The truth about teams

Words: 447
Reading Time: 1 min. 29 sec.s

There is a lot of confused thinking about getting the best from teams. A good case in point is Duncan Brodie (http://goalsandachievements.com) who says:

“To get the best from a team you clearly have to bring out the best in each individual and get them all playing to their strengths.”

Only to say, just a few lines further on:

“The truth is that team success is largely down to a group of people who are committed to a common purpose and are willing to work collectively and support each other to get the result they desire.”

Setting aside whether you agree with either of these points, both cannot be true at the same time.

Bringing out the best in each individual is just a likely to give you a group of individuals, each pulling in a different direction, rather than a team.

Having a group of people committed to a common purpose and willing to work collectively to get the result they desire will give you a team, but will not necessarily bring out the best in each individual; that may need to be sacrificed to the common good.

Superior teams are most likely when the members share a common aspiration for the team rather than themselves and the team makes use of each individual’s strengths. That does not mean having the best individuals, since they may not place the team above themselves. It does involve each team member identifying moment to moment how the team as a whole can best deliver.

Sport is often chosen as an analogy for business, but business is rarely like that. Business is not about delivering at your peak for 48 minutes, 90 minutes, 20 overs or 5 days. It is about effective, appropriate effort delivered under all circumstances for months and years.

Business suggestions:
1) Be clear about the outcomes;
2) Be clear about how you will know if and when you have them;
3) Get buy-in from all members of the team;
4) No stigma should attach to not buying-in and being properly excluded;
5) No-one fails in a team, everyone takes responsibility;
6) Teams do not work automatically, they need work themselves;
7) Changing team members changes the whole team, earlier phases will need revisiting;
8) Ball-carriers and supporters change over time; make sure everyone knows who is who;
9) You need both ball-carriers and supports to succeed;
10) You cannot lead a team; either you are part of it, or you are not. Who leads at any one time will change with where the team has got to;
11) When the job is done celebrate the success and disband the team;
12) Different jobs need different teams.

Ability before age

Words: 418
Reading Time: 1 min. 24 sec.s

The whole idea of retirement is a recent by-product of the factory-led economy.

In societies before the industrial age there was no set age at which folk ceased to seen as productive. Only illness and infirmity might mean someone was supported by the community. Even then, their experience and wisdom was valued, so most individuals continued to contribute to the community in some way.

With the dawn of the factory age came the debilitating demand that everyone work at the same relentless pace. It was man as part of the machine. Anybody not able to match that pace was inevitably seen in the same way as a component that could no longer meet the burden place on it. At that point the component person was scrapped.

The idea of retirement has been largely sold and accepted as the just reward for years of toil at a thankless task. Of course, it is no such thing. To industry retirement is simply preventive maintenance – get rid of the component as it approaches its MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure).

The fact that ageism persists in the workplace, even when the task is not physically demanding and would benefit from long experience, just shows how deeply engrained this paradigm has become. Few even think about it anymore; it's received wisdom.

65 years old? Finished - get an apprentice in for a fraction of the cost.

Fortunately, for those of us running our own businesses, there is no fixed point at which we absolutely must stop enjoying ourselves and go sit in an armchair. This is one of the many points where small business will always triumph over big business. We can favour ourselves and our customers, rather than favouring the insentient corporation.

If business in general could learn to recognize ability instead of age, ability instead of favouritism, ability instead of appearance, ability combined with attitude, it would gain immeasurably. And that applies at both ends of a working life; but I’m not holding my breath.

For those who are listening, there are a number of things you could do.

Business suggestions:
1) Scrap any fixed age for retirement;
2) Reward contribution rather than length of service;
3) Recognize the value experience has;
4) Make sure experience does not hinder innovation;
5) Reconnect with the talent you’ve scrapped;
6) Check that people enjoy, rather than endure, what you ask them to do;
7) A business is only as good as the people who are part of it;8) There is no functioning business without people.

Close encounters of the third kind

Words: 311
Reading Time: 1 minute 2 seconds

What is it that brings out the volunteer in us?

There are 10 million openings for volunteers in what is known as the third sector. And the number of voluntary organizations in the UK is staggering. Such organizations are found across the spectrum from healthcare to book clubs, sports to crisis support.

Whatever help you need there is almost certainly a voluntary group out there somewhere that can help you. I even came across one that helped third sector organization tender for funding.

There are even clubs for particular makes of car peopled by enthusiasts, like the MG Owners Club.

Specific software – such as accounting packages – will often have users groups, some supported by the vendor, to provide mutual assistance and lobby for changes and improvements.

How cool is that; people getting together in organized groups to help you do a better job of marketing your product. It has to be a gathering of Raving Fans, or they would have already voted with their wallets and gone elsewhere.

When people get together in support of a cause they are expressing passion. They can also leave themselves open to accusations of merely serving their own ends, special pleading, nimbyism and being obsessed.

Well, sometimes that’s what it takes to change things and change starts with just one person being ready to step forward and be counted. That’s an energy and commitment that can be used in all aspects of life and business.

Business suggestions:
1) Encourage complaints – it shows people care;
2) Publish both good and back feedback on your website – it shows openness;
3) Form and support a user group – and then listen;
4) Don’t survey customers, it’s cold and impersonal – talk to them;
5) If there are voluntary groups around your industry, then join them and contribute to the energy;
6) If there are no voluntary groups, then start one.

Elephants traps ahead

Words: 362
Reading Time: 1 minute 12 seconds

What do a British oil company, an American bank and a Japanese car maker all have in common? Rob Cox on Reuters’ Breakingviews.com believes there is no link. I disagree.

BP, Goldman Sachs and Toyota are linked by a common failure of corporate governance. They did the saving-cost-at-all-costs thing instead of doing-the-right-thing-no-matter-what-the-cost thing.

Johnson & Johnson’s handling of the Tylenol recall in 1982 is a good case study for how to minimize damage to brand and reputation.

The painkiller was recalled when seven people died in Chicago after taking capsules of Tylenol laced with cyanide. At the time it was thought the brand would not recover from the sabotage. However, an extensive product recall followed by a media campaign and the introduction of tamper-proof packaging saw Tylenol return to the market within two months.

Johnson & Johnson handled it so well they were able to enhance their reputation.

BP, Goldman Sachs and Toyota have all made themselves look even more guilty by blaming others, denying any culpability and doing too little, too late.

Any company facing irate members of the public, customers or the press has got to speak openly, candidly and forthrightly to its customers and the wider public about what has happened and what they intend to do to put it right. And a genuine apology is the first place to start.

People recognize that mistakes are made and that CEOs cannot be everywhere all the time. They appreciate being kept in the loop about what’s happening and when things will return to normal. This isn’t the time for corporate deception; it’s the time for common decency.

It is also time to wonder how we have produced a generation of so-called business leaders who seem to have no moral standards and a generation of workers who go along with things they know to be wrong.

The fact that business schools see fit to include modules on ethics as part of MBA courses is probably symptomatic. Some MBA students are even being asked to take “ethics oaths”. But if anybody can reach 21+ years of age and still not know right from wrong, then a classroom course is unlikely to help.

The power of other people

Words: 399
Reading Time: 1 minute 20 seconds

Out of the blue I was recommended and signed up 25% of the people present as a result.

I was one of a small group of people – all looking to sell their services, all looking to make connections with other businesses. The organizer commended my 60 seconds of introduction and suggested that, if others had problems with speaking, then I was the person to talk to. I was part of the international speaking group, Toastmasters, and I could certainly help.

When the meeting broke up I was handed business cards by people requesting details of when and where the next meeting of Toastmasters would be and enquiring about how it all worked.

I mention this as a concrete example of the selling power of 3rd party testimonials. This one was unsolicited, but solicited or unsolicited they are astonishing in their persuasive powers. And when the 3rd party knows and trusts the person offering the endorsement, it is even more effective in promoting patronage.

So often it is not just who you know, but who is known by the people you know.

Earlier in the week I had the pleasure of talking to an Event Organizer. She had noticed that the money she spent on press advertising and direct mail was returning very little. She said her main route to market was recommendations from satisfied clients.

I asked how she went about encouraging such recommendations. She looked puzzled.

Well, did she provide commission payments where appropriate; did she buy them a case of wine, a bottle of decent champagne, or a large bouquet; did she at least send a thank you note?

Er…no.

I left her with the thought that some of that unproductive advertising spend could usefully be diverted towards a form of marketing that was actually working for her.

Will she make the change? I don’t know, but the seed has been planted.

Business suggestions:
1) When marketing, discover which channels work;
2) Divert money from non-productive to productive channels;
3) Explore other, new and different channels with the rest of the money;
4) Recognize and reward – where appropriate – recommendations that generate business;
5) Your best customers are your best (payment-by-results) sales force;
6) Ask for testimonials at every opportunity; they are rarely refused;
7) Make sure that the testimonials are heard and seen by as many other people as possible;
8) Endorsements are good for the ego.

Inconvenient dialogues

Words: 421
Reading Time: 1 minute 24 seconds

An appointment is an arrangement to meet at a specific time and place.

Now, to my way of thinking, that involves two or more people agreeing to a date, a time and a rendezvous. However, certain parts of our wonderful NHS continue to send out letters claiming that an appointment has been made without first talking with the person involved.

They then post large and irritating notices in their clinics and waiting rooms that announce how many appointments patients have failed to keep in the last month, or the last year.

There is no breakdown detailing how many such broken “appointments” were unilaterally decreed by the NHS.

If I was running a restaurant and sent you an “appointment” for coffee and croissants at 8.30 a.m. on the 25th without your agreement I could hardly blame you if you decided not to come.

Why does the NHS think it is so different?

Perhaps the NHS believes our health would naturally be our primary concern. Indeed, in a recent poll it was placed first, ahead of wealth and happiness. However, on a day-to-day basis it often ranks lower than that.

If someone close to us is unwell we may postpone seeking treatment for a minor ailment of our own. Some people put off seeing the doctor, fearing the possible diagnosis. Others struggle into work despite being ill. So, clearly, health does not rank No.1 in all circumstances.

Those “broken” appointments may have been sent to someone who is out of the country, unable to read, otherwise incapacitated, or dead. How would the NHS know without trying to speak with the person in order to agree – rather than decree – an appointment?

Having a dialogue before setting a date and time would probably cost less in time and money than the all the subsequent rescheduling and the unused resources resulting from non-attendance.

Of course, the NHS is not alone in taking a cavalier and high-handed attitude. Too often businesses blame unreasonable and uncooperative prospects and clients instead of looking for the root cause of discrimination and displeasure. Too often the approach is ‘don’t bother me with the facts, I prefer my prejudices.’

Everybody loses, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Business suggestions
1) Talk to your prospects and your clients;
2) Don’t blame the customer when things go wrong;
3) Uncover the facts instead of making assumptions;
4) Seek feedback from those who are not your customers as well as folks who are;
5) Ask ‘how do I?’ rather than ‘why?’ – it’s forward looking and much more productive.

The future is not the past

Words: 314
Reading Time: 1 minute 3 seconds

The Japanese have just returned a deep space probe to Earth carrying asteroid dust. They hope it will indicate something more about the origins of the universe.

It’s fascinating stuff. As humans we seem to have an abiding interest in origins. Most young children eventually ask, “Where did I come from?” In biological terms that can be difficult enough for a parent to answer; in philosophical terms it’s extremely profound.

However, too often origins are felt to be deterministic – not only by us, but also by others. If we were born among plumbers and electricians, then we think we cannot be an academic. If a person was born in a deprived area, or of rich parents, then they are characterized in a certain way.

In business this type of think is widespread, but extremely restrictive.

Those that start out as employees rarely see themselves as entrepreneurs – until redundancy forces them into a rethink.

Businesses that start out as caterers can find it difficult to branch out into computer software. Their competence is doubted since this is not seen as their “core” business.

Why is it, that what we start with is always considered “core” rather than convenient, or circumstantial?

Even in ecological and environmental terms we know that the future of planet Earth is not the past endlessly replayed. We are no different except that, as self-determined individuals, we can decide in which direction we wish to change and do it much faster.

But we need to get out of our own way.

Business suggestions:
1) Re-examine what you do – is that what really interests you?
2) Re-examine the way that you do it – is that the best you have to offer?
3) Re-examine those you work with – what else are they capable of?
4) Re-examine those you do not work with – what are you missing?

As Richard Bandler once said: “Why be yourself when you can be someone so much better?”

The value of a free gift

Words: 295
Reading Time: 0 minute 59 seconds

To be of value a free gift need not cost you very much, or anything at all, but it must have some value to the recipient. If it does not have this quality then it will be seen as worthless – or worse – whatever it may have cost you.

A very knight of this soft and sea-girt isle is seeking to develop some land close to where I live. As part of the “planning gain” he is obliged to offer he proposes donating land to the local primary school. However, the amount of extra land the school gets will still leave it below the minimum area deemed necessary for a school of that size.

From the school’s viewpoint the offer is seen as minimalist and mean-spirited. Moreover, it undermines their case with the local education authority for greater facilities, because their shortfall would be marginally less. If they accepted the gift they would actually be worse off.

This is clearly a case where the giver of the gift has completely failed to see it from the other side of the table. The gift is a poisoned chalice. It neither recognizes, nor solves the school’s problem.

And the giver has also damaged his own image instead of enhancing it. Rather than painting a picture of someone generous, open-handed and willing to contribute to village life, he comes across as a typical Scrooge; self-interested and miserly.

It’s marketing myopia all over again.

Business suggestions, for him as well as others:
1) Find out what the recipients value, do not just assume;
2) Connect the dots by showing how it feeds their dreams;
3) Make it freely available; do not impose pre-conditions;
4) The gift will change the relationship, make sure it’s to your benefit;
5) Go the extra mile; it’s not that far.

Tomorrow is another country

Words: 217
Reading Time: 0 minute 43 seconds

All around me are preparations for the first England match in the World Cup. Whatever you may think of football – or of the England team - enormous enthusiasm is being exhibited nationwide. When we consider the record of the England team delivering against such expectations, I begin to wonder why such raving fans exist.

I believe the most likely explanation is that – once again – they have been sold, not the reality of past results, but the dream of future glory. This is not the past all-over-again; this is new territory, the dynamics are different; the possibility exists. It is hope-against-hope time and an excuse, among some, for a party.

And then there is the loyal cognoscenti who would enthuse whatever the circumstances – either for football in general, or for the England team in particular – although they are probably a minority.

What are the implications for business?

I would suggest the following lessons:
1) Don’t ignore your loyal fan base, they will keep you going through tough times;
2) Find out why your prospective supporters should care;
3) Sell the future for your customers, not the products' past;
4) Dreams overpower reality.

If business recognized and realized the way their potential supporters think, they would have many more enthusiastic aficionados and a very different tomorrow. Computer firm Apple is the classic example.

Making a change

Words: 329
Reading Time: 1 minute 5 seconds

Today I came across a solution to an issue that has been facing me for a while, but has been unresolved until now.

Some while ago I made a decision to write a book on business in conjunction with a business partner. Both of us made a start, both of us are well-intentioned, but neither of us has consistently put in the work needed. Consequently, the timetable has slipped and continues to slip.

I took on yet another suggestion, just this week, which involves simultaneously writing a second book. This one will be a simple guide to finding material for speeches, writing and delivering them.

I am anticipating both books being stalled in the starting gate. I know I can write at the office. I also know I do not write at the office.

Sometimes these things are about the person; sometimes they are about the situation. Whichever it is, something – often just one thing – has to change to make a difference. For me it was the offer of a very economical hot-desk at a close and convenient location.

There I have a bare desk, bare walls, fast internet access if I want it and free tea and coffee. Here I can go with just one mission: to write. This will be my writing space. I will do nothing else there. And if it is not the solution that I think it is I will have lost very little.

If I sound pleased with myself, it’s because I am.

As I a business coach I have clients that also recognize the need for a change, but fail to find it. I will now have a story to tell that they can work with to move on and develop their own version of my hot desk.

Suggestions:
1) If what you are doing isn’t working, then stop;
2) Make a change, any change;
3) Test to see if the change has brought an improvement;
4) If not, return to 1).

Are we receiving you?

Words: 300
Reading Time: 1 minute 00 seconds

What message is conveyed by your advertising?

It sounds almost a banal question. Obviously we just read the text, look at the images and voilà we all understand exactly what you mean and we all relate to what you are saying.

If only it were that simple.

There is a large Wells and Young’s warehouse on the A421 that I pass quite often. I noticed yesterday morning that it had several large banners on the outside of the building proclaiming that it was “Pubco of the Year!”

I thought Wells and Young’s were a brewing company. If you go to their website you will find them described as the largest private brewing company in the UK with some of the UK's most loved cask beers and specialty lager brands.

Pubco.s are organizations that are really only interested in the property side of things, are widely condemned for their thoughtlessness and ruthless attitude to their exploited tenants and who have closed down more pubs in recent years in pursuit of a quick buck than anything attributed to the smoking ban.

So why would a brewer want to be associated with such an image – even in passing?

Are Wells and Young’s a respected brewer of fine beers, or just a landlord with their main focus on redevelopment?

Clearly, I’m confused. It's the usual error - thinking others know what we know and therefore what we mean. Unfortunately, the implication is that ALL their marketing spend has gone to waste where I am concerned. How many more are there like me?

Suggestions for all marketeers:
1) Decide on the message;
2) Keep it consistent across all platforms and media;
3) Walk the talk;
4) Check that the message you think you are sending is the one being heard by your audience;
5) Be ready to change what isn’t working.

Look before you leap

Words: 350
Reading Time: 1 minute 10 seconds

Imposing financial penalties if patients are readmitted as an emergency within 30 days of being discharged is the latest wheeze from new Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, part of a Government anxious to impress.

His heart might be in the right place, but his head is reported missing.

That’s the problem when we are driven to do things that we think look good, without taking the time to examine the possible consequences from all sides. In my view there is an obligation on all novices to learn a little about their new role before changing anything – at least three months.

Not doing so can so easily lead on to unintended consequences. In this case:

Planned Outcome: no patients will be discharged until they are fully ready.

Likely Outcome: hospitals will find every conceivable reason not readmit until day 31, resulting in more patients suffering and a decline in timely, responsive treatment.

Nice one, Andrew!

To be charitable to Mr. Lansley: what brainless cretin from Central Office came up with this one?

In any walk of life you will deter the actions you penalize effectively. Those working in the NHS are as self-interested as any of us. Indeed, parts of the NHS are still run more in the interests of staff than of patients – witness the issue of ‘appointment’ times without consultation.

How can it be an appointment if only one party has taken part in the decision? But I digress.

The reverse of the penalization medal is that you encourage all actions – however deleterious – that you do not punish. It’s this aspect that opens the gates to the Law of Unintended Consequences.

A few suggestions for businesses:
1) Penalties only dictate what NOT to do, rather than promoting the specific actions you want. Start with the end in mind.
2) Start earlier in the chain of causation – like shortening in-patient time to speed up admissions – before attempting to stem the outcomes.
3) Just because your mate has jumped off a cliff (this policy originates with the Obama administration) does not mean you have to follow either his lead, or that of the crowd, blindly.

Imitate the animals

Words: 172
Reading Time: 0 minute 35 seconds

Combining boundless joy, unconfined enthusiasm and sheer joie de vivre seems to be a full time occupation for my two Labradors as I watch them race away on their morning run. If some of my clients could only harness a fraction of that energy and go-for-it mentality in their businesses they would be a lot further ahead than they are now.

That’s true not only of my select clients, but of business in general.

And such cheerful exuberance about life in general and business in particular is infectious.

What if you greeted each day in this way?

What if you greeted each client this way?

And if you think your particular business, or your particular situation, is too serious to be viewed in this way – what are you saying? That your heart is not in it? That it no longer fires you up each morning? That prospects no longer engage you and clients are no longer like respected friends?

Then what are you doing here?

Live a lot – live like a Labrador.

Marketing aspects of the grocery hunt

Words: 445
Reading Time: 1 minute 29 seconds

Suddenly you can’t find your favoured brand of breakfast muesli? Of course not; it’s deliberately been moved to confuse you. The conventional wisdom used by the non-thinkers that run supermarkets is that moving products around to confuse customers has a tendency to increase sales.

Thus it is that eventually I found cling film with the pet food this week; kitchen towels in the “seasonal” aisle and chilled puff pastry next to the butter. Where else?

The trouble with the way this rule has evolved is that there is no effective control group. It is impossible to have two stores on the same site at the same time, one relocating goods, the other not, to give any true comparison.

So sales go up on the confusingly located product, or the one that took its place – would they have done so anyway? There is no way of knowing. And what about related products sales; how have they been affected? Brainless in marketing has no idea because what constitutes a related product is peculiar to each shopper.

This received dogma, this unexamined conformance to an out-of-date rule ignores some basic commonsense contrary indicators:
1) If this rule is so great at increasing sales, why are all the soup tins together? Why not put some with the cereals, some with the cakes and some with the soap powders? Why not simply throw all the products onto the shelves in a totally random and haphazard manner? That would really bump up the volumes – not.
2) Familiarity increases spending. I personally spend more in stores where I feel more comfortable and less threatened by the child-level psychology in use and for which, I suppose, the retailer pays handsomely.
3) Confused customers become frustrated customers. They will take out their aggression on your staff, leading to higher staff turnover. Confused customers will also give up the hunt, even abandoning goods they have already put into the trolley, and go elsewhere. Total sales go down.

Sometimes stuff has to be moved around for good reasons of space and changes in product mix. We know that. In which case:
1) Provided handy, current, printed store guides at the entrances, so that we can still find stuff;
2) Make the aisle signs reflect what is on the shelves – or simply take them down;
3) Place a bright, eye-catching (you know how to do that) re-direct label on the shelf-edge at the old location, directing us to the new location.

Isn’t it about time our retailers stopped treating us – their customers – as dim-witted cattle and accorded us a little respect?

It would certainly improve their image among the general population.

What would that do for sales?

Packaging should be a pushover

Words: 420
Reading Time: 1 minute 24 seconds

Blister packaging, particularly around small products like pills, is a frequently recurring source of exasperation to me. I am glad to find I am not alone.

According to a British study, over 60,000 people receive hospital treatment each year due to injuries from opening food packaging. When you add in similar injuries from opening packages on products other than food – including medicines themselves – then the cost to the British taxpayer is staggering.

In 2003 the Daily Telegraph coined the term “wrap rage” for this ingredient of consumer anger and disgust, but the march to encase everything on the planet in plastic seems relentless.

Sometimes regulations dictate that some OTC drugs have tamper resistance to deter people opening them in the shop; other regulations are aimed at child-resistance as an adjunct to health and safety. But these are a minority of cases.

Frequently packages are intentionally made difficult to open to reduce pilfering and shoplifting. Hard plastic clamshell packs also protect products while they are being shipped. This is more about saving the retailer and the manufacturer money. There is no element of either healthy and safety, or consumer interest.

There are many possible solutions to allow easy access to package contents and many products that simply do not warrant blister packs. Pills where there is no place for day-labelling is a good example. If vitamins can come in a single, tamper-proof pot, why not these too?

However, this relies entirely on the goodwill and commercial interests of manufacturers and retailers. I cannot recall a single instance of a product moving from blister packaging to some other form of container.

And how many service companies also make product-access equally difficult in less obvious, but equally deleterious ways? Unanswered calls, limited availability, poor tenders, untailored offerings – the list goes on.

In many cases use of blister packs is a result of a we’re-here-because-we’re-here-because-we’re here mentality. Everybody does it in this industry. It’s standard practice.

The sound of minds clanging shut is deafening.

Why change? Here are three good reasons:
1) The first in any product field to break ranks and make life easier for consumers will clean the plates of their competitors;
2) An increasing percentage of the population is among those who have great purchasing power, but suffer disproportionately from this problem – the grey vote;
3) Not removing an adverse experience at the point of consumption, when there is ample opportunity and advantage in doing so, is simply bad for business – and you are supposed to be in business, aren’t you?

Judging by appearances

Words: 373 Reading Time: 1 minute 14 seconds

Seeing the sun and feeling the warmth of early summer – finally – is very welcome. And being this early in the season means both men and women are wearing clothes that expose more, but before developing that attractive, but all-too-brief tan. This is the period of product enhancement.

If you are searching for a mate, now is the time to judge appearance.

While appearance is only one factor in a relationship, it is often where a relationship starts. That’s true whether the ‘relationship’ in question is with a product, or a person. That’s why the car industry spends a shed load of money on design, why companies like Apple obsess about it and why fake spray-on tans sell a bundle.

So why judge now?

Because now is when you get to see what will only be temporarily enhanced later with the benefit of tanning. Now you can judge the basic, underlying qualities of the pallid ‘product offering’ without being seduced by the shallow surface sheen.

Businesses could make a useful change to the way they operate in just the same fashion:
- By engaging with new companies as they begin to grow you can influence the way they develop and the level of service you receive;
- By engaging early on with new products you can help determine the features and benefits of the finished item to your own advantage;
- By taking on young employees, not only do you invite fresh thinking and enthusiasm untrammelled by unfortunate experiences elsewhere, you are also in a prime position to train them the way you would prefer.

Early adoption has its risks – but they are demonstrably no greater than those inherent in the typical wait-and-see strategy that misses boats and has expensive catch-up consequences, or the head-in-the-sand posture so tempting to all your competitors.

Early exposure also works for new companies, new products and new employees. The sooner you can get external feedback and outside input, the sooner the rough corners are smoothed out and the true value recognized. Waiting for ‘just the right time’, or ‘one more improvement’, or ‘the perfect opportunity’ risks being still stuck in the starting blocks when the race is already over.

Plough a new furrow. In business you do not even have to wait for the sun.

Getting better & better – not

Words: 449 Reading Time: 1 minute 30 seconds

My nearest Sainsbury’s has a number of large, temporary signs outside proudly declaring that “We are improving your car park”. Let me disabuse them.

It is true that various pieces of construction and earth-moving equipment are trundling about, making an uncommon mess and changing the car park’s configuration. But it is not my car park. It is their car park and they would not be “improving” it if they did not expect solid payback as a result.

Of all the things I would have changed about this Sainsbury’s, it would not have been the car park.

1. The store is quite small, so I would have made it larger.

2. I have yet to see all checkouts staffed all at the same time – even the busiest of times – so I would have changed that.

3. And they are routinely out of routine items, so I would have worked on “improving” that.

None of this has been done.

I am a regular shopper at this site. Was I ever asked what I would like “improved”; even once?

Umm, no.

This is Sainsbury’s idea, so naturally the improvement is angled towards their priorities, rather than mine. It does not seem to have occurred to them that by addressing what the customers want their expected return might be even bigger that the one they have calculated.

Sadly, Sainsbury’s are not alone in this propensity by the big battalions to portray their selfish decisions as being in “our” interests by deliberately false or misleading statements.

1. The repeated message put out by the BBC (taxpayers’ money!) that DAB is wonderful and will make life better for everyone has long been discredited, but they continue to pump out the propaganda at everyone else’s expense.

2. ‘Because you’re worth it’ – which, if the company really believed its own publicity, would result in them giving you the product without charge.

3. And ‘Delays Possible’ before major motorway works that run for miles without a sign of any activity by man or machine. The arbitrarily imposed lower speed limit means that delays are not just possible, they are inevitable, because whatever hour of the day or night I pass through I cannot drive at the speed customary for that stretch of road.

The less sceptical among us may be drawn in by these blatant falsehoods; the rest of us grow weary as our delicious language is hijacked in the service of mammon.

With our words we tell our stories and through our stories we sell ourselves and what we offer. How are we to do that if the words no longer say what they mean? We cannot mangle the moving parts and still expect a functioning mechanism.

Change & Uncertainty

Words: 288 Reading Time: 0 minutes 57 seconds

The old saying used to be that only two things were certain in this life – death and taxes. Over recent years a third element has been added – that of change. Indeed, change is now so often trumpeted as a constant that it has become a mere cliché.

However, I am not so sure.

Einstein, in proposing the General Theory of Relativity, reflexively dropped into his equations something called the cosmological constant, which arbitrarily offset the effects of gravity. He later called it “the biggest blunder of my life”.

Are we about to make a similar error where change is concerned?

When assessing the nature of change we quickly recognize that while change may always be with us, it is no constant. Change happens at different speeds, in different directions, at different times, in different places and in different ways. In fact, the one thing about change is uncertainty. In which case, how can we pretend that it is a constant?

Unless we accept the unknown nature of change we may find ourselves expecting a large shift in circumstances, say, economic recovery, that actually unfolds only slowly. We may anticipate a fast payback on an advertising campaign that turns out to be a slow-burn. We may bet the balance sheet on our latest product going unremarked by the competition, when the opposite proves to be true.

In no way does change appear to have the same degree of certainty as death and taxes where the end results are well known and totally predictable (death and less disposable income).

Mind you, the advent of dark matter and dark energy may mean Einstein was right after all. So we may not understand as much about change as we think we do.

Rules and Reality

Words: 404 Reading time: 1 min 21 sec

This morning I made the mistake of stopping for fuel, southbound on the A1, at Astwick. Clearly, it was simply not convenient for the staff on duty at the time. Having replenished the tank I went to make my payment. I was the only customer. And I had to wait.

It was much more important that the surplus cash in the till be counted while I stood and watched. It was very important that the notes all be the same way round, that notes of the same denomination be kept together and that they all be rolled tightly into a small sheaf and secured with an elastic band. Then they had to be securely stored.

If you are losing the will to live at this point, so was I. But there I was, pinned in place by my obligation to pay for the fuel I had put into my tank, while any obligation they had to serve their customers was blithely ignored.

There was a second person behind the counter. It was apparently paramount that she restock the shelves for possible future customers, rather than serve those already present. I can see the short-term logic. I had already committed myself to my purchase. There was no practical way to avoid paying. Perhaps, in her mind, potential future revenue was more important than past revenue.

Next time an Area Manager drops by he or she will see a tidy, well-stocked, well-organized filling station. In all probability the folks behind the counter will get a pat on the back for a job well done – for following rules and regulations about what makes for a well-run site. What the Area Manager will not see is a forecourt crammed with raving fans. The sadness here is that those fans will not be missed, because the measures are all wrong.

Here we have an organization almost completely inner-focused. It has decided for itself what is good, what is acceptable, what people should want and it has put in all the procedures to deliver just that. Wonderful; meanwhile the world outside goes on.

It will come as no surprise to learn that the company in question is BP. The same BP that hired Transworld to do the drilling and still believes that is sufficient to excuse them from the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.