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AN APPETITE FOR APPS

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The iPhone is the most popular smartphone in many countries. One of the reasons for that success is the availability of many, many useful applications (apps) in the Apple store. An app is software, which is to be used on your iPhone only, The crucial difference with any other software is the ease of use, the focused functionality and the price. Above all, the customer needs are truly at the center of every app.   Traditional software vendors should learn from the success of these apps. So many users buy now apps, who didn’t buy much software for their pc earlier. A great example is the “Appie”.   I know for the moment it is only available in The Netherlands, but I am sure that its success will drive international implementation. The Appie is an app from Albert Heijn, one of the largest supermarkets in the world. Basically Appie helps me with my shopping, as I can see the special offers of the week, read product info and build my shopping list. One of the most useful features

WHY ARE SMART WORKING AND INNOVATIONS GOOD PARTNERS?

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EIM did a large research (650 companies) into the effects of smart working in the Dutch SME market. Companies who invested in smart working have on average: -        16% higher growth in results -        9% higher growth in productivity -        8% higher growth in revenue -        5% higher growth in employment They define smart working as innovation, which is targeted, at organizations and employees. Using the potential of your employees -        How do you use their strengths? -        How do you effectively use their knowledge? -        How do you involve them in the growth of your organization? -        Which employment conditions are best suited? Having efficient processes in place -        How to streamline your processes? -        How do you effectively assign the work to de done? -        What are suited workplaces and working hours? -        Which management style is best suited? Smart working encompasses new management styles, new ways of organizing

GREEN SERVICES REQUIRE A CHANGE OF BEHAVIORS

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Last week in Copenhagen I attended a side event in the Climate Change Conference (COP15). The topic was the importance of growing the service industries. There were two presentations from the hotel business and two presentations from the ICT business. One hotel presented their efforts to be carbon neutral, which is a huge success in itself. They also were very good in keeping their employees engaged throughout the whole process. I do think that this is the key to their success. The frontline employees are really their ambassadors for the services that they deliver. Much of what they did was internally focused. There is still a big opportunity in translating this greening of the business into great customer experiences. They had plans to buy electric cars. But what about picking up your customers from the airport with these electric cars? Or giving them these electric cars in the city? They also explained the Green Key program. Although this is a fine program in itself, but what do

CUSTOMER (SERVICE) IS KING

I just finished reading the book Trust Agents from Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Obviously it is a must read for everyone in the business world. When I reflected on the content I had some kind of epiphany. Most corporations and organizations do think that when the crisis is over that they will return to the previous state of ‘business- as-usual’. We just have to focus on some more cost cutting and then we will be good for the next phase. Not much will change. By doing that they make a big mistake! The world is changing structurally and it will not return to the old habits and patterns again. For a long time the large corporations determined what we  –the customer-  should buy or do. “They knew what was good for us’. They invented push marketing strategies for that. Although the saying is that the customer is king, it never really was. The customer was king as long as it suited their way of doing business. That has changed significantly with the possibilities of the Web and so

COMMAND & CONTROL: INNOVATION NEEDED!

Many executives have the command & control management style. That is the dominant style which they have learned (and copied) from their bosses and that is the style with which they grew up in the organization. Although many would say that they are not applying that style, the day-to-day practice proves otherwise. That is quite natural. In times of a crisis we fall back to the behavior with which we are most comfortable. However, both command and control are totally not working anymore in the modern workplace. Most workers are knowledge workers, so it is an illusion that a leader or manager can tell them what to do and in what way. With the rapidly changing markets and the huge amount of information available, it is even hard for the experts to stay up to date on a certain subject. So, it would be wise to develop a more coaching oriented leadership style, which is much more suited for the knowledge workers in your organization. Alan Webber in his book Rules of Thumb says

HOW TO GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS-AS-USUAL TRAP.

 One of the main constraints that managers and executives face is time and related to that priority. The day-to-day business and its challenges, small fires and other problems are consuming all their energy and time. They are always so busy and their agenda’s are fully booked. There is hardly any time left to get lunch or even to go to the bathroom. These time constraints prevent you also from having new ideas and new perspectives. They do not take time to detach, to reflect or to use others as sounding boards. Because of this behavior they are trapped in the trap of doing business in a way that it has been done for a long time. But.. Today’s changing environment requires a different approach and different perspectives. Otherwise you will not be the frontrunner, not even the survivor in your business. So, what is needed is to plan a fixed time of minimal one hour in your agenda, every week! This is your holy hour, this cannot be changed, not be touched. Please feel free to use

REFRESH YOUR BUSINESS PARTNERS

Most organizations do have a fix set of partners. They cover many area’s: -        Accountants -        Consultants -        Project managers -        Security -        Catering -        IT -        Telecoms -        Recruiters -        Coaches -        Advertising -        Etc The challenge for new potential partners is to be put on the preferred supplier-list. In many cases is Purchasing the owner of the list. This list tends to be rather static, i.e. it is hard to get on the list, but easy to stay on it. Given the urgent need for change and innovation, there is a problem with this practice. The longer these partners are on the list, the less they will have a fresh look. They become one with the existing culture and way of doing things. There is hardly any difference between the perspectives of partners and regular employees. Also these partners become less and less critical, as they are afraid to be excluded from the list. These longstanding partners are not very s

CHANGING? YOU FIRST……….!

 It is an open door to talk about all the change that is necessary and all the change programs that are work in process. However, there is also plenty of evidence (McKinsey, IBM) that the majority of the changes do not deliver the required results. There are two main reasons for this issue. most leaders think that their people (managers and employees) should change, but not themselves. And the (middle) managers and frontline workers think that they are okay, but that the leaders should change. Most change programs cover only the professional/business aspects of change. They forget the crucial aspect of personal/behavioral change. The solution is quite straight forward: change is non-discriminatory, everyone should be open to change and personal change is equally important as professional change. Remember ..... when you point your finger towards someone else, there are always three fingers pointing at yourself! Please find here an overview of the ProPer Chan

WHAT KIND OF INNOVATOR ARE YOU?

In the book ‘Old Masters and Young Geniuses’ by David Galenson there are two types of innovators researched. His analysis of the life cycles of creativity has considered painters, sculptors, poets, novelists and movie directors. It appears that creativity is not the exclusive domain of either theorists or empirists, nor are major innovations made exclusively by the young or old. Conceptual innovators   work deductively. They are most often the young geniuses, who revolutionize their disciplines early in their careers. Conceptual innovators state their ideas or emotions, often summarily and without hesitation. The central elements of conceptual innovators’ major contributions often arrive in brief moments of inspiration, and they can often be recorded and communicated quickly. A fundamental characteristic of conceptual innovators is certainty; most have great confidence in the validity and significance of their contributions, and this allows them to put forward dramatic new wor

HOW TO CLOSE THE CORPORATE GAP? BRIDGE BUILDERS NEEDED!

It looks like the gap, the divide is getting bigger instead of getting smaller. Which gap? Well, between on one hand the Corporate leaders and managers who are not open to change, who continue to do business as they have done for many years now and on the other hand mostly the consultants, bloggers and entrepreneurs who know that the 21 st century requires a new way of doing business. So, what is needed are bridge builders. People who can bridge the gap and thus connect the merits of both approaches. What is needed to be a great bridge builder? -        Focus on the strengths of both ways of doing business -        Communicate in a simple and clear way -        Explain the respective benefits -        Listen open minded -        Speak both ‘languages’ -        Look for the commonalities instead of for the differences -        Help to build new cultures and behaviors -        Be the examples Bridge builders are not a nice to have, they are urgently needed to close the

HIRING FOR AWESOMENESS OR FOR AVERAGENESS

Most recruiting companies list in their job requirements exactly what experience the candidate should bring. They prefer to hire someone who has done exactly the same job in another company, but in the same industry. They think that they play it safe in this way. When there is a fit, they think that there is hardly any risk, as the person has done that particular job before. However, this practice stimulates conformity and averageness. Once the new hire understands the way of working in his or her new company, they will quickly become complacent, risk avoiding and bored. There is no trigger to learn and develop new skills and knowledge. Also that person will not initiate complete new points of view. So, there is no professional as well as personal growth, both for the individual and for the company. This very competitive market requires another attitude. You need to differentiate your company to get and maintain customers. There is already too much averageness in the world, so

MARKET SAVVINESS IS CRUCIAL FOR A LEARNING ORGANIZATION

 On one hand it is clear that changes are speeding up, in business, technology, the market, legislation, demographics and so on. It is a challenge to keep up to date with all these new developments. On the other hand there is an increased focus on the inner workings of an organization. Most of the attention is directed towards restructuring, lay-offs and financial survival. This paradox creates even more challenges and thus tension. The more you focus internally, the more you miss threats as well as opportunities in the marketplace. Your internal, operational focus widens the gap with the frontrunners in your industry. If you want to be a frontrunner yourself, you have to make sure that your organization learns continuously from these external trends. And then you have to adapt yourself to these new learnings and conditions. Therefore it is crucial to build a team of explorers, who continuously monitor the market and propose changes for the internal way of working. It is like

LISTENING: THE FORGOTTEN BUSINESS SKILL

More and more we are busy, very busy. As a consequence we read and write quickly and superficially, because it seems that we are always in a hurry. When we have meetings with other people, we are also in a rush. We have difficulty in concentrating and paying attention to what the other person in trying to say. Our minds are thinking about the past (what happened before this meeting) and thinking about the future (what do we want the outcome to be of this meeting or even preparing for the next meeting). We are rarely in the now with our attention. Proper listening is an art. When we really master this art we can establish lasting relationships and faster achieve results. Why is this the case? The consequence of inappropriate listening is a lot of miscommunication, which consumes (a lot) more time and energy. So, what are some rules for proper listening? ·       Be open and receptive Questions prepared mentally before they are asked will disrupt the flow and not follow the intere

HOW TO ORGANIZE AN INTERNAL INNOVATION TEAM?

More and more organizations are becoming convinced that innovation is no longer a nuisance, but that it is the only way out of the misery. Once you have taken the decision the next step is to think about how you are going to organize that activity (if you haven’t done that already). There are four keys to organizing innovation: the driver This person is acting as an intrapreneur (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrapreneurship ). In addition to this (s)he should have quite a broad experience and background. And he should be able to act as a detached observer. This is necessary to make sure that his perspective is open and not biased. the sponsor This is the decision maker, who is a member of the Board. He should be the man who can assign budgets and resources. He is an active evangelist of the innovation itself. He should make sure that no operational priorities impact the progress of the project(s). the space Innovation can only become a success when there is no oper

(UN)PROFESSIONAL SERVICE IMPACTS YOUR BRAND

Last week my Internet connection was not working, so I called the helpdesk of my ISP (internet service provider).  This ISP has a brand image of providing high quality services and they are #1 in customer satisfaction survey for many years. When I called they already had a message recorded which said that due to maintenance problems some of the servers were not working. It also said that the waiting time in the queue is 12 minutes. So, I was happy that it was at least a known problem. After 25 minutes I finally got through and the person checked my zip code and could see that I was also impacted. Well, it is always nice that they confirm what you already experienced… Then he said that he would send a request to the telecoms department to put me on another server. My problem should be fixed within 1,5 hours, al least that was his guess. After 1,5 hours I tried again, but no Internet connection. I waited and tried again and again, but no results. This experience did no good for my custo

INNOVATION AND CONTINUOUS LEARNING ARE INSEPARABLE

The enormous amount of change requires an almost equal speed in learning. Changes are in so many areas like new technologies, new government guidelines, global markets or social media/networking. Also it is crucial to not only check your competition and your customers, but also noncustomers (if you are interested in creating blue oceans…). Fortunately there is so much knowledge available on or via the internet. However you need time as well as a willingness to learn! Most executives are so busy that they don't plan any 'learning time'. Firefighting keeps them away from working on the business. Somewhere there is an inner voice which says “you should learn ..” but that voice rarely wins. To silence that voice some buy books.  I have been in many rooms of senior manager and they all have a bookcase in it. But most of these books are not read........ Maybe they might even think that they don’t need to learn, as they are already up to date. Well that might be true f

HOW TO STIMULATE IDEAS

In earlier posts I did mention the importance of using your own employees as a valuable source of new ideas. They can for instance come up with ideas for new offerings based upon changed customer needs, and also ideas how to speed up internal processes. How can you stimulate ideas? 1. In order to create an environment where ideas will flourish, the management needs to build and gain trust.. 2. They will only bring their ideas forward when they have the feeling and the experience that their ideas are taken seriously. 3. Never ‘punish ‘people for their ideas, even if they are not appropriate. 4. Give credit for ideas. The most important form of credit is verbal recognition of the valuable contribution. 5. Give support to get the ideas implemented. Support can be sponsorship and/or money and/or resources. 6. Do not force people to give more ideas. If the environment is positive and enthusiastic, people will automatically come up with ideas. 7. Always give feedback. 8. Be honest. 9. Contro

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO CHANGE AND/OR INNOVATE

It was Anthony Robbins who said that people would only change through pleasure or through pain. Pain is the strongest trigger of these two. This is the case at the personal as well as on the organizational level. An organization is a collection of human beings who share a common purpose. An organization is nothing without its people. So, what triggers an organization to change is the same as what triggers you and me. The only thing, which causes real change in an organization, is the change of the people (leaders and employees). Currently there is a lot of pain in organizations. This pain causes stress and stress is a signal that you have to change something in the way you are working/managing etcetera. You might be surprised that I think this is good, this is a moment that you should cherish as it helps you to use these obstacles to really grow you and your organization to the next level. To get started it is very useful to describe the pain and your feelings associated with it. The d