# Covid, # Objectives and some musings……# Leadership

The ink surely hasn’t dried up, and won’t for a fair bit of time to come, on the stats and the state of the times we are living in. In that vein, as you read this, my wishes for the safety of your loved ones and in fact everyone around! This too shall pass!

Well this post really isn’t about Covid, well maybe not so apparently. This is about my morning walk! Yeah it is.

We did get freedom a couple of days back from being confined to our houses and being allowed to step out for a walk in the complex that I stay in. A welcome opportunity of walking in the open air, especially given the cleaner environment that we have, though tragically because of the situation.

A suitable set of rules/guidelines, and I use the two words intentionally, were duly circulated laying down which Tower gets to step out when, and all about the precautions to be kept – masks, physical distancing and time slots.

Got me wondering how things would pan out. Stepping out when it is not your time slot would mean being called out, and it sure did happen. It was another matter that irrespective of the time slots there weren’t more than a dozen people out for a walk at any time. Even if there were a couple of dozen more people, the protocol of distancing would not have been compromised.

That is how the guidelines evolve to be a set of rules! and rules guide a process. The issue really is about the objective. Are you achieving the objective of mitigating the risk of infection, even if someone ends up using a time slot that may not be theirs’s? Observational analysis showed that the objective was not compromised, yet the rules dictated so.

That is how processes are governed by rules, and at times, as I am sure we have all experienced, we find them to be mindless and binding, serving no particular purpose. So, the achievement of objective becomes subservient to the rule itself!!!

Please do not for a moment think that I am advocating having no rules or processes. However, we need to keep the objective as the true north, and evaluate our processes in that context, and do that constantly.

Well, you may say what’s new in that, and we always knew what you just said. True that, and I do agree with you. Having said that COVID has meant that we envision a new world, a new normal if it can be called that.

What this new normal would require would be thinking differently and leading differently.

Serendipity, flexibility, Ingenuity, whole brain thinking, and a new mindset is what we need to Lead with. The Status quo’ist mindset needs to perish, since this is a new world, with newer challenges but newer opportunities too, constraints that bind us but endless ideas to envision and translate to reality. That truly is going to be Leadership’s newest challenge – envision the new world !

Prime Minister Modi’s Janata Curfew is upon us. Till last evening (21 March), India has 0.1% of Corona virus infections globally, and I hope it quickly heads south. If it doesn’t though, the social experiment to lock down on the 22^nd will set the stage for future lock downs if things get worse.

But “work from home” is here for a few weeks at least. We’re stuck at home. And I find a lot of people getting restless over it. You don’t have to. I see this as a fantastic opportunity to do all the things you never find time to do. Act now, because the window is narrow. Do something really worthwhile!

What are you missing?

Mostly, it’s the routine of waking up, getting to work, engaging with people and doing something constructive all day. Come to think of it, that doesn’t need to change. All that changes is how you do those things sitting at home.

What you can do

Think about it in 5 buckets – Work, Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit. Relate it to achieving something of consequence, something worthwhile. Then go for it!

Use this time to get noticed, give your teams the leadership they need in these difficult times, build your brand, create an image, learn new skills…there are a lot of things you can do.

Sit back, create your plan and go for it.

Work

Be the leader your team needs. They are probably more confused about the present and uncertain about the future than they have been in a long time. Set the direction, and a rigor of business to keep everybody on the same page. Sure, they may not have many customers to serve these days. But there won’t be a better time than this to plan, prepare, prevent bad things from happening, developing yourself and the team, and validating values and alignment. Use this time effectively

• 1. To build and extend trust with your team and your customers
• 2. Get early insights into what your customers are thinking. Or just get them started
• 3. Visualize and brainstorm how you’ll serve customers & grow your business in the post scenario
• 4. Build your execution plans for today and tomorrow
• 5. Coach & cultivate mindsets to serve your customers and for your business to thrive
• 6. Invest time in learning new skills

Stay in touch meaningfully with your staff, customers and business partners. Show that you care. Strengthen relationships and increase the deposits in your Emotional Bank Account. You will need to withdraw from it some day!

Body

Get Fitter! Look Better! Feel Better!

Spend time working on your image. What perception do you want to create about yourself? Think about the things you need to do to influence people favourably when they perceive you through their senses – what do you want them to see? What do you want to convey and how do want them to feel? What and how should you say it? On what platforms can you do all these things?  What can you leverage to create such an impression? Above all, create a plan, and work on the supporting skills.

Think about your personal brand. “I am the face of ……………” or “I stand for…………”.  What do you want to be known for? What can you create or excel at that becomes your personal identity? For example, in the airline world, when you say “On Time”, which name pops up? Or when you want to photocopy something, you ask people to Xerox it! Research some personal brands, or better still, play a little game – state an area, and visualize the first person who comes to mind. Let’s say you want to try this about Indian sport – “Women’s Badminton” – who do you see? “Aggressive cricketer” – who do you see?

Now say something about your work area that you think is important. What do you need to do to be the face people see when they think about that area?

The next thing here isn’t exactly earth-shattering. Stick to a routine. All you need is to do it. The operative word here is “DOING” things.  Some basics can help you maintain a routine that’s close to what you do regularly. It’ll make sure of two things – the first is you wake up at the same time you do every morning; secondly, you are in appropriate “go out” clothes, which means you’ve done your routine of getting ready for the world. For people who don’t work from home regularly, you can’t imagine how important this simple thing is. You’ll realize if you let things slip, its already lunch time before you get out of your pyjamas!

Use commute time at both ends of the day to walk (do take precautions to stay healthy). In most cities, commute times are a good 90 minutes on an average. If you walk at an easy pace, say 5kph, you’ll walk 7.5km every day. Unless you’re a regular walker, that’s not bad at all!

I’ve been walking morning and evening for a little over 4 weeks now, and although I didn’t take any targets (!), there are some benefits I can see. I’m hypertensive. My systolic number is down by about 20 points, and diastolic by about 10. More than that, it’s made me more disciplined and I’m now pushing some limits.

Mind

This is a great time to broaden your horizons. It’s a great opportunity to not only take in new and useful information, but also enhance the understanding of what you already know.

To take in new information, if you’re a reader, then read a book a week. Because you have the time. But there’s an even better opportunity right now. Speak to a lot of people who can give you perspective. Because even they have time right now. And everybody likes to tell their story. More than that, you kill two birds with one stone – you make deposits into your Emotional Bank Account with them. So learn and enhance relationships at the same time!

Remember, nobody’s watching over your shoulder like when you’re in office. Listen to one TED video a day. If you can find good stuff on your interest area, watch Youtube videos too – there’s some good stuff out there. Learn about the subject matter, and how you could make your own video one day!

Teach to learn. When you try to teach somebody something, or write something for somebody, you have to be very clear about the subject because otherwise its not easy to explain it. This is the time to write that book. Don’t be overwhelmed by the idea. Everyone has at least one book in them. Don’t worry about publishing. You don’t need a publisher. Write an e-Book and publish it yourself on Amazon. There’s plenty on the internet to tell you how its done.

Write that Linkedin article. Be heard, be noticed. Have an opinion, and don’t be shy to share it.

The more you go out there and communicate to others, the more you need to research and learn. It’s a great way to enhance everything – your image, brand, reputation, learning, skills – whatever.

Take a course on something you keep hearing about but know only a little bit about. Digital marketing for instance. Or how to build a personal brand. Maybe Strategic Thinking is an area you want some fresh ideas on. Artificial Intelligence might be interesting. Big Data, Analytics, Robotics – it depends on what you do, and how the new learning is relevant to you.

You definitely want to learn tools that will come handy these days – things like Zoom. And if Zoom is getting a bit busy, then you may want to try a nifty new kid on the block called Microsoft Teams. It does what Zoom does, plus gives you a few nice collaboration features.

Heart

We build so many relationships over time. And then, in the timelines of our lives, we leave them aside like debris on the roadside. That’s because we don’t know what else to do. There’s no time to nurture those relationships. Well, the lack of time is hardly an excuse when you’re working from home. Its never going to get better than this.

How many of those 500+ Linkedin connections have you communicated with in the last one year? You don’t really have to do much. Just go to notifications every morning and wish people on their birthdays and work anniversaries. I know somebody who for the last several years has religiously wished people on their birthdays and is today reaping the benefits of all those relationships in his business. Its just a matter of doing it.

Your customers will love you for reaching out to them in this time of distress. After all, how many customers are used to being contacted when there is no business to be done?

Build trust with your team at this time. Everything has changed for them too. Working from home, the lack of structure, order and physical proximity when doing so, the uncertainty over health issues, the obvious hit on business and potentially their performance and financial insecurity are all causes of stress…you need to create an emotional safety net for people at this time. I’m sure their families provide them a net, but the family can’t be expected to fully understand their workplace concerns. That’s better represented by co-workers.

Spirit

Undoubtedly everybody is going through the stress of uncertainty. Slow down a little, because you can. Reflect on the things that matter to you, because you’re not spending time on the “noise” between workplace activities – smoke break, useless meetings, post meeting politics, commutes, counselling anguished co-workers etc. It releases a lot of time. Reflection is a great way to muse over things that otherwise get lost in the whirlwind of the workday. You are able to capture and retain a whole lot that would just “slip through the cracks” otherwise.

Use this time to calm down frayed nerves. Yours may be made of steel, but even steel eventually cracks. Meditate. You may not achieve the highs of levitating, and there may not be a tangible product rolling out the other side of your meditation, but it will certainly break the constant flow of stress in your system. The stress won’t break for good, but it won’t control you either.

Validate your values. The very fact that values vary depending on where you work, your upbringing, experiences, core beliefs, faith etc. means they can change. Validate the alignment between your values and your work, because you don’t want to sacrifice one for the other. You don’t get too many chances to sit back and do that.

Conclusions

Lady Corona has brought with her very destructive forces. But she has also created an opportunity. One of giving us the chance to rethink and redefine a lot of things, by affording us the luxury of time. Its for us to take the opportunity. Or not. It’s unlikely the world will remain unchanged after this. That’s why its important to step back and take stock, because as Marshall Goldsmith says “What got you here won’t get you there”!

In my several years of working as a Consultant now, I am a little surprised at the lack of understanding and appreciation (conversations) at the leadership level, of the significant shift that is happening in all of us as customers.

I am not sure if Joseph Pine and James Gilmore were crystal gazing back in 1999, when they espoused the idea of “The Experience Economy”. Looked simply it talked about the fact that we are moving to a point where instead of products and services, it is experience’s that matter, and what customers expect! If we were to look at our own behavior, we are much the experience consumer now, rather than being product or services buyers.

Take the simple case of a visit to the movie theater, every element of the spend that we do is linked to the experience in entirety! Theater was clean, seats comfortable, but the temperature setting was either too hot or cold, or maybe the rest rooms were not in the best shape. As is apparent, experiences are a composite whole, where the product may be the core, but the other elements equally important and impactful.

Needless to say, experiences sit at the upper end of the value perception for customers, and therefore provide organizations an opportunity to look at offerings with higher gross margins (we can’t run away from the cold hard numbers, can we?).

One fallacy I have observed is that this is seen as more of a consumer kind of shift, which may not have much relevance in B2B kind of environments. It is the same mindset which believes that as we step into the hallowed portals of our workplace, we don a different mindset. Well that is really not the case, nor is it really possible. For B2B sellers it means more focus on a collaborative mindset across functions rather than silo’ed thinking, since experiences are a composite whole, and not the sum of the parts.

Even viewed from a consumer experience perspective, one needs to appreciate that customer journey mapping is foundational, but what is more important is to have an ab-initio mindset as one looks at this exercise. The world of today, needs us to look at the world with new eyes, and not let legacy, skepticism and the “as is” cloud the creation of the “to be”.

Lest you think that we have time, do consider the fact that we live in times of exponential change !

Please post your comments, and I do intend to write more on this in subsequent posts.

In his book Purple Cow, Seth Godin wrote about the importance of being different, about standing out, to be noticed. His analogy is simple. If you were driving through fields full of grazing cows, would you stop to look at them? Probably not. Because all cows look the same, and you’ve seen plenty of grazing cows in the past. But what if one of the cows was purple? Would you then stop? Perhaps, for a few seconds, if only to marvel at its uniqueness. Because a purple cow would stand out in a sea of sameness.

Getting noticed is difficult

Getting noticed is a big problem for businesses, mostly because there’s so much vying for the customer’s attention at the same time. Companies look at so many ways to create a competitive advantage. Some want to be leaders in innovation. But you cannot innovate every day. It’s important, but it’s impossible to innovate every day. Besides, innovation doesn’t seem to be delivering the same sustainable advantage as it used to. Look at the gap in availability of say the Apple iPhone 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S4. It was over a year. But there was hardly a gap of a few weeks between the iPhone 6 and the Galaxy S6. Don’t get me wrong; innovation is important, but it is increasingly looking like a matter of survival than a sustainable competitive advantage.

Another way of seeking advantage is price. You’re the cheapest, so people buy your products. Only one person can win a pricing battle, and that’s the one who is the cheapest because it’s no good being second best on price. It’s especially untenable because others can create lower cost business models, or fund their losses and out price you. But more importantly, your ability to create long term value is limited if price is your competitive advantage.

Many companies have built a great image, and people buy from them because they have a good image. However, image has to be based on something concrete, and the value proposition has to be more tangible. The pillars that support the image may also have to keep up with market realities.

That’s where customer orientation becomes important. Can you be different in a sea of sameness? There’s plenty that’s been said about it. The latest big statement came a few months back from Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. He all but put Windows to sleep when he said Microsoft would shift its focus from building Operating Systems to building customer experiences.

Two weeks ago, it hit me in the face. I saw, I felt and I experienced something quite unique, and thought I would share it with my network.

Put the customer at the centre

My work requires me to travel 3-4 days a week. That’s also about the number of nights I spend at different hotels every week. These are some of the better hotels in the country, and they’re all pretty high quality. That also means there’s little to differentiate between one and the other. 9 times out of 10, you can accurately guess the location of the in-room dining menu, they’re that similar. You see one, you’ve seen them all.

Not so at the 4 Seasons Hotel in Mumbai though. It started the moment I got off at the porch. Usually, it’s a security guy who gets your bag for screening and a bell desk guy who delivers it to you inside the hotel. Its location in the interim is a matter of great concern to me. I find it singularly disconcerting, especially since my laptop is part of the luggage and I’m not sure where to look for it once I get into the lobby. It’s the last thing I can afford to lose, since my business is equal to my laptop. At the 4 Seasons, the Bell Boy meets you at your car and walks you all the way to the reception, where he attracts someone’s attention and tells them your name, your organizations name and the purpose of your presence at the reception. It’s different!

The next morning, I came down for breakfast and went through the routine. On my way out, I was wished a good day. Pretty standard. But when they asked me my room number in the coffee shop, they took the pains to find out the name of the guest in the room. And as I left, the greeting wasn’t a standard “Have a good day, sir”. It was “Have a good day, Mr. Mathur.” It’s different!

I got back late in the evening. I usually carry a book to read on flights, and my bookmarks are often boarding passes from the previous flight. I was reading Carmine Gallo’s “Talk Like TED” at the time, and had left the book at the table in my hotel room. While doing up my room behind me, the housekeepers had replaced the boarding pass with a 4 Seasons bookmark. It wowed me. In my eyes, it was the hotel’s Purple Cow moment. Every step of the way, they were doing little things that enriched my experience, and differentiating themselves from the crowd.

That evening, I went up to the rooftop bar because it’s highly recommended. Great views are one of the attractions. No disappointments there. The waiter took my order and brought me my drink in about 5 minutes. Then he asked me if I was waiting for someone. When I said no, he went away for a few minutes, returned, and struck up a conversation. When he realized I had no problem with that, he didn’t leave my side for 45 minutes even though the bar was reasonably busy at that time. They think of everything!

Takeaway

The facilities at the 4 Seasons are pretty good, though not remarkably different from other hotels in the same class. But that’s not the point. It’s the things they did to improve my experience. They focused on me, their customer, not only on the facilities they provide. The facilities are good, but there’s a maniacal focus  on improving customer experience. That’s what makes them different.  I rarely write hotel reviews, but I did for this one on TripAdvisor. I tweeted about the place, and can’t stop talking about it with anyone I meet.

There are many stories of how exceptional customer experiences have made businesses successful. I haven’t ever used an Apple product, but people often say similar things about the user experience. For about 20 years of my life, I refused to go to the movies until PVR improved the movie going experience for all Indians. I now go to the movie theatre 3-4 times every year, which is a lot better than never. I go because the experience is better. Mind you, it’s the same movie they screen at other places, but I like the experience I get at the new theatres.

My experience at the 4 Seasons made me more convinced than ever that customer orientation is a sustainable competitive advantage in any industry. You can create greatly differentiated value propositions based on customer experience, and if the delivery is strong it will ensure recall, acquisition and retention. After all, these are 3 things all businesses care for!

Some weeks ago, I wrote a piece about a fantastic experience I had at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai. It was about creating great customer experiences. My friend Rohit Shipstone commented on it, and I thank him for it, because he said its not just about the experience, its about creating value. So I thought a great deal about it, and came up with the following. Thanks Rohit, hope you, and everyone else, likes this.

The thing about value is if you can create it for your customers, you’ll always be in business. The trouble is, it’s not tangible. It requires 2 parties to create, and you’re only one of them. The other one is the receiver who must perceive it as value. Of course, your product or service is at the heart of your offer, and that’s probably why you’re talking in the first place. But it’s likely there are many others who provide similar things. So why should an informed customer pay you money for your product or service, and not somebody else? Chances are, if they paid you, they liked something you did. That feels great, doesn’t it? Just imagine if a lot of people like something you do and are willing to pay you for it. How would that feel? Awe-fricking-some! But for that to happen, you would have to know what kind of people like things about you, what those things are, and how you will deliver them.

The other thing about value is, it’s not permanent. Once your customers get used to what they value about your product or service, it becomes a standard offering. For example, people need public transport. So you have buses, trains and cabs. Great. But then you got used to them. Picking on cabs for instance, once you had them, you wanted air conditioned ones. Once you had those, you wanted to get away from the hassle of finding one on the street or calling for one. So now you have app based services like Uber. Then they gave you multiple options for pricing, comfort, sharing and such things. We’ll get used to that pretty soon. They’re currently busy expanding that value with shuttle services, motorcycle cabs etc. but then what? Either they’ll get into a price war, or they’ll cartelize, or they will create more value. The ones that create new value, add value to what they offer, or enhance quality will sustain, the others will struggle.

Customers have to choose someone

Fundamentally, if a customer needs something, they’ll go looking for it, and eventually, they’ll find something they like. Amongst others, the main things they’ll be looking for are

1. Who can fulfil my needs?
2. Are they reliable and trustworthy?
3. How will they add value to my business?

Most people get stuck on the first point. That’s why there are endless comparisons on feature benefits, RoI, pricing and the regular stuff we deal with on an everyday basis. Add to that the credentials presentation and you’re still only addressing about half the issue. All of that is important, and must be done. But there’s a lot more.

I’d be surprised if customers will start trusting an organization only because they deliver a great credentials presentation. Don’t expect people to trust you based on your credentials alone. At the most, you will give them some useful information. That’s just the beginning. The customer will most certainly look for intent and commitment before they will trust you enough to do business with you. While commitment is more obvious – do you keep the promises you make – intent is different. The thing about intent is that you can’t fake it. So you have to prove it. Also, your intent must match the client’s need. I mean, if your intent is to secure the sale, it may be good intent for you but your client may not find it as good as you do. They would want to see your intent towards their needs.

Eventually customers are likely to lean towards someone who can create value for them. In simple words, if everyone competing for the clients business is offering similar products, what would prompt the customer to pay one and not the others? One example is why you go to a multiplex to watch a movie and not to one of the older theatres. After all, the price of tickets in multiplexes is 2 times that of the old single screen ones. The movie is the same, isn’t it? So why do you pay extra money for the same product? They offer you what you value, that’s why. It is not about the price then, but the demonstrated value the multiplex gives you.

In the absence of value being established in the customer’s mind, good luck with your feature comparison and price negotiation!

Are you thinking as they are?

So I guess you’ve got to take an outside in view of this thing, i.e., its less about what you have, and more about what the customer needs. This often requires a mind-set change. Mind-sets are powerful things. They’re the things through which our thoughts are filtered. They could be rooted in our culture, or something profound we were exposed to, or our past experiences. Once our thoughts are formed, of course, the sequence of action and results takes over. So it is important to consider a few things

1. What is your anchor?
2. The customer first mind-set
3. The value creation mind-set

The main issue to ponder is, what is your organization’s anchor? Many, in fact, most organizations, tend to anchor on their products and solutions. Everything is seen through the lens of the anchor. For the longest time, that anchor for Microsoft has been Windows. It was a winning approach through much of the 1980’s, and even the 1990’s. But it was far less compelling in the Internet world. Later, with the advent of Smart Phones, it rendered a powerful company like Microsoft irrelevant in that segment of the market. But worryingly for Microsoft, that segment is now an order of magnitude larger than the PC market for application development, content consumption, and increasingly for content creation. Isn’t that the business Microsoft is in? Recent announcements by the company, most notably the one about Microsoft moving its focus from Operating Systems to customer experiences are already getting positive market response, because those who created new and enhanced customer experiences in the new age technology businesses are the ones who have created value in the last decade and a half.

One company I worked with a great deal had predominantly inside-out thinking. Their perspective on customer needs was therefore driven mostly by what was going on inside their company, and not by the customer. For instance, in many cases where there were delays in deliveries, or responding to support calls, their thoughts were governed more by what they needed to improve within their company and less by what the customer required at the time of the crisis. Not surprisingly, they ended up seeing the problem the way they defined it, and acted accordingly, often with unintended consequences. Basically, a delayed delivery can be looked at in two ways. The internally focused view may tend to define the problem as process inefficiency. They would consequently consider solutions to improve internal processes and create better systems. The customer focused view may define the problem as a daily revenue loss to the customer. The urgency and solutions from this point of view would be different. I believe if the external view prevails, the urgency will be far greater, and the solution would get resolved where the problem is.

So does your organization have a customer-centric or internally focused mind set? You better move quickly to an customer centric mind set, because technology and those who have leveraged it are setting the benchmark – it’s not a good idea to not have a delivery date for a customer who’s paying you a million dollars for your product if amazon has been up their nose all of last week informing them about the progress of a $1 order for a rubic’s cube they ordered a few days ago!

A big mind set change is to constantly think about value creation (new stuff). Or value addition (I’m adding new things to the value I have created), or value extension (I’m giving more of the same stuff for the same price). Actually, I believe it’s a chain of mind-sets. Firstly to understand it’s not a market we serve but that there are customers in that market. We can’t possibly target all customers, so we target the ones we value, the ones who will pay us for a value proposition that they like, and that we can provide to them. Value delivery is equally important, because if we promise something and we don’t deliver, that’s bad. Eventually, how do we retain the customer for the value he sees in us and for which he pays us.

The thing is, customers today have so many things competing for their attention, if you’re not able to capture their attention with what you propose, they’re going to forget you. I’m reminded of Seth Godin’s Purple Cow here. He asks, if you’re driving through a field and there are cows grazing on either side, would you stop to have a look? Wow! Look, it’s a cow! It has two ears, and a tail! It even gives milk! Unlikely.

But if one of the cows was purple in color, would you stop? Now that’s interesting. You probably would. The whole idea about value creation is, what’s your purple cow moment? Truth be told, purple cow’s wouldn’t be too interesting after you see the second one. So value propositions aren’t permanent – you have to keep changing them!

Are you creating what they value?

I have a great story to tell on this. I moved from Delhi to Gurgaon about 9 years ago. I lived in an independent house in Delhi, with 3 bedrooms, so I was using 2 split AC units in my hall, and 3 window ACs in my bedrooms. My condominium in Gurgaon does not allow us to use window AC units. And it has 4 bedrooms, so on top of all the wood work and painting I had paid for, I had to buy 4 new split AC units. I went for a cheap option, with the idea that I’d purchase better brands as and when the cheap ones popped off 5-6 years later. Thankfully they didn’t pop in 5-6 years. One did in 8-9 years.  But lo and behold, I found myself buying the same, cheap brand as a replacement. In fact, one of the old split units of a “better” brand popped, and I bought a unit of the cheaper brand to replace it. Cheapo, you might say. But I have my reasons.

In the initial years, the maintenance contract for 4 split units cost me around INR6,000/- per year (around US$90). Now it costs me INR11,000/- per year, about twice as much. But I don’t even want to look at better brands because the cheap one I bought promised and gave me such fabulous value in terms of performance, prompt after sales support, and helpful maintenance people, that I don’t care to find out any longer about the features or customer service improvements of some of the leading brands I used earlier, or new ones that have shown up in the last decade. So there!

That’s value proposition, value delivery and value retention packed into one. For the next 8-9 years, I’m staying with this brand! Just like one of the two cars I ever own will be a Honda!

The question is, is your business focused on creating, adding or extending the value your targeted customers seek? If not, it’s as good a time as any to think about it!

Well, so much for now folks. I hope this one makes sense. More on the subject later!

You don’t achieve results by setting goals. You achieve them by what you do.

In the last 18 months, I have spoken to over 100 groups of managers, each group of around 20 people, at a global engineering company, regarding a multi-pronged, 2-year old initiative being driven by their CEO. My mandate within the substantial framework is to coach them to develop a mind-set that’s important for the long term success of their business.

I invariably start each discussion by asking if they believe this initiative is the most visible one in their company. “Yes”, they agree. I build it up further by asking them if they’ve signed the supporting signature campaign, prominently displayed at the reception in every facility, on white flex boards. “Yes”.  Then I ask them what the 5 core elements of the program are. Almost always, I get complete silence!

On a separate occasion, in 2015, the Asia-Pacific leadership team of a technology company invited me to their APAC HQ in Singapore for a dialog on one of their priorities. They had the VP for Asia, country heads from as far and wide as Japan, Australia, China and the Middle-East, and the VP’s staff, in the room. This was the day after their 2-day AOP meeting.

I asked them “what is the one thing you want to achieve in 2015 that is more important than anything else?” They replied “revenue, enterprise business, partners, cloud based solutions and quality”. I said to them “I asked for one”. It took an hour of debate, and an intervention from the VP to decide that partnerships were it. Then I asked them “what’s the one thing you want to achieve with your partners that’s more important than anything else?” That took another hour.

The problem

This is the truth. You can try it in your workplace. If you ask 10 people what the top 3 goals of your company are, you should get 3 goals, stated crisply and accurately, but you’ll probably get several dozen pretty interesting answers instead.

Interestingly, there’s weighty research to back up this fact. Consider the graphic below. It has some revealing statistics from a survey administered by the Harris Polling Group some years ago. They asked several thousand US white collar workers a few simple questions. The results are truly revealing

You see, it’s one thing to say what your goals are, but it’s quite another to actually get them done. That’s why a bunch of great sounding plans whimper out again and again. Don’t get me wrong, I totally respect the effort managers make to communicate goals to teams. But the critical error is to leave it to team members to figure out what to do to achieve those goals. That’s where it ALWAYS goes wrong. It takes focus, engaged employees, and disciplined execution to achieve results. Just sticking a number on the wall and shouting from the roof won’t do!

How to tackle the problem

One example that comes to mind is the on-time performance of IndiGo Airlines. You may have your views on how they use time slots to manage on-time performance, but they do manage within those slots more than 80% of the time. More importantly, by promising and delivering “on-time”, they have won the highest passenger market share in India, achieving that position in their 6th year of operations. They have continued since to be on time, profitable, and having the highest market share!

Every employee in the company knows the most important thing they have to do to ensure their planes fly on time. Whether it’s the flight crew who schedule longer TAT’s, or cabin crew who have the cabin cleaned for the next flight even before the current flight lands, to the F&B managers who don’t take hot food on board, except stuff that can be mixed with hot water, everyone knows exactly what to do to ensure that planes leave on time. That’s focus, engagement, and discipline. They don’t just say they will be on time. They know, and equally importantly, do what it takes to get planes in the air on time.

Just to set a goal isn’t enough. It’s a good start, but it has to be backed by something concrete. That’s where the translation of goals into every day work comes in, but this is mostly left to chance, and to employees to figure out. The net result is people work very hard, but end up running around in all directions looking very busy and producing less than what they are expected to. It also leaves many managers very frustrated. But it is the job of the manager to oversee the actions their teams take. Unfortunately managers often lack a system to do this.

Employees have to see results of what they do frequently enough for them to stay engaged. If you keep reviewing end results, they’re always behind the curve, and that’ll lead to demotivation and disinterest, i.e., disengaged employees. It may be worthwhile to define smaller tasks that are predictive of goal achievement, achieving them periodically, and letting employees see success far more frequently than they do. The discipline and rigor to watch and change what works and what does not is often overlooked for simpler reviews that only consider achievement of goals.

This approach is likely to give managers more control, visibility and predictability over results. Employees get to see the results of their work regularly, and there are plenty of opportunities to course correct. So as a manager, instead of setting goals, and then hoping for the best, take control by getting your teams to focus not only on end results, but also on the regular actions that will get them there. Let them see and celebrate success, and give them loads of opportunities to course correct if things are not working. You will get better accountability and far greater control!

My favorite corporate version of Aesop’s fable is actually this version –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXTeFa43730. However I am equally struck by the parallel between the hare and the tortoise and how our strategic goals move and the pace at which we move.

Hit the road in the morning, into office well in time, and set for really making a major impact – and then the world starts to spin around. Review calls, meeting with a key stakeholder, lunch with a major customer, process hygiene activities to finish off, and in between your CFO wants a quick discussion on some new regulatory requirements, the marketing team needs a quick input on the new campaign, HR wants your nod on what they would respond to the global HQ on policy, and the day goes by. Throw in a flight to another city for some key engagements the next day, and the morning high of doing that impactful transformation is down the tube.

In the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy Douglas Adams says  ‘I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.’ But do you. I certainly never did, much as I enjoyed reading the book.

I am sure for most of you the day is like the hare and that “impactful transformation” is the tortoise.Need I explain more

Time to put an end to this…engage with Strat2Results