When I work with clients on strategy, one of my greatest responsibilities is to shift their thinking so they can look at things in new ways, step up to a higher plane, and think big. Boards of Directors and staff alike are usually too mired in today’s challenges to envision a dramatically improved future, let alone a path that gets them there. Without a shift in thinking, most strategic plans are incremental at best with the biggest changes focused on internal operations that may save money, but won’t measurably increase the organization’s ability to make a difference. At the same time, I have to keep my clients grounded in reality. Blue-sky proponents lobby for lofty earth-saving missions without any concrete ideas about the specific products and services that will make a measurable difference. They shoot down dissenters and leave too many details for later. These grandiose plans are wrapped up in shiny binders and delivered with great pomp and circumstance. So how do you know a sensible and strong strategy from a bad one? Today’s list is geared toward nonprofits. Stay tuned for an equivalent list for businesses.
In “Why Is Productivity So Weak? Three Theories” from The New York Times on April 28th, the author’s “depressing scenario” suggests that innovations in technology (such as a computer on every desk) and management techniques (such as outsourcing noncore functions) have been fully implemented across corporate America and will produce no additional productivity improvements. While I don’t think this is entirely true, I suspect we are seeing diminishing returns. But what that means is that we are ready for the next big innovation in workplace productivity! Corporate America is buried in time-wasting confusion. Clarity is the answer. Here are just a few examples:
I’ve been shaking my fists and screaming at the walls lately. It seems as if my service providers have embarked on a conspiracy to drive me crazy and suck up my precious time. Here are just two recent examples:
One of my great pleasures is working with sharp, knowledgeable, dedicated, and determined leaders and Board members of impressive non-profit organizations. These organizations are almost always doing amazing things, but too often I find them feeling totally strapped and constrained by resources. The staff is overworked and underpaid. Most non-profits walk a fine line between hope and despair. Financial limitations, and the insecurity that creates, lead to way too much focus on money and the wrong metrics. When you focus on money, you devote most of your time to boosting donations, memberships, and attendance. You constantly brainstorm new schemes to attract more of each. Meanwhile, you don’t care who donates, joins, or attends, as long as those numbers are going in the right direction. The problem is it does matter where the money comes from. That money, and your considerable efforts to acquire it, control how you use your limited resources. Typical consequences of chasing money include:
When I founded Uncommon Clarity, Inc. over a decade ago, my initial focus was on creating organizational clarity so organizations could be more efficient and effective. However, it wasn’t long before I discovered how little strategic clarity existed in most organizations. It is impossible to improve performance without strategic clarity. You have to know what you are trying to achieve! Trying to improve performance without strategic clarity is like trying to win a race without knowing which direction to run. If you cross the finish line first, it is either sheer luck or evidence of zero competition. So how do you know if you are operating with strategic clarity? Here are five signs:
“Thank you for calling Cooley-Dickinson Health Group – Hadley Family Practice. If this is a medical emergency, please hang up and dial 911.” “Thank you for calling Tufts Medical Center and Floating Hospital for Children. We are dedicated to providing high quality care every day. If this is a medical emergency, please hang up and dial 911.” What’s wrong with this picture? Why on earth aren’t the medical emergency instructions given first? This rankles me every time I get an answering machine at a medical facility. I can’t possibly believe you are dedicated to providing quality care if you would rather talk about it than do it by getting me off the phone as fast you can in an emergency. Distinguish between the need to build rapport and the need to get to the point. When it is time to get to the point, do it quickly. Don’t copy others when they are doing something stupid. And please don’t seize every opportunity to tell me how wonderful you are. Actions speak more loudly than words and spouting platitudes during a medical emergency will not convince me of your dedication to quality care. P.S. While writing this, I wanted to see if other facilities had even longer messages than Tufts. That experiment didn’t last! Baystate Health and Mass General answered the phone! If this is a medical emergency, don’t call me! But if you need clarity, dial 603-784-5727 ASAP!
It wasn’t until I was getting out of the shower that I realized the towels were stacked on the far side of my hotel room. How can that possibly make sense? And how can such a thing happen? Here are a few possibilities: Someone selected a designer with zero expertise. I don’t think this designer had ever even been to a hotel! Across-the-board cuts truncated the design process, surrendering results to “good enough.” Management wasn’t willing to spend money on final touches – like towel racks in the bathroom. Employees have never cared enough to point out the problem. Management is deaf to employee suggestions and/or customer complaints. Service standards are so low they leave bruises on your shins. The schedule was so tight, no one thought things through. The answer could be any or all of the above. What do you think?
Want to grow your business? Keep it simple, and successful, by answering these four questions: 1. Where do you have, or where could you create, excess capacity? Boston’s MBTA had a great plan for increasing ridership. They planned to install card readers so riders could pre-pay in the station or online and load faster and easier. But there was a slight problem. Card readers were going to do nothing to increase ridership. The buses were full and turning away customers. 2. What products and services are most profitable? Not all parts of your business produce the same results. You may even be selling some things at a loss, whether out of the goodness of your heart or a desire to provide a full service option. The last thing you want to do is grow the losing side of the business!
I joined an organization for the first time 16 months ago. I was their easiest acquisition ever. I walked into an event and, instead of paying for the event, I paid the annual membership fee. They were pleased as punch. Before the year was up, I moved. When I received a bill for a second round of annual dues, I was undecided. I lived a hundred miles away and was unlikely to attend their events, though I did have lots of clients and contacts among their members. I stuck the bill in a drawer where I did not forget it entirely. After 45 days, I received another statement. Now I was actually amused. Even if I had been ready to renew, I almost wanted to wait just to see if this organization was going to call me. I couldn’t believe they wouldn’t reach out to me, a one year member, find out what I was thinking, see if they could learn something to help them better serve members, and encourage me to continue my membership.
Are you ready to be obsessed with your customers? Evolving marketing slogans, values, principles, mantras – whatever you want to call them – have driven significant improvements in customer service. Examples include “the customer is always right” and “we put our customers first.” Slogans like these have been adopted wildly as companies gradually recognized the need to meet, if not exceed, customer expectations. Oh, wait! There goes another! “We will meet, if not exceed, customer expectations.” As a result, customer relationships and customer experiences are now often considered to be as important, if not more important, than the product itself. But time never stops and so the slogans continue to evolve. As each one becomes commonplace and ceases to stand out in the crowd, someone installs an upgrade. Amazon’s “Customer Obsession” is a case in point. It’s quite the attention getter. “Wow! Amazon is upping the ante on customer centric commitments!” So what are you waiting for? Are you ready to declare your “Customer Obsession”? Or maybe you want to leapfrog the competition and be the first to claim “Lunatic Devotion.” Before you do that, there are three things you need to think about when adopting a new approach.