- Science is the easiest to describe and explain. This includes application of learnings from books, research, models, articles, training and best practices. Techniques such as Six Sigma and Monte Carlo simulation will provide a structure the problem/opportunity like you would not believe. Those who don't understand the science will turn to the other two (see below).
- Art is when you can apply science to a specific situation. Clumsy application gives science a bad name. Proper application makes science look irrelevant. This is all the tribal knowledge gained through experience and instinct driven actions that are hard to explain. It points to why those who are successful using 'art' have so little patience with those advocating 'science'.
- Witchcraft is when you either get lucky or do borderline immoral and illegal things to get your way. Distorting and manipulating facts, withholding information, sacrificing long term stability for short term gains all fall in this area. Its called 'witchcraft' because these actions are well concealed (for a good reason) and are discovered by accident. People practicing witchcraft eventually get caught and pay the price, but in the short term there is a price to pay for their misdeeds (lost morale, lowered trust, lost productivity and talent turnover).
Monday, August 31, 2009
Art, science, witchcraft
All 3 tend to get used in executing strategy.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Importance of a clear Value Proposition
If you walk up to someone and say, "I have a solution that will help you:
In strategy execution, people and teams have to change: they have to stop doing what they doing, start doing something different, very few things will stay the same. One of the best way to get their attention before you get permission to tell your story is via a clear value proposition.
- Get rich.
- Lose weight.
- Sleep well.
In strategy execution, people and teams have to change: they have to stop doing what they doing, start doing something different, very few things will stay the same. One of the best way to get their attention before you get permission to tell your story is via a clear value proposition.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Trust and value
I dread the thought of taking my car for service. The customer service rep rattles off a list of things wrong with the car and presents a huge bill. At this moment, I begin to wonder if it is cheaper to just buy a new car.
When I push back on the list, citing affordability, the service rep indicates a priority of what is critical and what can wait. This leads me to wonder how much my loyalty would have gone up for the service center if he had offered this information without being asked. (I was going to say respect, but that is a useless emotion. Respect cannot be directly monetized, but loyalty can. If you have a different perspective, I look forward to hearing it)
After the service is complete, I get a call, telling me they found a few other defects and try to up sell and cross sell. When I push back, they retreat, but ominously point out the documentation on the invoice, as if to say, "You have been warned."
If you take the emotion out of the transaction, the lowered trust is from my utter lack of knowledge of how a car work and lack of interest in learning how a car works. The auto service shop is in the business of fixing cars, not education. However, since I am the customer, I still expect the auto shop to do something to set my mind at ease and earn my trust.
Question is, what can they do? They don't want to educate me, just to see me walk out and get the repairs done by a different auto shop, after I get a second opinion. Providing education is a distraction that takes attention away from their core competence of repairing cars.
This is a common situation in strategy execution. Customer or stakeholder don't understand the complexity, they don't want to, but they expect their needs to be met and exceeded.
In this case, maybe the auto service shops can get together to form an association and spread the cost of education customers over all members. This would lead in increased credibility for the industry, leaving each auto service shop with no overhead of the education required to earn trust. They can then focus on the core of their business to provide customer delight.
When I push back on the list, citing affordability, the service rep indicates a priority of what is critical and what can wait. This leads me to wonder how much my loyalty would have gone up for the service center if he had offered this information without being asked. (I was going to say respect, but that is a useless emotion. Respect cannot be directly monetized, but loyalty can. If you have a different perspective, I look forward to hearing it)
After the service is complete, I get a call, telling me they found a few other defects and try to up sell and cross sell. When I push back, they retreat, but ominously point out the documentation on the invoice, as if to say, "You have been warned."
If you take the emotion out of the transaction, the lowered trust is from my utter lack of knowledge of how a car work and lack of interest in learning how a car works. The auto service shop is in the business of fixing cars, not education. However, since I am the customer, I still expect the auto shop to do something to set my mind at ease and earn my trust.
Question is, what can they do? They don't want to educate me, just to see me walk out and get the repairs done by a different auto shop, after I get a second opinion. Providing education is a distraction that takes attention away from their core competence of repairing cars.
This is a common situation in strategy execution. Customer or stakeholder don't understand the complexity, they don't want to, but they expect their needs to be met and exceeded.
In this case, maybe the auto service shops can get together to form an association and spread the cost of education customers over all members. This would lead in increased credibility for the industry, leaving each auto service shop with no overhead of the education required to earn trust. They can then focus on the core of their business to provide customer delight.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Use case vs. Value case
Use cases describe how a system behaves and responds from an outsider's point of view. This could be a user or customer.
A use case creates the notion of a scenario. If all possible scenarios experienced by a user or customer are identified, the system can create responses to reduce cost and cycle times for responses. If the scenarios occur over and over again, a programmed response is possible, if not, then a one-off response is required.
Programmed responses reduce costs and cycle time, but make it more impersonal. One-off responses can be highly personalized, but may take time and be expensive.
The 'value case' is the business benefit of an investment. It can be tangible: reduce complaints, do things faster, better, cheaper, sell more, up sell, cross sell, repeat sales to same customer, customers return less, risk reduction, cost avoidance, high MTBF and low MTTR. Or intangible: word of mouth, referrals, building the brand awareness, permission from customers to talk to them, positive halo effect, brownie points with a community.
Sometimes an investment has to be made to keep stakeholders or the boss happy, with no line of sight to the customer. This is a cost of doing business. Removing barriers and gaining sponsorship is the cost of doing business. If it has to be done, evaluate it as an investment. In executing your strategy, keeping someone happy need not be an emotional decision.
A use case creates the notion of a scenario. If all possible scenarios experienced by a user or customer are identified, the system can create responses to reduce cost and cycle times for responses. If the scenarios occur over and over again, a programmed response is possible, if not, then a one-off response is required.
Programmed responses reduce costs and cycle time, but make it more impersonal. One-off responses can be highly personalized, but may take time and be expensive.
The 'value case' is the business benefit of an investment. It can be tangible: reduce complaints, do things faster, better, cheaper, sell more, up sell, cross sell, repeat sales to same customer, customers return less, risk reduction, cost avoidance, high MTBF and low MTTR. Or intangible: word of mouth, referrals, building the brand awareness, permission from customers to talk to them, positive halo effect, brownie points with a community.
Sometimes an investment has to be made to keep stakeholders or the boss happy, with no line of sight to the customer. This is a cost of doing business. Removing barriers and gaining sponsorship is the cost of doing business. If it has to be done, evaluate it as an investment. In executing your strategy, keeping someone happy need not be an emotional decision.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Package versus ingredients
In achieving excellence, many things have to come together, fit seamlessly and work without friction.
Distinguish between 'ingredients', which we define as one of the pieces of the puzzle that stands alone and provides value in its own right, and 'packages', which we define as a set of ingredients that has value greater than the sum of its parts.
For example, the bullets and the graphics on a slide show are the ingredients. The sequence, the delivery, the pre-sell and authenticity of the speaker combine to make the package.
Technicians take pride in the ingredients, rightly so, they labor hard to fine tune and polish it. When executing your strategy, be sure your team has a few of these. Technicians produce the outputs that are needed to deliver results.
Customer outcomes will be met only when 'packages' are delivered. For example, in selling a product, the price, time to learn, ease of use, ease of buying, ease of upgrades, ease of abandonment all come together to deliver value. In strategy execution, the 'package' has ingredients such as stakeholder management, change management, portfolio management, managing culture, project management and innovation.
Oh yes, a 'package' may be an 'ingredient' to a bigger package...
Distinguish between 'ingredients', which we define as one of the pieces of the puzzle that stands alone and provides value in its own right, and 'packages', which we define as a set of ingredients that has value greater than the sum of its parts.
For example, the bullets and the graphics on a slide show are the ingredients. The sequence, the delivery, the pre-sell and authenticity of the speaker combine to make the package.
Technicians take pride in the ingredients, rightly so, they labor hard to fine tune and polish it. When executing your strategy, be sure your team has a few of these. Technicians produce the outputs that are needed to deliver results.
Customer outcomes will be met only when 'packages' are delivered. For example, in selling a product, the price, time to learn, ease of use, ease of buying, ease of upgrades, ease of abandonment all come together to deliver value. In strategy execution, the 'package' has ingredients such as stakeholder management, change management, portfolio management, managing culture, project management and innovation.
Oh yes, a 'package' may be an 'ingredient' to a bigger package...
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Feeding hungry guests
When you invite a lot of guests to dinner and the food preparations are behind schedule, tensions begin to rise. Guests get hungrier and crankier. To keep the guests calm and stop them from leaving, appetizers are provided. To keep the guests away from hunger, spread out the appetizers and don't serve it all at once.
What does this have to do with 'Strategy Execution'?
When managing enterprise class programs to execute strategy, the same situation comes up. High stakes increases stress levels, large budgets raise the risk, coalitions of high profile stakeholders have to be built and nurtured, complexity has to be unraveled and lots of dots have to connect. A lot of work has to be done before anything tangible or useful can be produced.
In the meantime, to keep sponsors, stakeholders, partners and team members engaged, send out frequent updates and sound bites. Town halls (less frequent) is a good way to get everyone to meet and greet (even virtual town halls have value).
Avoid leaving anyone in the dark (panic or passivity sets in), celebrate good news (no matter how small) and do not delay sharing the bad news. Radio silence may cause you to lose credibility; you lose momentum, it takes time to get it back and use it to your advantage.
What does this have to do with 'Strategy Execution'?
When managing enterprise class programs to execute strategy, the same situation comes up. High stakes increases stress levels, large budgets raise the risk, coalitions of high profile stakeholders have to be built and nurtured, complexity has to be unraveled and lots of dots have to connect. A lot of work has to be done before anything tangible or useful can be produced.
In the meantime, to keep sponsors, stakeholders, partners and team members engaged, send out frequent updates and sound bites. Town halls (less frequent) is a good way to get everyone to meet and greet (even virtual town halls have value).
Avoid leaving anyone in the dark (panic or passivity sets in), celebrate good news (no matter how small) and do not delay sharing the bad news. Radio silence may cause you to lose credibility; you lose momentum, it takes time to get it back and use it to your advantage.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Power of clarity
'Clarity' is the 'aha' moment about the problem or opportunity at hand. Joint clarity is when two or more people understand the problem or opportunity in the same way. You could even talk about clarity around the other person's motivation (an essential ingredient of leadership).
Why bother trying to achieve 'clarity'?
Why bother trying to achieve 'clarity'?
- It saves time. Needless time and expense is spent by individuals and teams 'talking past each other' in an attempt to make themselves understood first.
- Avoid frustration. There is a certain peace that descends on people when they 'get it'.
- Increases collaboration and teamwork. Now that we understand each other, let us talk about what inputs and outputs we need to exchange!
- Increases trust. Clarity makes it easy for people to work with each other. This is the emotional component of the interactions.
- Conflict management becomes easier. Clarity reduces the need to argue and fight and fosters an abundance mentality.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Decoding feedback
If people said what they meant and meant what they said, life would be simpler (and some would argue, more boring).
The barriers to communication have been well documented:
Yes, easier said than done, but the alternatives seem to escalate conflict not resolve it.
The barriers to communication have been well documented:
- Language usage and interpretation
- Personal decision biases
- Differing frames of references driven by values and beliefs
- Defensive behaviors
- (Put your reason here)
Yes, easier said than done, but the alternatives seem to escalate conflict not resolve it.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Early warning systems
The other day, a light went on in my auto's dashboard, warning me that tire pressure was low. Fortunately, I was near a car service station. An inspection revealed the culprit, a nail in the tire.
60 minutes and $29 later, I had a tire all ready for the travails of transportation.
Imagine me hurtling down the highway without knowing about the nail in the tire, unknowingly putting lives and property at peril! Not to mention the loss in productivity because a pile up brought traffic to a halt. The warning light and my acting on the light prevented a tragedy. Just the light alone would have achieved nothing.
There are many aspects of your strategy execution that will benefit from having and acting on warning lights. Out of the infinite warning lights that are possible, you have to select the ones that matter (use the 80:20 rule, align with customer outcomes and definition of success). Build the capabilities to display the light (this is so hard to do sometimes that it is often not done) and educate stakeholders/teammates on the appropriate action to take when the light shows a specific color (yes, history has shown that warning signs are ignored!).
Six Sigma calls these 'leading indicators'. The first step is to define the problem/opportunity and then build the capability. This is one of the areas where 'build it and people will use it' is expensive and frustrating.
60 minutes and $29 later, I had a tire all ready for the travails of transportation.
Imagine me hurtling down the highway without knowing about the nail in the tire, unknowingly putting lives and property at peril! Not to mention the loss in productivity because a pile up brought traffic to a halt. The warning light and my acting on the light prevented a tragedy. Just the light alone would have achieved nothing.
There are many aspects of your strategy execution that will benefit from having and acting on warning lights. Out of the infinite warning lights that are possible, you have to select the ones that matter (use the 80:20 rule, align with customer outcomes and definition of success). Build the capabilities to display the light (this is so hard to do sometimes that it is often not done) and educate stakeholders/teammates on the appropriate action to take when the light shows a specific color (yes, history has shown that warning signs are ignored!).
Six Sigma calls these 'leading indicators'. The first step is to define the problem/opportunity and then build the capability. This is one of the areas where 'build it and people will use it' is expensive and frustrating.
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