Category Archives: Influential Factors – Harmful

Navel-Gazing… Your Worst Enemy

Posted on 28 November 2011 by | Leave a comment

Umbilicus intuens can be extremely debilitating.  Indeed, I worked with a leader who once remarked that his organization was full of navel-gazers… those who spent more time looking within the company than outside the company.

navel-gazing

Sir Winston Churchill’s wry description about the enemy lends a credible analogy:

“However absorbed a commander may be in the elaboration of his own thoughts, it is sometimes necessary to take the enemy into consideration.”

Here are 4 warning signs that you should spend more time considering the competition when executing your business plans:

  • Marketing literature touts features and capabilities vs. solving customer needs – Customers may indeed care that your product comes in a variety of colors, or has WiFI but the most important consideration is whether or not it addresses a customer need.  (This TED video illustrates how appealing to ‘why’ is more persuasive than showing ‘what’.)
  • Metrics measure activity vs. achievement – (see Moneyball and the Customer Experience)
  • Culture rewards those who play politics vs. help the company succeed – If you look around and find people more interested in advancing their personal prospects than in serving the customer/company, you have a problem.   Companies are teams so if one teammate begins to monopolize the energy and attention of a group, you can be sure that they are no longer serving the company’s needs to the fullest extent.  Think I’m wrong?  Ask yourself about the US politicians and our recent fiscal woes.  The needs of the country are clearly subordinated to the re-election hopes of congress.
  • Employees are ranked and evaluated against their peers vs. the industry – your company wants the best people on the market, right?  So when evaluating performance it is critical to understand which employees compare favorably to the overall talent pool.  (And just as critical to know where you have talent gaps compared to your competition.)

The pivot point is that if you neglect competitive forces or customer needs POGO’s reflection that “we have met the enemy and he is us” may indeed become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What can you do to help align your company to focus on external factors to ensure your continued survival and success?

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Posted in Culture, Influential Factors - Harmful

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Retaining your Worst Employees is Selfish

Posted on 13 June 2011 by | 4 Comments

Most managers agree that the best companies are comprised of the best employees.    But most managers struggle to apply the concept because it comes with a tough corollary – keeping the best means shedding the worst.

NYTimes.com had an interview not too long ago with the CEO of the U.S. Fund for Unicef, Caryl M. Stern.  She made a point with which many in management struggle.

“I want your brightest and your best. Give me a list. Who are your brightest and your best?” I didn’t tell them how many names. They all gave me their lists, and I said: “O.K., you’ve got one year. At the end of the year, either everyone working for you is on this list, or you’re telling me how you’re getting them there or you’re getting rid of them. If we are going to attract the brightest and the best, then we’ve got to keep only the brightest and the best.”

Consider these points when thinking about how to develop a top-performing team:

Retaining the Worst is Selfish – We want to be liked (his Trumpness excluded of course).  Wanting to be liked is selfish.  But managing should be an unselfish act.  Yes, we have corporate goals to attain, but those goals are achieved by people.  When we help people get the most from their talents we engage the very best in them, they give their very best to us, and we achieve at the highest levels (employee engagement leads to profitability.)  Sometimes, in our efforts to avoid difficult situations and conversations, we do more harm to our employees than good.

The “Worst” Aren’t the Worst – The worst employees aren’t the worst at all.  More likely they are in the wrong place.  One of the points Ms. Stern doesn’t quite make, though I surmise she’d agree with me, is that good people sometimes end up in bad roles (e.g. mismatches with their skills, interests, and passion).  She does state that managers should help people reach their potential.  I am reminded of a bit of wisdom I once heard about reaching one’s potential:

“To reach the top of the next mountain, you must first climb to the bottom of the one you are already on.”

The pivot point is that shedding the worst employees should be an unselfish act designed to help people find the right role where their skills, interests, and passions can be used fully, each and every day.  We owe it our people to apply the same energy and diligence in letting people go as we do when retaining the best.

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Posted in Employee Engagement, Influential Factors - Harmful

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Things You Should NEVER Tell Your Customers

Posted on 1 April 2011 by | 3 Comments

Managing customers is tough because they typically expect the world and they expect it for bargain basement prices.  If you interact with customers you will inevitably come across a time when the relationship becomes difficult.  In order to ensure your company doesn’t go bankrupt serving customers, avoid making these common mistakes.

NEVER Admit Regret or Fault

  • We Were Wrong – Admitting fault is a cardinal sin in customer service.  Customers call for the primary reason of getting something for nothing.  Many companies try to create cultures where the “customer is always right.”  Don’t make this mistake.  If your customer service reps make the mistake of admitting they were wrong, you can be sure that your company’s profitability will suffer.
  • I’m Sorry – Admitting regret (even a little) puts your company at a disadvantage when dealing with the customer and limits your ability to extract yourself from the confrontation.  And while it sounds innocuous enough, when a customer senses weakness you can expect them to ask for product rebates, service term extensions, discounts… the list never ends.

AVOID Guarantees of Any Kind

  • We Guarantee Your Satisfaction – Impossible, so why bother saying it?  Customers who want to fleece your company for all they can will use this statement as a never-ending series of excuses to keep changing what they want.  You delivered the pink iPod?  They want the blue one.  If your company is so poorly run to make a guarantee like this it deserves to pay the shipping… twice!
  • Money-Back Guarantee – We live in a free-market economy with more information than ever available to consumers.  Before they make a choice they can read reviews, shop for prices, compare competitive products, etc.  So once the transaction is complete, you’ve more than earned every cent you receive.  Plain and simple, it is a rookie error to offer money back to unsatisfied customers.

The pivot point when serving customers is to ensure your company does NOT give ground to consumers who will otherwise destroy your bottom line.  Create the appearance of a loophole in your customer service policies ONLY at your own risk.  

Happy April Fool’s Day! Did I trick you?

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Posted in Influential Factors - Harmful, Why Bother with Customer Service

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