Anticipation

Sometimes you can't.

Every time you catch yourself saying, "I should have thought of that" or "Why did I not think of that before?" you are reflecting on your (lack of) anticipation.

A more dysfunctional way is to ask, "Why the heck did you not think of this before?" This is the notion of carrying accountability to an extreme. Punitive questioning results in defensive behavior and reduced risk taking.

While there are consequences for not being able to anticipate, sometimes the only thing that can be done is to learn from the experience and improve the planning process.

Effective strategy execution requires improved planning, which in turn requires an ability to anticipate. 'Guessing' is not anticipating. For complex situations, experience from multiple people may have to be pooled together, while guarding against 'groupthink'.

FUD: Sand in the gears of strategy execution

In a fast moving, dynamic execution environment, it is hard to keep everyone up to date on what is going on. The answer is not to slow down but to look for the symptoms caused by the pace of execution.

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. These are symptoms. Look for the root cause:

• Lack of identity, hence leadership is unable to provide clarity.
• Leadership does not think its important to provide clarity.
• Expectations are implicit and not explicit, people make it up as they go along.
• Low self-esteem and self-confidence leading to a need to be appreciated being greater than the need to focus on execution.
• Your reason here.

If the leadership (defined as the person in charge) is frustrated and cannot control its frustration, FUD will continue and grow. Time to look for new leadership.

Is this 'good' customer service? Part 2

Please read the earlier blog by this title to get the background.

So I get the coupon in the mail. Pleased that they took the time to send me the coupon, I almost forgot about it. (An issue with coupons and rebates: they provide comfort to customers, but no real value when they are not used)

Today, I decided to redeem my coupon for a "free 2-liter or 1-liter product" made by the company. I was briefly puzzled by why they would offer me a "free 2-liter or 1-liter product" instead of saying "up to 2 liters", but I quickly shrugged it off. Only so many problems I can solve, right?

After mulling over the range of products offered by the company, I grab a 2-liter bottle, head to the check out counter, where I was informed that the coupon had a value of $1.49 and that the product I selected was $1.89. To buy the product, I would have to pay an extra 40 cents.

The price and currency are irrelevant, the point being, I got a coupon that said "free", then put a limit to what I could get as "free."

I left the store without making a purchase, but my head was buzzing with the following thoughts:

• Where in the company's strategy execution did the process break down? Did anyone know that "free" and a limit of $1.49 sounded contradictory?
• These people were not stupid, but I was stumped. What could be the rationale?
• What could they do differently to catch this scenario?
  

This led me to think of another situation, this time with a well known online retail store. They offer free shipping on qualifying orders totaling $25 or more. However, many lower priced items top off at $24.99. This forces me to either buy an additional product or wait till I wanted another item. Its a brilliant strategy, designed to increase sales no doubt, but also a brilliant way to really annoy customers. If they had to make their customers buy more than 25 dollars worth, at least don't bring them tantalizingly close to that total.

I am sure pricing is very complex to design, but what do I care? I am the customer and I am always right!

Right?

"Time saved" as a business value justification

I am curious about the business value justification using "time saved." For example, if I do a project that saved one hour per person, each gets paid $100 per hour and there are 5,000 employees in the organization, I have just saved the organization $500,000. Right?

How much of that money do I see in cash? None. You are not going to ask employees to return that money to the organization. That's because you can't!

The real saving is realized if the time saved is spent on doing something that has a tangible return higher than the money saved. Lets say the time is reinvested in revenue generating activity that earns or saves hard cash of say, $150 per employee, then we have saved $250,000. (The gain is $50 per hour per employee)

The above is an example of saving effort (doing more with the same or doing same with less). What if an output is available faster? Instead of taking 10 days, what if you got the output in, say, 6 days? What is the value of reduced cycle time? For example, if I get book quicker when buying online, but I can't or don't read it for another month, then what did I gain from the faster delivery? Sometimes its just gratification (a subjective measure).

Because these computations are complex and sometimes the value of initiatives such as the Special Olympics cannot be quantified in money terms. In yet other cases, programs and projects are undertaken to reduce anxieties of customers, stakeholders and executives. The value case is complex to compute, yet it exists. Just because its hard to find does not mean it does not exist.

All the following are valid business justifications:

• Avoiding a problem
• Getting rid of a problem
• Preventing a problem

Be in the moment, focus on what is considered 'value' and go with the flow. If you have a strong opinion, use your influencing and leadership skills. Know when to cut your losses and when to tactically withdraw in the face of insurmountable irrationality to your definition of a business justification.

Transitions

Strategy execution is not a 'project' that runs uninterrupted from start to finish. (Very few projects run uninterrupted from start to finish, but that is a topic for a different blog)

Strategy execution involves one or more of the following transitions:

• Market transitions: Innovation and competition cause organizations to re-evaluate how they are working with customers. Shortage of resources cause a shift in consumption and lifestyle, creating new opportunities as old ones are destroyed.
  
• Organization transitions: As a response to market transitions, organizations change their structure and processes in order to deliver value to customers faster, cheaper and better.
  
• Acquisitions: Companies acquire or are acquired in the hope of improving and sustaining their competitive advantage.
  
• Personal growth and evolution: Individuals evolve, mature, move up Maslow's hierarchy resulting in changes in what drives them.

Anticipating and recognizing the need for a transition is a core competence required for strategy execution. Making a transition happen, planning for one and change management are other competencies that are required for agility in strategy execution.

Art, science, witchcraft

All 3 tend to get used in executing strategy.

• 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).

The worst thing to do is judge which ones are 'right' and 'wrong' or 'good' and 'bad'. Decide what the organization needs and line up incentives and dis-incentives. Behavior modification will follow as a matter of course.

Importance of a clear Value Proposition

If you walk up to someone and say, "I have a solution that will help you:

• Get rich.
• Lose weight.
• Sleep well.

All without side effects or unintended consequences", you will get their attention immediately. Yes, they will want to know more, want proof, testimonials, guarantees and warranties. But at this time, their attention is all yours and they will give you permission to tell your story because your value proposition is simple and clear.

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.