not get the sale.” The sales person is the main point of contact with the customer and is the key person through which a company can demonstrate its values to customers.

So perhaps it is time to close the sales department and open a customer development consultancy department.


Belief And Determination

“Whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right.” So said Henry Ford, the American bloke who made cars.

Why does Tottenham Hotspur keep losing? Because they expect to. Why did Hull manage to beat Arsenal at the Emirates and then win again against Spurs at White Hart Lane? Because it hadn’t crossed their minds that they couldn’t. Why does Liverpool keep winning despite not playing that well? Because they don’t give up – they believe that they will win.

The Serbian tennis player, Novan Djokovic, ranked third in the world, said that there is little difference in the ability of the top hundred men. What makes the difference is determination to succeed.

With every news bulletin being a litany of doom and gloom, how many business leaders believe that their businesses can win. How many have the determination to make it happen? Perhaps we should remind ourselves of an extract from a speech that Winston Churchill gave at Harrow School: “Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in ...”

When the going gets tough it is the leaders job to inspire the team into believing that it can still win. If you don’t know how, just watch Steven Gerrard at Liverpool.


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And Finally

The fourth item in an Irish top three:
No.4 – You can’t have a fourth of three any more than you can have a Top Ten Priorities. Ten priorities = No priorities.

With acknowledgement to John Niland (www.success121.com).


Enjoy the month,

David

September 2008

During this month’s Ramble we collect some gongs and ring the bells.

# Look Beyond The Label
# Going For Gold
# What’s In A Name
# Stop Selling
# I Said Don’t Do That!
# Ring The Bells
# Circulation Details
# And finally


Look Beyond The Label

Sorry young Mozart, but we can’t possibly publish your music because you aren’t old enough. And while we’re at it, Mr McCain, there is no way we can have you as the Republican candidate for President of the USA. And Mr Branson, sorry, Sir Richard, I’m afraid your qualifications aren’t good enough to run a business … oh, and you’re dyslexic as well! (Other quite successful dyslexics include: Pablo Picasso, Sir Steve Redgrave, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Werner Von Braun, John Lennon, Winston Churchill, Michael Heseltine and John F. Kennedy.)

Everyone is gifted, it is just that we all have different gift. We also tend to develop at different rates – quite dramatically so in some cases. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was appointed chief engineer of the Great Western Railway at the age of 27; Churchill was 65 when he became Prime Minister for the first time, and a month short of his seventy seventh birthday when he came to office for his second term. Having said that, Churchill was only 31 when he became a government minister, 34 when he entered the cabinet and was Home Secretary at 36; so perhaps not such a late developer after all!The Princes Trust (http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/) uses an image of a barcode with the words, “Look Beyond The Label” to remind us that first impressions and assumptions can be very misleading. Whatever our age or whatever our apparent abilities, it is the responsibility of teachers and managers to do their best to ensure that we can do our best, to help us to develop to be the best that we can be in our chosen field.


Going For Gold

With the Olympics fresh in our minds, it is worth reflecting on some performances from previous games. Welshman Lynn Davies was expecting to win a medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Davies had come into the event as reigning Olympic Champion and was set on winning another gold medal. Then, at his first attempt, the 22 year-old American, Bob Beamon destroyed the previous world record of 27 feet, 4¾ inches with an unbelievable leap of 29 feet, 2½ inches.The problem for Davies was that he had focused solely on winning the gold. This was his aim, or end goal. He did not have a specific target or objective. But without such a target, he was demoralised by the enormity of Beamon’s jump, as he admitted subsequently. He ended up jumping a foot short of his previous best and missed out completely on the medals. If, for example, he had set himself an achievable target of equalling or improving on his personal best jump of 27 feet, and had remained focussed and had achieved that, he would have come away with a silver medal.

We move on to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The 400-metre runner Kriss Akabusi had a personal target of 48 seconds. In the final the American Kevin Young ran the distance in a world record time of 46.78 seconds to take the gold medal. But it really didn't matter to Akabusi. On that day Young was the best in the world. But Akabusi had achieved his target with a 47.82 time. In doing so he ran faster than he had ever run before. Faster than any Briton had ever run before. He had done the best he could. He was a winner.

Food for thought when target setting! We should always have an aim, an ultimate goal. But to allow us to get there we must have interim, realistically achievable steps, otherwise we may become demoralised by the size of the task and fail to achieve our potential.


What’s In A Name?

Let’s face it, some of us are not very good at remembering names … or spelling/typing them correctly when writing. I heard a story about a guy who had quoted for some business worth a very substantial sum. This chap saw his potential client at an event not long after submitting his proposal and of course went over to greet him and have a friendly chat.
He reached out to shake hands and said "hello X". Oops, wrong name. Potential client very unimpressed and any chance of doing business went out of the window.

It is claimed that there is no such thing as a good or bad memory, that it is just a matter of how we use it. If I meet a number of people at an event and exchange business cards, on the back of their card I make notes that will help me to remember them. If possible I do this at the time, otherwise as soon as I get back to the office. The note might just be where I met them, that they spilled their coffee while shaking hands, in fact anything that will create a picture in my mind that will make the moment of our meeting easier to recall. Once you have a mental picture of the moment it is easier to put a name to the face.

As for typnig or speling mistakes, just take more care!


Stop Selling!

If someone sets out to sell something to me, they will almost certainly fail. Junk mailers and cold-callers please note. However, if someone takes an interest in me and what I do, in other words, starts to develop a relationship, then there is a good chance that they will succeed. And maybe more importantly, I will look for opportunities to introduce them to others who may have need of their services.

But there is another issue. If someone is in selling mode, it is likely that they are talking about their products or services rather than asking questions and listening to the potential customer. Only by questioning and listening will it be possible to understand whether you can provide the solution for the customers’ problems.


I Said Don’t Do That!

We all know that telling a child not to do something only makes it more likely that they will. But maybe we aren’t so keen to admit that we never really grow up in that respect.

Apparently, the brain doesn’t detect negatives very well, so if you say, “don’t drop that valuable item” the ‘don’t’ aspect of the message will be lost, making it more likely that the precious thing will be dropped.

Likewise, if you try to tell yourself that you are not hungry at 11:30 and that you can manage without that Mars bar, as it’ll soon be lunchtime, your brain will regularly remind you that, in fact, you are hungry.

Considerable research in the US and Europe has shown that attempts to regulate traffic speed by use of warning signs and road markings actually increases the average speed of motorists. Experiments show that removing all of the clutter and allowing drivers to take responsibility for their own decision-making results in reduced speed and fewer accidents.

It follows that businesses that attempt to regulate their employees excessively will create the same negative effect.

In his book Liberation Management, Tom Peters tells of a marketing company that gave responsibility to the front-line for their expenditure on stationery, travel etc. Essentially they were told to approve their own expenses. The results were startling:

· Car mileage costs declined 46 percent
· Other travel expenses down 70 percent
· Office supply expenditure reduced by 18 percent

As Mr Peters would say, “Wow!”.


Ring The Bells

A while back there was a discussion in one of the Enterprise Nation (http://www.enterprisenation.com/) forums about celebrating success – in particular, a sales success. Reactions varied from ringing a bell in the office to getting straight on with the next job. If you work in a large corporate organisation you probably won’t even know that a sale has been made. And if you work for Heinz you can hardly crack open the bubbly every time someone buys a tin of your beans from Tesco. But Enterprise Nation is targeted at home-based businesses where the impact of success (or failure) is likely to be more immediate and personal.

Nevertheless, to keep people motivated in any organisation, it is helpful if there is some tangible recognition of success. In large companies it is always a senior director signing the deal, handing over the keys or whatever it may be. The same directors or senior sales staff or the PR team go to awards ceremonies. Wouldn’t it be nice if it could be someone from the assembly line or the office cleaner?

However it’s done, keeping up team morale is essential. The old adage that success breeds success is true whether on the football field or in the office. Of course, what success really brings is confidence - confidence to go out to win the next game or secure the next order. Think I’ll buy myself a bell; and the office cleaner will definitely be going to pick up any awards that come this way!


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And Finally

More on names from Sir Richard Branson. "When we launched Virgin Atlantic in 1984, a survey said only 10% of the public would fly with an airline with a name like ‘Virgin’. I wrote to tell them that, since we only had one plane, it would take us 10 years flying every day with a full complement of passengers to take all 10% of them where they wanted to go."
Have a good month,

David

August 2008

During this month’s Ramble we spend time doing nothing, and gaze into the unknown.

Water Coolers
Coffee Mornings
I’m Busy Doing Nothing
I Can’t See You Until … September
Strategic Reasons
If Everything Seems To Be Going Well …
In The Arena
Circulation Details
And Finally


Water Coolers

After last month’s Ramble I received an email from an ex-colleague from the corporate world, now an independent consultant. Chris commented that he missed the so called 'water cooler' moments (substitute coffee machine if you prefer), where a chance meeting with a colleague would result in a few minutes ‘chewing the fat’ over one issue or another.

Looking back, I realise how important those few minutes could be. They are about relationship building and exchanging ideas. In a large organisation there is always someone with whom you can have these chats. Sometimes there is an element of ‘gallows humour’ when things are not going so well, but this just adds to the ‘bonded feel’.

It crossed my mind that mentoring/coaching is just an organised water cooler moment. It allows someone to talk about their issues to a ‘sounding board’ – the mentor - who can ask searching questions to check that all angles have been considered, to draw out ideas and thoughts that might be lying dormant just below the surface and to provide reassurance that the chosen path is appropriate. It seems odd that all serious sportsmen, singers etc have coaches and yet they are still a rarity in most businesses.

Coffee Mornings

At one time in corporate life I had my own office. I used to hold what I termed coffee mornings. The ‘morning’ probably lasted twenty minutes or half an hour and would be a general chat with someone, usually from another department. This was as much about relationship building as it was about discussing specific business issues.

If I was any good at my job (we’ll not take a vote on that!) it was because I had a network of people in most departments throughout the company who could be called on to bend the rules when things needed to get fixed in a hurry. Policies, procedures and processes all have their place (often in the bin!), but when the chips are down it is people and their relationships that make things work … or not.


I’m Busy Doing Nothing

Back in the 80s we invented the term ‘conceptualising’. It was a euphemism for gazing into space. Generally speaking gazing into space is frowned upon in most companies, so we do our thinking while staring intently at our computer screens or while doodling on a pad i.e. trying to look busy. But isn’t thinking being busy … assuming that it is about work. And that’s the problem, no one can tell whether it is work related thinking or just daydreaming. Anyway, does our job description list thinking as one of our responsibilities?

I was reading a review of Leadership the Hard Way co-authored by Dov Frohman. Frohman invented the EPROM chip, started Intel Israel and was largely responsible for the growth of Israel's high-tech sector. Not a bad CV!

Frohman talks about "The Discipline Of Daydreaming". He goes on to say: "Nearly every major decision of my business career was, to some degree, the result of daydreaming. ... By daydreaming, I mean loose, unstructured thinking with no particular goal in mind. ... In fact, I think daydreaming is a distinctive mode of cognition especially well suited to the complex, 'fuzzy' problems that characterize a more turbulent business environment. ... Daydreaming is an effective way of coping with complexity. When a problem has a high degree of complexity, the level of detail can be overwhelming. The more one focuses on the details, the more one risks being lost in them.”

Gosh, so Conceptualising has been validated as a bone fide business tool. We were obviously in advance of modern business practice back in the 80s!


I Can’t See You Until … September

Many, many years ago a friend of mine asked his boss if they could have a chat. Said boss consulted his wristwatch and said, “I can’t see you until September.” It remains a mystery as to why a watch was required to help with this decision … especially as it was only July at the time! The fact remains that trying to get to see some managers is rather more difficult than gaining an audience with the Pope.

Continuing with Mr. Frohman, he insists that managers must free up diaries from scheduled tasks. “… every leader should routinely keep a substantial portion of his or her time — I would say as much as 50 percent — unscheduled. ... Only when you have substantial 'slop' in your schedule — unscheduled time — will you have the space to reflect on what you are doing, learn from experience, and recover from your inevitable mistakes.” “… it takes an enormous effort on the part of the leader to keep free time for the truly important things."


Strategic Reasons

Every project should have a business reason. This is as important for the one-person business operating from the garden shed as it is for global corporations. Even if it doesn’t involve a financial commitment there will be an investment of time and resource. So the analysis is carried out but, oh dear, the sums don’t add up to a sound business case. What do you do? Convince yourself that you can sell more than originally forecast? Take the contingency out of the investment? Hmm, it still doesn’t look like a sound proposition but you desperately want to do whatever it is. I have the answer for you. Do it for ‘strategic reasons’. Trust me, big companies do it so why not you? Health warning: big companies go out of business too!


If Everything Seems To Be Going Well …

If everything seems to be going well you’ve obviously overlooked something! This is my first rule of project management.

A key element of project management is looking into all of the dark corners to see if there is anything lurking that will come out to derail the project. Of course, we can have processes that will take care of the key elements of any project but as Donald Rumsfeld said when he was US Defence Secretary, "… as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

At first reading it sounds as daft as some of his other pronouncements, but actually it does make sense (just about). What processes struggle to accommodate is the unknown unknowns. That is where you need people to use their knowledge, experience and imagination to come up with a solution.

In his book I Wanna Tell You A Story, Trevor Gay tells of a dramatic night in 1977 when he was the on-call manager at a local hospital. There was a violent storm that flooded the hospital and cut off power and telephone communications (no mobiles in 1977!). He describes how he and a very small team coped.

“The truth is we were making this up as we went along. Yes there were polices and procedures that had been written in the warmth of a comfortable office, probably in the middle of summer. Here we were in the middle of winter in a violent storm with no power and over 100 vulnerable patients. And we could not communicate with the outside world.

We developed some plans on the hoof …”

Yep, that’s how it works in a crisis and it works so much better if there is a good team spirit. For a guide to dealing with the known knowns and known unknowns, click here. For the unknown unknowns you are on your own!


In The Arena

In a speech in Paris in 1910 Theodore Roosevelt said, “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, ….” In other words, the person in there and doing things rather than standing on the sidelines.

I’ve been this way before, but why is it that some businesses are incapable of responding to an email? I know that email is a new fangled idea compared with the telephone, but surely it isn’t so advanced that businesses can’t find employees with the skills to respond to an emailed enquiry. And if they can’t, why the hell put an email address or ‘contact us’ form on their website?

Now I’m not talking about instant responses, which often will not be possible for a very small business. No I’m talking about ANY response.

I haven’t carried out any serious research but experience suggests that the majority, no, the VAST MAJORITY of small/medium businesses do not respond to an emailed enquiry. Which is good news for those that do, for they are in the arena and have given themselves a chance to win some business. If you are not in the arena you are nowhere.


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And Finally

Not so long back a ‘serious’ business would require a prestigious office. With the increasing demand for flexible working, rising fuel costs and, of course, the rapid advance of communications technology, many business people now operate from home. The website Enterprise Nation is dedicated to helping them. I am delighted to say that extracts from Random Ramblings will be appearing on the website. I suppose you’d call them short walks! http://www.enterprisenation.com/


And to finish, another pearl of wisdom from Donald Rumsfeld:
"I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and, well, I assume it's what I said."

I know the feeling; it’s an age thing!

If you want to share a water cooler moment, I'd be pleased to to have your comments about the contents of Random Ramblings or indeed any other business issues.

Enjoy the month.

David

July 2008

During this month’s Ramble we promote women, take a long lunch and an even longer holiday, and encourage anarchy in the loo:

Ø Are You Using Only 50% of Available Talent?
Ø French Lunch
Ø I’m Just Popping Out For a walk
Ø Long Holidays
Ø 43% of Managers are No Good!
Ø Change the Colour
Ø Circulation Details
Ø And finally


Are You Using Only 50% of Available Talent?

Last month I mentioned the view of corporate turnaround specialist Victor Palmieri that “Strategies are okayed in boardrooms that even a child would say are bound to fail. The problem is there is never a child in the boardroom.” My advice was to appoint a child to the board. However, as child labour is illegal, there is another solution to improve company performance. Appoint a woman (preferably lots of them) to the board/senior management team.

It is now half a dozen years since the Norwegian government announced that it intended to force companies to have at least 40% women members of the board. Despite the predictable reaction, the results have been so successful that other countries are looking at following suit. The reason? Studies in the US and in Europe have shown that companies with a significant number of female board members perform better than those with all male boards.

Why should this surprise us? If 50% of the available talent is excluded from senior positions, the team will not be as strong as it could be. But maybe it needs a child to spot that one!


French Lunch

It is a commonly accepted view that we do business with those we like. Successful businesses are those that build good relationships with customers and suppliers. They also create a team-working ethic within the business.

I have recently returned from three weeks in France. Eating in restaurants at lunchtime it struck me how often one sees groups of business people enjoying a good lunch while talking animatedly. It is fairly evident that many of these are colleagues from the same office.

I understand that the average UK lunch break is around 30 minutes. Maybe a 2-hour break is a bit too long, but the concept of sharing a leisurely meal and chatting over a mix of business and social issues seems to make sound business sense from a relationship building perspective.


I’m Just Popping Out For a Walk

Continuing with the above theme, this week there was an item on the BBC Breakfast News about research carried out into working practices. The conclusion was that people work more effectively when given a certain degree of latitude to develop their preferred work pattern. The programme featured the CEO of IRIS, the largest UK privately owned specialist software business that employs 1,200 people in 28 offices. He supported strongly the findings of the study and encourages his staff to take short breaks when they feel the need to stretch their legs or just to re-focus their minds. Remember, on average we can only concentrate for 20 minutes at a time. And surprise, surprise, the benefits of taking a full hour’s lunch break were supported.

Maybe there is also a spin-off benefit from getting up frequently from our desks. A few years ago I had problems with a disc in my back. My physiotherapist pointed out that backs don’t like inactivity and insisted that I should go for a short walk, even if just round the office, every 30 minutes.

So it seems that frequent short breaks are good for the back as well as the brain!


Long Holidays

Two weeks never seems long enough for a holiday. The first week is spent unwinding and the second thinking of the return journey (especially if it is a two-day drive from the south of France!). But three is perfect. At the end there is no resentment about returning to work, in fact quite the opposite. Of course, it is easier for me now, but I did take three weeks a couple of times in my corporate career, and guess what? Yes, they got by without me!

I am sure that there will be some readers who are thinking that they couldn’t manage two weeks let alone three. I do recognise that very small businesses will have much more trouble accommodating extended holidays, but in slightly larger organisations, if you have developed your team so that you can safely delegate, it should be possible. IBM used to, and probably still do, insist that staff took at least one holiday of two weeks in length. They recognised that one week was insufficient for battery recharging. They also insisted that staff took all of their holiday entitlement and didn’t carry days over, never to be used.


43% of Managers are No Good!

OK, perhaps a bit provocative, but according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 43% of employees are dissatisfied with the relationship they have with their manager. If your business has a high staff turnover it probably isn’t because they are unhappy with the job but with the management. I was lucky for most of my corporate career to work for some pretty good bosses but I can think of a few that I wouldn’t have wanted to work for. Oh, and two of the best took all of their holidays and didn’t work excessive hours!

Being autocratic, micro-managing, setting unrealistic targets, criticising and never praising, instituting petty rules are all good ways to ensure a miserable workplace. Performance will suffer and people will leave as soon as they get a better offer. Many of you will be familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It is worth reminding ourselves of the top two categories:

Esteem needs
Self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility.

And right at the top:

Self-actualization needs
Realising personal potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

Helping people to achieve self-esteem and personal fulfilment will result in a happy, committed and effective team … especially if they can wander around the office and take long lunches!


Change the Colour

I am a fan of the BBC TV programme Mary Queen of Shops. For those who haven’t seen it, fashion retail expert Mary Portas helps to turn around failing boutiques. The concept is similar to Gordon Ramsey’s F Word but without the ‘f’ words!

I am even less of a fashion expert than I am a chef, but even I can see why these businesses are failing. There is a consistent pattern of not understanding the customer, not understanding the competition and of poor presentation. And usually a failure to recognise that there is anything wrong beyond the fact that there are no customers and mounting financial losses.

I recall from many years back when Emerson Fittipaldi’s Formula One team was struggling for success. Fittipaldi decided to change the colour of the cars simply to give the team the feeling of a new start to boost their flagging spirits. So if your business has gone a little stale, change something, anything, even if it is only the colour of the office walls. But do consult the team on the colour choice, and it might be worth asking your key customers for their views.



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And Finally

Why do women tolerate queuing for the loo? Last year when driving back from France we stopped at a service station on the autoroute. The ladies’ loo was closed temporarily for cleaning. I went into the gents and was standing next to another chap communing with nature. The door opened and in walked a young woman (French I assume) who wasn’t prepared to wait for the ladies to re-open. Subsequently a number of others followed suit. It occurred to me that, if women always did that when there was a queue, it would be a very effective way of getting things changed, especially if they startled a few architects and planners. I am assuming that it is men who are responsible for the inadequate provision of ladies loos at motorway services, concert halls, airports and other public venues.

The only thing I couldn’t quite understand was why the first lady who ventured into the gents appeared surprised to see men in there!

“If you are willing to satisfy people with ‘good enough’, you can make just about everybody happy. If you delight people and create change that lasts, you're going to offend those that hate change in all its forms. Your choice.” Seth Godin, US businessman, author and developer of the concept of ‘permission marketing’.


If you still have your holidays to come, I hope that the sun will shine for you. And don’t take the laptop or business mobile!


David

June 2008

This month’s Ramble is about chocolate and other important matters:

Ø Appoint a Child to the Board – Today!
Ø Not Very Special
Ø Talking of Which
Ø Brand You
Ø Giving Up Chocolate
Ø Is it April 1st?
Ø Circulation Details
Ø And finally


Appoint a Child to the Board – Today!

Ask most business people what they think about government policies for business and they’ll say that less legislation and less interference in general would be a good thing. In simple terms, less government.

In the same way that governments feel the need to govern, managers generally feel the need to manage. But surely, if they think that business would run better without government interference, isn’t there a logic that says less management would be a good thing also? In other words, provide an operating framework, support and encouragement, but then let people use their common sense.

Some managers may feel that they are the only ones with the ability to make good decisions. I would remind them of the views of US corporate turnaround specialist Victor Palmieri (the guy who sorts out the mess after managers and directors have screwed up), “Strategies are okayed in boardrooms that even a child would say are bound to fail. The problem is there is never a child in the boardroom.” The current problems in the banking world confirm that seniority is no guarantee of good decision making.
“A manager's job is to liberate, develop and use the talents of the people who report to him or her.” Nigel Nicholson, London Business School professor


Not Very Special

The letter was headed ‘Special invitation’. Gosh I thought, I’m being specially invited somewhere. It went on, ‘You have been pre-selected …’ Pre-selected? What does that mean? Sounds like one of those Readers Digest letters telling you that you are the only person on the planet selected for their next prize draw. It goes on, ‘You have been pre-selected from our database’. Ye gods, untouched by human hand, the computer has picked me out. Apparently this is a unique opportunity to be one of the first to view the new xyz car.

On top of that less than special opening, the letter is a typographical mess – the font used for my name/address is different from the body of the letter and there are one or two other minor issues. Finally, it fails to state where the event will take place.

Will I be going? What do you think? Businesses that only seek to part me from a fraction of what these people want for a new car take infinitely more care over their customers. Some examples were listed in last month’s Ramble.


Talking of Which

If you were on last month’s Ramble with me, you may recall that I mentioned the outstanding level of customer care provided by Lakeland. I sent a copy of RR to the MD, Sam Rayner. I received a letter back in which he said, “If we are doing a great job then it all comes down to people I’m fortunate to have working alongside me.”

Last week I was interviewed by Trevor Gay for his Simplicity blog. Among other things, Trevor asked me why more organisations didn’t adopt the philosophy that Ricardo Semler has encouraged in his highly successful Brazilian company, Semco.

If you haven’t read them, Ricardo Semler’s books Maverick and The Seven-Day Weekend are must-reads. They describe how a smallish family business was transformed into one of Brazil’s most successful and influential companies by the gradual introduction of total workplace democracy.

During discussion following the interview I said, “The Semco way requires the CEO to put his/her ego to one side and to encourage the challenges to their authority that a workplace democracy entails. That probably doesn’t sit too easily with the type of personality required to fight to the top of most large organisations.” Of course, there are exceptions. I suspect that Sam Rayner may be one such.

To read the full interview click here: http://simplicityitk.blogspot.com/2008/05/friend-of-simplicity-david-wike.html


Brand You

We tend to think of branding being about logos, corporate colours and the like. Maybe we even think it’s something that Coca Cola, Virgin and McDonalds get involved with but that it doesn’t really apply to small businesses. Of course, neither of these is true. The brand is the very core of the business, its soul if you like.

These days most businesses have a logo, a corporate colour scheme, most offer a reasonable degree of customer service and most products are fairly reliable. Those that will be successful and will remain successful will be those with strong brand values that are reinforced by everything they do. Good reputations take a very long time to build but one person can destroy a reputation in minutes.

Management uber-guru Tom Peters encourages us to: “Transform yourself from an "employee" into a brand that shouts distinction, commitment, and passion!” So we now have brands within brands. A bit like Virgin has lots of different businesses, but all operating under the one logo and ethos. It’s just that we are doing it on a smaller scale.

So how do we encourage our team to become individual brands? Back to Tom P: “The starting point of all significant change is mindset.”
“Treat people as adults. Treat them as partners; treat them with dignity; treat them with respect.”
“Remember, passion is contagious--spread from person-to-person, mouth-to-mouth.”


Giving up Chocolate

Last month we looked at the benefits of deadlines in focussing our mind to use time effectively. Just before I wrote that I had introduced another time saving measure. It was very simple and cost nothing. Whenever I got the pop-up telling me that a new email had arrived in my inbox I couldn’t resist looking at it. And then of course I would get sidetracked into answering it. Grasshoppering around is not an efficient way to work, so I changed my Outlook email set-up so that I no longer get a warning of new mail. Now I look when it is convenient to do so between tasks. Much better.

When John Niland’s Success 121 (www.success121.com) June newsletter arrived I was interested to see that he and his team had gone one better. They do not look at emails until at least mid-day. This leaves the morning free to focus on being creative. John admits that it has been really tough to resist the urge to look at the inbox. Apparently even tougher than giving up chocolate!

If like me you are constantly trying to dream up grand schemes to save time, do the simple things while waiting for inspiration. But feel free to carry on eating chocolate!


Is it April 1st?

The BBC Business website would have us believe that Holiday Inn did a survey of 1000 business people to check out the importance of … biscuits!

Apparently four out of five UK businesses believe the type of biscuit they serve to potential clients could influence the outcome of a possible deal. Chocolate digestive were deemed to make the best impression followed by shortbread and Hob Nobs.

On the face of it, this is a piece of nonsense, but on the other hand, it does demonstrate how vitally important it is to attend to the details if you want to succeed (car dealers take note). Again, it is about making the customer feel valued. Yes, you could save a few pence by serving cheap biscuits and using paper cups, but what does that say about your passion for quality?

By the way, personal experience suggests that it is best to keep chocolate digestives in the fridge until just before you serve them, otherwise the chocolate goes very sticky. Oh, and if you want to impress, don’t dunk!


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And Finally

Talking of too much government and other silly ideas, you may enjoy this extract from a letter sent to David Milliband in his previous role as Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, otherwise know as DEFRA. The letter starts: Dear Secretary of State, My friend, who is in farming at the moment, recently received a cheque for £3,000 from the Rural Payments Agency for not rearing pigs. I would now like to join the "not rearing pigs" business. In your opinion, what is the best kind of farm not to rear pigs on, and which is the best breed of pigs not to rear? I want to be sure I approach this endeavour in keeping with all government policies, as dictated by the EU under the Common Agricultural Policy. The letter goes on to explain that the writer proposes to start on a small scale and gradually build up to not rearing thousands of pigs. But being enterprising, he also envisages profitable schemes for not doing several other things as well.

Enjoy the sunshine!

David

May 2008

This month’s Ramble is quite random!

Ø How To Find Better Staff
Ø I Do Not Believe It!
Ø Rocking Horses and Apostrophes
Ø Navel Gazing
Ø Stellar Customer Service
Ø I’m Just Browsing
Ø What Does Your Voice Look Like?
Ø Circulation Details
Ø And finally


How To Find Better Staff

Want better staff? Simple! Believe in the ones you already have!

Remember last month where we saw how telling students their performances in tests were better/worse than reality caused their subsequent performance to be better/worse? Well, other studies have shown that telling the teacher that groups of new students were better/worse academically than was the case, had a similar effect. It seems that teachers adjusted their teaching up or down according to the perceived student ability. The result was that in subsequent tests the students’ performance went up or down in line with the teachers’ beliefs.

Assuming that the manager/leader operates in a coaching environment, it follows that believing in and encouraging employees will lead to higher performance. A word of caution though. Additional responsibility should not be ‘given’ by the manager; it should be ‘accepted’ by the employee.


I Do Not Believe It! (Said in a Victor Meldrew voice)

Apparently the UK has 3,000 business support schemes run by 2,000 organisations at a cost (to you and me) of £2.5 billion! And two thirds of that budget is spent on telling business where to find the advice they need … yes, that’s £1.67 billion just to point people in the right direction!


Rocking Horses and Apostrophes

At times I am sure that most of us suffer from ‘busy fool syndrome’. Or as American author Alfred Montapert put it, “Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.”

Business associate Trevor Gay (www.simplicityisthekey.com) and I have been discussing effective use of time. I am inclined towards perfectionism and had a certain sympathy with BBC’s ‘The Apprentice’ team that spent three hours debating the use of an apostrophe in a piece of advertising material. Of course, important as is correct punctuation, they left themselves short of time to carry out even more important tasks. Consequently they were given the ‘benefit’ of Sir Alan Sugar’s views on their use of time.

Trevor had a tight deadline to meet for a magazine article. Knowing he only had a couple of hours he focussed on the task and finished it in an hour. I wonder whether we would all do better to allocate a limited, but realistic, amount of time to a task and then force ourselves to meet the challenge even if the odd apostrophe does go astray. (By the way, I do have a one-page guide on use of the apostrophe if anyone should need help in that direction.)


Navel Gazing

I’m sure we’ve all been there. We arrive outside a shop just after 9:00am only to find a notice telling us that the shop won’t open today until 10:00am because of staff training. Great, they train their staff. Not so great, they have forgotten that they are there to serve the customer from nine o’clock ... every day.

Recently I was shopping in my local town. I went into one shop and was studying the contents of a shelf when a manager/supervisor walked directly in front of me without a word of apology. She was followed by another employee who stood blocking my view of the products while they discussed the contents of an adjacent shelf. They then walked back in front of me and disappeared without any sign of recognition that I existed. I have a way of dealing with this sort of customer care (lack of). I took my business elsewhere.

It is so easy to focus on doing the filing, updating our websites, checking the shelves, briefing staff, generally improving our systems or whatever it might be and to completely overlook the sole reasons we exist. They are called customers!


Stellar Customer Service

Given what I have just written, you might be surprised to find that my award for stellar customer service goes to a company whose shop was closed when we visited! A few weeks back we went shopping in Solihull. One of the reasons was that my wife wanted to visit the Lakeland store (www.lakeland.co.uk) to buy a couple of items that didn’t warrant the cost of the mail order delivery charge.

When we arrived, the shop was closed for refurbishment! As she shops there from time to time, my wife was disappointed that she hadn’t been advised in advance of this closure. I know what you are thinking, but yes, this is the standard of customer care that Lakeland normally delivers!

On returning home she emailed them to express her disappointment. A return email from Lakeland said, “Sorry madam, but don’t worry, give us a call and we can mail order what you want and we’ll waive the delivery charge.” When my wife phoned she was told that, in fact, they would send the goods for free. Gosh!

A few days later, an empty padded bag is pushed through the door. It is muddy and appears to have a footprint on it. It is from Lakeland. Puzzled as to what can have happened to it we ponder what to do. It is rather embarrassing to tell Lakeland that their free goods haven’t arrived, and yet we feel that they deserve to know that there has been a problem.

My wife emailed the lady she had originally contacted. The lady was concerned as to what could have happened and wanted to talk to the delivery company, but in the meantime despatched another (free) parcel. This duly arrived safely.

We are so impressed with the customer care ethos (as we have been in the past) that my wife wrote to the MD to congratulate him and to praise his sales lady for the way she had dealt with the issue.

A few days later a picture postcard of the Lake District arrived. It was handwritten by the MD thanking my wife for her letter. Wow! Now that is what I call stellar customer care!

I wonder how many businesses begrudge giving anything for free and yet would happily spend thousands, even millions on advertising campaigns. I wonder which is the more effective approach to influencing the customer? I think I know.

Others winning Random Rambling awards for friendly and efficient customer service this month are A-Plan Insurance in Sheldon (www.aplan.co.uk), Hotelshop UK (www.hotelshopuk.com) and Majestic Wine (www.majestic.co.uk), although zero marks for Majestic’s difficult to read website colours.


I’m Just Browsing

On the odd occasion that we go into a shop and are asked if we need any help we often say, “No thanks, I’m just browsing.” Unless we are on holiday and it’s tipping it down and so we are really just in there to stay dry, this probably isn’t an entirely accurate statement.

What we are actually doing is searching for information of some sort. Maybe we are looking at different types of product. Perhaps we are checking prices. There can be a number of reasons. So why don’t we take up the offer of help?

Of course, we may be embarrassed to admit that we just want to know the price before going to look elsewhere, but the chances are we don’t want to be on the receiving end of a hard sell. When it comes down to it, we don’t trust the sales person to give us impartial and knowledgeable advice. And if we do accept the offer of help, the sales person can be reluctant to say what they really think. If we are determined to have a particular (inappropriate) product, it is a brave and honest advisor who will do their best to dissuade us. However …

A few years back I updated a cottage with a new kitchen and bathroom. The lounge had false beams on walls and ceiling and was rough plastered so that it looked like Christmas cake icing. I didn’t have the enthusiasm to strip it all off so I painted the plaster a salmon colour to reduce the cake effect and to tone down the contrast with the beams.

When I came to sell it I ‘interviewed’ several estate agents. One asked if I was intending to decorate the lounge! I explained that I had only recently done so. He said no more.

Another agent asked the same question. She was made of sterner stuff and made it very clear that I had got it wrong. I admired her honesty, repainted the walls in cream and hired her agency!

You may be well advised to take the brave option and try to save the customer from themselves. If they ignore your advice you may be better off without them because when it all goes wrong they will blame you anyway. Telling them, “I told you so” is unlikely to bring you much benefit either!


What Does Your Voice Look Like?

It is generally reckoned that the words we use only account for 7-10% of the effectiveness of our communication; the rest is down to tone of voice and body language. And the most important aspect of body language is eye contact.

People who have met Richard Branson, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair or Princess Diana say that they felt like there was no one else in the room at the time; that they were the full focus of attention, even if the conversation was very short. The reason? Yes, you’ve got it, eye contact!

Want to keep the attention of everyone at a meeting? Look each of them in the eye briefly as you speak. For that instant just speak directly to them before looking at the next person. And swivel from the hips as you pan round the room, as this looks more natural than twisting at the neck.


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And Finally

Organisations frequently merge in the (nearly always mistaken) belief that this will somehow make them better. As always, the inimitable Tom Peters has a view on such follies, as expressed on the planned merger of Delta and Northwest to create the world’s largest airline:

“Really Big & Crappy + Really Big & Crappy = Shockingly, Gaspworthy Sucko Monumentus.”

Loosely translated from the American I think it means he isn’t impressed!


David

April 2008

This month’s Ramble focuses on the key ingredient for business success - People:

Ø Fabulous Feedback
Ø The Power of the Positive
Ø Engage the Locals
Ø The Office Cleaner
Ø Dragons and Love Letters
Ø Have You … ? The final instalment
Ø Circulation Details
Ø And finally



Fabulous Feedback

I have had some fabulous feedback for each of my monthly Rambles so far. This is encouraging because it shows me that you are actually reading them and that a number of the issues I have touched on strike a chord with you. It is really pleasing to discover that people are finding the newsletter useful, and of course, it spurs me on to seek out more topics that may be of interest.

This confirms to me the value of feedback. Whatever we are doing, I’m sure that we all can benefit from constructive comments, even if they are of a critical nature. If I experience something where an organisation could have done better, I often write to them to point out the shortcomings. However, I always try to follow the advice of American businesswoman, Mary Kay Ash, “Sandwich every bit of criticism between two thick layers of praise.” Sometime of course, lack of time, energy or enthusiasm means that I don’t complain. I always feel guilty then that I have denied them the opportunity to improve.


The Power of the Positive

While criticism has its place, we shouldn’t forget that praise is even more important, hence the advice of Mary Kay Ash. Another American (why is it always Americans who come up with the good quotes?), Sam Walton, founder of the mighty Wal*Mart corporation said, “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish.”

I am sure that we can all relate to that. Going back a dozen or fifteen years I had a boss, well, a boss’s boss really, who always thanked everyone profusely for whatever they did. Maybe a cynic might have said it was over the top and questioned the sincerity of the praise. Indeed, we sometimes joked about it in the team. But we all recognised the genuine warmth with which Mike treated people and would all have done anything that he asked.

I have finally found a quote from an Englishman! “I have always found that everyone reacts better to encouragement rather than receiving criticism.” So said Steve Morgan, founder of the Redrow construction and house building company and now owner and chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club.

Indeed, the power of the positive was proved in an experiment carried out with a group of students. They were set a test. Afterwards, fifty percent were told that their results were higher than they actually were; the other half was told that their results were lower than reality. They were then set another test, and guess what? Those who were previously told that their results were better than they actually achieved, did better in the second test. Those who had been told that they had faired worse than reality, did correspondingly worse the second time. Wow!


Engage the Locals

I read a story about an American guy who set up a charity to help build schools in remote mountainous areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The whole operation was very low key and relied on engaging the support and physical help of the local villagers to build the schools. This being in marked contrast to the big charities and state aided programmes, where help often arrives in Land Cruisers rather than by donkey, and rather takes over proceedings.

When the Taliban and local war lords get a bit frisky and anti-western, they trash the schools, hospitals and other structures built by the big operators, but the schools built by our man and his helpers are left untouched because the locals have taken ownership of them in every sense of the word.

This is a simple example of how beneficial it is to involve the people who are actually affected by a project, whether it is a school in North West Pakistan or a new business project. If people are involved with something they will always be more committed to it than if it is imposed from above.


The Office Cleaner

Last week I had a phone call from a lady wanting to speak to whoever was in charge of office cleaning. My slightly surprised reaction and faint chuckle was enough for her to work out that maybe we didn’t have hundreds of employees in a twelve-storey building. She withdrew from the conversation with great charm but sadly still leaving me with my Saturday morning job.

In between cleaning, I am reading a book on networking, ‘Let’s Connect!’ by Jan Vermeiren. His view is that ALL employees should be given business cards; yes even the office cleaners, because ALL employees should be made to feel important and encouraged to represent their organisation. Wow again!


Dragons and Love Letters

No, not those fearsome TV business angels but the Welsh dragon, or more specifically, the Welsh rugby team. When Will Carling became England rugby captain it had become almost a tradition that England would go to Cardiff and get beaten by the Welsh. It was decided that it was time for a new approach.

Up until then, the team had stayed in England the night before the game, and then crossed the border on the day of the match. For the next visit to Wales the England team stayed at a hotel in the centre of Cardiff. By that simple expedient they changed the pre-match psychology. Now they had set up camp right in the heart of enemy territory, they had taken the initiative.

The night before the game, after all had gone to bed, Carling went round the hotel and slipped ‘love letters’ as he called them, under the player’s bedroom doors. These notes explained the importance to the team of the particular player, what strengths he brought to the team and it outlined what Carling expected of him in the game.

Apparently, although some of the players were a little coy about admitting it, privately all confided to Carling that his note had given them a tremendous psychological boost.


Have You?

Here’s the final instalment of Tom Peters Top 50 ‘Have You …?’ questions. While not all of the 50 will be relevant to all of us, a great many are. Looking back through them I have to confess that I haven’t followed up on all I could. Sounds like time for an April resolution!

Have you in the last month taught a front-line training course?
Have you in the last week discussed the idea of Excellence? (What it means, how to get there.)
Have you in the last week discussed the idea of "Wow"? (What it means, how to inject it into an ongoing "routine" project.)
Have you in the last 45 days assessed some major process in terms of the details of the "experience," as well as results it provides to its external or internal customers?
Have you in the last month had one of your folks attend a meeting you were
supposed to go to which gives them unusual exposure to senior folks?
Have you in the last 60 (30?) days sat with a trusted friend or "coach" to discuss your
"management style"—and its long- and short-term impact on the group?
Have you in the last three days considered a professional relationship that was a little rocky and made a call to the person involved to discuss issues and smooth the
waters? (Taking the "blame," fully deserved or not, for letting the thing-issue
fester.)
Have you in the last ... two hours ... stopped by someone's (two-levels "down") office-workspace for 5 minutes to ask "What do you think?" about an issue that arose at a more or less just-completed meeting? (And then stuck around for 10 or so minutes to listen—and visibly taken notes.)
Have you ... in the last day ... looked around you to assess whether the diversity
pretty accurately maps the diversity of the market being served? (And ...)
Have you in the last day at some meeting gone out of your way to make sure that a normally reticent person was engaged in a conversation—and then thanked
him or her, perhaps privately, for their contribution?
Have you during your tenure instituted very public (visible) presentations of performance?
Have you in the last four months had a session specifically aimed at checking on the
"corporate culture" and the degree we are true to it—with all presentations by relatively junior folks, including front-line folks? (And with a determined effort to keep the conversation restricted to "real world" "

Courtesy of www.tompeters.com


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And Finally

One of my all time football heroes is Tommy Smith, the hard man of the Liverpool defence in the 60s and 70s. On one occasion he got into a spot of bother with a policeman after a game at West Bromwich. Liverpool’s legendary manager, Bill Shankly, himself no softy, arrived on the scene. The policeman unwisely enquired who he was. Shankly exploded and told him that if he didn’t f*** off he’d let down the tyres on his bike! Eventually calm was restored but Shankly was still fuming. “Policemen are bloody useless! They have two on the door of 10 Downing Street and the Prime Minister still gets out.” As you may have gathered, Shanks didn’t regards politicians particularly highly either!


I hope that April will bring you more sunshine than showers.

David

March 2008

On this month’s menu:

Ø I’ve Called to Say Nothing!
Ø Ring Ring
Ø Yipes, Grown-Ups!
Ø Virtual Worlds
Ø More on BEEs
Ø Have You … ? The next instalment
Ø Circulation Details
Ø And finally



I’ve Called To Say Nothing!

So why would anyone call to say nothing? Because it gives us the opportunity to tell a customer that we are ‘on the case’ even if we don’t have a conclusion to whatever we might be doing. Let me give you an example.

I was trying to arrange some business insurance. I called a broker, discussed my requirements and was sent a proposal form. I filled this in, sent it off and waited … and waited. What am I to think? Has Royal Mail lost it? Has the broker lost it? Is anyone doing anything? I phone them. Apparently they were still awaiting a response from the insurance company. Several days go by and I get an emailed quote. I email back a query. Several days go by … OK, you’ve probably got the picture! If the guy had sent a very brief email to confirm receipt of my proposal, query etc and said that it would probably take ‘x’ days to get a response, I would have been relaxed. By the end of the process I was left feeling that I didn’t matter to them. In the end, to move on, I did the business with them but have made a note in my diary in plenty of time to find another provider for next year.

In my view it is better to over-communicate than under-communicate. That way the customer knows that you are actively working for them and they will be reassured. We tend to do business with people we know and trust. Frequent communication is a way of building trust and a sound relationship with the customer.


Ring Ring

Continuing on the phone theme, I was at an event this week where the general manager of a large 4-star hotel spoke about customer service. He told us how he was in the hotel’s reception area on one occasion when the phone rang. All of the reception desk staff were dealing with guests checking out, so he answered the call himself. It was for a group booking that was worth £15,000. As he said, if he hadn’t answered the phone the caller might well have tried one of several other hotels in the same area, and the business would have been lost.

This is a good example of how everyone in a team should be able and willing to step into the ‘front line’ when necessary, regardless of status or job description.


Yipes, grown-ups!

I cannot recall where I saw it, but some time ago I came across a cartoon showing a man about to enter a room full of strangers. Pausing in the doorway he surveyed the scene in the room and let out the cry of, “Yipes, grown-ups!” Apart from the fact that I don’t know anyone who goes round saying ‘yipes’, this struck a chord, as it will I suspect, with many people. Small business people (all those under seven foot six) will be only too aware that networking is vital to develop contacts who can help with their businesses. Yet the very word ‘networking’ is enough to make most of us go wobbly at the knees.

I have found the solution, I don’t do networking. I go partying instead! I have found that I now enjoy business events because I do not regard them as networking, but more as one would a party. It’s a lot more fun going to a party than a networking event and it takes away the pressure that one might otherwise feel to exchange business cards with as many people as possible. I don’t make any attempt to sell my services and sometimes I’m even a bit vague about what I do – I find that explaining that I’m ‘a specialist provider of miscellaneous services’ is a good ice-breaker.

Networking isn’t about a quick sell, it’s about building relationships and looking for ways to help others. The return is likely to be long term, but that’s OK. It’s an excuse for a bit more partying!


Virtual Worlds

Hands up everyone who thought those who had a Second Life virtual presence were spotty 17 year olds or sad people without a real life. OK, so that’s all of us then. By the way, apologies to any spotty 17 year olds or sad people without a real life who happen to be reading.

Seems that we are wrong. The real future for virtual worlds, of which Second Life is the best known, and apparently, the easiest to use, is for business. When companies such as IBM and Addidas have a presence it is indicative that it is serious. And did you know that Sweden has a virtual embassy?

Virtual worlds can be used for concept testing and prototyping, for brand promotion and for town planning. It is predicted that 80% of active Internet users will have a virtual presence by the end of 2011. Sounds like I should get myself a virtual office.

If you want to give it a try, go to http://secondlife.com. Send me an email if you would like a copy of my notes from a seminar that I attended on the subject.


More On BEEs

Last month I mentioned BEEs - Bureaucratic Evil Empires. I am indebted to my friend Trevor Gay for this extract from Richard Branson’s book, ‘Screw It, Let’s Do It.’

“Then there are those silly little rules that someone has invented for baffling reasons. I always think that if you set up quangos or committees, they will find something useless to do. The world is full of red tape, created by committees with too much time and an overbearing desire for control. Most red tape is a tangled mess of utterly useless, nonsensical jargon. If I want to do something worthwhile – or even just for fun – I won’t let silly rules stop me. I will find a legal way around the rules and give it a go.”

Quite so Sir Richard!


Have You?

Here’s the third instalment of Tom Peters Top 50 ‘Have You …?’ questions. By the way, perhaps I should explain his references to ‘weird’ people. In this context he means people who do not conform to the norm for the business, people who can bring a fresh, different and maybe, challenging, perspective to a situation.

Have you in the last month invited an interesting-weird outsider to sit in on an important meeting?
Have you in the last three days discussed something interesting, beyond your industry, that you ran across in a meeting, reading, etc?
Have you in the last 24 hours injected into a meeting "I ran across this interesting idea in [strange place]"?
Have you in the last two weeks asked someone to report on something, anything, that constitutes an act of brilliant service rendered in a "trivial" situation—restaurant, car wash, etc? (And then discussed the relevance to your work.)
Have you in the last 30 days examined in detail (hour by hour) your calendar to evaluate the degree "time actually spent" mirrors your "espoused priorities"? (And repeated this exercise with everyone on the team.)
Have you in the last two months had a presentation to the group by a "weird" outsider?
Have you in the last two months had a presentation to the group by a customer, internal customer, vendor featuring "working folks" 3 or 4 levels down in the vendor organization?
Have you in the last two months had a presentation to the group of a cool, beyond-our-industry idea by two of your folks?
Have you at every meeting today (and forevermore) re-directed the conversation to the practicalities of implementation concerning some issue before the group?
Have you at every meeting today (and forevermore) had an end-of-meeting discussion on action items to be dealt with in the next 48 hours? (And then made this list public—and followed up in 48 hours.) (And made sure everyone had at least one such item.)
Have you in the last six months had a
discussion about what it would take to get recognition in a local-national poll of "best places to work"
Have you in the last month approved a cool-different training course for one of your folks?


Courtesy of www.tompeters.com


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And Finally

The hotel manager mentioned previously recounted a story about an accountant who had died, age 65. When he got to the gates of heaven he was greeted by St Peter. “Welcome,” said the saint, “you are our oldest ever new arrival”. “But I’m only 65,” said the accountant. St Peter consulted his records and said, “Well, according to the hours that you have charged for, you are 135.”


Enjoy your month!

David