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- A craving for a sense of personal importance
- A fear or dread of loss
- A desire for minimal effort or investment for maximum gain or success.
- Experience
- Reflection
- Action
- Relationships
- Trust
- Execution
- Results
10 Key Strategies to Get Motivated
August 8th, 2010
Sometimes motivation is a problem. It’s hard to get going. To get inspired. Especially when there is an overabundance of negative news or negativity in your work environment.
What to do?
When the problem is motivation, you need some time-tested tools to help you get going. Here are 10 key strategies for motivation I have found helpful:
1. See the end in mind.
You need to know when you’re done and you need to know what good looks like. You might not have the perfect map, but at least know your destination. Be able to see it in your mind’s eye. A good test is if you can draw your vision or quickly tell others what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s easier to keep going when you can see the finish line. It’s also easier to keep going if you like where you’re going. You can correct course easier if you know you’re getting closer or further to your destination.
2. Make it meaningful.
Have a purpose. Having a compelling purpose is a key to driving results. Sometimes, it’s as simple as redefining your purpose because your original purpose isn’t working. Use the right metaphor. Frame it in a compelling way. Redefine it. Is it a mountain or a molehill? Are you on a mission? Sometimes all it takes is the right emotional picture word to give new meaning to your activity.
3. Use pain and pleasure to get leverage on yourself.
Make it painful to not do it. Make it pleasurable to do it. Find a way to enjoy it. It’s not discipline. It’s passion. It’s not about militant discipline—it’s about finding ways to enjoy the things that are good for you. Link it to pleasure. Change how you feel about the stuff you do. Don’t assume you’ll automatically like something over time. Reward yourself in the moment. Learn to like it. One of the simplest ways to enjoy it is switching your mindset. Master your craft. Make it a game. Use selective intolerance. Spend more time with your catalysts and avoid the drains. This means avoiding draining activities and spending less time with people that take your energy away. Instead, spend your time in activities that make you stronger. Spend time with people that give you energy. Play to your strengths. Follow your passions.
4. Master self-discipline.
Flex your self-discipline muscles. Some things are a trade … pay me now or pay me later. Self-discipline is often about trading pleasure now for pleasing results later. Make resistance your friend. Don’t let resistance defeat you. Make resistance your friend. It makes you stronger. It just has to be the right resistance. If you know you’re growing, it’s easier to keep going.
5. Make it a routine.
It’s not discipline. It’s routine.Don’t make yourself work too hard each time.
Use checklists to improve.
Focus on the learning.
Master your craft.
Bootstrap your routines.
6. Set boundaries.
Set a quota. You can limit the amount you do. Use timeboxing and timeboxes. You can use time boundaries to limit or compartmentalize pain. For example, let’s say you have a bunch of activities that drain you. Consolidate and batch them for an hour in the morning to get them out of the way. You can also use timeboxes to sprint for short bursts. Fix time for eating, sleeping and working out. Have a fixed time for eating, sleeping and working out. This is an extremely common success pattern. The sum of establishing these three routines is more than the parts. These three activities support each other. Having a routine for them, helps you learn your energy patterns. Your body learns what to expect. Sometimes, what you think is a motivation issue, is really a lack of sleep. Sometimes it’s simply because you don’t eat at regular intervals and you lose energy. Working out often helps people sleep better and eat better.
7. Build momentum.
Start with something simple. Do your worst things first and get them out of the way. Set incremental hurdles. Success builds momentum.Don’t create your own walls that you can’t scale.
One of the simplest ways to break the pattern is to start with something simple, and get success. Incremental success becomes a habit.
8. Take action.
Motivation often follows action.Sometimes action doesn’t always work out the way you want it to. But without action … there will be no action.
You’ll also find that if you put in your hours, you’ll have more changes for inspiration moments.
Better yet, you set yourself up for taking advantage of those inspiration moments when they occur.
9. Reward your effort over your performance.
You can control your effort.You can’t control your results. Focus on rewarding your effort versus your performance.
By focusing on what you control, you teach yourself to give your best, independent of the outcome. This sets you up for more positive outcomes.
10. Pair up.
One of the most effective ways to find your motivation is to team up with somebody. Find somebody who complements your strengths. For example, if you’re a starter, find a finisher. If you’re a maximizer, find a simplifier. It also helps to find somebody who’s been there or done that for whatever you’re trying to accomplish. Their experience can save you a lot of wasted time or energy. It’s also easier to buy into a plan if you know it’s based on what works. That in itself is motivating.
What Leadership Lessons Can Marketing Learn from Military Strategy?
July 16th, 2010All of recorded history confirms that the relative strength of a nation’s military power largely determines the degree it can assert and enforce its imperialistic, economic and political aims. The waxing and waning of its relative military power tends to closely correspond with the rise and fall of nations.
Similarly, the relative power of a commercial organization’s marketing, sales and distribution capabilities largely determines the success or failure of a business worldwide.
Perhaps for these reasons, analogies of various military strategies have been used to illustrate marketing and selling mechanisms and means. Certain ideas of military strategy are important for all who are engaged in commercial competitive activities. These are the ideas of maneuver, and especially of flanking movements.
Maneuvering and Flanking a Vulnerability
In marketing terms, a flank is a point of vulnerability or opportunity with a major customer or in a large market, which is sometimes called a niche.
If a competitor successfully takes this opportunity it can become a launching point from which the competitor can further encroach on large markets and specific customers.
Winston Churchill describes this phenomenon in his series entitled “The World Crises.” In that series he states that maneuver is necessary before one group can flank another.
Maneuvering is typical of competition during the early and developing stages of a market. Almost every great company establishes themselves by maneuvering themselves into a position where it is considered the best choice for customers.
This maneuverability must also remain a main focus of organizations once they mature as they keep track of the major established segments in the total market. This obsession with maneuvering can leave new, vulnerable flanks in the market, which smaller organizations can attack with specialty products and offerings.
Examples of flanking movements can be seen in almost any industry as smaller firms recognize and take advantage of weaknesses to surpass well-established competitors.
The Automobile Industry
Flickr photo courtesy of Urbanwoodswalker
During the 20th century, Ford and General Motors (GM) became dominant auto providers by offering innovative products like the Mustang and the Corvette. While they are two separate companies, their offerings seem to show very little differentiation today. Their sales and marketing strategy was a head-to-head combat in which they strove to wear the other down by maximizing value, quality and discounts instead of distinguishing the providers.
Such strategies left the innovative field almost completely open to other companies, like Honda, Nissan and Toyota, which were looking to break into the American market.
In the 1960s and 70s, Japanese auto providers saw that the low cost, fuel-efficient auto market was an exposed flank that Ford and GM weren’t paying much attention to. They moved in accordingly and began offering products to fill this gap. This was their initial niche, from which they all subsequently expanded their offerings.
Later, Toyota saw a different but similarly exposed flank in the ultra-prestige markets. They attacked with the Lexus’ quiet, high-performance V8 engine which out-maneuvered the BMW 750 and the much higher-priced Mercedes by offering similar quality and style at a much lower price.
Chrysler, a lesser-American auto maker didn’t have the funds to compete head-to-head with GM and Ford. Instead, they attacked another flank with the minivan in the 1980s and the retro-style PT Cruiser in 2000, effectively creating new markets which they have managed to hold onto.
Complexity of Strategy Demands Orchestration and Communication
Clearly, there are many different types of flanks and the coordination of the processes and roles needed to capitalize on these can become quite complex.
Complex situation demand that “plans can be concerted in common,” and that there be a “common clearing house where the different relative values could be established and exchanged,” according to Churchill. Failure to have the necessary information, insights,determination and energies to put such systems in place often proves extremely damaging and costly.
Within the computer and software industries, there are many examples of major opportunities having been overlooked or neglected due to this failure.
The Computer Industry
The Digital Equipment Corporation offers an example of a failing to seize on adjacent markets in high tech industries.
After growing very rapidly in the 1970s and 80s, Digital decided to abandon its third-party sales and distribution systems which were largely responsible for its growth and success. Instead, they became a direct selling organization.
Without the power of those third-party selling relationships, Digital’s growth slowed dramatically and its share price began to fall from its high of $200 per share all the way down to $25 per share, where the then virtually prostrate Digital was acquired by Compaq.
Subsequently, Compaq also lost its way when the former Digital and Compaq staffs could not diminish the “distinction between politics and strategy” internally. Eventually, Compaq came to believe that its only alternative to viability was to be merged into Hewlett-Packard, which was done in 2002.
Accepted Ideas Can Restrict Innovative Thinking
Flickr photo courtesy of Ken Roberts Photography
One of the deficiencies of some business leaders is the tendency to think too narrowly, while ignoring their vulnerable flanks. Another common failing is to remain committed to practices, thinking and political forces that are no longer competitive.
Habituated mentalities too often cause failings that restrict one’s organization so that it becomes imperiled by encroachments from diverse flanking attacks and maneuvers from new innovations and discoveries. A classic example is the American railroad industry.
Always seeing itself as being “in the railroad business,” and not in the shipping or transportation industries, railroads saw themselves lose major shipping volumes to the trucking industry and virtually all of its passenger travel to airlines, buses and automobiles. Today, the once immensely powerful American railroad industry is but a faint shadow of its former force.
The Need for Coordinated and Rapid Action by Diverse Resources
Refusing to recognize the need to diversify in a market is only part of the problem. Once a company or industry innovates, it must mobilize and coordinate adequate and diverse resources quickly in order to capitalize on flanking and maneuvering opportunities. Success, however, demands that this be accomplished with accurate information, sound strategy and good execution.
While this article focuses on the losses some companies face when they are flanked by other innovative firms, there is always a successful party in these situations. Cincom, itself, has seen many successes in this area of initial niche marketing, which enabled subsequent expansions into more opportunities.
Penetration, Radiation and Collaboration
It is necessary for any developing organization to establish initial customers to generate the revenues needed to sustain and support the firm as it seeks to expand. Beyond these initial and vital requirements, the first penetrations into a marketplace provide the basis and the foundation for recognition and further radiation. This radiation can be within an industry, a geographic area, a technology or product offering, or a large customer.
For example, in its early years Cincom began to offer the database management system TOTAL to manufacturing firms. But, as TOTAL was being perfected among manufacturing customers, Cincom realized that organizations in every area of activity had a data relationship and data management need. Based upon the successes of the penetration made within its early manufacturing customers, TOTAL radiated its success into insurance, banking, medical, government and other industries.
Geographically, Cincom’s strategy was also one of radiation from its headquarters in Cincinnati into reasonably adjacent, and similarly sized areas like Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Indianapolis. However, as it became more successful, Cincom began to subsequently target larger American cities as a part of our flanking maneuvers into all major markets worldwide.
Cincom was also one of the first software firms to radiate internationally as it maneuvered itself to be a global company with operations in Toronto, Montreal, London, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney and other major international marketplaces. Eventually, Cincom had a larger international presence than it had in it’s American markets.
Cincom also realized that both IBM users and non-IBM customers had a need and a desire for a DBMS such as TOTAL. Therefore, it began to promote alliances with various non-IBM computer providers through third-party computer companies such as NCR, Honeywell, CDC and others. No other software company developed such a market flanking strategy into the secondary computer user marketplace.
Building Relationships
Marketing studies have shown that 10 to 15 percent of all buying choices are made because of a product’s features, functionality or appeal; 10 to 15 percent are made because of price and acquisition terms; but 70 to 80 percent of all buying decisions are based upon relationships. Therefore, the establishment and the successful development of happy, productive and mutually beneficial relationships are of paramount importance.
When a customer is discerning which product to buy, a potential provider’s efforts are seen as “sales promotion,” which may have a negative connotation in the marketplace. Once the customer chooses a provider, however, their new offerings, and promotions can be more welcomed, if only because the two companies now have a relationship.
Once this relationship is in place, customer contacts are often viewed more as an appreciated service of customer support, and not as sales efforts. In fact, a lack of such post-sales contact by the provider is often considered to be neglect by the customer. In such cases, customers tend to retaliate by not buying additional products from the provider. Therefore, customer care becomes an opportunity for a cultivation of a major relationship between the customer and the provider, while a failure to satisfactorily perform becomes a source of potential estrangement.
Keeping all of this in mind, a company can have a successful relationship with their customers for many years. But, they also must make sure they pay attention to their customers changing wants and needs and to their own weaknesses so they aren’t flanked by the competition.
Desperately Seeking Business Sense in Storytelling Sensibilities
June 14th, 2010
Storytellers create interest in their tales through showing the opportunities and desires of their characters set against the conflicts and challenges that confront them. Throughout the course of the story, the character grows to resolve these challenges. The same can be said of the stories of selling value in complex-sales cycles.
Jane Austen famously used the phrase “Sense and Sensibility” to refer to human motivations and behaviors in her novel of the same name. Senses and sensibilities identify and provide information and discernment to people. They shape and form character and predispositions, which are impossible to fully describe. However, insightful authors such as Austen have managed to show how the various human sense and sensibilities influence one’s life and behaviors in unimaginable ways.
Sense the Senses
To effectively sell value, the seller must understand the buyer’s senses.
That is, they must understand what it is that the buyer values, and ask why they seek such values and how they hope to attain them as quickly, surely and certainly as possible. Normally, it is with minimal risk and the lowest cost or effort possible.
The seller must understand what it is that each person involved in a buying choice explicitly seeks. To do this, the seller must view things from the personal perspective of the prospective customer. This means that the focus should be on buying motives and preferences, instead of selling.
And yet, most businesses and many sales reps continue to focus on selling. They forget that the customer wants to buy – not be sold.
These differences in perspectives cause difficulties for marketing and selling, and some of the largest frustrations and dissatisfactions for buyers. To allay some of these frustrations, the seller must remember that buying and selling are one process, separated only by the different perspectives taken by buyers and sellers.
Values vs. Value
Sellers tend to sell features and benefits, but buyers want to buy value. However, their idea of value does not necessarily mean a return on investment, or ROI. It is said that value lies in emotions, not economics. Sellers must objectively determine and communicate the economic value being offered, but the subjective motivating reasons for a choice are often found in the emotional, or personal, benefits to be gained. These advantages should be called values instead of value.
Values differ from person-to-person, time-to-time and situation-to-situation. That’s why so much of successful selling involves empathetically oriented personal interactions. These values – or Sense and Sensibilities – can be broken down into a more focused list of behaviors and motivations:
It is important to note that these three sensibilities are not the most attractive in human interactions. However, the objective herein is to be realistic without becoming cynical. Those engaged directly in selling processes may agree that these motivations often trigger behaviors which would not be pleasant in normal human interactions, but are typically prominent in buying and selling situations.
These primary motivational influences are like the three primary colors – red, yellow and blue. Just like red and yellow can be combined to get orange, and blue and yellow make green, the influences can be combined in different degrees to create a virtually infinite palette of behaviors and motivations.
The combination of these most often encountered in sales and buying situations might best be summed up by the human behavioral principle taught by author Robert McKee: With very few exceptions, humans seek to realize the maximum gain, or satisfaction, with a minimum of risk and investments of time, effort and energy. This means that on the first try, a person will do the minimum necessary to try to achieve the desired goal. This minimal effort almost never achieves a goal to its fullest extent, so at that point the person will choose to give up or invest more time, effort, energy and risk in the project. This cycle repeats itself until the desired result is seen.
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Experience. Reflect. Act.
May 7th, 2010
Learning the Art of Leadership
What we do well, we enjoy doing. And, the better we become at something, the more we enjoy its doing — and the better we want to become by doing.
Even minute successes or levels of progress engender a greater desire to return to the activity or challenge, enhance and expand the enjoyment of the pursuit and increase its further mastery. But, all achievements are also investments. These investments are made by both the learner and the mentor. While encouragement and support are also helpful, this phenomenon occurs, for many, even without compliment or validation of progress from another.
This process is a self-fueling improvement system that eventually produces masters and champions in a great variety of differing pursuits and professions. Learning is central to all of this.
Mentors Mold Mindsets
Mentoring, especially in the subtle mentoring arts and skills needed for success in complex sales, is of very great importance. To optimally become a sales-obsessed enterprise, top-notch mentoring is key and necessary. Continuous monitoring of our advances in mentoring processes is also essential, and mobilizing everyone in these pursuits is very important.
Mindsets Move Minds
The Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits as they are more commonly known, is a Catholic religious order that is highly regarded for its leadership and expertise in the field of education. Wherever Jesuit schools exist, at either the high-school (grades 9-12) or the collegiate levels, such schools are usually considered to be among the very best, if not the best schools in that area.
Over their 400-year existence, the Jesuits have perfected a system of education or learning that revolves around three processes. These are:
According to the Jesuit Reverend Ralph E. Metts, this system is founded on the principle that one of the best methods of learning is gained through an actual experience of the lesson. For example, to learn to ride a bike, one must first get on the bike, pump the pedals, try to keep our balance, steer the bike, and safely stop it without falling over. Actually, each of these bike-riding subtasks requires different skills and actions, but they are all parts of a whole, that is, biking or cycling. But, the desires to advance and progress in an interest or a pursuit are also parts of the ongoing learning experience.
Just as good people almost always tend to want to become better persons, we all tend to want to become better at anything that we can already do well. So, once a biker becomes initially able, the natural desire is to progress. We tend to want to become a better biker so we not only ride a lot, but we also eventually may pursue a variety of different types of biking — trail biking, racing, tricks and stunts, competition and other fun-enhancing extensions. All of these perfecting and enhancing experiences proceed from the initial biking experiences that helped us to first learn to ride our bicycles.
But, we do not learn unaided.
Even our basic first lessons were usually aided. Our parents may have had training wheels installed on our first little bicycle. And, probably a parent or an older sibling may have run beside us holding up the bicycle as we began to learn to balance the moving bike. And, of course, we also may have observed others having fun riding bicycles, and this may have stimulated a desire to emulate them, or to accomplish and achieve this capability ourselves. As we progressed, we may have had mentors who offered tips, demonstrated to us new skills or biking tricks and capabilities or simply and quietly validated our accomplishment.
Of course, this Jesuit system of learning only begins with the idea of experiences. Learning progresses through the idea of reflection. Plato well understood the very great importance of such reflection, or examining of our experiences, and put into the mouth of Socrates the phrase,
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Certainly, the “unexamined life” cannot be well lived. It is in reflection or the re-examining and thinking back over an experience and its effects, that learning is greatly aided and accelerated. Unaided by those who already well understand what a learner is trying to learn, one can progress. But, such progress is greatly impeded and slowed by a lack of then-current understanding. We do learn forward, but we only understand backwards. So, a mentor, a coach or a learning assistant who already possesses the knowledge or skills we seek can help us immensely in the reflection process.
Even if a mentor only asks us, “Well, what happened? And, why do you think this effect occurred? And what might you have done differently?” Or, “What do you now plan to do?” our mentor stimulates the reflection that we might otherwise not have done. And, if the mentor can kindly offer some tips, such assistance can expand and accelerate the initial teaching, and the reflective learning processes. For example, “Do you think that if you had put your foot down when you tried to stop your bike you might not have crashed to the ground?” As he sees “the light go on” in the learner’s eyes, the mentor then might suggest step three, or the corrected action stage.
These suggestions might also take the form of confirming questions, such as, “Do you think that would work?” and then, “Do you think you could do it?” Only after such confirming questions are positively answered might the encouraging suggestion come: “Let’s try again. And, now let’s put your foot on the ground when you stop your bike.”
In more complex environments with even more complex lessons or skills to be learned, the optimum mentor facilitates further learning and choice of next action by aiding the student to “see” the lesson and the possibilities in multiple dimensions, with a broadened, more expansive perspective. The sophisticated and practiced mentor offers his questions and lessons in a way that entices the student to not only learn the skill but to love the understanding of subtlety and detail. The objective of reflection is the recognition and the identification of the causes and effects of what has happened, or can be caused to happen better, or differently. In these processes, the student of the master mentor is aided to also learn the art of sophisticated analysis—thinking and doing so that the skills and sub-skills of each lesson can be repurposed and applied to other tasks and challenges.
This learning, reflected thinking and action agility is the underlying essence of leadership learning and doing.
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Flickr attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/h-k-d/4066005402/sizes/m/in/set-72157619856539309/
How to Become the Entrepreneurial Leader of Tomorrow – Today
February 19th, 2010
The Science of Selling as an Art Form
February 9th, 2010
Photo courtesy of Peace Correspondent
Anxiety and Its Antidotes … For Business and Life
January 22nd, 2010
Marketing Insights Gained From Military Strategy
January 6th, 2010
Analogies of various military strategies have been used to illustrate marketing and selling mechanisms and means. Certain ideas of military strategy are important for all who are engaged in commercial competitive activities.
How Talented Teams of People Work Together – and Strengthen Each Other
December 7th, 2009
Like Meryl Streep, many highly acclaimed actors have also described themselves as not being outgoing or extroverted, as we might suspect of anyone who purposely casts oneself onto the stage of public presence. Rather, they often state that they are really and truly “shy,” “aloof,” “introverted” and “withdrawing.”
Those persons who make such claims also tend to express their belief that, because they are so unwilling to reveal their true selves in real life, acting enables them to be much more expressive than others who are not so withdrawing.
Their idea in a nutshell is this: Since everyone knows that the role being played on stage, or in front of the camera, is not really me, I am free to perform as I choose and not place myself at personal risk in expressing whatever the imagined role requires. In these situations, one’s true self is safely hidden and thus not exposed to risk of rejection or attack. So, anything can be done—risk free to self. If the performance is not appreciated or admired, it is the performance and not “me” which is not positively recognized, or even criticized.
Over the years, I have come to know several public personas who privately are quite different from the public image they construct and convey. And, I have found it quite remarkable to see how quickly some private persons can, and do, transform themselves to appear publicly to be someone radically different from the real person I have grown to know and appreciate for who they truly are.
This is a cultivated and practiced capability.
Shakespeare well understood such behaviors. Here’s how he expressed our multifaceted personal role-playing capabilities, and their demands:
“All the world’s a stage
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”
William Mulready, The Seven Ages of Man (1838)
With this introduction, Shakespeare then goes on to describe these “seven ages,” which end finally in “mere oblivion, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”
At every stage of life, we are personally involved in many roles and positioned in many different scenes. And each “scene” in which we are involved has an effect or an impact on our own personal development and has impact upon others, just as each “scene” in a stage drama or movie has an effect on the overall story.
Those who successfully create and produce literary, theatrical and movie stories well know that the story is a series of scenes that have a beginning scene, a series of development scenes and a closing or ending scene. All together, these scenes form a scenario, or a story, which is designed to support the intended ending.
Without a good ending, we have only a partial story, or “a story without an ending.” Humphrey Bogart complainingly used these very words to make this exact point to Ingrid Bergman in a critical scene midway through the 1943 movie Casablanca.
That movie, which Ms. Bergman called only a “little story” which she felt was merely “OK,” has been voted the best romantic movie of all time. But, Ms. Bergman said that she preferred many other movies and performances that she played to that of her role in Casablanca. Ms. Bergman later also said that she was much more interested in the other 1943 role she played in the movie adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bells Toll. But whatever her opinions may have been, or that of the Academy who honored her with three Academy Awards and seven nominations, her role in Casablanca, which did not earn Ms. Bergman one of her Academy Awards or even a nomination for Best Actress, is surely one of her most famous and most memorable.
But it was not just Ms. Bergman’s performance that helped to earn for the very low budget film Casablanca the 1943 Academy Award as Best Picture, and to receive eight total nominations; rather, it was the collaborative work of many talented people, all stimulating and elevating each other to levels of performance and degrees of excellence that they might never otherwise have achieved. For example, the American Film Institute’s poll of the Top 100 lines from movies over the past 100 years voted six different lines from Casablanca among these Top 100. No other movie came even close to this record; the lavishly funded Gone With the Wind, considered by many to be the greatest movie of all time, ranked second to Casablanca, with only half as many quotes in this Top 100 recognition. And very few Academy Award winning films had even one of their quotes included in this Top 100 list.
But even beyond the storytelling, the acting and the Academy Award winning directing of Casablanca, even the lyrics of the theme song “As Time Goes By” reinforce and support the story itself. This song was not written for Casablanca, but was published 12 years earlier.
However, someone was keen enough to realize that the lyrics from the middle of this song almost perfectly embodied certain of the themes of this movie. So, this song was very astutely included as the one “Sam” so memorably played, and sang. That’s how talented teams of people work together. Each one of the team is always alert for anything that can be done to aid, elevate and enhance the overall effort and work to help to better express the ideas intended to show how the lyrics of this song tie in so closely to the storyline of Casablanca, is an example of such collaborative creativity.
Those who deliver value for their company must play various roles, either directly “on camera” or “behind the scene.” In various sales cycles, or other activities that directly affect overall outcomes, they must fully realize that each may also be called upon to “play many parts” in this grand process, and that each one must play his or her part, or role, as well as possible. But, for each to be able to do so, it is essential that all involved understand the overall intent, and theme of the project or undertaking.
No matter whether one’s specific “role” may seem to be substantial or insignificant and critical or immaterial, to the “scene,” or the situation, each must do all that can be done to make each specific part of the overall story an interesting, enjoyable, informative, cohesive, convincing and compelling one. In this way, each action or idea contributes to the overall process and not only becomes a real-life “learning lab” for each one involved, but also is one that helps to produce a happy, positive and successful outcome for all involved.
Attitudes are habits of thought. Behaviors are habits of actions. But attitudes influence, and even control actions. Those with negative or pessimistic attitudes can seldom produce the positive and optimistic actions which deliver meaningful, or winning outcomes. Moreover … attitudes are contagious.
It’s been said that “an ounce of example is worth a ton of preaching.” The same could be said for “an ounce of proof.” So, positive examples and proofs should also stimulate and encourage others to ever higher levels of performance. Just as moods and attitudes are highly contagious, so too are levels of performance.
The better one performs, the more that person encourages and uplifts the performance of others.
Photo courtesy of Ancoma 99
These are some of the reasons why each one should want every one of his or her actions or contributions to not only have positive impact on the collective efforts, but also everyone should try to have a positive and elevating influence on others, and be an encouraging exemplar as well. Like other truly great actors and actresses, Ingrid Bergman was not only brilliant in her own direct contributions, but she also helped others to give surpassing performances as well.
Surely this is something that everyone should aspire to emulate.
Overcoming Hidden Agendas in the Complex Sale
November 19th, 2009
Agendas grow out of motive and intent. So, when motives and intentions are not open and transparent to all involved, “hidden agendas” inevitably develop. These hidden agendas are often buried or disguised within the subtext or context of many situations. This tendency to camouflage motives is especially prevalent in too many complex sales cycles.“The meeting is at 2 p.m. I’ll e-mail you a copy of the agenda, your personal agenda and the hidden agenda.” – Anon
What’s Best?
Quite frankly, the agenda that usually inspires the greatest trust, and therefore helps to produce the best results, is the seeking of greatest mutual benefit for all involved. But in such situations, one must genuinely and sincerely want what’s best for all. Those who recognize the truth that all life is interdependent realize that they must truly seek to discover solutions that build trust, value, mutual benefit and satisfaction for everyone involved in order to best serve their own self-interests.
“No man can sincerely help another without also helping himself.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Four Factors of Success in the Complex Sale
In the complex sale, success depends on the following four factors:
Positive relationship-building fosters and stimulates mutual trust. Mutual trust facilitates the successful actions and executions that deliver the results and values that benefit all. The interlinking of these concepts are expressed in a poster that we display at every location of our company, Cincom, that states:
“Relationships build trust; execution builds results”
This brief maxim seeks to draw attention to the interrelationships and interdependencies among these four success factors.
Relationships
Good relationships do help to build trust; this we all surely know. But, relationships are also built through trust, of trust and upon trust. So, it might also be even more correctly said that, “Trust builds relationships.”
Trust
Trust is one of the most powerful forms of both motivation and inspiration. We want to be trusted. We thrive on trust. We respond positively to trust. We perform better when trusted. Trust acts as a type of psychological steroid on human development. And, as we act better, we become better.
Execution
When we are trusted, we do all that we can to behave, act and execute in ways that confirm our appreciation for the trust bestowed on us by another. Our very great desire to not disappoint those who honor us with their trust in us causes us to quite often perform at levels far beyond reasonable expectations, because trust is inevitably tested by results. Whatever our situation or role, we must become very good at establishing, extending and restoring trust as one of the most effective means of generating results.
Results
It cannot be emphasized too strongly that it is the results that truly matter. Trust in economic, and other areas as well, is given, to some degree, in the expectation of results. But, trust is not naive. It insists that whatever it gives must be earned. To maintain trust, one must not just try, one must also deliver the results expected and promised, yet with a high degree of integrity.
Winston Churchill stresses a results-oriented focus that is a way of thinking, of behaving and of acting.
“It’s no use saying ‘we are doing our best. You have got to succeed in doing what’s necessary.”
” No! Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.“
Actions – Not Activities
This actions/results orientation is quite different from an activity-based approach. Trust demands performance. It is as simple as that. But, performance increases trust. Trust and results are the yin and yang of high achievers. Craig Weatherop, a former CEO of PepsiCo, said this quite emphatically when he stated: “You can’t create a high-trust culture unless people perform.” Experience everywhere proves the wisdom of Weatherop’s observation.
Promises build hope.
Hope encourages trust.
But, ongoing trust demands performance.
Demons of Doubt
No matter how deep or idyllically happy a warm, trusting relationship may be, failures to perform as promised, or deliver the results expected, invites doubt into the situation. And, the perfidious demons of doubt are the abiding and toxic enemies of trust in every relationship.
Drive Downward Spiral
So, where doubt prevails, effort and results will seldom be optimal. And as performance declines, trust will deteriorate further. This downward spiral eventually destroys relationships. A Harvard professor once emphasized the overriding importance of top-notch expectation in these words: “It is better to have a grade-B strategy and grade-A execution than the other way around.”
Character and Commitment
In complex sales cycles, gaining and maintaining trust is essential to winning support. So, everyone involved in such environments must perform very well if the necessary trust is to be achieved and kept. But, in order to so operate, it’s also important to understand how trust works. The first such understanding is that trust is gained as a function of both character and commitment that produces the promised or expected results. Most certainly, the character considerations of integrity, ethical standards, honesty, reliability and the other such factors, which combine necessarily together to create what is often called “character,” are absolutely foundational and essential.
Competency
However, high moral and ethical character alone is not enough. One also must be competent and capable in the area of interest to be worthy of trust, or to be trustworthy. Competency is built upon such considerations as talent, attitude, skills, knowledge, expertise and other such task-related capabilities.
“Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets.”- General George Patton Jr.
During complex sales cycles, both of these aspects of the character and trustworthiness are being carefully assessed by the prospect along with the various features, functions, costs and other suitability factors of the offerings, which include quality and expertise, or the competency of the service and support. Objective and subjective analysis of all these factors will typically consider the seller’s apparent agenda and behavior, along with the verbalized statements and claims made.
Where’s the Proof?
But, since comments and claims may be suspect, prospects need to be assured by behaviors, by references and by personal involvements that a provider can be trusted.
Prospects realize they may become very dependent on the provider. Therefore, they will be placing themselves at risk. Of course, no one wants to be placed at any more risk than the minimum absolutely necessary to gain the result or reward desired. This is why anxieties and emotional fears, doubts and apprehensions rise as prospects reach critical decision points.
Decisions that are not easily and readily reversible, and include risk, always cause apprehensions and anxieties.
Yes! We do want results.
But, no! We do not want to take inordinate risks.
Relationships of Trust
Even if the potential rewards may be very significant, if there are any doubts remaining unresolved, we are all usually reluctant to move into higher-risk situations. Typically, one’s ongoing behavior and the cumulative effects and perceptions that their interactions and behaviors have built into relationships of trust are the best ways to gain the confidence and credibility necessary to gain favor.
To best succeed in gaining relationships of trust, one must also operate in ways that seek to achieve the greatest mutual benefit for all involved. But, like promises and assurances, commitments made build only hope; commitments and promises kept is what builds trust. Such trust gained helps to assure the other that whatever the risks, one has a trusted and proven ally to help carry them safely and securely forward to successfully gain the results and values sought. Considering these above ideas as parts of an integrated whole, one better sees and understands that trust, truth, relationships, execution, results, promises kept and value realized are all intimately interrelated and interdependent.
“Promises made must be promises kept.” – Steven M.R. Covey
Stephen M.R. Covey offers good insights on the importance of this maxim in his book, The Speed of Trust. Covey writes, “In almost any discussion of trust, keeping commitments comes up as the number-one influencing behavior.
Do
In the AMA/HRI study on business ethics, “keeping promises” was ranked as the number-one behavior in creating an ethical culture.
Or Do Not
On the other hand, a survey on leaders for the World Economic Forum identified “not doing what they say” as the number-one trust breaker.
Gaining and maintaining trust during complex sales cycles is so important that it might quite rightly be considered among the key competencies for value-based sales reps.
In the words of Jim Burke, a former CEO of Johnson & Johnson, “Nothing good happens without trust.”
Surely this is so in complex sales cycles.
Dumb Bureaucrats, Insufferable Bosses and … Courage?
October 28th, 2009CONSIDER
The observable universe is about 14 billion light years away. A light year is approximately 5,878,625,373,183.61 miles (you could round up to 6 trillion miles). But how far we can see and understand is not limited by space, but time. Beyond 14 billion light years light hasn’t had time to reach us yet (traveling at 186,000 miles per second).
So what’s that have to do with dumb bureaucrats, insufferable bosses and courage?
Time.
Time to look back through time.
Time to see that many things change.
Time to learn from the things that change.
And deal with those things that never change …
BUREAUCRATS DO THE DUMBEST THINGS
The man we know as Ulysses S. Grant was actually named Hiram Ulysses Grant.
As a boy he was known as Lyss. Thomas Hamer, the Congressman who appointed Grant to West Point, forgot all about the Hiram. Remembering that Grant’s mother’s maiden name was Simpson and thinking that was Lyss Grant’s middle name, he filled out the application in the name of “Ulysses S. Grant.”
When Grant arrived at West Point and discovered that the Academy had him registered under the wrong name, he tried to get the error corrected. He was told that it didn’t matter what he or his parents thought his name was, the official government application said his name was “Ulysses S.” and that application could not be changed. If Hiram U. Grant wanted to attend West Point, he would have to change his name.
LESSON 1:
Bureaucrats will blindly obey whatever set of rules they are instructed to follow even if this leads them to take completely illogical or patently nonsensical actions. Try to keep them out of your organization. Also, help prevent your people from turning into bureaucrats by regularly reminding them that your organization’s rules and regulations are designed to provide guidance to intelligent human beings who use their heads, and are not intended for slavish obedience by automatons.
INSUFFERABLE BOSSES
After the Confederates evacuated Corinth, Miss., and the Union forces occupied the town (May 30, 1862), General Halleck continued to give orders directly to Grant’s subordinates. He so totally ignored Grant that Grant found himself in the embarrassing and, to him, unendurable position of being a commander “with a nominal command and yet no command.”
“I had repeatedly asked to be relieved from duty under Halleck; but all my applications were refused until the occupation of the town. I then obtained permission to leave the department, but General Sherman happened to call on me as I was about starting and urged me so strongly not to think of going, that I concluded to remain.” – Ulysses S. Grant
Halleck was appointed to command of all the Union armies with headquarters in Washington on July 11th.
“When General Halleck left to assume the duties of general-in-chief, I remained in command of the district of West Tennessee. Practically I became a department commander.”
So only a month after Sherman had talked him out of leaving the department, Grant had become its commander.
LESSON 2:
The saying, “in time, this too shall pass,” holds true even for insufferable bosses. Hang in there. Jumping ship too quickly could cause you to miss a golden opportunity.
THE COURAGE TO TELL IT LIKE IT IS
One of Grant’s first acts upon being promoted to brigadier general was to name John Rawlins as his adjutant.
When rumors about Grant’s drinking started circulating, Rawlins wrote to one of Grant’s supporters, Congressman Washburne:
“I would say unequivocally and emphatically that the statement that General Grant is drinking very hard is utterly untrue and could have originated only in malice.”
Rawlins would rush to Grant’s defense if he had been falsely accused, but when in June 1863, during a lull in the Vicksburg campaign, Rawlins became concerned that Grant may have started drinking again, he lost no time taking Grant to task in a sharply worded letter.
“The great solicitude I feel for the safety of this army leads me to mention what I had hoped never again to do — the subject of your drinking. This may surprise you, for I may be (and trust I am) doing you an injustice by unfounded suspicions, but if an error, it better be on the side of this country’s safety than in fear of offending a friend. I have heard that Dr. McMillan, at General Sherman’s a few days ago, induced you, notwithstanding your pledge to me, to take a glass of wine. … If my suspicions are unfounded, let my friendship for you and my zeal for my country be my excuse for this letter; and if they are correctly founded, and you determine not to heed the admonitions and the prayers of this hasty note by immediately ceasing to touch a single drop of any kind of liquor, no matter by whom asked or under what circumstances, let my immediate relief from duty in this department be the result.”
LESSON 3:
Surround yourself with men and women of unquestioned integrity, who have the courage to tell you when they think what you’re doing is wrong.
Don’t be one of those managers who cut off criticism by saying that they don’t like what they’re hearing. You may not like it, and you may not agree with it, but you will be better off for having heard it.
Hamburgers and Software: What Could They Possibly Have in Common?
October 4th, 2009
A Vanishing Skill: Stories, Storytelling, Story-Selling in Business
September 8th, 2009Good stories fascinate us all. They always have. They always will. Basically, there are two types of stories: Truth Stories and True Stories.
Truth Stories
The first type, that is, Truth Stories, are those that convey timeless messages that convey universal truths. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were the first Truth Stories.
EPIC
Ulysses Confronts the Cyclops Polyphemus – Jacob Jordaens
These epic stories respectively recounted the Trojan War and the journeys of Ulysses. They were stories about heroes and their roles in epic events. These stories were orally communicated, sung by traveling bands for centuries. In the process of communication, these stories were doubtless enhanced and extended. So, they had many authors.
The Message Is the Point – Maybe Not the Truth
“Fear Greeks Bearing Gifts,” – Lacoon on the Trojan Horse
They were Truth Stories because they contained great moral lessons.
Some of the content may have even been true. But, including the true into Truth Stories is beside the point. The message(s) is the point—not necessarily the facts.
Achilles, Hector, Ulysses, Ajax, Paris, even Helen of Troy and the Trojan Horse may never have existed. Many have wondered whether Troy itself ever existed. And, even though there must have been a first initiation of at least some of the story, some wonder …
… “Who was, or were, Homer?” “Did he even exist?” But really, who cares?
Truth Stories are not dependent upon whether their characters, events, or even their author, were ever true.
The Real Value—Meaning
Their value is in the Truth, or the meaning, of their message and the lessons offered, not their truthfulness.
True Stories
True Stories, by comparison, do attempt to tell what is true.
The first of these True Stories were history stories formally written (not told) by Herodotus. He is, therefore, known as the Father of History.
Begin with Inquiry
The word history itself gives us insights into their intent. The word history (historie) in Greek, of Ionian origin, meant inquiry. We may speak of Homeric epics, though there may never have been a Homer, but history begins with historians. It is they who do the inquiries that uncover the facts that they report as histories.
From There to Eternity
Their stories are intended to be formally stated True Stories. Ideally, they may also contain eternal and universal Truths, or moral lessons. If so, they can become eternally admired and regularly quoted and retold stories as well.
Herodotus began his history with these words:
“These are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which he publishes, in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of the Greeks and the Barbarians, from losing their due mead of glory; and withal to put on record what were the grounds of feud.”
So, Herodotus formally wrote his history. That way, his history would not be subject to the ongoing changes that a verbally communicated message always tends to experience.
Why Is This Important in Business?
Every day wonderful things happen in your business. And every day some not-so-wonderful things happen. They need to be remembered, passed on and learned from. Both the “Truth Stories” and the “True Stories.”
I’ve found that to be successful in business, you have to be a great communicator. The best communicators are the storytellers that grab you by emotion, seize your mind and prompt you to action. They take you on a magical journey, if only for a moment.
Businesses need Stories, Storytellers and Story Sellers to succeed in the market.
A Vanishing Skill
Unfortunately, the values and the importance of the ideas of Stories, Storytelling and Story-Selling may not be as well understood by many of us. Nor may all of their many implications and possibilities be fully realized and appreciated by all of us to the degree they deserve.
Don’t Just Be a Face in the Crowd
Think Like a Storyteller
It might be hard. It might get lonely. But stories resonate through all human beings in all cultures and have throughout time.
I urge you to think about all of the events and experiences with which you may be involved, or have seen or heard about, that would make good stories to help your business. You don’t have to write them yourselves if you feel uncomfortable about it. Find someone in your company that will support your efforts. There are storytellers in your business somewhere … or your business wouldn’t exist. Provide them with your story ideas. Stories that can either be True Stories or Truth Stories – but ideally they would be both.
Timeless and Timely Business Lessons
We have now been in the software business here at Cincom for 40 years. Two of the lessons learned from our 40 years of business are timeless and timely. Essential and eternal. Pathways through rugged and trying times.
I pass them on to you to—like Herodotus said, “in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what people have done,” but also that they may help the reader as they pursue their own successful ideas and ideals for the next 40 years.
Long Ago and Far Away
Long ago and far away (from Silicon Valley anyway) in September of 1968, a radical idea for a new product and a new company was born in a Cincinnati basement; an idea that took seed with $600, a card table, and a dream.
A Daunting Dream
The challenges of the dream were daunting: create, market, and sell a product that one of the biggest companies in the world (IBM) was giving away for free.
No Product, No Customers, No Industry
That dream also included no venture capital; no one would finance it.
Why?
Because no one understood it. Software or softwear? What’s that, clothes? One bank actually thought that. Why? This was seven years before Microsoft was founded in 1975. Nine years before Oracle was founded in 1977. And, this was in Cincinnati, Ohio… not Silicon Valley.
Forty Years Later?
Forty years of pioneering, advancement, and leadership in a turbulent and unforgiving software industry followed from this company and its employees. Governors, President Ronald Reagan, Former British Prime Minister Heath, the Smithsonian Institute, and Harvard Business School among many other prestigious organizations have recognized its efforts.
Built to Last on Two Simple Concepts
Though the Cincom dream was daunting, risky, and some thought impossible, Cincom built that dream to last on two simple concepts: create and serve.
Create
Cincom employees create software and services products that solve real business problems, and they have been since 1968.
These products create customers.
Serve
Serve the customers as well as the employees who create the products.
What You Really Need to Know
Without customers, there can be no service. Without service, there will be no customers.
“One of the reasons I’ve chosen to keep Cincom a private corporation is that I believe companies should put their customers first, and the people who are serving those customers a very close second.” – Thomas Nies, Cincom CEO
Built-to-last is built on “Create and Serve.”
###
Flickr photo #2 courtesy of E.Gold
Flickr photo #3 coutesy of Peter Van Allen
Mind Our Mindsets … Move the World
August 14th, 2009
The economy. Gas prices. Housing. Credit crisis. Healthcare. Education. War. Terrorism.
Yes. We face significant problems.
Albert Einstein once stated that,
“The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”
An adaptation of this comment produced as a bumper sticker subtly personalized and criticized some of those in modern society with this question:
“Can the problems we face be solved by the same minds that created them?”
Einstein’s comment is the more tactful; the bumper sticker is more pointed. Both direct the needs for solution to the quality and depth of thinking.
The answers?
Mastering Mindsets
Since almost all thinking is conditioned by various predispositions and diverse subjective factors, it may be useful to also think about “mindsets” rather than just minds, or thinking processes. While knowledge, skill, intelligence and other mind-oriented attributes are key assets and requirements toward all success, the true “masterminds” may be those who also master their mindsets.
The positive, optimistic attitudes are key hallmarks of the “can do, will do” mindset that is essential to, and absolutely necessary for, all high achievement in every endeavor or pursuit. Such mindsets not only help to gain achievement, but they also help to enlarge and imagine new possibilities and opportunities.
It’s a Force—Good and Bad
Mindsets are more than just an attribute—they’re also an energizing and directing force. But, depending on the bent of one’s mindset, it can also be a demoralizing and limiting factor. So powerful is mindset that it might be said that mindsets move minds. Perhaps without overstating this point, it might even be said that mindsets manage minds.
Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of motivation and is a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. In her seminal book, “Mindsets: The New Psychology of Success,” she identifies two basic types of mindsets.
Fixed
People with a fixed mindset (those who believe their intelligence is fixed) prefer to do things that will make them look smart and that will shore up their image instead of things that can stretch them and help them increase their skills. This is true even when they might badly need those new skills.
Growth
People with a growth mindset (those who believe their abilities can be cultivated) are highly eager to learn, even if it means that they will make mistakes and expose their deficiencies.
A “Growth Mindset is a critical element of success—in life or business.
“Learning is not compulsory … neither is survival.” – W. Edwards Deming
Learn. Learn. Learn.
But in your learning, be precise.
Precision Mindsets
As we travel in any modern airliner, we may suspect, but not sensibly realize, that we may be often, if not perhaps always, slightly off course. But, the navigation systems in calculus-like ways are regularly adjusting the course, in minute steps, as frequently as is needed to have the airplane travel and land almost precisely as intended safely at its destination. But the aircraft does not land with perfect precision. Rather, it lands as precisely as is necessary. This idea that providing solutions, or systems that operate to the degree of perfection that is necessary, is an important one to consider.
But, however difficult it may be to measure and monitor all of these effects, still the requirement for the varying degrees of precision and perfection demanded from the products and services offered can usually be quite accurately determined. In some cases, with which many of us are very familiar, such as the quality and reliability of the mission-critical software that Cincom offers, we realize that the degree of perfection necessary is very high indeed.
Pursuit of Perfection
This need for virtual perfection in our software development, testing, quality assurance and other software-perfecting processes is all the more challenging when one considers the great variety of usage environments, and the almost unlimited interactions of user transactions and application processes. In many ways, living and life are just like the perfection of software. We can never test, and thus quality assure, for every one of the virtually infinite number of possibilities or variables. One can never be certain, nor in complete control of all that may happen.
Still, no matter how complex the problems our software must solve, and how infinitely variable their needs may be, customers want virtually perfect reliability and accuracy. Life too is similar. No matter how unpredictable or challenging the times and the uncertainties may be, we are called upon to cope and respond in the many ways that produce the best possible outcomes for all involved—whether directly or indirectly.
Our Mindset
Whatever job one may have, product one may create or service one may deliver, our mindset should be the “pursuit of perfection—that can lead to a perfect customer experience in business—and in life, lead to a fulfilling and meaningful existence.
“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill
No software system, or any product or service, can ever be considered to be absolutely perfect. So we tend to pursue such perfection in incremental steps that enable us to deliver systems that are as precise as they need to be, remember:
No product is perfect.
No service is perfect.
No business is perfect.
No person is perfect.
But all can pursue, with a determined and focused mindset, perfection, and by doing so, everyone will be the better for it.
One thing is certain. Along the way, mistakes will be made. Yes. Absolutely. But that’s ok.
“If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.” – Tallulah Bankhead
Make our mistakes—sooner. Learn from them and improve.
But We Still Face Significant Problems
Yes, we do.
The economy. Gas prices. Housing. Credit crisis. Healthcare. Education. War. Terrorism.
What are we waiting for? Problems can’t be fixed by the thinking that created them. But new thinking, imagination, guts, innovations and bold, brave ideas can.
“Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and the mind grows heated.
Begin it, and the work will be completed.
Begin it now.” – Gothe
Mastery of the world, its problems, its difficulties, begins with mastery of each one’s own self.
Mind our Mindsets.
Now let’s go forward together to move the world, to become the better place it can and should be for all of us.
###
Flickr photo # 1 courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/acbo/2073367106/sizes/m/
The Freedom to Fail Paves the Way … for Intrapreneurial Success
July 22nd, 2009
In an influential 1985 book, still relevant today, Gifford Pinchot III coined the phrase “intrapreneurship” to describe the marriage of an entrepreneurial spirit – complete with its fierce independence and lack of deference to established views and the strictures of conventional wisdom – with the resources of a large corporation. While these two spirits may seem in conflict, they actually thrive in many of the world’s best-run companies.
Intrapreneurship is a strategy for stimulating innovation by making better use of entrepreneurial talent. When effectively promoted and channeled, intrapreneurship not only fosters innovation, it also helps employees with good ideas to better channel the resources of a corporation to develop more successful products.
Some of the greatest business leaders of the past century made their early mark in business as intrapreneurs. Former General Electric chairman Jack Welch made a name for himself by building GE’s engineering plastics business as if he were starting his own company. Lew Lehr, former chairman of 3M, similarly built his career on his intrapreneurial pursuit of 3M’s expansion into the healthcare industry.
Enable Change Agents
By fostering an intrapreneur ethic within a company, employees can be empowered and enabled to become company “change agents” who are comfortable bringing new ideas forward and promoting their execution.
Elevate – Encourage
It is essential to create an elevating and encouraging environment that provides talented and entrepreneurially minded people the freedom to innovate, whilst at the same time supporting them with the resources to quickly bring their innovations to market.
For small-to-midsized firms, innovation and speed-to-market are two ways to compete successfully against dominant and well-entrenched companies.
Creating, fostering, and sustaining the right environment really are intrapreneurial imperatives.
Entrepreneurs & Intrapreneurs are Risk-Takers
As someone who founded my company, Cincom with “$600 and a card table,” I will always be at heart an entrepreneur. So, I could never even imagine allowing us to become a company that doesn’t support creative free spirits who also seek to pursue good opportunities, and in the process, build new businesses within the company, which will provide new and different ways to better satisfy customer wants and needs. However, Cincom is in many respects also a conservative company. We don’t take reckless risks, and all initiatives require a solid business case.
For intrapreneurship to work effectively, several important considerations should be taken into account that balances risk with reward, and opportunity with difficulty.
Listen, Always Listen
Intrapreneurs above all else thrive on the freedom that fuels their innate desire to innovate. This can be a handful for a manager who doesn’t understand or respect the entrepreneurial nature.
For intrapreneurship to flourish in an organization, leadership has to be willing to listen to and recognize good ideas whenever and from whomever they arise. This message must be constantly reinforced from the highest levels of the organization.
“An Intrepreneurial culture must embrace constructive failure to score big victories.”
The key is creating an environment where an employee’s ideas, when properly presented, are taken seriously and then be properly supported and recognized. One never knows where good ideas will come from, especially in a corporate culture that supports intrapreneurship. An account representative could become the catalyst for revolutionizing a company’s entire business strategy when presented with the ongoing opportunity to approach company leadership with a proposal.
Beyond listening, it is critical to enable people to see their own ideas through, even if they must cross over into a new functional area and push themselves past any previous company achievements or organizational structure.
Create the Environment To …
It is important to create an environment where anyone can come forward with an idea on how to improve any aspect of the business. It should not matter where that person fits on the organizational chart. If the idea is good, and the benefits and risks are clearly stated, that idea should get the green light – and the support it merits.
There must still be a business approval process, but it should be efficient. Projects that deserve support should be quickly expedited. Then it may be better to avoid wading through a cumbersome and lengthy buy-in process than to miss a window of opportunity.
Need for Speed
Companies can foster and encourage potential intrapreneurs by sending the message throughout the organization that a case properly presented, which thinks through the issues, identifies and explains what can go wrong and what can go right, and how to put contingencies in place, is welcome. But, the process must be simple and flexible enough to initially move quickly – and then to later scale up as rapidly as possible when success develops.
Freedom to Fail
Many entrepreneurial careers are built on a succession of minor failures, with the accumulated lessons learned from each leading to ultimate success. There is an imperative need to first experience something in order to be able to well understand it. And, as we learn forward but only understand backward, there will always be mistakes made. It is important for companies to allow for a degree of inevitable failure around new projects and initiatives without sending the message that failure is not tolerated.
Companies must strive to provide a “freedom to fail” culture and environment. Although failure resulting from poor planning and execution is not accepted, there should be no penalty for those who come forward with good ideas, assuming they’ve been well presented and competently executed.
An intrapreneurial culture must embrace constructive failure to score big victories. There is a certain intangible something that all high achievers have; this is a willingness to put themselves “out there” where all can see, and to expose themselves to the risk of failure and the criticism that is sure to follow. Organizations must support those who have such courage and confidence that they are willing to fail in order to succeed.
Many companies are filled with reliable “singles hitters” who play it safe and never really aspire to greatness. Intrapreneurs, on the other hand, swing for the fences. Sometimes they strike out, but when they connect, they like to hit it big.
Share Credit
Harry Truman once said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.’
It doesn’t do any good to encourage team members at all levels to bring innovative ideas to company leadership if the leaders then take those ideas and make them their own. Recognition is a key driver for us all. Leaders who seek to steal the recognition rightfully deserved by others find few followers.
So, one needs to make sure credit goes where it is due, and to share it widely. It costs nothing to admit that the $10 million idea came from the receptionist. No one is diminished as a result, and the company is $10 million richer for it. The receptionist becomes then even more eager to offer better future ideas. And, everyone else in the organization is encouraged to follow the lead of that receptionist, and to help to improve the organization. “Leaders deal in hope,” as Napoleon noted. But in top-performing organizations, “Leadership is always plural.” No one ever succeeds alone.
Look Forward to Breaking Precedent
Every organization must have processes and rules of procedure and behavior. But when we catch ourselves saying, “We’ve never done it that way before,” or “that’s not how we do things,” we should stop and reflect on whether we are saying this out of habit or for good reason. Chances are we may be citing a rule that may no longer be appropriate for the new conditions and situations we are now trying to intrapreneurially develop. Maybe it’s best, and even necessary, to sometimes break with past traditions and establish new precedents to respond to new opportunities. This is especially so in industries where the pace of innovation is great, and obsolescence is just as speedy.
The ability to differentiate between rules needed to guide and perform within the current business and rules that may restrict success in building a new business is what discernment and opportunity awareness are all about. Going forward is always a journey. And as journeys progress, we need new signposts along the way that point the way forward on the next leg of our trip. These signposts are the rules and regulations for building new businesses within existing businesses. The trailblazing intrapreneurs are the ones who set up those signposts for others to follow.
Journeys require maps and itineraries; but sometimes we also need to take detours and alternative routes when unusual or unexpected opportunities and situations develop, as almost always happens.
Ignite Intrapreneurs
To start a revolution of initiative and innovation, ignite the intrapreneurs and then get out of the way!
Lift off generates a lot of heat.
And a lot of fun, too!
Ignite.
Fire up!
Get out of the way!
END:
Step Up photo courtesy of Carbon NYC
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