For decades I have been pursuing a sustainable competitive advantage around issues such as value, excellence, and customer service. I no longer believe that these issues are sustainable. For example, in an accounting firm, gone are the days where the competitive advantage is around being a full-service firm or client service levels. If I was running a CA or CPA firm I would have "we will win by being the best place to work" as our competitive advantage. This advantage recognizes how important it is to attract and retain the best people. It will focus on issues such as life-long learning, fast-tracking careers, and even, having fun at work. Building a community around the firm is the key.
If I was a manufacturing firm I would have, "we will win by being the best business to work with", in this case I am thinking of the customers, the suppliers, and the employees. The issues this time are around, ease of working with, exceeding expectations, understanding the specific needs, and anticipating needs. For employees that translates into flexibility of work, use of technology, and leadership.
For an organization such as Mindshop, the emerging competitive advantage is likely to be, "we will win by best creating a sense of family at work". The issues driven by the sustainable competitive advantage statement include, communication, rate of contact, trust, and mutual support. It is the values such as trust and support that are the key to building and maintaining a family culture. The challenge is how to create this culture. I suggest that selecting clients with similar values will continue to be essential. Building trust with our clients so that they will share honestly with us their fears and concerns is the step before being able to effectively support the clients.It also creates a need to deepen our skills in a wide range of hard issues (strategy, diagnostics, training, problem solving) and soft issues (confidence, motivation, behavior modification).
The "big picture" issues that I see for Mindshop in 2011/12 include, achieving step-change, and increased collaboration. The step-change will require doing different things, new structures, basically doing a pareto analysis on ourselves and throwing out the 80% of the "trivial many" to enable focus on the 20% "vital few". If the step-change is structural, then the collaboration is cultural. We need both. The collaboration starts with how we coach and support our clients, how we run our meetings and conferences, and includes increased collaboration between clients.
I predict that in 2011/12 we will build a stronger Mindshop family. As the diffusion of innovation model specifies, initially around 16% of our clients will "get it", followed by the next 34%, and ultimately another 34%. This path will not be easy, but that's life, anything of value is usually hard.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Transformational versus Transactional Leadership
In these challenging (and exciting) times it appears that most leaders are playing safe and adopting a transactional style of leadership. By that I mean they focus on being technically good in areas such as their knowledge of the business, developing strategies, maintaining their skills, and generally working hard. The bad news is that 2011 is about leverage if you really want to be competitive, and transactional leadership will only drive more of the same, let's call it a five percent improvement on 2010's results.
A transformational leader behaves in a way that literally "transforms" themselves and their business (and their business results), achieving a 25 percent step change, rather than more of the same. Studies on transformational leadership have identified three things that transformational leaders do well, they increase their people's vision for the business and their self-belief in their competency (technically called self-efficacy), they facilitate their team members' social identification with the group, and they link the work values with the employees' values (Bono & Judge, 2003).
To improve the self-efficacy you can link the organizational vision directly to that of each person by showing them how they can benefit in where the company wants to go. Linked to that you need to clearly demonstrate how the person will gain the skills, and be supported, so that they cannot fail to achieve their part of the vision. Do not assume that they will work this out for themselves.
Building social identification is a hot topic today, but this is more than Facebook, or Twitter. The transformational leader breaks down organizational silos, encourages social interaction, and takes a personal interest in all their people. Simple things like awards, logos, newsletters, and praise help build the social collateral.
Do you have your company values clearly defined and communicated? Mindshop has five values, continuous improvement, community contribution, best practice, value to others, and fun. You need to encourage your people to adopt and embrace your values so that there is a clear link between the two value sets.
The symptoms of an organization with transformational leadership include, confident staff, a pride in belonging to the company, a commitment to be the best, and a burning desire to make a difference. Does that describe your organization? If not, perhaps you have too much emphasis on transactions and not enough transformation?
A transformational leader behaves in a way that literally "transforms" themselves and their business (and their business results), achieving a 25 percent step change, rather than more of the same. Studies on transformational leadership have identified three things that transformational leaders do well, they increase their people's vision for the business and their self-belief in their competency (technically called self-efficacy), they facilitate their team members' social identification with the group, and they link the work values with the employees' values (Bono & Judge, 2003).
To improve the self-efficacy you can link the organizational vision directly to that of each person by showing them how they can benefit in where the company wants to go. Linked to that you need to clearly demonstrate how the person will gain the skills, and be supported, so that they cannot fail to achieve their part of the vision. Do not assume that they will work this out for themselves.
Building social identification is a hot topic today, but this is more than Facebook, or Twitter. The transformational leader breaks down organizational silos, encourages social interaction, and takes a personal interest in all their people. Simple things like awards, logos, newsletters, and praise help build the social collateral.
Do you have your company values clearly defined and communicated? Mindshop has five values, continuous improvement, community contribution, best practice, value to others, and fun. You need to encourage your people to adopt and embrace your values so that there is a clear link between the two value sets.
The symptoms of an organization with transformational leadership include, confident staff, a pride in belonging to the company, a commitment to be the best, and a burning desire to make a difference. Does that describe your organization? If not, perhaps you have too much emphasis on transactions and not enough transformation?
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Benefit of Adversity
Whilst not wishing people to have to suffer through adversity like the current floods in Australia, it has been interesting to observe people's reaction to what has happened. The Queensland government on the whole reacted very professionally to the deaths and the flood damage in that State, holding press conferences every two hours, replying immediately to rumours and poor information, and firmly taking charge. The most amazing thing was how people volunteered to help prepare for the flood, and to clean up the mess as the water receded.
People were facing the return to their home knowing there was no power, inches of mud and slime over everything they owned, and then opened their door to find 20 people armed with shovels, buckets, and mops ready to help. Within hours the carpets, in some cases even the walls, were out on the footpath, and the house scrubbed clean. Tens of thousands of volunteers were bussed into the flood areas so they could help out.
It was also pleasing to note that looting was kept to a minimum, some, I assume professional thieves, tried it and were quickly jailed. There is up to 10 years jail for looting in a natural disaster, so I hope the book gets thrown at these people. At the time of writing only 14 arrests have been made, showing how the majority of people in our community are honest and empathetic. Already the media is moving to allocate blame for what happened, why can't we just accept there is risk in every aspect of life and learning from experience does not mean blaming people? My house had minor storm damage before Christmas and we finally got everything repaired yesterday, our experience was nothing compared to most and hopefully my insurance will cover the hard costs in any case.
The lesson in all this is that "value to others" (VTO) is alive and well in Australia, we are a true community, big enough to have a unique culture, and small enough to each be important and respected. We need reminding that we are truly a "lucky country" and these floods have indirectly done that.
People were facing the return to their home knowing there was no power, inches of mud and slime over everything they owned, and then opened their door to find 20 people armed with shovels, buckets, and mops ready to help. Within hours the carpets, in some cases even the walls, were out on the footpath, and the house scrubbed clean. Tens of thousands of volunteers were bussed into the flood areas so they could help out.
It was also pleasing to note that looting was kept to a minimum, some, I assume professional thieves, tried it and were quickly jailed. There is up to 10 years jail for looting in a natural disaster, so I hope the book gets thrown at these people. At the time of writing only 14 arrests have been made, showing how the majority of people in our community are honest and empathetic. Already the media is moving to allocate blame for what happened, why can't we just accept there is risk in every aspect of life and learning from experience does not mean blaming people? My house had minor storm damage before Christmas and we finally got everything repaired yesterday, our experience was nothing compared to most and hopefully my insurance will cover the hard costs in any case.
The lesson in all this is that "value to others" (VTO) is alive and well in Australia, we are a true community, big enough to have a unique culture, and small enough to each be important and respected. We need reminding that we are truly a "lucky country" and these floods have indirectly done that.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Reflection on 2010 to plan 2011
Well, here we are, already racing through December and soon to be into 2011. I have been doing some reflection on 2010 and looking at how that helps springboard into 2011. I have had some successes this year and I need to make sure that I keep doing that sort of stuff. I asked myself the following question:
- What went well in 2010?
My response included a good number of items, some related to my work, others regarding my study, and then my family. I intend to continue most, if not all, of these activities. I then asked myself a second question:
- If you had a magic wand what would 2011 look like for you?
This was a key question as it came up with some new ideas around issues such as time management, personal health and fitness, and study. The third question was:
- What do I have to change to make this vision a reality?
A much more concise list resulted. Some of the outcomes were unexpected. I was pleased to note that there was nothing difficult on the list (of five items). The last question was:
- So what do you need to do in the next 30 days to make this all start to happen?
Out of this came three actions, two I completed today and one I intend to spend some quality time on during the week leading up till Christmas. What a simple little process to get me moving now to start achieving my 2011 vision. I commend it to you.
Chris
- What went well in 2010?
My response included a good number of items, some related to my work, others regarding my study, and then my family. I intend to continue most, if not all, of these activities. I then asked myself a second question:
- If you had a magic wand what would 2011 look like for you?
This was a key question as it came up with some new ideas around issues such as time management, personal health and fitness, and study. The third question was:
- What do I have to change to make this vision a reality?
A much more concise list resulted. Some of the outcomes were unexpected. I was pleased to note that there was nothing difficult on the list (of five items). The last question was:
- So what do you need to do in the next 30 days to make this all start to happen?
Out of this came three actions, two I completed today and one I intend to spend some quality time on during the week leading up till Christmas. What a simple little process to get me moving now to start achieving my 2011 vision. I commend it to you.
Chris
Monday, October 25, 2010
Brief Therapy
I am currently studying a subject called Brief Therapy. The need for being brief when treating someone has always been there, in the early years of psychology because there were so few psychologists and so many people with psychological issues. Today the pressure comes from the medical insurers who want to restrict the number of visits with psychologists for cost reasons.
The Brief Therapy model does not care what caused your problem, it focuses on what needs to be done in the future to resolve the problem. The underlying philosophy is that you need to visualize how your life would be if a "miracle" happened overnight and the problem went away (equivalent to the Mindshop magic wand tool). Then you think about the exceptions, the times you have experienced when the problem was not there. You work out what is working for you (and do more of it), and you work out what is not working for you (and try something different).
The logic of all this is that our natural tendency is to try harder when things are not working for us rather than trying something new. I am using the Brief Therapy model with my business clients with good success. Much of the methodology is very similar to the Mindshop approach to business and personal improvement, so it is no surprise that I am using it. The difference is that Brief Therapy is supported by scientific research so its confirmation of the Mindshop approach is comforting.
So in summary the Brief Therapy steps are:
The Brief Therapy model does not care what caused your problem, it focuses on what needs to be done in the future to resolve the problem. The underlying philosophy is that you need to visualize how your life would be if a "miracle" happened overnight and the problem went away (equivalent to the Mindshop magic wand tool). Then you think about the exceptions, the times you have experienced when the problem was not there. You work out what is working for you (and do more of it), and you work out what is not working for you (and try something different).
The logic of all this is that our natural tendency is to try harder when things are not working for us rather than trying something new. I am using the Brief Therapy model with my business clients with good success. Much of the methodology is very similar to the Mindshop approach to business and personal improvement, so it is no surprise that I am using it. The difference is that Brief Therapy is supported by scientific research so its confirmation of the Mindshop approach is comforting.
So in summary the Brief Therapy steps are:
- Set the vision assuming your problem is resolved
- Think about times when the problem was not there
- Make a list of what is working and do more of it
- Makes a list of what is not working and do something different
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Experiencing New Things
I turn 61 in a matter of days. My father died at 60 so passing his age at which he passed is a moment of both significance and reflection for me. During this personal reflection I came to realize that the rate at which I am experiencing new things is on the increase, and I wondered why? I also contemplated whether this was a good thing, and I quickly decided that it was (a good thing). I questioned the cost and the benefit. I examined who received the benefit from this contemplation. I then committed to further increase my level of new experiences. Let me explain why.
Over the last couple of weeks I watched an American college football game, took six days to drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and was present when California experienced its hottest day on record (113F). These new things were external to me, so my immersion in them merely added to my already comprehensive travel experiences. Even though good experiences, they just added to a long existing list of good experiences.
Some of my new experiences during this period were internal experiences. I studied "positive" psychology, the concepts espoused by psychologists such as Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi created new experiences and new thoughts. The concept of "flow" was of particular significance. The flow model proposes that to be happy you need to be "in the flow", and to achieve that state you need to balance your level of skills and your level of challenges. More challenges than skills means anxiety, more skills than challenges means boredom.
Another new experience was my decision to think more about other people than to think about myself. Genuinely wanting to understand the point of view of another person and dropping the need to be heard or understood yourself is new territory for me. I am yet to achieve consistency in this process, but remain optimistic that I can make it my normal mode of operation in time.
These and other new experiences are moulding me to become a more effective person. I like the feelings and the outcomes that these activities have created, and I want more of it. The more I practice listening and caring, the better I seem to get at it. Improved listening leads to better understanding, which then leads to a good relationship.
So what are the lessons here? I think that there are three take-home points.
Over the last couple of weeks I watched an American college football game, took six days to drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and was present when California experienced its hottest day on record (113F). These new things were external to me, so my immersion in them merely added to my already comprehensive travel experiences. Even though good experiences, they just added to a long existing list of good experiences.
Some of my new experiences during this period were internal experiences. I studied "positive" psychology, the concepts espoused by psychologists such as Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi created new experiences and new thoughts. The concept of "flow" was of particular significance. The flow model proposes that to be happy you need to be "in the flow", and to achieve that state you need to balance your level of skills and your level of challenges. More challenges than skills means anxiety, more skills than challenges means boredom.
Another new experience was my decision to think more about other people than to think about myself. Genuinely wanting to understand the point of view of another person and dropping the need to be heard or understood yourself is new territory for me. I am yet to achieve consistency in this process, but remain optimistic that I can make it my normal mode of operation in time.
These and other new experiences are moulding me to become a more effective person. I like the feelings and the outcomes that these activities have created, and I want more of it. The more I practice listening and caring, the better I seem to get at it. Improved listening leads to better understanding, which then leads to a good relationship.
So what are the lessons here? I think that there are three take-home points.
- Balance your skills and challenges to achieve being in the flow
- learn new skills and embrace new challenges (rather than broadening the current ones)
- Focus on understanding anyone you interact with rather than defending your own ego
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Gratitude
Do you have issues showing your gratitude to others? I know I do. I'm not sure if it is laziness or some deeper reason that limits me. I just took the time to make a list of all the things that I am grateful to my wife (of 38 years) for and then shared it with her. I really enjoyed the process. I spent a couple of weeks researching gratification. My favorite author on the subject is Seligman (2002). Once my head was around the topic I started making a list of all the things that I was grateful to my wife for. It ended up edited down to 13 items.
What I learned from this event was that I should do this a lot more. Formally I should make a list for each of my immediate family members, informally I should send more emails to people thanking them. I know I think about other people all the time regarding how helpful they have been to me, but I haven't been sharing these thoughts with them.
Who do you regard as the most important people in your life? When is the last time you shared your gratitude for them? What is stopping you doing that with at least one person today? Don't tell me that you are too busy, that just means it is not a high priority. We all have time for the things we really want to do each day.
I am in Atlanta Georgia this week, and I am grateful for all the people I will be spending time with. I am grateful for the glorious weather, the beauty of the city, and that my wife is with me. I need to show that gratification rather than just think about it.
Gratefulness is an element of what is known as positive psychology. I am currently studying positive psychology in my PhD, and I am also grateful for that opportunity. We are all so fortunate living in these times. We are surrounded by opportunities, and if we grasp them we will be drawn to even more opportunities. We should feel grateful for this and honor the opportunities by taking advantage of them. What are you grateful for today, and what could (or should) you be grateful for by the end of 2010?
What I learned from this event was that I should do this a lot more. Formally I should make a list for each of my immediate family members, informally I should send more emails to people thanking them. I know I think about other people all the time regarding how helpful they have been to me, but I haven't been sharing these thoughts with them.
Who do you regard as the most important people in your life? When is the last time you shared your gratitude for them? What is stopping you doing that with at least one person today? Don't tell me that you are too busy, that just means it is not a high priority. We all have time for the things we really want to do each day.
I am in Atlanta Georgia this week, and I am grateful for all the people I will be spending time with. I am grateful for the glorious weather, the beauty of the city, and that my wife is with me. I need to show that gratification rather than just think about it.
Gratefulness is an element of what is known as positive psychology. I am currently studying positive psychology in my PhD, and I am also grateful for that opportunity. We are all so fortunate living in these times. We are surrounded by opportunities, and if we grasp them we will be drawn to even more opportunities. We should feel grateful for this and honor the opportunities by taking advantage of them. What are you grateful for today, and what could (or should) you be grateful for by the end of 2010?
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