Creating, Aligning, and Inspiring a Winning Organization - Inside and Out

Rant: Tell Them How to Succeed!

Filed Under: Leadership, Rants December 15, 2011 By Patrick Hopkins

Had lunch today with a 20-something friend of mine who’s been trying to get his boss to review him for several months now, but with no success. He finally got a meeting scheduled for this afternoon, but at the last minute, got put off again for some insignificant reason.

I can’t believe it.

OK, I guess I can. Sadly, it’s all too common. That’s been the case in almost every company I’ve worked for or consulted with over the past 25 years. And I’ve been guilty of putting off reviews myself before. I was either too busy, didn’t think it was important, wasn’t focused enough, or was simply too fearful to have the tough conversations about what was needed to succeed in our organization.

That’s the worst thing we can do as leaders. What kind of message does that send? That we don’t care? That they’re not valued? That we don’t know what the hell we’re doing ourselves?

Our people aren’t idiots. No matter what their job title or duties, everyone wants to know how to succeed and either thrive, or at the very least, how to meet an acceptable standard for their performance.

Occasionally, you’ll get the person who doesn’t care. In that case, they should be out the door immediately before the achievers wonder why they’re trying at all.

And for the achievers who want to know how they can bring value, there’s nothing more demotivating than a boss who won’t tell them what’s expected and how they can succeed and bring value.

As leaders, we all want to achieve our goals. That’s not going to happen with a demotivated or unfocused staff. Even if it’s hard news, tell them how they can meet or exceed your expectations. They can deal with it. They’re even more likely to try harder when they know how high the bar is set.

It’s in your best interest, too. You can’t do it alone. And you won’t succeed without a motivated staff willing to do their very best for you and a common goal.

 

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Broken Windows

Filed Under: The Experience December 13, 2011 By Patrick Hopkins

We all know you only get one chance to make a good first impression. Most of us are careful to pay attention to that in our interpersonal interactions. But what about the “first impression” people have every time they walk into your building? That one act sets the stage for all the interactions to come. Get it wrong, and you’re off to a bad start.

There’s a restaurant I’ve been going to for years — one of those hidden gems with good food, a homey feel and a welcoming staff. Walk in more than once and you’re family. I took a friend there for the first time recently after he’d lost count of the number of times I told him how much he’d like it.

I don’t think he’s going back.

Maybe it’s because I’m a regular, but I’d come to gloss over some of the things he noticed that were at odds with the experience I had promised. We parked in back on a windy day…someone had uncharacteristically left the dumpster top open & trash was blowing into the parking lot (which was also in need of repaving). What I had previously seen as a neat old building was to my friend one in obvious need of some repair. Cigarette butts welcomed us on the ground outside the door. Even so, it was busy.  But that meant it took longer than usual to get a table. Seeing me, the waitress assumed we didn’t need a menu since I’d memorized it long ago. And they were training new staff…who got my friend’s order wrong and spilled water on the table.

Needless to say, I felt bad. But viewing it through my friend’s eyes made me see the place differently, too. I went back later and talked to the owner, whom I know well. He had been so wrapped up in the daily operation that he no longer stepped back often enough to see what kind of overall experience he was offering. He’s now in the process of changing a few things.

It’s the little things that make all the difference in delivering the experience people expect from us and our organizations.

In his 2002 book Leadership, Rudy Giuliani describes how he began revitalizing New York City, in part, by subscribing to the Broken Windows Theory. A Wikipedia reference describes the theory this way:

Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it’s unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars.

A successful strategy for prevention is to fix the problems when they are small. Repair the broken windows within a short time, say, a day or a week, and the tendency is that vandals are much less likely to break more windows or do further damage. Clean up the sidewalk every day, and the tendency is for litter not to accumulate (or for the rate of littering to be much less). Problems do not escalate and thus respectable residents do not flee a neighborhood.

The same holds true for sustaining a great experience. It’s not just what you deliver that matters; it’s the whole package, including a lot of little interactions. Go to work tomorrow and try to view the place through a new customer’s eyes. Pay attention to what your parking lot looks like, what your signage says about you, and the first things you notice at your entrance. If you walked in not knowing anything about your company, what would you expect upon first glance? How does your receptionist greet people? Are your reading materials in the lobby up to date? How long do they have to wait? What kind of comforts & refreshments are available?

That’s just the beginning — we’ll delve into specifics another time. But try applying the Broken Windows Theory to that first impression and take care of the little things that set the stage for the rest of the relationship. I’ll bet they start to make an impact far beyond the lobby.

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Rant: Better People? Prove it.

Filed Under: Differentiation, Rants December 9, 2011 By Patrick Hopkins

There’s a grocery chain in my neck of the woods that proclaims to have a team of “better people.” Same assertion from a car dealer, a large accounting firm, a property management group, and a major insurance company, among others. Judging from the seeming cluster of superheroes in this part of the country, the rest of the nation doesn’t stand a chance of success. Wait, though — I’ve heard the same type of claim when I’ve traveled around the country. But how can they have better people if we have them all right here?

What a load of crap.

If you’re making a claim like that, first-off, I’m insulted. You’re saying you’re better human beings than the rest of us? I think not. The rest of us think we’re pretty damn good, too. You just sound arrogant or delusional.

Secondly, if  you’re going to stick to your guns on that point, you’d better be able to prove it. But I bet you can’t.

I’ll buy that you’ve done a great job hiring. That your process is better, or that you have an awesome training program, or you’ve got an unbeatable guarantee. Even that you have incredibly high standards. But what does that DO for ME? Do I believe that you have better people than the rest of us? Nope. But I do care that the people you have are treating me right and they’re delivering that consistent great experience you’ve promised me in all your ads. Fact is, I’ve been to all the companies I listed above, and I’ve met people at each of them I’d fire on the spot for the way they treated customers or coworkers. That’s not better in my book.

When I hear about companies that claim to have “better people,” I know that the truth is that they haven’t scratched below the surface to discover what truly differentiates them from the competition. They either aren’t different, or they don’t know, or at the very least can’t articulate it.

Maybe they ought to get their “better people” working on that one.

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Unleash the Disruptors

Filed Under: Culture, Leadership December 8, 2011 By Patrick Hopkins

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they’d have said ‘faster horses.’”      — Henry Ford

In the last couple posts, I talked about “creating creativity” — practical ways to help your staff think more proactively about problem solving in their daily duties. No doubt that type of thinking & environment helps your company stay competitive and fresh.

But what about the really BIG innovative leaps? I’m talking game changers like Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison. They not only thought outside the box; they kicked it to the curb. They were disruptors. They had the courage to challenge convention on a massive scale. To fail and succeed — spectacularly on both counts — many times over.

Truth is, that type of innovation, while seemingly desired, makes most organizations and leaders downright shudder. Most companies are built around efficiency & process. They’re reactive to customer wants and are usually pretty good at serving them. Disruptors don’t thrive there, nor do those companies encourage employees disrupting their systems. In fact, most make it pretty damn difficult.

So if you want those big, game changing ideas, how do you engage the disruptors? Simple: Get out of their way.

Consider running your organization on two tracks:

  1. “Normal business.” Operationalizing ideas into the business & running it to serve current customer desires.
  2. Identifying & encouraging disruptors; giving them room to explore outside of current business operations.

Point #2 isn’t just an R&D facility; it’s a think tank outside the scope of “normal business” operations — with lots of freedom and resources — that lets your big thinkers anticipate customers’ future needs. It needs to be engaged right at the top of the company, so the leader can clear away obstacles and assign additional resources. Hitch yourself to their wagon and let them lead you into the future. Then — and only then — take those big ideas and go about the business of point #1. And let them start again on #2.

True disruptors don’t do well in committee or “brainstorming” sessions. They need the freedom to dream, innovate, and invent. To anticipate customer needs — things they don’t even know they want yet.

Renowned management consultant Dr. W. Edwards Deming put it best: ”Did customers ask for the electric light? No. They never asked for it, the producer produced it. No one asked for a car, nor a telephone. No one asked for a copy machine or a fax machine.

“Innovation does not come from the customers. Innovation comes from the producer, from people who are responsible for themselves and have only themselves to satisfy.”

The thinking illustrated by Jobs, Ford, Einstein and Edison is exactly what drives the marketplace we live in today. It’s not good enough any more to merely be “good enough.” If you really want to succeed, you have to figure out how to unleash and encourage disruption in your organization.

Want some inspiration from current examples? Check out 10 contemporary disruptors and their advice on the Fast Company blog.

 

 

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Creating Creativity – Part 2

Filed Under: Culture, Leadership December 1, 2011 By Patrick Hopkins

So, we know creativity is good for business. But it’s also important on a personal scale. What’s more, it’s fairly easy. All it needs is a little nurturing.

Everyone is essentially creative. It’s just something we lose gradually as we accommodate the stresses & pressures of our lives.

To stay creative, it requires us to stay fresh — to retain the kind of wonder in the world that allows you to see each new experience, each new product, each new relationship as unique. That mindset keeps you from coming to the conclusion that it’s just the “same old thing.”

I asked a particularly creative female friend of mine how she kept a constant new perspective. Her answer: “have a baby.” She was serious.

“When you have a child, you see the world through fresh eyes, and discover all the things you’ve forgotten,” she said. “Most of us, as we grow older, have solved so many problems that we get stuck in ruts and we can only see a single way to solve them. Children aren’t locked into those ruts.”

She’s right. Creativity has reached an art form in my family over the years. My wife, a first-grade teacher, regularly shares stories of how kids get her to think differently. And when our own kids were small, it wasn’t unusual for me to pull into the driveway to find things like our old red wagon transformed into a black Batmobile, a working cardboard castle in my living room, or a son dressed in makeshift wings who only answered to the name “Buzz Lightyear.” I was immediately expected to join in.

It may sound strange, but those types of experiences can have a real and positive impact on the creative spirit at work. By stepping outside the ordinary, we gain new insights into solutions for the problems we face.

For example, my job requires that I quickly learn a lot about new areas every day. I keep an edge on that ability through interactions with young people — I have to immediately learn the rules of the world they create in order to join in.

Purposely stepping outside the ordinary is key to creativity. For example if you’re a champion tennis player, it’s better for your mind and your longevity of problem solving if you take up not another physical sport, but something like chess or knitting. Or do something different on vacation. A brand new environment often offers a fresh look at old problems.

I like to visit toy stores. Try wandering around in them and figure out how you could use the toys in your business, or how you could apply them to a particular problem. It may just spark an idea.

One creative guru I knew some years ago encouraged people to define themselves as an animal — one that closely matched their personality traits. It gave individuals a fresh insight into who they were, but also gave supervisors and spouses ideas on how to treat the person and how to use them more effectively on the job.

While it may sound strange to do, managers can make good use of the animal exercise. Good managers know not to use a giraffe to do the job of an elephant. Even Einstein advocated the thought when he said, “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.”

The bottom line is that all of these methods actually have a physical effect on the brain by strengthening connections between our brain cells.

You also have to be willing to take risks. Highly creative people make more mistakes than their less imaginative peers, but they also make more attempts. Workplace creativity is a fragile thing — it’s up to leaders to foster the environment by surrounding themselves with creative inspiration, asking questions versus making judgments, and controlling knee-jerk negativity to new ideas.

If you don’t create that environment, your staff will get so uptight about making mistakes that they’ll be afraid to do anything different. And different is the lifeblood to a great brand and a successful company.

Staying Sharp

Here are a few ways each of us can periodically keep our creative minds in shape:

• Solve puzzles like crossword and jigsaw. Play games.

• Write down as many uses as you can for paper clips in two minutes.

• Break old habits and patterns. Perform routine things in different ways.

• Take different routes to work and home. Pay attention to what you see along the way.

• If you are verbally oriented, try making pictures with crayons or paints.

• If you are visually oriented, take a math class, or do your own taxes.

• Fix something. The challenge is more important than a successful outcome.

• Dance. Learning new dance steps actually develops new connections in the brain.

• Travel. It gets you outside your element like nothing else. Some of my best ideas have come during or after trips.

• Associate with intelligent and interesting people. Try bridge, chess, or local clubs outside your field of specialty.

Have more ideas on how to boost creativity on the job? Or examples of a creative approach to your job or a problem? I’d love to hear about them.

 

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Creating Creativity — Part 1

Filed Under: Creative, Culture November 10, 2011 By Patrick Hopkins

Quick — take a look at the black shape above. What is it?

Many people answer that it’s simply a circle or a big black dot. That’s because we’re conditioned to look for a conforming “right” answer.

Ask the same question to a room full of five-year-olds, and you’re likely to get a barrage of answers. Maybe it’s the top of a telephone pole. Or a camel’s eye. Perhaps even a chip from a giant chocolate chip cookie.

Children look at the shape without any preconceived ideas, and see it has many different answers. Those types of answers are, in the simplest form, the essence of creativity. It’s basically an open-minded attitude in which you can substitute one thing for something else.

But I’m not creative…

Creativity is what makes our jobs — and our lives — interesting and rewarding. Even the most mundane task can take on a whole new appeal if we add a unique twist.

Many of us do not see ourselves as being very creative — especially if our idea of creativity is the ability to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But it’s really more of a way of thinking, rather than a natural talent. Creativity need not be something made by a genius or a “eureka!” moment. Instead, it’s more likely found in the small things we do when we go about our daily lives.

For example, when you can’t find a hammer, and you use a shoe to pound in a nail, that’s creative. Or when our grandmothers took old scraps of fabric and made a quilt out of them, that’s creative. The process can be as simple as putting together things that do not usually go together to create something new.

And that process applies to just about anything. The marvel of Henry Ford wasn’t that he built a car. It was in the way he did it. He broke the process down into its most basic elements, put it back together in a new way (the assembly line), and made it available to everyone. His creativity not only benefitted himself, but started a whole new method of manufacturing that changed the world.

It’s that basic type of creativity — albeit on a much smaller scale — that’s increasingly valued in business today. We need people who can follow someone else’s vision, but who can also be open minded enough to adapt along the way.

That’s even more important when it comes to management. We all know that change is our “new normal.” If you wait until you’re falling behind before you look for a better way, you’re in trouble. Instead, managers need to inspire their people before things get bad so they can create change rather than reacting to it.

Most of the top Fortune 100 companies have gotten there and kept their place because they’ve been able to be creative before they were forced to do so just to keep up.

Workplace creativity is a fragile thing. If you want to foster it, leadership needs to inspire people and give them a safe environment to explore new ways. And individuals have to commit to it by surrounding themselves with creative inspiration, asking questions, and controlling knee-jerk negativity to new ideas.

Next week: how to do it…

 

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Stones or Sponges?

Filed Under: Culture November 8, 2011 By Patrick Hopkins

Think of your internal brand like the water in a full bucket. Drop in a stone, and all it does is make a mess and take up space — nothing ever soaks in. Sure, it’s wet when you pull it out, but it dries off pretty quickly. All you’re left with is a stone and less water — some of your brand’s been displaced.

Drop in a bunch of stones, and pretty soon all you have is a heavy bucket of rocks that have displaced nearly all the water…without soaking in any of it.

But throw in a sponge, and it readily fills itself. It can even sop up some of the water — the brand — the stones have displaced. There’s plenty of room for a lot of sponges in that bucket. And what’s more, they hold the water — the brand — deep within, even when they’re away from the bucket.

Which do you have working for you…stones or sponges?

Get rid of the rocks before they weigh you down.

 

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Do The Next Right Thing

Filed Under: Leadership November 3, 2011 By Denis Kreft

(Note: Today’s post is by guest author Denis Kreft, a founder of Imaginasium and now partner and Director of Business Development. Find him on Twitter as @dkreft )


We’ve all been there at one time or another…

- Like the times we had the chance to exceed a client’s expectation and chose not to.

- Or when we chose not to spend the extra time with a work situation and really turn it into a learning situation for the team.

- What about the times we’ve let the outside world affect our disposition at work.

As a “Leader of the Brand” we have decisions to make every day and it’s impossible to make the right one every time. And those times you don’t make the right one you probably spend some time beating yourself up a bit. That’s OK but only for a bit. The key is to concentrate on doing the next right thing.

In my business development role I face decisions all the time such as how much information to share with my internal team on the opportunity at hand, whom to include in the prospect meetings, what to share with the prospect and how to follow up with that prospect.

Inevitably I don’t always make the right decision. And when I don’t I immediately move onto doing the next right thing. It can’t always be done right away and sometimes it requires assistance from others in determining just what it might be. In fact, operating in a “silo” is what usually causes my poor decisions so I always seek input from others when doing the next right thing.

At this point there are three questions I try to answer moving forward:

  1. Who’s adversely affected?
  2. What are my options?
  3. Who can offer the best perspective on my options?

It’s not easy being the “Leader of The Brand”. And this process isn’t always as easy as I’ve laid it out but that’s for another time. However, it is very easy to do the next right thing. Committing to looking at the needs of your team before jumping into action will make leading your brand just a bit easier as well.

 

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Cheers & Sneers

Filed Under: Brand Alignment, The Experience October 13, 2011 By Patrick Hopkins

Consider this:

You’re a seasoned air traveler, but you’re flying with a new carrier in your market for the first time. The flight attendant welcoming you aboard not only says the typical “hello,” but looks you in the eye and engages you. She offers a personal compliment about your clothes…a witty reply to one of your comments. Instead of droning out safety instructions, she uses the PA system to engage again: “How’s everyone doing this morning? I can’t hear you!” she says in an enthusiastically contagious voice. “Welcome aboard! We’re going to make our short time together as fun & pleasant as possible.”

She even jokes about the delay and tells passengers she’s asked the pilot to step on the gas so everyone can make their next gates on time. As she walks the aisles, she talks personally with passengers, exchanges one-liners & puts everyone at ease. Strangers start talking to each other. “What a great airline,” you think. “They really got it right. I’m definitely traveling with them again!”

Every moment with a customer is an opportunity. A chance to give them a “WOW” experience.

Then, the connecting flight…

Same airline. This flight attendant offers no greeting at all…she’s too busy trying to unjam a drawer. She scowls at her co-workers. Barks orders at the passengers. Even insults one who had some confusion over whether a meal was served on the flight (there wasn’t). “Well, if you don’t like it, you can always fly another airline next time,” she sneers as she buckles in for takeoff & pulls out a magazine. And the rest of the crew seems to have caught her attitude.

What are you thinking now? “I can’t believe this is the same airline. That first flight attendant must have been a fluke…hope she gets a job somewhere else (hopefully on the new airline I’ll be flying from now on!)”

That happened to me and some coworkers a few months ago. The airline was obviously leaving the customer experience to chance (as witnessed by less-than-stellar flights on the way home).

If I knew which flights that first woman was working, I’d pay extra to fly with her every time. What a great brand ambassador. But she can’t single-handedly undo the damage that her less-engaged coworkers leave in their wake.

Every moment with a customer is an opportunity. A chance to give them a “WOW” experience. Decide what you want it to be like at each and every touchpoint. Train your staff. Expect — no, demand — an engaging behavior from them. Get rid of the curmudgeons and hire for attitude. Ask your customers how they feel. Treat every encounter like a first date.

Don’t leave your customer experience to chance.

 

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The Power of Purpose

Filed Under: Brand Alignment, Differentiation, Leadership October 12, 2011 By Patrick Hopkins

What would your company be like if you were leading a movement rather than just running a business?

I bet it’d be a lot more rewarding and engaging for everyone coming to work each day.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about ignoring business principles. I’m talking about finding a bigger sense of purpose beyond the bottom line that can actually drive your company forward faster. And with staff that’s more engaged and focused on new ideas that can in turn, transform your growth path.

In Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras maintain that the most successful companies are guided by a core ideology. “A deeply held core ideology gives a company both a strong sense of identity and a thread of continuity that holds the organization together in the face of change,” he says.  “We chose the word ideology because we found an almost religious fervor in the visionary companies as they grew up that we did not see to the same degree in the comparison companies.”

The Boys & Girls Clubs of America literally refer to their organization as “The Movement.” Staffers see it as more than a job…they see it more as a calling. They’re transforming lives. That’s probably why many of them work for wages lower than they could get elsewhere, put in long hours beyond what’s required, and continue to innovate and produce great results with tight budgets.

Don’t you wish all your employees felt the same way?

That kind of ideology isn’t just for the non-profit world, though. Agency powerhouse Ogilvy searches for it on the brands they work on. They call it “The Big IdeaL.” They are devoted to finding a brand’s true sense of purpose, rather than just a superficial tag line. It gives their people and consumers a reason to believe and expend the emotional energy to connect with the brand. And they build all of their communications around it.

A recent blog post (and the basis for this one) by Ignition Consulting Group, which advises firms like mine, noted that there’s a big difference between simply having a great strategy and rallying people around your company’s compelling reason for being. As they pointed out, “Dr. King said, ‘I have a dream.’ Not, ‘I have a plan.’”

We’ve seen the difference first-hand here at Imaginasium. We had built ourselves around the ideal of “Live Your Story.” We helped clients align themselves internally & externally to help employees understand their role in delivering the external brand.

And then the Great Recession reared its head. And we chased money over ideals to pay the bills. It drove some bad client relationships and a lot of chaos within our own walls. But we caught ourselves and focused on what’s important…our people and how they can help our clients move their businesses forward. And you can feel the energy coming back to our company.

Finding your own purpose is more than just a lofty ideal. It means you have to feel it and show it in everything you do. You’ll have to dig deep to find your core. Take some time with your team. Explore why you got into business in the first place. What kind of difference can you make for your people or your clients? What would they like to do that’s never been done before?

And my favorite question from Ignition: “If our people were volunteers instead of employees, what would they be volunteering for?”

Answer that, and you’ve found a powerful purpose.

 

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