Leadership is not rocket science

How do you make work meaningful?

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In a recent post I spoke of some scenario planning I was recently involved with where I proposed a scenario coming out of this economic turmoil we're in that I call the meaningful work economy.  Having potentially lost a lot of wealth, homes, jobs and maybe more, many boomers aren't willing to just workaholic themselves for more 'stuff' and titles and just plain more work.  And the younger generations have it right from the get-go.  They're not going to work beyond what they have to unless it makes a difference - unless it's meaningful for themselves and for others.

First of all, this can be challenging, especially for boomers, who have (as a generation) focused on doing what it took to get ahead and accumulate more all their lives.  Given a choice, this generation chose to be practical rather than following their passion.  so they're going to have a challenge just breaking that conditioning.

And even if they can break away from being 'practical', how do you make work meaningful?

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Now here's innovation despite this challenging economy

I just heard about two restaurant owner who got tired of everyone being down because of the economy (and probably their business being down as well) and decided to bring some joy back to their clientele - so they took away the prices.  This is a story about restaurants, but the learning is relevant to us all.

It all started with the Little Bay Restaurants owned by Peter Ilic.  Because of the credit crisis hitting his customers, he wanted to ensure that they felt that they were getting value for their meal, so for the month of February he's allowing his customers to pay what they want for their meals - and there's no fine print.

In a Reuter's news release, Peter says, "It just seemed the right thing to do with everyone under the cash and feeling pretty miserable."

In Montreal, the Taverne Crescent had been forced to close for lunch on Mondays and Tuesdays since the start of 2009.  Then the owners heard about what Peter Ilic had done and felt it might bring back some of the joie de vivre that has faded in the current economic climate. 

As happened with the Little Bay Restaurants, most customers have been paying a fair price.  Even if they don't that's OK.  Nicky Odorisio, co-owner of the restaurant says "If someone pays a quarter and they've never been here before, and they like the product and they like the place, maybe they'll come back for dinner on a Saturday night when it's our regular menu."

He's looking at the long-run, not focused on the short term ka-ka.

I applaud both these entrepreneurs.  Instead of just cutting back and shutting down, they're focused on how to create unique value and a unique experience for their clients.  It reminds me of a few years ago when Hurricane Juan hit Halifax and shut the city down.  power was out for days, so not only did most homes lose all their food, so did all the restaurants.  Most did nothing.  The Ardmore Tea Room on Quinpool Road, however, realized the food was going to waste and they knew that many people didn't have supplies, so they set up  a barbecue and gave away 2,000 meals. 

The kicker - as of the writing of this story, the Ardmore Tea Room still hadn't received an insurance settlement for Juan.  This was an act of pure service to the community.

During Hurricane Juan, every restaurant faced the same crisis.  Only one looked at what they could do and how they could make a difference and serve the community.  In this current economic crisis, many restaurants (and other businesses) are facing challenges and downturns.  How many are taking action like Little Bay and Taverne Crescent? 

Most restaurant owners would say that these people are crazy and that they're going to lose their shirts - and use that as a justification for doing nothing.  First of all, that isn't happening.  Yes, there are people getting a free lunch, but there are others who are paying more than the meal is worth - and they'll be back for other meals at full fare for a long time.  Second - whether this works or not, at least they're doing something and looking for ways to create value for and loyalty from their customers.

All of us are afraid and may feel helpless at times.  Staying in fear and helplessness indefinitely, however, is a choice.  And these entrepreneurs are choosing to take action despite their fear and despite the economy.

I applaud them for taking action, and if I were in their cities, I certainly would reward them with my patronage, now and in the future.

That's my 2 cents.  What do you think?

Why you need to invest in leadership development now

The knee-jerk reaction to tough economic times is to cut, cut, cut.  Whether that's marketing, training, or leadership development.  And research shows that is exactly the wrong thing to do.  Those who make those cuts struggle to recover when the recession ends - and some don't.  In contrast, those who continue to invest strategically take off like a rocket with the economy.

Research conducted by Belkin & Associates showed that 86% of companies with strategic leadership development programs were able to respond rapidly when facing changes in the business environment.  In 2006, Laurie Bassie and Daniel McMurrer stated in the Harvard Business Review that "The bottom line: organizations with the best human capital practices provide returns to shareholders that are three times greater than those of companies with weak human capital practices."

The results are there.  The question is - do you respond with knee-jerk, fear-based cutting, or do you invest strategically for the long-term?

The opportunity of the uncertain economic climate

It seems that wherever you go you hear people talking about the uncertainty in the economy and the future, and many people are cutting back, even if they're not feeling the impact now.  To me, that's completely the wrong response - there is great opportunity in this time.

First of all, for the private sector, if all your competitors are cutting back this is a great time to gain market share.  There is hard and fast data that shows that organizations that cut investment in their people or their marketing going into a recession have the hardest time recovering when things turn around - if they recover at all.  It's the organizations that maintain or grow their investments in their customers and their people that thrive.

Second, if you as a leader are feeling the uncertainty and are unsure of what's coming or what to do, your people will read that, as I've already posted.  They can smell your discomfort and even the trace of fear that's often there behind it.  And if they get a whiff of that, they magnify it.  And there goes your productivity down the drain because of the anxiety and fear your people are feeling.

You have huge, huge opportunity to get real with your people and help them voice and vent their insecurities so they can move forward.  And to share your own uncertainties as well as your confidence in yourself and your organization to do what's needed.  It takes courage to do that.

Finally, while there are some organizations that have been hit by the recession, most people I've spoken with haven't yet felt the impact, but they're expecting it, so they're cutting back.  The more they focus on what could go wrong, the more they guarantee it will happen.  You create your expectations, particularly those fueled by intense emotions.  If you're afraid of tough economic times, you will increase your odds of encountering them - and the dampened productivity mentioned above is just one way that you will create it for yourself.

The organizations that I've seen thrive in tough times and good are those that stayed focused on why they exist, how they add value and on their key players - their employees and the people they serve.  As many of them say, they chose not to participate in the recession - it simply wasn't in their plans.  They didn't ignore what was happening around them - they simply focused on how they could continue to do what they did best in that environment, not on the ka-ka.

So which focus do you choose?

That's my two cents.  What do you think?

Christmas parties in the new economy

I was recently contacted to do an interview about an impact of today's uncertain economy: the cancellation of Christmas parties.  My short response: not a good idea.  Christmas party expense looks shows up on the financials and looks like a good cost-savings.  Employee commitment, engagement and productivity don't have a line on the financial statements and can cost you far more.

Why?  Canceling Christmas parties, especially on short notice, sends significant messages to your people.  First and foremost, it says that you're not confident of what's coming in the new year.  People can taste uncertainty and fear, and when they know that their leaders are uncertain and afraid, they become fearful.  And when that happens, productivity tanks.

Much of the 'corporate training' on what to say in uncertain times is to not admit your uncertainty and to say everything is fine and will be fine - or to say nothing at all.  The problem with that is that people can tell when you're feeding them a line.  They know when you're telling the truth and when you're not.  And when it comes along with actions such as canceling parties or other perks, they read between the lines.  And if you say nothing, the space becomes filled with gossip, pure and simple.

Times like this call for courageous leadership.  To be able to talk with your people about where you are and where you are going and to be able to admit (God forbid!) that you don't know what's coming and don't necessarily have all the answers (they know you don't anyway).  It's an opportunity to engage your people in a discussion about what you as an organization need to do to continue to move forward in this uncertainty. 

And it doesn't matter whether you have 5 people or 50 or 5,000.  There are ways to engage them all in meaningful conversation to co-create the way forward.  They may suggest dropping the Christmas party, and if it comes from such a process, it will be a far more empowering decision than if you make it unilaterally.

This is a time when real leadership will step up and stand out.  Uncertain times like this call for co-creative leadership. 

At least that's my two cents.  What do you think?

New approach to getting stakeholder input

I've been working with professional colleges and associations for years now, helping them with strategic planning.  We just launched a powerful new way for them to get input from their stakeholders to prepare for the planning work - I'm still blown away by the power of this.

I've used focus group and surveys to help prepare for the strategy work with associations because that's standard operating procedure for me in doing strategic planning - you need to find out what the stakeholders want.  The interesting thing is that doing this alone seemed like a new idea.  Many associations don't engage their members in-depth prior to planning.  Professional colleges, whose job is to protect the public, depend on the lay (public) members on their councils, even though there may only be a couple.  Doing this preparatory research lets those doing the planning get a grounding in where their stakeholders are on the issue.

What we did last week that broke new ground is using world cafe to bring in consumer input for a college of pharmacy, and the results are nothing short of astounding in contrast with focus groups.

I've run focus groups all over this country for colleges of pharmacy, and two things have happened at all but one of them.  First, when I ask people about how they feel about pharmacists prescribing I get a deer in the headlights look from everyone.  It's like the neurons don't connect.  When I probe, the general perception is that pharmacists only know about drugs and medication and nothing about physiology (totally wrong perception, by the way).  Even though someone will share stories about how pharmacists diagnose them for over-the-counter medicines, the same person will say that pharmacists can't diagnose and prescribe.  Even when I tell them about what the training is that a pharmacist receives and the additional requirements that would be placed on them for prescribing, they can't get their heads around it.

The second point common to virtually all groups is about dispensing. They think it's the pharmacist's job to count pills and that a technician can't be doing it, even though the main part of the pharmacist's full scope of practice is counselling and patient eduation, people just can't get their heads around technicians taking over dispensing.

What we did was have the registrar of pharmacy for this college give a quick presentation of the facts about prescribing - that pharmacists have the training in physiology, that they would have to have additional training/certification, and so on.  I spoke of the common misperception about pharmacists that most people have, and then they had two rounds of cafe to discuss among each other what they would need and need to know to be comfortable with pharmacists prescribing. 

Well, the results were astounding.  Out of 21 people there, 18 were able to support prescribing if the education, liability, and certain other conditions (that they identified) were met.  The other 3 were only against brand new diagnosis/ prescriptions.  They were OK with pharmacists modifying/ renewing current prescriptions.

Similarly, with technicians, almost all were able to support technicians taking over dispensing if they were appropriately trained and certified and if either another technician or a pharmacist checked them.

The difference from the focus groups is incredible, and I think it's because these consumer cafes allowed the participants to digest the information and integrate it with their experiences.  In focus groups I was only able to tell them the same information - they had no opportunity to dialog about it with other consumers and understand it.  Here they did.

Focus groups and surveys give good information.  What the cafe does is go beyond that.  In these fast-changing times, you need not just the first reaction of your stakeholders, you need their measured, thoughtful response, and that's what cafe allows.  It also shows the college what they - in partnership with the advocacy group for the profession - need to do to educate the public about the changes.  Information and advertising are becoming less and less effective, especially for something this intricate.  People need the chance to digest and chew over the information, and that's what cafe allows them to do.

The bottom line on survival today

Bottom line: To succeed and move forward in life today, we need to innovate.  If we hadn’t as a species, we’d still be running around with stone knives and bearskins.  It’s part of our nature.  It’s who we are.  We’re seeing the results of not innovating all around us – organizations, large and small, that have been around for years and years are disappearing off the map.  The asteroid has landed, and the dinosaurs are passing on.

Co-Creating Futures - The Art of Hosting

Here is a video where stewards and practitioners of the Art of Hosting Meaningful Conversations explain the Art of Hosting and how it is core to solving the tough and complex problems we face today.  The video is about 35 minutes long.

 

For more videos and resources on co-creative leadership and the Art of Hosting, go to LeadershipTV.net.

Why people are scared to be purple

Having a Purple Cow means that some people aren’t going to like you – and that those who like you love you, and tell their friends.

Traditional advertising is what Godin calls ‘interruption marketing’ – where I’m going to interrupt whatever you were doing and hope that you’ll like what I have to say. The new marketing is where people help other people to find the right product. Think about when you buy a product or service. Do you focus on the ads, or on what others have to say?

So is Godin being an alarmist? Well, Interbrand identifies the top 100 brands each year. Of the top 100 for 2002 , seventy came from the ‘old’ days and were valuable more than 25 years ago because they mass-advertised and ‘owned’ a product. These are brands like Marlboro, Xerox, the Wall Street Journal and KFC.

Half of the remaining thirty were remarkable products that were built through word of mouth – brands like IKEA, Yahoo!, Nintendo, and Starbucks. Advertising helped, but wouldn’t have accomplished anything if they weren’t remarkable. Others, like Apple, used both remarkable advertising and a remarkable product.

Only one, AOL, built itself up the old-fashioned way with heavy advertising over the past decade.

What if you’re a smaller company, not one of these giants? Well, the Purple Cow is perfect for you. You can’t service the mass market, so you have to target a niche to be successful. You’re actually better suited to create a Purple Cow than the big companies. Who is your niche?

And if you’re looking for a job, why not be remarkable where you’re at? Rather than writing a resume with your references, why aren’t you doing something so remarkable now that your references are talking about you and advertising you?

Bottom line. Do you want to be ‘beige’ – another advertisement people screen out, or another resume in the pile – or do you want to be a Purple Cow. Being a Purple Cow isn’t necessarily easy, but it is the route to success in this new millennium.

The challenge of being purple

More and more companies are pulling away from traditional advertising to do truly remarkable things. Amazon.com, for example, recently canceled all advertising and put that money into free delivery – something truly remarkable that people talked about. The result: a 37% increase in sales in the first year.

Some of the best retailers have a comprehensive database on their customers that drives their product selection, customer service and promotion – and they don’t spend a cent on advertising. They create a truly remarkable service that is their product.

So is advertising dead? No. However, it is only a small part of marketing, and it must be used strategically. The emphasis has to be on building a truly remarkable product – a Purple Cow.

If this is so straightforward, then why doesn’t everyone rush to do it? There are two reasons. First, just because you create an innovative product doesn’t mean that it’s remarkable. The only thing that you’re guaranteed if you try new, innovative things is more failures, and some people aren’t able to handle failures. Real innovation, however, is a result of these failures, learning from each to create the eventual innovation that works. Most organizations don’t support failure, and thus they don’t support innovation.

Second, the ‘drawback’ of being a ‘Purple Cow’ is that, if you’re ‘remarkable’, then some people aren’t going to like you. And that’s tough for people who’ve been marketing ‘beige’ products to accept. They want to be safe, so that nobody criticizes them – and that means that they’re not remarkable. They don’t want to ‘lose sales’ or risk ‘bad press’, so they play it safe, and produce nothing that stands out. And they advertise more and more to an audience that pays less and less attention to what they have to say.