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