Most companies are in the eleventh month of their fiscal year. Some have succeeded in exceeding their goals, some have just met their goals and others are behind. The majority of companies will embark on their next journey having learned from the past, whether success, mediocrity, or failure. However some will continue on without challenging themselves to rise above their short comings.
Each company should prepare a fast close plan to meet or continue to exceed their goal for the current year structuring the stage for next year. Momentum from fast close activities has a significant effect on staff and customers. Efforts are focused on employee and customer satisfaction building and maintaining a long term relationship. Employees and customers should be identifying skills required for their future success and determine how best to assist each other over the long term. Through this process both parties will recognize partnerships are an integral ingredient for success in their future.
Dialogue carried over from a fast close partnership will guide next year’s success. The team will carry forward a product that is useful and efficient, with margins acceptable to all and geared for success. They will recognize that measurements must be structured and transparent for all to review with a reporting structure that allows everyone to understand the current performance (be it above or below the goal). The people on the team will be proficient at analyzing what it will take to succeed in a market that continues to change. The value of this experience is a network of people and partnerships, inspired by the experience of working and winning together.
When the partnership is established and action is initiated for next year, a company’s attention can become ambidextrous; executing today’s plan while researching the market for future products. The goal is to anticipate the future and fill needs before others recognize there is a need, to design a product that meets that need, and be the first to market the product or service with margins that reward the company as a leader.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
October 2009 Deep Insights
Innovation is what brings and keeps life in an organization. Innovation has always been thought of as a few gifted people working in solitude to deliver the newest next best thing. Recent experiments and measurements clearly point to two factors not considered until now: when organizations embrace engaging many minds, rather than a few, the outcome is greater; and if the many engaging minds are diversified by function, nationality and social position the outcome is beyond expectations.
Innovation is driven by forward thinkers who encourage celebrations for success and failure. They know from experience that both require a thorough understanding of why. They embrace facts not anecdotal evidence when seeking answers before they journey to another innovation. Success is being at the right place at the right time with the right product. Failure is being at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong product. Analysis is the last thought when failure confronts us, easier to forget than to find the truth. Forward thinkers embrace analysis of failure, not to find fault or place blame, but because they know the seeds of innovation are more often found in failures than in successes.
It is the forward thinkers that encourage their organization to engage in a culture of inclusion, to analyze success as well as failure and to develop the ability to understand strength in diversity. Worlds that were far away are now viable markets but are also competitors. Their innovations compete with all others worldwide. If they utilize the minds of many and understand the value of diversity their product life cycle will extend beyond their competitions.
Innovation is forward thinking not limited to a few, but open to all. It must be encouraged by management through inclusion and diversity as integral components.
Innovation is driven by forward thinkers who encourage celebrations for success and failure. They know from experience that both require a thorough understanding of why. They embrace facts not anecdotal evidence when seeking answers before they journey to another innovation. Success is being at the right place at the right time with the right product. Failure is being at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong product. Analysis is the last thought when failure confronts us, easier to forget than to find the truth. Forward thinkers embrace analysis of failure, not to find fault or place blame, but because they know the seeds of innovation are more often found in failures than in successes.
It is the forward thinkers that encourage their organization to engage in a culture of inclusion, to analyze success as well as failure and to develop the ability to understand strength in diversity. Worlds that were far away are now viable markets but are also competitors. Their innovations compete with all others worldwide. If they utilize the minds of many and understand the value of diversity their product life cycle will extend beyond their competitions.
Innovation is forward thinking not limited to a few, but open to all. It must be encouraged by management through inclusion and diversity as integral components.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
September 2009 Deep Insights
Throughout history disruptions occurred that made Strategy execution difficult: an economic turn, epidemic, war, or a revolution. Such an event brought a whole new environment into play. Occasionally leaders were called upon to study the event; to determine the effect on their organization and bring forward a new Strategy. The leaders knew the importance of revising the plan but often ignored the event because they were sheltered from its consequences. Their world was not connected to that world and would not be connected in the near future.
Today disruptions are generated by technology breakthroughs and multinational marketing programs. Both are created by globalization, markets that have no boundaries. Danger arises if we continue to think we remain disconnected from the event because we will continue to do what we have always done. However, new disruptions are seldom based in current strategy. They are most often found in a breakthrough technology or knowledge discovered by cross functional integration of information around the world. Some organizations have made the effort to create an environment where information sharing has priority. They have structured forums for their people to come together and share what may appear to an outsider as insignificant functional information. These forums are the catalyst to transfer knowledge and instill wholeness of purpose to a disrupter’s strategy, their company brand, their new products and employees.
Ideas begin to flow across functions that are created through the forums knowledge exchange. The ideas have earned admiration through dialogue that has built respect between disciplines and people. Past practices would have sent the idea to a dumpster with the prejudice of “what do other disciplines know?” However, the next step in this situation is to have a TEAM, selected by the forum and with all functions being represented, research the idea for its potential ROI. If the answer is “not much” the discovery data is sent back to the forum for more dialogue or discarded and the teams move on. If the answer is positive the TEAM builds a take-to-market plan and then presents its plan to management for approval. When approval is granted the team turns its attention to execution which is already well underway because of the process. The entire organization has and will be a part of this idea’s success not just one function or person.
The new Strategy. Every organization that desires to survive disruption from around the world must have the intelligence to stay in touch with technology breakthrough and must learn to segment their markets, delivering the products that will best serve its demand and delivering ROI above the average.
Today disruptions are generated by technology breakthroughs and multinational marketing programs. Both are created by globalization, markets that have no boundaries. Danger arises if we continue to think we remain disconnected from the event because we will continue to do what we have always done. However, new disruptions are seldom based in current strategy. They are most often found in a breakthrough technology or knowledge discovered by cross functional integration of information around the world. Some organizations have made the effort to create an environment where information sharing has priority. They have structured forums for their people to come together and share what may appear to an outsider as insignificant functional information. These forums are the catalyst to transfer knowledge and instill wholeness of purpose to a disrupter’s strategy, their company brand, their new products and employees.
Ideas begin to flow across functions that are created through the forums knowledge exchange. The ideas have earned admiration through dialogue that has built respect between disciplines and people. Past practices would have sent the idea to a dumpster with the prejudice of “what do other disciplines know?” However, the next step in this situation is to have a TEAM, selected by the forum and with all functions being represented, research the idea for its potential ROI. If the answer is “not much” the discovery data is sent back to the forum for more dialogue or discarded and the teams move on. If the answer is positive the TEAM builds a take-to-market plan and then presents its plan to management for approval. When approval is granted the team turns its attention to execution which is already well underway because of the process. The entire organization has and will be a part of this idea’s success not just one function or person.
The new Strategy. Every organization that desires to survive disruption from around the world must have the intelligence to stay in touch with technology breakthrough and must learn to segment their markets, delivering the products that will best serve its demand and delivering ROI above the average.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
August 2009 Deep Insights
These four statements represent four conditions of strategy.
Knowing what you know
Know that you don’t know
Not to know that you know
Not to know that you don’t know
Each has its opportunities and dangers in the universe of strategy. In the current market, where speed of innovations and global transformations are swifter than ever, they take on a whole new meaning.
Knowing what you know. In past times knowing what you knew was enough to market intelligently; to keep pace with customers desires and develop products to satisfy them, because speed was not an important factor for success. The challenge was more in line with product improvements and serving the customer a product that did the same work more efficiently. Today the challenge is “Does anyone really know, that what they know, will provide a competitive advantage?”
Know that you don’t know. It once was the work of management to seek out new innovations for more market share and improve ROI. The danger was less of going out of business and more of becoming cash poor for a temporary period of time. The challenge was to seek out new markets for a current product or to seek out an acquisition to provide new products to your current customers. Today’s landscape is a much rougher terrain. The challenge is to admit there is more that is unknown than known. Urgency to act and learn is the operational mode that is now required.
Not to know that you know. Organizations could say ‘I knew that,” ramp up resources, produce the product for sale and maintain a strong position with good margins. Today warp speed is required to stay alive in markets. Late entries or “me too” products seldom penetrate the market. Margins are low and the product is dropped. If you have a gut reaction you must quickly seek out the opinions of others to determine if in fact the idea is worthy of action. A passive reaction to gut feelings will only put your company in a vulnerable situation. By the time you hear rumors or see print describing the idea, you and your company will have lost the edge needed for profitable margin. A company must challenge itself daily to identify what they know and how that knowledge will lead to profit and cash flow.
Not to know that you don’t know. Arrogance, ego, and pride were good virtues in past decades. Companies could create such a culture because the biggest competition came from within. They were able to motivate personnel to sustain their current level of performance, increase it, or to attain market share. Today HUMILITY is the strongest of virtues. There is no one who knows all and to think you do is a pact with the devil. Innovative ideas cross all existing boundaries, valueless ideas in one industry, country, or geographical area become the catalyst for innovation in another person’s world. Therefore a pact needs to be made with all personnel in a company to search out ideas from anywhere, be opened minded, and analyze these ideas: how would they fit together in your world, or in a new market outside your world, how could an alliance be structured to benefit all the stakeholders in the idea.
The transformation has begun. Organizations in the future will be driven by intellectual knowledge gathered from hidden sources with a common goal to produce a superior ROI for shareholders, life styles for employees, and a customer experience beyond expectations.
Knowing what you know
Know that you don’t know
Not to know that you know
Not to know that you don’t know
Each has its opportunities and dangers in the universe of strategy. In the current market, where speed of innovations and global transformations are swifter than ever, they take on a whole new meaning.
Knowing what you know. In past times knowing what you knew was enough to market intelligently; to keep pace with customers desires and develop products to satisfy them, because speed was not an important factor for success. The challenge was more in line with product improvements and serving the customer a product that did the same work more efficiently. Today the challenge is “Does anyone really know, that what they know, will provide a competitive advantage?”
Know that you don’t know. It once was the work of management to seek out new innovations for more market share and improve ROI. The danger was less of going out of business and more of becoming cash poor for a temporary period of time. The challenge was to seek out new markets for a current product or to seek out an acquisition to provide new products to your current customers. Today’s landscape is a much rougher terrain. The challenge is to admit there is more that is unknown than known. Urgency to act and learn is the operational mode that is now required.
Not to know that you know. Organizations could say ‘I knew that,” ramp up resources, produce the product for sale and maintain a strong position with good margins. Today warp speed is required to stay alive in markets. Late entries or “me too” products seldom penetrate the market. Margins are low and the product is dropped. If you have a gut reaction you must quickly seek out the opinions of others to determine if in fact the idea is worthy of action. A passive reaction to gut feelings will only put your company in a vulnerable situation. By the time you hear rumors or see print describing the idea, you and your company will have lost the edge needed for profitable margin. A company must challenge itself daily to identify what they know and how that knowledge will lead to profit and cash flow.
Not to know that you don’t know. Arrogance, ego, and pride were good virtues in past decades. Companies could create such a culture because the biggest competition came from within. They were able to motivate personnel to sustain their current level of performance, increase it, or to attain market share. Today HUMILITY is the strongest of virtues. There is no one who knows all and to think you do is a pact with the devil. Innovative ideas cross all existing boundaries, valueless ideas in one industry, country, or geographical area become the catalyst for innovation in another person’s world. Therefore a pact needs to be made with all personnel in a company to search out ideas from anywhere, be opened minded, and analyze these ideas: how would they fit together in your world, or in a new market outside your world, how could an alliance be structured to benefit all the stakeholders in the idea.
The transformation has begun. Organizations in the future will be driven by intellectual knowledge gathered from hidden sources with a common goal to produce a superior ROI for shareholders, life styles for employees, and a customer experience beyond expectations.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
July 2009 Deep Insights
When tracking business environments it is important to understand that there are multiple disruptions occurring at once. Disruptive strategies by competitors, speeding technologies, global transparency and shrinking markets with limited life span are the norm. Disruptions should not be tracked by individuals but teams that are structured to collect and interpret world market intelligence.
In past decades GROUPS were:
“Independent people working independently to produce a product”
Groups were successful at keeping companies afloat. The rate of change, product innovation seldom moved faster than a slow walk. Competitors did not race to win the next innovation award. They held on to products until they became extinct. Companies became successful by inventing innovations based on their capabilities and finding or creating a market. The key to success was inside/out products and marketing.
Today Teams are:
“Independent people working inter-dependently to produce a
collaborative product for performance”
Teams must work together to gather and share data, leading them to understand what is happening in their market. Who is doing what and how do these events affect their market space. Research must provide insights for tomorrow’s markets leading to choices for outside/in products. Teams must understand their environment but work with other members in their environment to produce a business model that provides respectable income for each. Their products are collaborative innovations developed in an atmosphere of secrecy. Seldom does the team become recognized for its creativity, its function is to capture a market before others discover it’s potential. Members share in profits, not notoriety, choosing confidentiality as a core value for continued success.
These teams exchange information within their existing work assignments seeking their next collective product innovation. They access their environment for another unmet need and begin a search to meet the need. They find a path which combines each others ideas to create unique products that no one can duplicate, insuring successful profitable products.
In past decades GROUPS were:
“Independent people working independently to produce a product”
Groups were successful at keeping companies afloat. The rate of change, product innovation seldom moved faster than a slow walk. Competitors did not race to win the next innovation award. They held on to products until they became extinct. Companies became successful by inventing innovations based on their capabilities and finding or creating a market. The key to success was inside/out products and marketing.
Today Teams are:
“Independent people working inter-dependently to produce a
collaborative product for performance”
Teams must work together to gather and share data, leading them to understand what is happening in their market. Who is doing what and how do these events affect their market space. Research must provide insights for tomorrow’s markets leading to choices for outside/in products. Teams must understand their environment but work with other members in their environment to produce a business model that provides respectable income for each. Their products are collaborative innovations developed in an atmosphere of secrecy. Seldom does the team become recognized for its creativity, its function is to capture a market before others discover it’s potential. Members share in profits, not notoriety, choosing confidentiality as a core value for continued success.
These teams exchange information within their existing work assignments seeking their next collective product innovation. They access their environment for another unmet need and begin a search to meet the need. They find a path which combines each others ideas to create unique products that no one can duplicate, insuring successful profitable products.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
June 2009 Deep Insights
Disruption of status quo is, has, and always will be a pathway to future cycles of prosperity. When organizations embrace the question “What happens after what comes next,” disruption of the status quo can begin.
The simple truth is an organization’s longevity is most often predicted by its ability to market products that customers will buy at a margin, producing a return on investment equal to or better than their competition. In the past the evolution of products moved at a pace that allowed early adopters to play, purchase and influence the market; developing years of success. Today’s new products move rapidly past early adopters into the mass market. Organizations must make the most of this small window for success or watch their profits quickly shrink below historical markers. Armed with this knowledge marketers must determine the best use of their influence over and communication to the mass market. The strategy must be confident and controlled. Quick and nimble execution must occur, so as not to allow competitors to displace the organization’s disruption initiative.
How do organizations prepare themselves to answer “What happens after what comes next” and profit from their own successful product disruption? First, they must create a culture of urgency, urgency that moves beyond individual gain and focuses on the whole winning. Second, an organization must be focused on OUTSIDE -- IN product development. Markets determine product development, not manufacturing or design capabilities. Third, research must be capable of searching for unseen synergy here-to-fore viewed as impossible. Through its research an organization must leave the comfort zone of home and visit all continents, countries and industries; it must be challenged to deliver innovations driven by connecting unexpected discoveries. Fourth, seamless integration must be embraced by stakeholders who play a part in the execution of new product development and introduction to mass markets. Fifth, “next” works best in an environment of the many versus the few. Therefore everyone must be accountable for their daily activities permitting more time to be spent on “next.”
Organizations must take charge of their future. They need to predict the future in an unpredictable climate, disrupting others, not being disrupted by others
The simple truth is an organization’s longevity is most often predicted by its ability to market products that customers will buy at a margin, producing a return on investment equal to or better than their competition. In the past the evolution of products moved at a pace that allowed early adopters to play, purchase and influence the market; developing years of success. Today’s new products move rapidly past early adopters into the mass market. Organizations must make the most of this small window for success or watch their profits quickly shrink below historical markers. Armed with this knowledge marketers must determine the best use of their influence over and communication to the mass market. The strategy must be confident and controlled. Quick and nimble execution must occur, so as not to allow competitors to displace the organization’s disruption initiative.
How do organizations prepare themselves to answer “What happens after what comes next” and profit from their own successful product disruption? First, they must create a culture of urgency, urgency that moves beyond individual gain and focuses on the whole winning. Second, an organization must be focused on OUTSIDE -- IN product development. Markets determine product development, not manufacturing or design capabilities. Third, research must be capable of searching for unseen synergy here-to-fore viewed as impossible. Through its research an organization must leave the comfort zone of home and visit all continents, countries and industries; it must be challenged to deliver innovations driven by connecting unexpected discoveries. Fourth, seamless integration must be embraced by stakeholders who play a part in the execution of new product development and introduction to mass markets. Fifth, “next” works best in an environment of the many versus the few. Therefore everyone must be accountable for their daily activities permitting more time to be spent on “next.”
Organizations must take charge of their future. They need to predict the future in an unpredictable climate, disrupting others, not being disrupted by others
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
May 2009 Deep Insights
If you don’t know where you are going you could easily wind up someplace else. To avoid “some place else” organizations must do more than use goals to keep urgency and energy focused on results. Organizations must capture learning through the use of leading indicators tracked with dashboards.
The pace of business has gone from years, months, weeks, days, minutes and now nanoseconds. In the past lagging indicators were sufficient because speed was not an issue. Today speed is the catalyst for innovation. Organizations must focus on goals measured by dashboards that indicate to everyone we are going in the right direction, that outside influences have not made our strategy obsolete. Traveling at warp speed without dashboard indicators could cause insurmountable damage to an organization. Blotted inventories, massive consumer defections, employee dissatisfaction and unnecessary cash drain. This damage can only be avoided with the construction of navigational dashboards indicating an abrupt course correction is required, now.
Dashboards are an integral warning system used to catch issues before damage is done but they are at best a warning system. When the warning light or alarm indicates an emergency, PEOPLE must act. They must quite the alarm, verify the emergency and have the ability to generate urgency from those who can make decisions. Damage control must be focused; What has/is happening? Why is it happening? What are we learning and Who should we tell? Answering these questions directs people to act, keeping their goal in mind and focusing on results not effort. Learning is the reward of following processes that lead us to a goal. Rewards that are ahead of damage control, that prompt employees to grasp urgency and take action, without waiting for management to take control. Organizations that achieve this state have created transparency of information leading to many informed decision makers not just a few.
Learning captured, transferred, and shared becomes the process by which future indicators can be built. Indicators are forever changing because problems occur that are immune to old dashboards. The alert sounded will seldom repeat itself. Speed helps everyone realize tomorrow is another sunrise never seen. The new day will not be yesterday nor will tomorrow be like today. The only road that will lead us there is a process capturing learning for immediate action.
The pace of business has gone from years, months, weeks, days, minutes and now nanoseconds. In the past lagging indicators were sufficient because speed was not an issue. Today speed is the catalyst for innovation. Organizations must focus on goals measured by dashboards that indicate to everyone we are going in the right direction, that outside influences have not made our strategy obsolete. Traveling at warp speed without dashboard indicators could cause insurmountable damage to an organization. Blotted inventories, massive consumer defections, employee dissatisfaction and unnecessary cash drain. This damage can only be avoided with the construction of navigational dashboards indicating an abrupt course correction is required, now.
Dashboards are an integral warning system used to catch issues before damage is done but they are at best a warning system. When the warning light or alarm indicates an emergency, PEOPLE must act. They must quite the alarm, verify the emergency and have the ability to generate urgency from those who can make decisions. Damage control must be focused; What has/is happening? Why is it happening? What are we learning and Who should we tell? Answering these questions directs people to act, keeping their goal in mind and focusing on results not effort. Learning is the reward of following processes that lead us to a goal. Rewards that are ahead of damage control, that prompt employees to grasp urgency and take action, without waiting for management to take control. Organizations that achieve this state have created transparency of information leading to many informed decision makers not just a few.
Learning captured, transferred, and shared becomes the process by which future indicators can be built. Indicators are forever changing because problems occur that are immune to old dashboards. The alert sounded will seldom repeat itself. Speed helps everyone realize tomorrow is another sunrise never seen. The new day will not be yesterday nor will tomorrow be like today. The only road that will lead us there is a process capturing learning for immediate action.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
April 2009 Deep Insights
A perfect storm is an event that requires everyone to dig deep within themselves, to remain calm and calculating, to act for the moment while thinking of the future... Everyone’s challenge is to act today knowing tomorrow will require innovation not the tried and true ideas from yesterday.
Disruptive events cause reactive tactics that can alter landscapes if organizations are not watching the world that influences results. Organizations must build a process to identify and analyze tactics that others are executing for their survival. They must determine how those tactics may or may not alter their landscape and determine how best to lead not follow. In the past this activity was the responsibility of management, who watched local, regional, and national markets. But today globalization has created markets far beyond the old landscape. These markets must be observed. Obscure and not on anyone’s radar, entrepreneurial innovation is now in the air; no longer limited to the few but available to the many, wherever they have access to internet. Management will not be capable of gathering the intelligence necessary to analyze tactics to lead in a global race with the unknown. Consequently, organizations must become an army of intelligence gathering fanatics. They must share what they learn immediately and create new tactics to succeed today knowing success may only last a day.
To create an army of intelligence gathering fanatics’ organizations need to engage their workforce in both heart and mind. They will need participation by all. Organizations can begin by assigning parcels of their landscape to employees, teaching them methods to uncover the important data, mentoring them to find tactics influencing results, and drawing insights for tactics to lead the organization to its greatest height. Through this process organizations will be challenged to create an environment for people who seek ownership in theirs and others destiny. People who are willing to set aside time for continuous learning. People who have the courage to act without concrete data and the determination to trash yesterday’s tactics inventing a whole new strategy for present and future success.
Everyone must admit: experience is only of value to the extent that tomorrow will be like yesterday.
Disruptive events cause reactive tactics that can alter landscapes if organizations are not watching the world that influences results. Organizations must build a process to identify and analyze tactics that others are executing for their survival. They must determine how those tactics may or may not alter their landscape and determine how best to lead not follow. In the past this activity was the responsibility of management, who watched local, regional, and national markets. But today globalization has created markets far beyond the old landscape. These markets must be observed. Obscure and not on anyone’s radar, entrepreneurial innovation is now in the air; no longer limited to the few but available to the many, wherever they have access to internet. Management will not be capable of gathering the intelligence necessary to analyze tactics to lead in a global race with the unknown. Consequently, organizations must become an army of intelligence gathering fanatics. They must share what they learn immediately and create new tactics to succeed today knowing success may only last a day.
To create an army of intelligence gathering fanatics’ organizations need to engage their workforce in both heart and mind. They will need participation by all. Organizations can begin by assigning parcels of their landscape to employees, teaching them methods to uncover the important data, mentoring them to find tactics influencing results, and drawing insights for tactics to lead the organization to its greatest height. Through this process organizations will be challenged to create an environment for people who seek ownership in theirs and others destiny. People who are willing to set aside time for continuous learning. People who have the courage to act without concrete data and the determination to trash yesterday’s tactics inventing a whole new strategy for present and future success.
Everyone must admit: experience is only of value to the extent that tomorrow will be like yesterday.
Monday, March 23, 2009
March 2009 Deep Insights
Urgency is everyone’s best friend in turbulent environments. People are stripped of stalling tactics; they cannot discuss the subject long into the night, postpone the discussion seeking more information, or build a pilot program to test tactical theory. Forward thinking must be embraced to make decisions with the information at hand allocating resources, people to serve customers, and tactics to produce immediate results.
People who are students of urgency in turbulent environments have learned to initiate active waiting through dashboards giving immediate feedback. They watch components of the strategy that influence results, preparing audibles if necessary for the organization to follow on an as needed basis. They rise to this challenge by activating the minds of all personnel who are executing the plan. They build an army of flexible, insightful, and result orientated people who can deliver information to them and execute by calling audibles without hesitation. This process builds urgency into the life of active waiting processes; assisting minds to be alert to customer, component change, and their influence on strategy.
Organizations cannot assume tomorrow will be yesterday or today. They are faced with urgent challenges that surface from around the world, day and night, from rich and poor economies, free or enslaved peoples. Asia, South America, Africa, Europe, Canada are all competitors. The world has shrunk, competition has grown, information is free and instant partnerships are formed cross country borders to deliver products in a market where there is urgent need. What is one nation’s trash is another’s diamond. The internet has made small and nimble entrepreneurial people or companies, capable of building partnerships with team orientation to be big efficient and powerful marketers; “IT.” IT provides a consumer experience that is seamless, noteworthy and therefore marketable to customers on the internet driven by an urgent need to purchase. Customer desires are tracked on dashboards preparing IT to return with another product to meet new customer desires and the process begins again.
IT creates urgency, knows products are becoming universal, markets are global, and being there first is success. The urgency is “if you aren’t, IT will be.”
People who are students of urgency in turbulent environments have learned to initiate active waiting through dashboards giving immediate feedback. They watch components of the strategy that influence results, preparing audibles if necessary for the organization to follow on an as needed basis. They rise to this challenge by activating the minds of all personnel who are executing the plan. They build an army of flexible, insightful, and result orientated people who can deliver information to them and execute by calling audibles without hesitation. This process builds urgency into the life of active waiting processes; assisting minds to be alert to customer, component change, and their influence on strategy.
Organizations cannot assume tomorrow will be yesterday or today. They are faced with urgent challenges that surface from around the world, day and night, from rich and poor economies, free or enslaved peoples. Asia, South America, Africa, Europe, Canada are all competitors. The world has shrunk, competition has grown, information is free and instant partnerships are formed cross country borders to deliver products in a market where there is urgent need. What is one nation’s trash is another’s diamond. The internet has made small and nimble entrepreneurial people or companies, capable of building partnerships with team orientation to be big efficient and powerful marketers; “IT.” IT provides a consumer experience that is seamless, noteworthy and therefore marketable to customers on the internet driven by an urgent need to purchase. Customer desires are tracked on dashboards preparing IT to return with another product to meet new customer desires and the process begins again.
IT creates urgency, knows products are becoming universal, markets are global, and being there first is success. The urgency is “if you aren’t, IT will be.”
Thursday, February 19, 2009
February 2009 Deep Insights
An economic downturn is an opportunity to revisit strategy, tactics and more importantly people and their skills to be competitive in the present and future environment.
Too often organizations begin to scale down their workforce with little or no analysis. Cutbacks are determined as a percent of the total financial goal 1) People from mature product lines are selected for layoff or early retirement 2) Sales and marketing people from scaling product lines are selected at random for layoff and 3) Administrative personnel by function for layoff. Next, budgeting processes trim training expenditures in the same crisis mentality, if not being used to fix the current emergency the dollars are cut from the budget to meet financial goals. Crisis is the mental mode of day to day activities. What has been accomplished? The workforce is reduced, expenses are trimmed, and the organization can rest its war against scale down efforts ---- or can it?
As the survivors begin to take inventory of skills and redistribute workloads they recognize they cannot do everything. Activity cuts will have to occur challenging others to do more or do without. The survivors also find a lack of skills to execute strategy and tactics and are without a budget to train those who are going to be held responsible. When skilled resources have been trimmed a best use of survivors’ strategy takes over and coaching by those who know the most is implemented; the inefficiencies begin.
Coaches, who have limited skills, and little time, attempt to teach those who do not have the talent and in many cases are not interested in learning new skills. Quality begins to be sacrificed, “get ‘er done” reigns, and revenue slips behind the forecast for budgeted expenses. Management is challenged to correct the revenue shortage and determines the best course of action is to permit part time and vendor personnel to be part of the solution. Those best fit for these positions are often the “terminated pool.” They are hired as consultants or part time people. All is well until the organization realizes they are paying more for these services now then when the people were full time employees.
The solution to this economic downturn crisis model is to visit strategy and tactics; determine the skills required for execution efficiencies, locate the people with those skills and act accordingly when determining scale down, training budgets and necessary hires. Then implement a “hiring and wage freeze” to insure productivity and employment cost control. The organization will be rewarded with increased efficiency, commitment and loyalty. Revenue will remain consistent with the available market, expense control will flow from budgets, and the organization will be positioned for the next growth cycle.
Too often organizations begin to scale down their workforce with little or no analysis. Cutbacks are determined as a percent of the total financial goal 1) People from mature product lines are selected for layoff or early retirement 2) Sales and marketing people from scaling product lines are selected at random for layoff and 3) Administrative personnel by function for layoff. Next, budgeting processes trim training expenditures in the same crisis mentality, if not being used to fix the current emergency the dollars are cut from the budget to meet financial goals. Crisis is the mental mode of day to day activities. What has been accomplished? The workforce is reduced, expenses are trimmed, and the organization can rest its war against scale down efforts ---- or can it?
As the survivors begin to take inventory of skills and redistribute workloads they recognize they cannot do everything. Activity cuts will have to occur challenging others to do more or do without. The survivors also find a lack of skills to execute strategy and tactics and are without a budget to train those who are going to be held responsible. When skilled resources have been trimmed a best use of survivors’ strategy takes over and coaching by those who know the most is implemented; the inefficiencies begin.
Coaches, who have limited skills, and little time, attempt to teach those who do not have the talent and in many cases are not interested in learning new skills. Quality begins to be sacrificed, “get ‘er done” reigns, and revenue slips behind the forecast for budgeted expenses. Management is challenged to correct the revenue shortage and determines the best course of action is to permit part time and vendor personnel to be part of the solution. Those best fit for these positions are often the “terminated pool.” They are hired as consultants or part time people. All is well until the organization realizes they are paying more for these services now then when the people were full time employees.
The solution to this economic downturn crisis model is to visit strategy and tactics; determine the skills required for execution efficiencies, locate the people with those skills and act accordingly when determining scale down, training budgets and necessary hires. Then implement a “hiring and wage freeze” to insure productivity and employment cost control. The organization will be rewarded with increased efficiency, commitment and loyalty. Revenue will remain consistent with the available market, expense control will flow from budgets, and the organization will be positioned for the next growth cycle.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
January 2009 Deep Insights
Turbulent times will not last and halting all investments for learning and innovation leads to a stale environment. Survival belongs to organizations that use turbulence as an active waiting period strengthening their skills, their knowledge of processes to improve employee and customer loyalty, and balancing investments in both long and short term learning. They commit to being AMBIDEXTROUS working both ON and IN the business.
In uncertain times organizations begin examining budgets to reduce cash expenditures without a focus on the skills needed to succeed today and tomorrow. The argument is made to reduce all costs and limit learning to what people already know. The organization is in “survival mode,” weathering the current crisis. The danger in this thinking is that an organization cannot allow its employees to become numb or complacent. An organization must focus its employees on HOPE, through an organizational commitment to learning the skills necessary to compete in today’s turbulent market as well as in better times. Learning energizes organizations to live through the turbulent times knowing they will be stronger in the future.
Energy through learning drives enthusiasm. It reduces inefficiencies, improves organic growth and helps an organization to focus on the opportunities not the turbulence. History proves innovations are not made by persons who have become complacent, but by those who are actively living today to improve tomorrow. These organizations know that their products and services must meet the customer’s needs, even more in turbulent times, and are constantly striving to create innovations that will exceed expectations. The innovations may be small steps or large leaps but they improve performance for today and lay the foundation for tomorrow. They drive personnel to exceed their capabilities delivering results beyond strategic goals. They commit people to a vision of survival painting a better life for themselves, their customers and the organization.
Energy through learning and innovations yields returns for short and long term investments. The foundation is laid for optimum results in a turbulent market and architecture for growth strategy. An organization will view itself in a light of leading change, leading customer and employee loyalty, leading its industry in return on investment and will be capable of sustaining itself in turbulent or good times.
In uncertain times organizations begin examining budgets to reduce cash expenditures without a focus on the skills needed to succeed today and tomorrow. The argument is made to reduce all costs and limit learning to what people already know. The organization is in “survival mode,” weathering the current crisis. The danger in this thinking is that an organization cannot allow its employees to become numb or complacent. An organization must focus its employees on HOPE, through an organizational commitment to learning the skills necessary to compete in today’s turbulent market as well as in better times. Learning energizes organizations to live through the turbulent times knowing they will be stronger in the future.
Energy through learning drives enthusiasm. It reduces inefficiencies, improves organic growth and helps an organization to focus on the opportunities not the turbulence. History proves innovations are not made by persons who have become complacent, but by those who are actively living today to improve tomorrow. These organizations know that their products and services must meet the customer’s needs, even more in turbulent times, and are constantly striving to create innovations that will exceed expectations. The innovations may be small steps or large leaps but they improve performance for today and lay the foundation for tomorrow. They drive personnel to exceed their capabilities delivering results beyond strategic goals. They commit people to a vision of survival painting a better life for themselves, their customers and the organization.
Energy through learning and innovations yields returns for short and long term investments. The foundation is laid for optimum results in a turbulent market and architecture for growth strategy. An organization will view itself in a light of leading change, leading customer and employee loyalty, leading its industry in return on investment and will be capable of sustaining itself in turbulent or good times.
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