BLT #34: How Do We Miss A Gorilla?. . .By Looking Too Hard For Something Else

One of the most common causes of missed signals in our business results, our industry trends and our own performance is that we are looking and working so intently toward something else.  It just gets by us.  I found a great story on this and I'd like to offer you a See-Think-Act to help you to step back and see things others don't - and then do something with your insight.

"All ideas come about through some sort of observation. It sparks an attitude; some object or emotion causes a reaction in the other person." -- Graham Chapman

Seeing Is Believing...Isn't it?
A group of business leaders - including you - is asked to watch a short video of two teams of people passing a basketball back and forth and perform one simple task - count the number of passes made during the one minute video.  Simple.  Straightforward.  Success is clear.

While you are watching the video, and studiously counting the number of passes being made,  a person in a black gorilla suit walks in front of the people passing the ball and stands facing the camera.  The ersatz gorilla pounds its chest twice, turns and walks away. 
At the end of the video 95 % of you get the number of passes right, the others only miss by 1 or 2.  Very detail oriented, committed group.  Knew the task.  Knew what mattered.  Got it done.  Check it off the list.

And what about the gorilla?  When asked an open-ended question about noticing "anything else interesting in the video", only 60% of your group had even noticed there was a gorilla.  In fact you'd thought, "What are they talking about?  There wasn't any gorilla in that video." 

We've Got Tunnel Vision.
This story is adapted a bit from the one told by Michael Mauboussin in his 2009 Book Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition.  During his discussion of common decision and thinking blocks we experience he tells this story as an example of what he terms 'tunnel vision' - our inability to pick up signals outside what we are trained to look for.  Our focus on results, which we like to talk about as a strength, can actually impede our ability to notice important nuances.  An actual, bona fide, real-life example (with names and business details changed to protect the innocent) might help.

Delphos Services, Inc. provides an array of services to small employers, typically with less then 100 employees with the most profitable group having somewhere between 50 and 100 employees purchasing 3 or more of Delphos' services.  During the past 18 months they've been struggling - seemingly all of sudden - to hit their new client goals - the single metric reported in nearly every board meeting and employee gathering.  It matters.  To keep the business growing, it's important that new clients are added faster than defecting clients leave (it's a very transient, competitive business).  Prior to this time, they've been growing at an impressive rate, exceeding new client and net growth goals for 3 years running.

Further complicating the situation is that all the growth of the past three years was not producing the promised profits - in fact margins were shrinking almost daily.  What was happening?  It turns out that all the growth 'success' that everyone had been touting the past three years was coming from clients with 25 or less employees that purchased only 1 or 2 services.  All that growth had come from the wrong types of clients. 

LESSON FOR US: The business' leaders missed it because they were so focused on adding clients that they missed the nuance of understanding exactly whom they were adding as clients and whether or not they should have been.

Had any of those conversations lately?  What seemed at first like a surprise change in success, you now realize has been coming for some time, but no one was talking about it.  Or, worse, someone did notice and shrunk from the opportunity to raise it...after all, bonuses were at stake that were mostly based on growth.

See-Think-Act
This type of 'tunnel vision' goes on everyday in meetings, projects and business planning efforts in businesses of all sizes and shapes and industries.  And I think as a starting point we can start to find a way out with these three steps:

1. SEE beyond what's going on in your 'board presentation' business results.  What are the 3 to 5 key drivers of that particular measure and look what's happening to them.  Anytime someone tells you - or if your the one telling others - that the most important goal your organization has is 'growth' (or any SINGLE metric) you better...
2. THINK through the impact metrics have on your overall performance and alignment of your organization.  Does it cause behaviors you might not intend?  Delphos leaders missed the internal struggles going on to meet pricing targets the sales team were placing on the finance people.   To the sales people, it was an easy question of gaining clients - just need some help from finance.  The finance people felt a responsibility to manage profitability - and were probably the first to notice this problem.
3. ACT to re-align all your metrics to your strategy.  Problems like Delphos' are  really strategy questions begging to be asked.  "Is this our business?"  "Is there a gorilla jumping up and down in front of me and I am missing it?"  Ensure that teamwork and aligned actions are valued throughout the organization by ensuring their goals fit one another.  People work on what their goals and objectives - and pay - tell them to. 

Identifying misalignment in your organization may not be easy to spot.  The key is know the gorilla is probably there - whether misalignment or execution challenges - it just needs the right person to notice it.

Happy hunting.
_________________________________

Copyright - Lance Kesterson and Broadlight Thinking, 2010

BLT #33: Everybody's Talking . . . So Who's Listening?

It's a well worn development track that we all need to be better listeners.  Turns out, it appears, that no one is listening to the message about listening.  We can - and will - be more effective when we strive to 'first understand, then be understood'

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.      ~ Doug Larson

A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.   ~ Wilson Mizner

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
I saw a fascinating commercial the other day.  It's one of those commercials that provide images so striking and interesting that you can't for the life of you remember the product...and I can't.  I happened to be recording the show that was on when I saw it, so I went back later and watched it.  During the commercials I'd hit the mute button and pick up a conversation with my wife.  I happened to be looking at the screen at the muted images of a commercial that said a lot about our culture and communications. 

It was a series of short scenes that, in different ways, show people talking incessantly and loudly at each other.  Everyone's mouth is moving, fingers are pointed and arms are waving obviously signalling a debate about something or other. 

A lot of emotion... 

A lot of energy...  

Absolutely no listening - no one is listening to anyone.

Now Look In The Mirror
How well do you do at really listening to others?  When they have concerns do you hear them fully, or 'help them' by explaining how incorrectly they are viewing the situation.

How well do you listen to your clients?  I was part of a business leadership team that once received our first-ever external client survey results.  They were sobering.  One pattern of discussion got started wherein the idea was suggested that the results were slanted  by a few clients and things weren't as bad as the survey said.  It was amazing how quickly folks jumped on board with that.

I was just about to say that we probably needed to accept this at face value when our business unit leader said it as elegantly and forcefully as anyone could:  "This is the voice of our clients.  We will not make excuses or minimize the pain of what we're hearing.  This is a gift."

See-Think-Act of being a better listener:

See what others are saying as an opportunity to learn.  Face it, you don't know everything and hearing others out broadens your knowledge and perspective.  I've found this step particularly useful as it keeps me from making judgements about other people's motives.  In this mode we ask clarifying questions - to be absolutely sure we understand

Think before responding - but not while others are sharing their thoughts.  We often make the mistake - actually I think it happens quite without deciding to do it - of framing our responses to ideas and comments while others are still talking.  We need to learn to consciously separate the act of listening to understand.  Only when we fully understand are then prepared to craft a response.  Unfortunately, we wait just long enough for others to finish, then we jump in with our counterpoint.  No questions.  No clarification. We usually miss a nuance or even the point altogether!

Act interested and you'll be interested.  This may for  you be a matter of form over substance at first, training yourself to appear focused and interested in what others are saying.  I actually had to do this and a funny thing happened.  The process of acting interested, in fact, made me interested.  I picked up on important nuances in the materials being discussed and was able to ask better questions and help move us to decisions. 

The commercial I mentioned is quite striking, and it may be that it is representative of life in America.  I encourage you to make this place one step better by becoming an active listener.  We just might learn something.

Next Up:  How Do We Miss A Gorilla? . . . By Looking Too Hard For Something Else

BLT #32: Create Unique Client Value . . . With Their Help

When I purchased my first auto and life insurance policies about 30 years ago, my new best friend / agent and I had kind of a one-sided conversation over breakfast and coffee.  He was a great guy whom I'd met quite by accident when I fell off my parent's auto insurance policy.  During the course of solvng my minimalist auto insurance needs, he also told me about my need for life insurance, how much I needed and what kind of insurance would best serve my needs.   To that point I hadn't thought about dying or what might happen after that unfortunate day.  Now I was worried about it.  I bought everything and it took about 30 minutes and slept with the hallway light on for the next month.

He created all the value.  I took what he created.  I was happy.

New Realities and Opportunities

Is that how your engagement and solution process works with your clients today?  Probably not.  Why?  Your clients - most of them - are not willing to sit back and wait for you to create value for them.  We want to be part of the process and will value people who do that in a unique, interesting and egaging way.

What has driven this change?  I believe there are three key developments which have forever changed the way your clients - and future clients - will behave and make decisions.  At first blush these are challenges to be overcome, but in reality they are opportunities to create value with your clients through an experience that locks them to you and fills your pipeline with valuable referrals.

The Three Opportunities You Might Think Are Hurdles

Accessibility and Breadth of Information.  My agent at 18 years knew I didn't know anything about auto and life insurance and that I had no access to learn about or figure it out.  I just now - literally switched tabs - and 'Googled' 'buying auto insurance' and received over 29 million results!!!    Collecting yourself you might see that as a threat.  I think it shapes an opprtunity.  Now, rather than providing me with the only information available on my insurance choices, you can best help me sift through the noise and chatter and develop a solution with me in driver's seat.  By being transparent and debunking internet hype in a confident professional way, we develop a better understanding of my needs and choices.  You Win!

Experimentation.  In the past clients didn't live in a world of driving a new car for 30 days and returning it with no obligation if they didn't like it.  Picking exterior and interiors for their car and ordering it on-line without ever setting foot in a dealership.  By developing an ability to efficiently share alternatives and scenarios with me - enabling us to play them out - you help your clients experiment and experience your services before buying anything.  This is more than changing an assumption in a pricing model or a spreadsheet.  What does a difference of $100,000 in a life insurance policy make in the lives of the people that matter to me?  If those differences don't resonate with me, you've helped me develop solutions with you.  This is incredibly different than being sold something.

Opinions and Activism.  People want to provide feedback now more than ever.  They will seek out ways to provide unsolicited feedback to companies and service providers.  What if you provided a way for your clients to join in a connected community with you?  Are you on Facebook?  Can your clients get 'tweets' from your Twitter account?  All of these can be seen as tools to be feared or taken advantage of.  Many of the horros stories you hear are due to lack of committed planning and control over what goes on within these tools.  Have you ever considered a recorded presentation over GoToMeeting.com on important subjects our clients care about.  How about a living chat session that's closer to home where one client's questions and insights become valuable inputs for others (obviously protecting personal information...).  Provide these masterfully, and you win.  Again!

The "See, Think, Act" of Creating Value With Your Customers Help

See the new power of customers and the access they have to information, experimentation and the opinions of others as an opportunity rather than a threat.  Brainstorm ways to use that access to your advantage by helping them sift through rantings and ravings to find new solutions - with you!!  Ask them questions you might have thought it best to avoid. 

Think through the various opportunities your business has to make a difference in your customer's lives.  How can you help them weather life's strorms and realize life's dreams by adding value beyond what you sell them?  How can you involve your clients more intimately with your business - help you make it better and thereby improving their own experience?  These are the questions of a new day.  Transparency and openness, for all the blather about them, haven't made  a real inroad yet - maybe it starts with you.

Act now to take advantage of your insights.  You think differently about this than anyone else so act differently.  Make your experience and the solutions you offer decidedly unique by reaching your customers in ways you never thought of.  Don't wait until tomorrow.  Your customers are craving a new experience...now.  It bears mentioning here too that you want your name to come up over lunch between your clients and their friends.  You'll have to act to make that happen.

Don't get 'Geico-ized'
Today I pay more for my auto and life insurance than I would without an agent helping me.  Sure I could buy direct and save money, but I need the help, insights and tools they give me to understand the world better - not just their products. 

I helped create my own experience because they've invited me in - and I can't imagine changing.  Do your clients say that about you?  They can and will if you'll embrace all the new realities and possibilities of this connected world.


file: Relationship Management, Technology
Copyright Lance Kesterson and Broadlight Consulting, 2010

BLT #31: Managing Tradeoffs . . . Use Process to Avoid Traps

Jeremy's Dilemma
Jeremy was facing the most difficult choice of his young life.  He is 8.  Choices are hard when you are 8.  Jeremy and his father had spent the afternoon running errands, the last of which brought them to the local big box toy store.  While his dad had been hunting for specific items for upcoming family birthdays, Jeremy had spied two bright shiny toys he simply could not live without.  He'd picked up the targets of his admiration - quietly placing them in the cart without saying a word.

When they reached the checkout, dad noticed the additions.  A wordless request, that every parent knows, came across Jeremy's face.  It says, "Dad, I just have to have both of these so that I can be a complete kid.  Without them I am undone."  Or something like that. 

Dad has long ago stopped reacting to every whim and fancy his young son picks up on.  He bends his knees, stooping down to his son and says in a firm yet loving tone:

 "Jeremy, you may have one of these toys but not both.  He stands back up and waits patiently . . . for Jeremy to choose.

Your Difficult Choices
What choices are you facing right now in your business?  Do you need new technology for your sales force to help drive growth?  Have your internal systems also fallen behind?  Your marketing team needs a team of web content managers but hasn't got the budget to hire them.

You need them all, and have a case for each, but cannot raise the capital or attract investment from home office to do it all in one year. 

You can do one.  Only one.

How will you decide?

Acknowledge and Avoid The Traps
When many business leaders are faced with these challenges they typically fall in to one of four traps: The Knowledge Trap, The Noise Trap, The Sales Trap and The 'Or' Trap.

The Knowledge Trap attracts the attention of the leader because they are familiar with the issue and may even have had a client tell them directly that they are dissatisfied because of it.  An executive that grew up in sales may have a bent toward sales management or contact management investments, where an operations leader will focus on back office integration and efficiency.  Jeremy knows what he enjoys and his choices are driven there.

The Noise Trap corners the executive via an energetic and passionate champion who has access to the executive.  Because one person has more access to the decision executive, they have more opportunity to push an agenda that supports a single view of the business.  The executive may, in a moment of weakness under a barrage of arguments for addressing the need, concede that something "ought to be done."  The leaders words are then used to support investment on up the line with escalating commitment owning the day.  Too late to back down.

The Sales Trap.  What executive has not been told that they need to invest in specific and pointed technologies or processes because, " we are losing bids to companies who have it" and "we're the only one's without it - it's starting to become a requirement?"  To be sure there are instances where such statements rightly represent the situation, however, more often they are anecdotal and circumstantial.  There may be ten reasons you didn't win the business, but it is easier to cope if it's just one.  The allure of growing sales by investing in technology is, sometimes, too attractive to pass up and often a goose chase.

The 'OR' Trap.  Many discussions of prioritization rest on the assumption - stated or not - that since we cannot do all that is requested, we must pick one and let the others wait a year.  An alternative is to press harder for the detailed needs of each.  It is possible - I have seen it - that one does not really NEED 6 web content managers.  Studying the specifics of where we are and focusing on the most important deliverables that we can make a great start with 2 this year.  Rather than buying and implementing the newest (name your technology) we ought to make use of one of the other 4 the company's various divisions are using.

The Crisis Moment
Each of these traps are effective at snaring management's attention because they are in the moment.  Real time feedback on a lost deal provides an intoxicating opportunity and momentum to address an apparent need.  A person whom you trust also has an agenda, but you listen because of your high thoughts of them and their work.  Your own background works against you, drawing to spend time and money on the things you know best.

Replacing 'Traps' With Process
Determining which investments to make, or even which issues to evaluate requires rigor and a willingness to have challenging conversations.  Rather than hoping for everyone to follow such a process you will need to build one and find an owner for it.  I have seen and experienced success with a process I simply refer to as 'The Five Gates'.

I've used this picture for a number of reasons.  First, it demonstrates boundaries between each phase of the decision process.  You can't get from one to the other without crossing a line.  Those lines might be thought of as 'gates.'  Secondly it reveals a truth about making decisions - all the ideas can't get done.  The decreasing size of the circles figuratively illustrates what you already know:  if we do the process correctly, opportunities and ideas fall off along the way so that only the strongest survive. 

Let's go through each of the stages:

Strategic Fit refers to the clarity and specificity with which the opportunity addresses the business' strategic biases and priorities.  The opportunity must clearly move the business toward one of it's strategic pillars and help deliver metrics committed to.  There must be a strong cause/effect relationship.  All people on the earth may be separated by six degrees, but ideas to move your business ahead cannot be.  There is no end to the creative wording that can be used to help an idea appear to fit the strategy.  Be wary of rosy, overpromising terminology.  Rigorous discussion and questioning within a culture that welcomes challenge and debate moves a great way toward ensuring your firm will only work on the most important things.

Validating The Opportunity requires getting outside-in feedback that supports the issue being addressed.  One client complaining about responsiveness of your ops center or your internet presence cannot be expected to generate funding for 20 new people or a 6 month web re-design.  This step requires a clear understanding of the cause/effect relationship toward the results the company seeks.  New products are a particularly nice fit for this.  Two key questions are to be answered in this phase:

• Is this a problem that needs to be solved?  Why?

• If we solve it, can it generate the kind of impact we seek towards our strategic ends and the metrics by which we measure progress?

This is not product design or pricing - this is simply determining whether enough of our clients - or those who aren't our clients yet - are attracted to the idea of resolving this problem in a unique way that can add to our value proposition or fix something that is deteriorating our brand.

If the opportunity is real and substantial (you have to develop some hurdles to be cleared) you begin designing alternative solutions.

Develop and Test Alternatives.  As with most things, there is more than one way to solve most problems.  Are we sure we need to tweak the product, or is our compensation program not set up to reward the behavior we seek in the field?  Does one product solution create a greater use of company resources and capital and is the resulting client interest and buying expectation enough to validate taking the risk?

Build A Business Case.  Now you have to go fight for scarce resources.  It is likely your company has a format for business cases.  It will include all of the costs - both the project and ongoing maintenance / unit costs - that will result directly from this effort.  You will also include all of the benefits to accrue to the firm because of the effort.  These will come in the form of increased sales and revenue and / cost reductions.   All costs and benefits, including the pattern of their arrival need to be approved by the people who will be responsible for delivering them.

It is worth mentioning here that you will find it useful to have someone reviewing all business cases for the assumptions, reasonableness and fit with the organization's capabilities. 

Prioritize.  You will likely still have more opportunities than funding.  It is at this point you must have a clear roadmap for doing things in the right order - making the most important investments that move the business farthest in it's strategic quest.  This will frustrate many, but will illustrate to the entire organization what is important and why.  Then stick to it.

The Broadlight "See, Think, Act" for Managing Tradeoff Decisions: 

See trade-offs as an opportunity.  Rather than wringing your hands about the limitations and difficult decisions, view them as an opportunity to clarify the purpose and goals of your organization.  It's odd, but you have an opportunity to give your organization a gift :  clarity of purpose and a path to get there. 

Be aware that your biases and experience may interrupt sound decisions - don't discard them, but manage their impact.

Think through the choices with a process.
The best way to demonstrate clarity is to use an objective process to make decisions from gate to gate.  When something falls off the list, there needs to be a clear explanation.  If an idea survives, it should make sense to everyone.  I've seen items survive on a project list that doesn't make sense to half the people who see it - that can't continue.

Act with focus to achieve the most important few.
Nothing says what is important like a clear, short list of priorities.  Then drive objectives and measures through the organization that are in line with these priorities.  Schedule regular updates and report-outs to continually show leadership's commitment.  Just as important:  give much less time to lower priority issues.


What did Jeremy do?
Our young friend Jeremy made his choice, but only because his father required it.

   In doing so, he left something behind.

       He'll get it one day, or maybe he won't.

           What he chose tells us that he knows what's most important to him.

Do your choices say the same about you?

BLT #30: Alignment Is Hard . . . Do It First!

The List
Take a look at your 'To Do' list for a moment. . . go on, dig it out.  Find something your organization, or your boss - jeck just you - has placed a top priority on?  You know they tell you in all those get-things-done-through-better-organization books to label those very important things as "1" or "A" on the  list.  In gross violation of the rules you may have quite a number of 1's - I've even heard people call things 'priority zero' to make sure it gets in front of all those 1's.  I kid you not. 

Now, if your list looks like that and you are an intelligent person, imagine all the other intelligent people's lists looking just like yours.  But, they don't look like yours do they?  They have completely different 1's and 0's.  And this might be the person you need to help you get your project done!!

Now, let me ask you: with all these lists and all these number 1's and zeroes causing anxiety, night sweats and a general feeling of unease throughout the day - how is anything getting done? 

The answer is that things are getting done, but they may not be the most important for the business' long term success.

Alignment is Leadership's Job
This problem - misalignment - causes an incredible amount of frustration and wasted time as well-meaning, talented people try to fight through the tangled mess of their lists and get something accomplished. 

That this problem exists isn't a surprise.  I doubt I've presented a scenario to you that is foreign to your experience.  What is surprising is that, too often, this problem is left to the wrong level of the organization to address - at the wrong time.  I've seen many leaders simply take the directives and objectives given them and parcel them out to direct reports, wishing them God's speed.  I believe someone who has reported to me might remind me that, yes, I have done it as well.  For the record, I am guilty and have vowed not to do it ever again. 

In many cases these goals are challenging of themselves not because they do not make sense, but that they make a different sense depending on whom you are speaking to. 

This is a leadership's opportunity to make big difference in the business' execution of it's prime goals and objectives.

I suggest there is a fairly clear way for a business' leadership to be sure they are operating from a single set of aligned goals and priorities

1.  See alignment as the first order of business.  Once all the strategizing, futurizing and syergizing (note: not a word!) and all the other buzzword-izings are complete, it is leadership's singular job to be sure every line on the org chart is aligned with getting the right things done.  How is this going to affect service?  What is our message to sales?  How will IT, Finance and Ops work together to get this done?  Where are possible snags we must deal with?  How will we obtain funding to do this?  Whom do I/we need to meet with to gain buy in.  If these questions aren't addressed up front, the chances of success drop significantly.

2.  Think through the key objectives and messages for communication.  One of the most surprising things I have witnessed is a management group's apparent alignment around a set of goals, yet an evaluation of their objectives - the stuff they get rewarded for - shows they aren't going to place the same priority on them.  If the finance leader has an objective to lower expenses in the business, but the people with line budgets don't share in that objective it is at best going to be a tough go (This is a completely crazy fictitious made up problem example just to illustrate.  Really.).  At worst they will experience infighting and affect the team's overall performance.

Once agreed, it is critical that management speak with one voice to the people who must carry out these important tasks.  I've actually seen marketing groups be asked to plan out the audiences and messages for internal communications just as deeply as if the business leader were going to be interviewed on television.  This preparation fixes into everyone's minds the key objectives and actions needed for success.

3.  Act by showing your commitment and involvement.  The business leader must take a clear stand, publicly, on the challenges, opportunities and priorities of the business.  When a business' priorities are left to make their own way through the organization's tangled and mangled communications web, nuances are left out.  Questions go unanswered.  Progress is blocked.

Once communicated the business leaders must have mechanisms - weekly standup status meetings, centralized project status databases and reporting with weekly updates and issue resolution protocols.  Key objectives need visibility and a sponsor with the horsepower and influence to clear the brush that the project team cannot.

By thinking these challenges through and making clear prioritization calls, leadership can help the organization - and everyone in it - focus on the right things.  Without this, well... they won't.

Now, back to your list.
So, what are you going to do with that list?  Depending on where you sit you may have more or less control as to what's on it.  One thing you must do is avoid being a victim of misalignment.  Is your activity for the day/week/month aligned with the most important priorities of your business?  If so, do you have clear partners with similar objectives in the key parts of the organization you need to support your efforts.  If not, find them and get your goals aligned.

Remember I said it's leadership's job - and you are a leader!

BLT #29: Progress Too Slow? . . . Reduce Friction!!

Friction: the force that resists relative motion between two bodies in contact

- Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary

Friction is the force that resists all action. 

It  makes the simple difficult and the difficult seemingly impossible.

- Warfighting: The US Marine Corps Book of Strategy

Both my sons have spent varying lengths of time in scouting.  My older son moved on to pursue sports and music rather than Boy Scouts.   My youngest son stayed with scouting and recently achieved the rank of First Class Scout.  They do have one scouting experience in common, however, and that is the annual making and racing of Pinewood Derby cars.

Now, if you aren't familiar with the Pinewood Derby you need to know two things: every boy wants to win and few boys want to spend time building the car.  Most of us know that this means we have a car to build with some involvement form the boy.  If you like this kind of thing, bully for you.  I found it significantly beyond my woodworking and creative skills.  Oh yeah, and I didn't want to.  But I did it anyway because my lovely wife made it a requirement for my continued care and feeding.

Yet On We Fight

Regardless of initial interest, much time is spent developing cool, aerodynamic body shapes and making sure the wheels get on straight - wobbling is bad for speed and hard to watch when it's your car.  I also required that my sons each rub sandpaper on some part of the car at some point during the construction phase so that we could rightly say they had worked on the car.  Through all of my grousing and labor - and getting spray paint on stuff it wasn't supposed to go on - we somehow had a functioning car every year. 

But we just couldn't win.  Each year I would try to get the weight a little closer to the limit hoping gravity played a role.  

But we just couldn't win.  I'd get better and better at sanding and painting a smooth car so that air wooshing past wouldn't hold the car's progress up unnecessarily. 

But we just couldn't win.  I even noticed that the wheels each had a little knot in it from where it was cut from it's mold.  I would sand those until you couldn't tell it had ever been there.

But we just couldn't win -  not even one heat!  I added dry graphite to the nails that served as the mountings for the tires.  All legal, and one more step toward victory, or so I thought.

Nothing.

How In The World...

Then one year I witnessed something magical...mystical.  I watched a dad and son enter a car that seemed, well,  a waste of time.  It was no more than the original block of wood, cut down to weight, with the wheels attached.  Sorry looking.  Now, I knew I was bad at building cars, but this guy must have been feeling pretty silly sitting his son's car next to all the shiny, sleek designs of his buddies.  Poor guy.

Just one problem with my view of things.  You see, that plain block-of-wood car won every race.  I am not talking about the whole derby, which they did win.  But every single heat, round, semi-final and final.  I also think it's important in this little scene for your mind to see it: it's not just that they won, but how they won.  You have to envision all the other cars were moving in slow motion while this car raced ahead as if it had a small jet on board.  No one finished within 3 car lengths - utterly ridiculous.  Unbelievable.  Ridiculous.  But How?

The Secret Exposed - Friction Kills

I got up my courage - and humility - to speak with the dad, asking him how they had done such a thing.  His son interrupted saying, "Oh it's not that hard, it's all in the nails that hold the wheels on.  There are one or two little burrs on every nail.  If you don't get them completely smooth they rub on the wheels causing friction and slowing the car down.  You can't win with those burrs.  We spent about an two hours one each nail getting rid of all the burrs and making them as smooth as possible."

So, where is friction robbing your business of progress?  There are many kinds of friction in organizations that keep us from getting things done.  Some of it starts in our own minds with indecision and a lack of commitment to a course of action.  Maybe we haven't clearly defined our goals or how we are going to get there. 

Some friction is external to us such as the failure of alignment of resources from key groups.  Some is very clear and out in the open, and some is hidden like burrs on a nail.

Minimize and Resolve

Whether you are trying to improve the results of a specific team or person, building new technology or ramping up a multi-year growth strategy, friction is present.  Whether in skills limitations, technology schedules, scarce resources or simply in the battle for people's minds and imaginations, we as leaders have to be ready to deal with friction. 

While it's helpful to try to minimize friction up front, it is also necessary to be ready to spot and resolve those things on the fly.  Here are three steps to effectively dealing with friction in your efforts:

1.  See Friction For What It Is : Inevitable.   If you are responsible for getting things done you must be alert for signs that progress is being impeded by something.  Is there a key metric you watch for that is drifting or is stalled?  Is there certain language people use that sets you on edge?  If the project manager says in three straight status meetings that "we are working through some issues with (put department name here)", then friction exists and you must help resolve it.  Don't forget to look at yourself.  If your attention is waining or other things are getting in your way, you may be the source of the slowdown.  Organizations are made up of well intentioned, hardworking people and they aren't trying to make things difficult.  Circumstances and crisis can also get in the way ... no, will get in the way.  Acknowledge them.  Expect them.

2.  Think Through The Friction's Source.  I have often seen large technology efforts fall behind schedule because specific skills and resources are not available.  I've also experienced long-term strategy execution struggle as the calendar turns: people become interested in other things; new challenges and opportunities appear.  Each of these and others can exert friction on efforts to get things done that are to benefit the long term needs of the business.  It is critical that leadership maintain focus and resolute commitment to getting these things done.  In fact, our will is really all we have to combat friction.  Try not to react to symptoms, but get to the source of the friction.  Be prepared to ask a lot of questions before you get to this.

3.  Act To Persevere and Achieve Within The Friction.  By staying in the friction and working through it's attendant challenges we develop the patience and perseverance needed to overcome current and future obstacles.  I've seen executives become so frustrated with friction that they throw their arms up in surrender and proclaim, "this place is too hard to get things done in."  This defeats not only the current effort but is an attempt to throw responsibility over the wall to others.  By taking the reins and responsibility to resolve these issues, we learn to minimize issues along the way so that future efforts will travel a smoother road.

So what about our Pinewood Derby car the next year?  Second place!  Whether in Pinewood Derby cars or in your business' goals, much works against success.  Like the burs on the nails of my son's derby car, much of it is unseen and requires some good detective work to get to the bottom of it.

BLT #28: Are You Interested? . . . "Elementary, Watson!"

"Surely no man would work so hard or attain such precise information unless he had some definite end in view . . . No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so."
                                             - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study In Scarlet

I began this week reading The Complete Sherlock Holmes, accumulated in one leather bound edition by Barnes and Noble.  In the early chapters, Doyle takes us through the early meeting and ultimate status of 'roommates' of Dr. Watson and Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

As Sir Doyle exposes the thinking of Dr. Watson upon his study of one Sherlock Holmes' habits and formidable knowledge, the reader sees Mr. Holmes more deeply and differently than you might expect.  Holmes seems to know an incredible amount about things he sees through his significant powers of observation, reasoning and deduction.  Yet he seems unaware of any basic knowledge regarding the arrangement of the solar system, responding to Watson's with:

"What the deuce is it to me?  You say that we go around the sun.  If we went around the moon it would not make a pennysworth of difference to me or to my work." (my emphasis)

Lesson For Us - What about the new guy/gal?
When I first read this brief section of the very first story, I wondered about how we process information when we first meet someone.  What we notice about them.  What seems peculiar or odd to us and what we do with that information.  Maybe more importantly what we edit out or miss because of our biases or history.

Dr. Watson is simply dumbfounded that any person could be so well developed in areas such as chemistry, fine literature, music, law and boxing (?) and not know that the earth we inhabit flits around the sun.  Do you ever assume someone ought to know something that they don't?  What happens when you find out they do not?  Do they drop a peg?  Do you feel superior in some way?  Oh, we may not do it consciously but almost can't help wondering  how someone could get so far in life without knowing X or Y.

More Than The Eye Can See
As Dr. Watson experiences more of his new roomy, he learns that Mr. Holmes' abilities and skills in his area of specialty -  solving crimes - are so profound that people seek him out for it.  All kinds of people.  He attracts people that are very different from one another and helps them solve their problem.  You see, there is far more to Mr. Holmes than meets the eye, and that is true of the people that cross our paths too.

See.  Think.  Act.
I believe the experiences of Dr. Watson with his new famous (to us) friend provide some guidance into our little world and how we might do better at valuing people more highly.

1.  See The Whole Person.  When we meet someone new we are immediately struck by how they look, how they speak and what they speak about.  A whole series of unconscious judgments take place and we decide - often poorly I think - about the person and whether we like them or will invest time with them.  Take the time to see more than first impressions.  Malcolm Gladwell's Blink! presents a number of arguments suggesting we know very much with just a glance, but he also points out that there are significant errors in that judgement at times.

2.  Think Them Through.
I called attention a moment ago to the unconscious processing of information and the judgements we make based on limited data.  Thinking, as I consider it, is a conscious process and the one I think should be used where people are involved.  A thinking person would want more information before placing too much power or too little faith in a person.  Now, go back and re-read Watson's thought at the very beginning of this post - I'll wait.  What's he doing?  He is thinking about his new acquaintance and, it appears, assuming that all this learning and knowledge about such small things must come to some good.  He assumes that it must have a purpose and a value, even if Watson can't see it at that moment.  He assumes that his new friend is good - a great place to start.

3.  Act Interested.
Now I don't mean by this that we ought to mislead someone into thinking we care about them when we really don't.  What I mean is that in order to learn more about a person and what makes them tick, what makes them unique and valuable, we must act like an interested person.  What would an interested person do?  Set up coffee? Lunch? A brief office drop by, perhaps?.  An interested person would orchestrate situations in which they could learn more about the subject of their interest.  I have found, to my shame and loss, that I have misjudged a person because I was simply not interested enough to learn more about them.  Don't make this mistake.  Act.

Today's a Great Day To Learn More About Harriet, Joe or Frank
Just three pages later in this very first story, Dr. Watson confides, in his own thoughts, "My respect for his (Holmes') powers of analysis increased wondrously."  That last word catches me, did it you?  "Wondrously."  It suggests that someone objectively viewing a change in Watson's respect for Holmes would be awed or spellbound by Watson's new view given where he began.  Wouldn't that be cool to do with more people?

 I am only on page 13 of this 1077 page collection and Dr. Watson has already gone from wondering about the sanity of this person to amazement at this abilities and intellectual prowess. 

Who in your life are you stuck on page 11 with?  What might it be like at page 1077?  Why don't you begin finding out today!!

BLT #27: Something New For Your Customers? . . . How About Fixing This First!

Jamie was preparing for his 2:00 meeting with one of the company's largest customers.  As the head of operations it seemed an improbable call for him to be making.  Sales was always worried when they had to take ops types on the road with them.  There had been, somewhere back in the annals of the company's history some poor performances by a member of operations during a series of visits to clients.  A proclamation had gone out - well, maybe it was just an off-handed comment but the effect was the same - no ops people at sensitive client meetings.

 The sales team had always preferred to talk about the "sausage" with their clients and avoid any discussion of the actual  details of making of the sausage.  It's a messy distasteful process that goes on in the back room of a service business like theirs.  But Jamie had done much to overcome that concern.  His style was calm, confident and he had a presence about him that made clients feel he was the perfect person to be handling their business.  The client didn't know he'd had to clean up a series of messes to earn the confidence of the sales team, and now he was to help them make a sale for new services to the client.  What a day this would be.  Or so he thought.

But this day did, in fact, take an unexpected turn .  Starting with so much promise and ending with Jamie boarding a plane a day early to get home and address a new crisis.  That there was a crisis wasn't unique.  The new twist to this challenge is that the client had made him aware of it immediately following their flawless presentation about the new service, how much it would help the client's employees and what a great value it was at twice the price.  He'd thought the clients lead representative had acted strangely during introductions; cold and distant.  Throughout the entire presentation they had avoided eye contact and not seemed at all enthused - not asking a single question.

When they were done, the client's executive director looked at Jamie and asked, "Did you know that 11 orders of ours have been lost and never processed over the last year?"  Jamie was stunned, how had he not known about this?  She answered that question, asked only in his head, by adding that the issue had been identified by her internal auditors.  He'd come so far with his operations team, and now he was the reason the client would be making no purchases on this day.  In addition, they had threatened to cancel current orders if these issues were not cleaned up quickly.

As he sat in the plane, stuck on the tarmac, he could do nothing but think.  How had this happened and what would he do to clean this mess up and break the cycle of crisis?

Jamie and his firm need a wider view.
Jamie and his cohorts are facing a situation with both immediate and long term implications.  Jamie's processes and management oversight to address past issues had apparently not been as thorough as he'd hoped and that fact was now standing in the way of executing the company's strategy of offering new solutions to it's customers.  The reality is sinking in that best new products and services designed to help customers cannot overcome poor daily execution.   Are you being blocked in your efforts to change you client's view of your business?  Do daily snafus block their view of your future?  If so, you are not alone.

Broadlight(T) addresses disconnects between strategy and execution.
I designed Broadlight(T) quite by accident.  In fact I didn't even know I was doing it while I was solving problems.  By addressing operational challenges in the business, we were gradually improving our client's views of our ability to deliver on new promises and opportunities.  Broadlight(T) has three primary parts:

1.  Diligent review of where you are.  What are your current results and how do your customers view their experience with you?  Our friend Jamie's firm launched a full 3rd party survey of their clients in all segments.  The results were humbling across the board.  But they had taken a critical step in bringing the customer into the room at every step of their business model.  One of the great things about internal scorecards is that one can get a picture of how they are performing against pre-set goals and measures.  It is a dramatic moment when your internal measures tell you one thing and your customers tell you something else.  Fight the urge to explain away the feedback.  Accept it and set to work on the highest priority items.

2.  Review your ability to execute.  What is the company/business/division/department's history of delivering on new promises and of making timely and successful change?  Change and adaptation to competitor's moves as well as a society that is constantly morphing is here to stay.  The most successful firms will be those whose management thinking and initiatives are supported by processes and people committed to focused execution.  This does not mean that one needs to build a Utopian world where no one is interrupted and competing real-time issues don't arise - that is fantasy.  It does mean, however, that discipline and rigorous attention to finishing what is begun are critical.  If your latest output from leadership offsite meetings doesn't force something off the plate, or off the table altogether, then you aren't ready for the discipline that's needed to alter course as the current - and I believe permanent - environment demands.

3.  It's got to fit on one hand.  There was an occasion once when my boss was escorting his boss's boss (for those keeping count that's 3 levels above me as a director level leader.  He asked me to prepare a couple of thoughts to share with them.  I did, but I didn't need them.  The senior leader asked me a great question that took all our time and it was this: "Lance, what do you think are our biggest challenges...ones that you'd like me to have in mind as I meet with the senior management team?"  I could almost feel my boss praying that I'd pass on the question because he'd heard my pitch before.  I said that we had too many priorities, initiatives, change efforts for people to allocate a meaningful amount of time to - as if we were going to try everything and see what stuck.  I encouraged . . . almost begged . . . her to get the group so focused that we could all tick off - on one hand - what we were trying to get done and how we were going to do it.  She then asked me what I thought those were and I told her.  Even if your leadership can't get it's message down to one hand, you have to!!!

Jamie did solve the problems with his group.  The client did order the new services and extend their contract for current services.  The company prospered from a new insight - our customers will tell us what's important.

BLT #26: Will People Remember You . . . Like John Wooden?

The stories of John Wooden's basketball coaching prowess and the cumulative success are legendary.  Read the following string of accomplishments:

• 40 + Years of Coaching - 1 losing season
• 4 undefeated seasons at UCLA
• 10 national championships - 7 of these came in successive seasons!!!
• More all-americans than you can count - what (or, who) attracted them?

Now, spend a little time on Google looking for coaches with a more jaw-dropping resume'.  As the philosoper Katt Williams says, "Go ahead, I'll wait." . . . . Right, you can't find any.  These accomplishments are so astounding - heck, very few stay in one place long enough to have some of his records.  Yes, his place in basketball history is secure.

But an interesting thing happens when you read stories about John Wooden.  As you're reading about basketball and coaching philosophy, something else overruns the story.  You don't realize it until you get to the end and find yourself considering much more than basketball.  You look at the pictures of him and wonder what it must have been like to spend time with such a person. 

Then you see it.  Even for a person as decorated professionally has he was, it turns out the personal impact of  the man was far more pronounced than the basketball impact of the coach.  With his resume' that is saying something!  The people who talk and write about him cannot help but discuss the person and how profound a difference he made in their full lives - not just on the basketball court.

So, What About Us?
What will people say about you and I?  Will they remember the sales goals you made, or the businesses we've successfully run?  How about the number of days you went without being absent or the vacation days you gave back to the company because you were just 'too busy to take time off.'  What about all the years you met your operating goals and stayed within budget?  No?  No.  10 years after you are gone - who am I kidding, maybe 5 - no one will talk about those things.

Those accomplishments are meaningful but mostly in the right now.  The difference we'll make in people's lives isn't there in what we do, but in the person we are while we're doing them and the investment we make in helping others.  As I look in back on my career I do not see figures, goals accomplished:  I see people's faces that I have worked with and for as well as those I have tried to help along the way.  What do you see?

Decide to be Remembered for You.
Whether you manage others or wish to impact people through your leadership, here are three habits (See. Think. Act.) you can begin building that will help you down the path.  This is a decision that must be made for the right reason.  Don't do them because someone thinks you should, but rather because they match with who you want to be. 

1.  See! - Listen and Pay Attention To People.  If you get really good at observing others and listening to them you will pick up all kinds of things you can help them with.  Little self-deceptions about why X didn't go so well or how Y is stuck with the IT folks (isn't everything IT's fault :).  You can help people see their own limitations - or how they are limiting themselves - often come from inside themselves and the poor self-talk they've learned from too many managers only talking to them about their faults.  Help them talk to themselves - and others - differently.

2.  Think! - Develop a Plan.  Once you've got a full picture of the person, what they're trying to accomplish and how they're going about it you are in a great position to offer developmental guidance.  A special assignment in another department, improved speaking skills, leadership presence and in-job skills development are all examples of development you can offer.  You might say, rightly, that you have all these things in place in your organization and people are free go to the classes or seminars at anytime.  Key Insight:  Without your help, people may assume they are fine or work on the wrong things.

3. Act! - Challenge People.  It is the cowardly and selfish person, interested only in their own comfort who fails to push others to their best.  This challenging ought not be out of anger or in rash response to a single event.  What I am talking about is done thoughtfully and with genuine caring for the betterment of the other person.  When you invest time challenging people - whether in their work habits, their communications or their performance - you are telling them that you have faith in them.  After all, who urges someone on in something they know cannot be accomplished?  It is the difference between saying "Get it done, or else..." and "I need you to do this and I know you can" and the gap is HUGE!!

John Wooden is known for many wise sayings, but one of my favorites is a call to action:  "Make today your masterpiece."  I've got nothing to add to that.

BLT #25: In A Jam? . . . Find The Opportunity

Been stuck in traffic jam recently?  I was just yesterday and maybe you were too.  I bet it wasn't like the one in China, but I'll get to that in a minute.  Let's say you're in a traffic snarl on the outerbelt freeway - yeh the one that's supposed to save you time.  Your trip normally takes you 20 minutes even in rush hour.  Today, though, in that same twenty minutes you've covered, well, you can still see the on ramp in your rear view mirror.  How do you feel?  Anxious?  Frustrated?  Angry? 

Now, That's A Jam!
Now imagine being in a traffic jam that would last . . . a month!  According to the Associated Press this is happening right now just outside Beijing, China due to construction.  This is a whopper of a traffic planning snafu.  How did authorities not know this would happen . . . or did they?  Cars are lined up for 60 miles!! for Pete's sake, certainly no one would do that on purpose . . .  or would they?  There is no indication that anyone is surprised by it.  The authorities have only offered, quite unemotionally that the construction will complete by the middle of September. 

Let me ask you...how long would you last? 

What would you think about?

You've got a problem - if you are stuck in traffic that only moves a 1/2 a mile a day - I think I can push my car that far in a day - that has to be solved.  You are no longer thinking about getting to the market or what you're going to say in your sales pitch - you've got to survive.  And this isn't a problem you can solve on your own unless you just happen to have a months worth of three square meals in your trunk.  You need somebody who has access to solutions you don't have. 

What if some enterprising person saw the gridlock, did a few calculations in his head, loaded up his cart with Big Mac's and Bottled Water and decided to hop the fence and bring it to you - at a premium!  This is exactly what is happening in Beijing.  People are carting cups of noodles and water to the stranded drivers and making a nice profit.  Some complain about this, and I see their point...sort of.  Look, life is tough and you need solutions.

Opportunities In The Middle Of Problems
When times get really tough, opportunities are created for enterprising, creative people to solve problems in a way others can't.  But if you're in the middle of the problem you may be the least likely to see solutions.  Many management theorists that haven't actually gotten stuck in anything but an elevator will tell you that this is the time for you to see the opportunity in the problem.  I would say it's true, but you may need to get help from outside your sphere.  The guy stuck in traffic is continually looking for a way out and focusing on how very jammed up they are.  Problem is, there may not be a way out, but a way through that someone else must provide. 

Tight As Ticks
Where will you get help from?  From whom do you gain a different perspective?  I once heard an executive say that for a long time he didn't expect any really imaginative thinking from his team because they were 'tight as ticks.'  Now, I am not sure how tight a group of ticks really are, but one thing is for sure; it wasn't a compliment.  So, break out of your little tick groupthink, widen your thinking sphere three ways:

1.  Actually Ask Your Peers For Ideas.  There is a common thought among businesses and people that are experts in their field (or, have at least done it a long time) that you can only get valuable input from someone who knows what it's like to do your job in your industry.  I will tell you that Marketing has some thoughts about Operations that might really make a difference to clients.  Finance (oh, here we go) will likely have some quite pragmatic and useful thoughts for you to consider - and if they're any good it won't be followed by "...and you can't have any budget to do it."  Silo thinking still exists and it's a terrible loss of creativity and solutions.

2.  Join Industry Groups - And Get Ideas From People.  I think this is most likely to happen away from the formal presentations.  Nothing makes people feel better - rightly - than being asked their opinion about something you are struggling with.  Buy them dinner after the day's formal program and ask them three pointed questions about a hypothetical situation.  This might be difficult -  and maybe improper - to do with a competitor, but suppliers and business partners will gladly help.  Remember, these people are sitting in a different spot of the value chain and may well see things you don't - so ask.

3.  Talk to Your Customers.  Go ahead, they will not bite.... Okay, maybe they will and it might leave a mark.  But that mark will forever  remind you that the single greatest source of innovation and ideas is the same group of people that are paying the bills today.  Many people, and oddly, some companies are scared to death to talk with their customers.  Some of the greatest insights that I've used to solve problems for multiple customers came out of difficult conversations with clients about products and services we were delivering to them.  They will tell you - and that's better than just telling everyone at the next industry get together.

BLT #24: Execution Trumps Strategy . . . But We're A Strategy Culture

The following is excerpted from The Universe In A Nutshell by Stephen Hawking:

"Toward the end of the nineteenth century, scientists believed they were close to a complete description of the universe...  All that was needed for a complete theory were careful measurements...  Anticipating such measurements, the Jefferson Lab at Harvard University was built entirely without iron nails so as not to interfere with delicate magnetic measurements."

When people get excited about a goal, they will go to extraordinary lengths to achieve it.  We will work crazy hours, miss family picnics and, well, find a way to build a building without any iron nails - which in pre-1900 construction was quite a feat.  Is it possible, though, to get very small things right, but seemingly big things overlooked? 

"...the planners forgot that the reddish brown bricks of which the lab and most of Harvard are built contain large amounts of iron.  The building is still in use today, although Harvard is still not sure how much weight a library floor without iron nails will support." (emphasis mine)

The people asked to execute this task - with great funding and promise - paid attention to many minute details and in fact did build a building.  Unfortunately rather than building a laboratory that would provide measurements to support the most important scientific thinking of the time, they ended up building a library.  Imagine the immense disappointment of getting to the place where the building is done, all the equipment is loaded and ready to use.  The scientists turn everything on and . . . plop.  Imagine the feeling at first realizing that your beautiful machines (strategy) are surrounded by a barrier that will keep you from reaching your goal.

It is often true that product and service development efforts aimed at fulfilling a strategic vision, end short of the mark.  Read any story you like regarding "renewal" or "strategic alignment" or "performance improvement" and you will, generally, read stories of sadness and missed opportunities.  I suggest that in many cases we get so infatuated with strategic planning as the source of a new future that we look past a critical question:  "Are we a company that executes?"
 I think there are three keys to organizations which excel in execution, and it is in firms that can master these that strategic thinking can be turned to action. 

You may say, "But my dear fellow, three is far too small a number for a problem of this size."  And I might respond, "That kind of thinking may be precisely why you struggle to get important things done - you have too many of them!"  I tell you what, nail these three in your organization and you'll be getting somewhere - you will notice it.  Then I'll give you the next three.  Until then, you don't need 4,5 and 6 - they'll just clutter your thinking.

1.  A Clear Set of Priorities.  You will likely agree that is hard to make a decision among alternatives where each one is just as important as another.  I've seen priority lists where there are numerous "priority 1" initiatives listed.  How, then, are people to make decisions about where to spend time and allocate scarce resources?  They don't.  They can't.  They won't.  They spread themselves and others too thin and the things we must get an 'A' on we end up getting a 'C'.  Here is the test, ask three of your peers what the three most important things in your business are for 2010 - the things that if nothing else gets done these will.  If you don't get the same answer from each, you have a window - a giant, overlooking the Pacific Ocean type bay window - into your execution problems.  This is stop light issue:  if you don't have alignment at the top you won't have it anywhere else - and you will struggle. 

2.  Disciplined People and Processes.  Getting things done requires people that are disciplined thinkers and organize work, and others, well.  They make connections from one thing to another and - often unconsciously - build models in their heads around how things work together.  You need people who are diligent in details.  By the way , this must be true  across the organization.  We are very selective about project leaders, etc. but what about the rest of the people on the team?  A good project manager cannot make up for 10 others who are disorganized and poor collaborators.  I don't know if everyone needs to be Six Sigma black belts or not - I've seen these types become slaves to their process and someone not trained in it run wildly successful efforts - but there needs to be a single commonly held approach to managing projects and resolving issues.

3.  A Culture of Resolution & Willingness To Make Trade-off Decisions.  There is a string that runs through your organization, a part of its fiber.  How dogged we are at sticking to the job at hand, at focusing on the important and resolutely solving every issue that comes about.  This is NOT an unwavering commitment to the way we envision things at the start - it's to results and making a difference for our business.  This may - actually, almost certainly will - require some hard decisions along the way among Timeline, Quality, Features and Cost.  Look to see if these tradeoffs are always getting kicked upstairs - if so, your not being clear enough for people to execute.  (I'll write later about how to make these tradeoffs - or, at least how I do it.)

Strategy is fun and intellectually challenging.  Executives -yes me included -  can sometimes be lulled into thinking they've done their job once finished.  It is also the key role of leadership to translate that strategy into a useful decision framework which disciplined, committed people can use to make the needed adjustments for execution. 



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BLT #23: Status is 'Yellow' . . . Or Is It?

Companies, departments and divisions all have some way of communicating how it's projects are progressing.  Whether they are multi-million dollar game-changing technology investments or a special effort to clean up some client record keeping, someone asks for an update or status - and we find a clean way to say it. 

In many cases it's pretty straightforward, but for high profile efforts it can be hard to get the straight stuff from the project team.  I'm accustomed to a scale you may have seen in your organization which I call the 'stoplight' update:  Red, Yellow and Green.  Yours may use "1,2,3" or "On Schedule, On with concerns, Behind."  The idea is the same - to efficiently communicate what is going on to management and let them read details if they wish. 

I have found, however, that when you take the time to look under the covers, some statuses aren't what they seem - and that can be catastrophic.

Now, let's start with the easiest to read: "Red".  It jumps off the page, gets phones and hands ringing and calendars filling.  it is for this reason that no one calls anything a "Red/3/Behind" status unless things are in really bad shape and there is a clear need for management intervention -  and even then it might not be valued to say it.  A past colleague of mine was managing a large important project that the division president's - and many others' - bonuses were tied to.  The effort was running out of daylight and issues were piling up at the very last.  She issued a status of "Red" and was immediately summoned to her boss's boss's office to discuss it.  To emphasize two things, no, I didn't accidentally type 'boss's' twice in that prior sentence.  Also, sometimes "immediately" means different things to different people.  This was the right now kind. 

No one really knows what the conversation was about that morning but some kind of wonderful magic was worked.  It seems that within the walls of the boss's boss's (!!) office a genius wonder work took place.  I can say this because 5 minutes after that meeting the project was 'Green' and zooming along like a rocket sled on rails.  My cohort's countenance, though, somehow didn't seem to have perked up at all.  In fact she had an ashen, frowny face.  You figure it out.  We can agree that regardless of the manner your leadership reacts, "Red" says what it is.

Jumping to the other end of the scale we have happy, perky, pleased as punch "Green".  Life is good in these projects.  You can imagine rose petals falling form the ceiling of any room in which status meetings take place.  Objectives are being met, it's within budget and the project manager sleeps like a baby at night.  Now it's fair to say also that just because someone says a project is on schedule they may be hiding problems.  If your organization has any standards at all, though, it's difficult to justify the risk of saying something is fine, when everyone knows it isn't.  I have seen projects that were referred to as being on schedule, but it should have been called "on-schedule depending on whom you speak with."

The toughest one of all, the one that you better look at are projects that are in the middle ground of "Yellow."  As you might imagine this means caution is needed and some things are being dealt with inside the group.  I once worked for a person I quote roughly 5 times a week - sometimes consciously sometimes not -  who said this about statuses of "Yellow": "Lance, a yellow is a red but nobody wants to say it."  I have found his point of view, unfortunately, accurate on more than one occasion.  If you see middle ground updates on important efforts, you likely ought to act like it's got momentum to being delayed and do something.

What's going on here?  I've kind of adopted the idea that the willingness of an organization to speak clearly about issues, acknowledge them and begin acting on them shows up in many ways.  Projects are just one.  If an organization can embrace a project that is behind schedule and not grind up the project manager for saying it, isn't it likely that same organization wants to know issues in other areas of it's operations?  I think this is a reflection of the culture of an organization's commitment, accountability and performance ethic.  As leaders we have an opportunity to impact the way our businesses work from the inside out based on our approach and response to daily operating issues. 

1.  Don't wait for status reports.  If you are waiting for status reports to tell you about something that's important to you, that's a passive mistake.  If something matters, you'd better be getting to the meeting and hearing the discussion firsthand.  Asking hard questions and not letting people or issues slide off the hook.  Be actively engaged in lending a hand to keeping things on track, which might involve championing the cause yourself to others.

2.  Embrace and appreciate issues.  Nothing will get around quicker than your acceptance of the issues in play and your appreciation for knowing them.  I've seen people not communicate issues for another week past their discovery because they haven't had a chance to talk to their boss yet.  Then later they have to deal with challenges to their credibility  because it is disclosed they knew about it much earlier.  Maybe you can help them by getting on the phone with the other leader and asking them to come to the meeting and help resolve the issues faster.  Again, how you react to issues is a direct predictor as to how many issues you'll actually hear about. 

3.  Get executive leadership involved.  When I was with Nationwide Insurance we had a great model in place where each project of any significance had an Executive Sponsor, someone on the business unit leadership team who owned the project and was actively involved in resolving issues, etc.  This model, when used properly, empowers people to speak candidly about concerns and know they have someone involved that can help move blockages.  When I served in these roles I often referred to myself as "The Bush Hog."  I couldn't build what these talented peolpe were building, but I could help clear the brush and boulders so they could work.

If projects and special efforts are part of your business' reality - and it almost has to be - your active involvement can go along way to accomplish two goals of leadership:  engaging people in their work and helping them succeed.

BLT #22: Does Your Shadow Strike Fear . . . Or Inspire Excellence

Because everything we say and do is the length and shadow of our own souls, our influence is determined by the quality of our being.

                                                                                                                    -  Dale Turner
 
There is a story about a man who complains to his therapist that there is a person, very much like himself, that is following him everywhere.  He can't escape the presence of this person and he is threatened and scared by him.  Whatever he does, this man mocks him.  The therapist asks whether he has sought help from the authorities to keep this man from bothering him.  The man simply replies, "You don't understand, my shadow is with  me in everything I do - how could I possibly get away from him?"
 
Every leader must recognize that you too cast a shadow you cannot escape, for good or ill.  That is right, you are a leader.  Now, when I say 'leader' I do not mean "CEO" or "Chief / VP / Director or Manager of anything."  I do not mean to point to a block on an organization chart.  Leaders are everywhere, even in the very chair you occupy as you read my words.  If you don't see yourself as a leader let's change that right now.  There, you are one.  If you interact with people and have an opportunity to provide insight, learning, direction, caring, help or results of any kind, you are a leader.  You may be excellent at leading or poor, and that is the point of this thinking today.
 
You see, each of us casts a real shadow like the one our friend on the therapists sofa.  But we also cast a figurative shadow with every word we speak, every email we send and every decision we make.  Students of middle school mathematics learn to calculate the length and area of a shadow cast by an object.  They can also work backwards to tell you about the object based on the size and shape of the shadow. 

Your shadow is much the same.  People who are touched by your shadow either are energized by it, or simply blocked out from the sun.  You either build up and clarify or you tear down and muddy the water.  Your shadow either stays on the surface or reaches to people's souls.  Your shadow either takes, or gives.  Much like our math students, people can - and do - tell much about you by looking at your shadow.  The energizing (or frightening part if you've never thought about it) part of this is that your shadow touches people every day!.
 
Here are some thoughts I'd ask you take into this day - to choose to cast a shadow that builds; that energizes; that makes people better for having been within it.
 
1.  Think about your shadow?  Before you leave your office/cube/desk/truck, before you answer that email, before you call your client you must think consciously about the shadow you are casting.  This is particularly important when you are having difficult conversations that require candor and resolution.  Difficult things can be done in such a way - with proper thought - that others feel that they've been treated fairly, openly and honestly.  Your shadow will leave an imprint - don't leave it to chance.
 
2.  Think and speak well of others.  I believe it's impossible to cast a shadow that builds others up without generally thinking well of people, what they're doing and who they are.  If you are in the habit of thinking or speaking poorly of anyone, put that away - it's beneath you.  You must also develop the ability to rise above petty discussions.  I once was with a group who had begun tearing down another executive.  I pointed out a couple of very valuable traits of that person and, voila!!, the negativity ended. 
 
Negative energy dissipates quickly in the presence of someone who won't permit it to exist.  Be that person.  Negativity and cynicism is lazy thinking - it's easy.  You have to sometimes look for the good in people so do it. 
 
3.  Find Opportunities to say 'YES.'  I've been known as a problem solver.  People have come to feel that I can be given just about any business problem and I will find a way through.  I've not known why that's the case until I began writing this.  I believe it starts with seeing every problem as solvable.  It might not be a straight line and there may be many competing interests but I know there is a balance to all of it -  I just have to find it.   Having a positive attitude about problems  and challenges - isn't that what work is??? - casts a shadow of opportunism and propels others forward.
 
Today is the day to begin shaping your shadow and the impact it has on those around you.

BLT #21: You Want To Succeed? . . . Get Me Some Tea

It had just begun, the way many valuable things begin, in a way that I could never have guessed.  I was in the first minute of the first class in my first year of graduate studies at The Ohio State University.  I had been working for just about 8 years after completing my undergraduate work.  At the insistence of my wife, Anne, I took the GMAT scoring in the top 5% (maybe it was 8%?) and felt strongly that I had something meaningful to offer this very serious undertaking.  This was no messin' around.  I was going to get an MBA, so I was ready to dig into some serious mountain-top thinking.  After all, wasn't that how one got ahead in this world?

The professor for our first course, Organizational Behavior, strode into the lecture about 5 minutes late.  I do not recall his name, but he was originally from Korea - I forget which side of the border - and I liked him immediately.  He smiled and asked, "Who in this room wants to receive a grade of 'A' in this course?'  I sheepishly raised my hand, along with many others, knowing there was a second half to that question. 

We put our hands down and he gave us the formula.  You know, the formula that so many people look for in life, work and relationships that shoot us to the front of the class, that lock in the love of the person we desire and that gets the adulation and promotion we seek professionally.  You know....the formula!

But he didn't say what I expected, which wasn't a specific guess on my part but rather a general idea that it would be something meaningful; deeply felt.  He said . . . wait for it, "If you want an A in this course you will bring tea to me at each lecture on Tuesday and Thursday with a lemon in it."  Silence.  Staring.

Success - with your boss, your spouse or your customers - is often not about the base 'product'.  It's really about something else altogether.  Don't get me wrong, you must do the core things properly and at a high level of quality and maybe a good dash of panache.  But this is something else.  It requires understanding people and the things important to them.  My wife, who is far more attractive than I can justify being with, knew what I looked like.  She understood what I was about and what level of intelligence I had/didn't have.  However, with all that in my, um, favor, she told me years later that she fell in love with me because of one act:  a Fribble.

I was picking her up late from work one night - she worked the night shift at Children's Hospital - and remembered like a bolt of lightning that she told me how much she loved these strawberry milkshakes.  I left my apartment early enough so I could drop by Friendly's Ice Cream and get her one on the way down.  No big plan, no ulterior motives, just doing something she'd like.  When she got in the car and saw the shake - remember it's 11 PM and she's just worked 10 hours - she lit up.   And I instantly transformed from regular guy into a superhero.

There are of course, no formulas for success at much of anything but I do offer these thoughts from my experience:

1.  You have to know what matters to people.  The job you are doing for them is a given.  If you don't get that done all the Fribbles in the world won't save you.  Oh yeah and by the way, people won't always tell you exactly what they need or like.  You'll have to work at finding out.  When you do . . .

2.  Do it for them.  The first part of this is the action the second part is the motivation.  Once you know what matters to people and what will wow them, you have to take action.  Something memorable.  Something personal.  Something that very clearly says "I've paid attention and I have done this specifically for you."  Finally, you must expect nothing in return.  You do it for the sheer joy and fulfillment of doing something meaningful for another.  Don't assume that 33% of the people you do this for will buy another XX widgets.  You appreciate them and just want to do it for them - not you.

3. Smile the whole time knowing you're doing something that matters.  There is one little selfish thing you can do for yourself and that is this:  when you know you are doing something kind and meaningful for someone else you feel good and that is just fine.  And when you feel good you smile and walk a little more upright and briskly.  And when you smile people want to know what's up with you.  And you tell them.  And it spreads. 

The professor didn't really give A's for tea - but he did get some tea out of the deal.  And I felt great about it!!