simplify, Simplify, SIMPLIFY ..1 ..2 ..3

Trevor writes:

From this post - MAD 7. It Only Takes 'HALF-A-DOZEN' Things! (extract below) - I am reminded that it is all to easy to fall into the trap of adding unnecessary complexity to ideas, projects, strategies, et al, that should be as simple as ...1 ..2 ..3

Too many people look to make the simple things in life too complex to understand.

Yes, most often it takes only a few things... 1, 2, or 3 things... just a 'half-a-dozen' things to ensure success in most projects.

I am resolving to simplify every idea, project, strategy I have into a 'simple as ..1 ..2 ..3' graphic presentation.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

How POOR Customer Service Can Kill Ya

Do you think that people don't talk about your poor customer service... take a look at this:

The Customer Service Hall of Shame

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

Take Two Tabs... Call Me In The Morning

Writes Debbi & Tanya - EYT Market Update - Issue 4, April 2007:

There are doctors who will give you a pain killer for a headache.

They will give you a pain killer for a headache without asking enough questions to determine if your headache was caused by bumping your head when you climbed into your car, or if it is a symptom of tension, or if you need to wear glasses when you do close work.

The outcome of a superficial diagnosis is that you will need to continuously take pain killers to alleviate the symptoms of a cause you have not recognized. Taking painkillers for tension headaches will only momentarily alleviate symptoms, because until you remove the reason for your tension, the headaches will continue to trouble you.

We can approach business difficulties with the same methodology. We can continuously attend to the symptoms of more fundamental issues. But this will mean continuously facing the same dilemmas. Look to the systemic causes of the symptoms. If your people are not performing, or have a bad attitude towards your organization, get to the root of the issue.

The Value of Values

Get More Inspired

Values based business does the right thing at the right time. This requires that we identify two things:

What is the right thing?

What is the right time?

If we are to identify “Right Things Right” we need a shift in our approach to analysis. Discovering the systemic issues of business constraints requires that we start to think systemically. Systems thinking means that we will shift focus:

- from the parts to the whole
- from objects to relationships
- from structures to processes
- from hierarchies to networks
- from analysis to synthesis
- from linear to non-linear thinking

The properties of the whole may not be found in any analysis of the parts.

Strive for Right Things Right by analyzing the system as a whole.

Know WHERE You're Going

Writes Debbi & Tanya - EYT Market Update - Issue 3 Mar 2007:

Lately we have been asked by a number of people how they can make sure they are putting their energies into the right areas of their company.

By energy we mean time and money.

We are seeing two primary schools of thought in businesses at the moment:

1. Everybody get busy and things will work out

2. Nobody move, we don’t know where we are going next

Both of these situations make it tough for companies to be effective in serving their clients or customers.

The “Get Busy” school do a lot, but don’t achieve a lot.

The “Nobody Move” school is prevalent in companies where people have lost momentum and believe no matter what they do, they are not able to make a difference.

Both types of companies have a similar solution - make a choice to start doing the right thing at the right time.

The Value of Values

Values in business are not a nice-to-have.

It is only when we have fundamentals like trust, respect, care and ownership, that we see people really doing the right thing at the right time.

Without values, there is a lot of swimming upstream that has to be done to get things done.

Yogi Berra said, “ If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else”.

The purpose of companies needs to be something real, not a plaque on the wall.

The next step is not complicated (no matter what your transformation team tells you).

We need to see people asking two questions:

1. What should I be doing?

2. What is the best way of doing it?

There is a desire in people to be doing the right thing; to do things at the right time and to do them with excellence.

Does your company system support them in living by the value of right-things-right with excellence?

Women Who Want To ACT Like Men

Trevor writes:

Aaaah Tanya... neat 5 points identified (in the post below) why women can make far better LEADERS than many men currently in leadership.

Here's a sad observation that I have made about some super-ambitious women I have come across in South Africa. I have seen women who believe that the route to the top is to emulate a macho, swearing, beer-swilling, gambling, drug-taking, back-biting, conniving male that they have chosen to model. Don't do it!

My appeal to all WOMEN is to change the business world by being yourself. Our world needs you to be the WOMAN you are.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

Values-Based Leadership For WOMEN

Tanya writes:

I spoke at a conference entitled “Building Sustainability in Women Leaders” last week.

I was asked to discuss “Values Based Excellence as the Benchmark for Leadership Behaviour” – snappy title, isn’t it?

I quoted research from a talk by Nial Fitzgerald – ex CEO of Unilever SA which was very interesting. He quoted a survey done in c.1970 which discussed the behaviours which PROHIBIT women from being good leaders –

1. Women do not behave in an authoritarian way
2. Women feel responsible
3. Women are available, their door is always open
4. Women get personally involved, relationships are important
5. Women share their successes with others

It was a great starting point for discussing why women ARE great leaders for the 21st century, as we look for strategic and service-centred leadership.

The second theme that really stuck out as relevant to the audience was the idea of “Doing the Right Thing at the Right Time”. Leaders are not meant to just be really busy and work really hard. They are meant to be strategic and effective.

Peter Drucker really coined this behaviour when he said, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently what should not be done at all”.

How many of us do lots of useless things very efficiently? Stop and ask your self what THE RIGHT THING to be doing is, and make sure you know IT’S THE RIGHT TIME.”

Tanya Lepera-Petzer
Corporate Strategist

Engineer Your Tomorrow (EYT) - Engineering Service Excellence
T: +27 11 888 1117
F: +27 865 162 491
M: +27 83 268 8044
tanya@eyt.co.za
www.eyt.co.za

Walk YOUR Talk

Write Trevor:

Related to Debbi's and Tanya's previous post, thought you might be interested to read this post of mine in similar vein on It's So Simple! ..1 ..2 ..3

MAD 2. YOU Will Be 'Judged' By What You DO… Not By What You Say..!

People follow and respect those who 'walk their talk'... who DO what they say... who deliberately take ACTION to deliver on their promises... and make good on their commitments.

YOU will be 'judged' by what you DO... and not by what you say. People will 'judge' you by your ACTIONS.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

VALUES Based Excellence

Writes Debbi & Tanya - EYT Market Update - Issue 2 Feb 2007:

The energy and exuberance that is currently characterizing the South African business community is nothing short of inspiring. In the face of an aggressive invasion by all that is Richard Branson, service cultures will be the differentiator.

Leaders who grow businesses are not the same kind of personality who should maintain them. When industries grow quickly, there are three elements which need to be managed – people, processes and technology. Growing a business takes a different mind to that which will sustain it. It takes a mind that can manage the relationship between people, processes and technology effectively.

Our telecoms and banking sectors tell a story of rapid growth. Huge markets of potential customers have led to development of in-house technology, but little focus on the people who interact with that technology. Ability to gather data without strategic application of that data is common.

Sharp growth levels in organizations lead to operational cultures rooted in crisis management, and laziness about cost management. Operational cultures, which often bare no consequence for failure to deliver cannot help but influence your service culture. Leadership style influences business culture by 70%. As you lead, so will your people behave. As your people perceive your organization to be, so will they treat your customer. As your operational culture is, so will your service culture be.

The Value of Values

Walt Disney said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing”.

Over the past few years we have seen a lot of companies focusing on creating vision and mission statements. Funny thing about a statement, is that it is not an action.

The quandary we now face is how to take the values that we based our vision and mission statements upon, and introduce them into the workplace.

How you act shows people what your values are.

If the values in your statement are not translated into real, measurable actions, then your people will adopt their own set of values. Emmerson said, “What you do speaks so loud that I can’t hear what you say”.

Saying that you value something is different to acting like you value something. Saying that you value cost management, delivering on time, caring for your people and your customer is different to actually doing it!

No.2 Company - KNOW Where You're Going

Writes Trevor:

What keeps people happy in business?

To know that there is a clear direction and strategy that guides the work that you do. To have a reason to get to work and perform.

No. 2 in the FORTUNE 2007 Top Company to work for is Genentech - www.gene.com

Take a look at the recognition awards they receive for being a great employer: Awards & Recognition

Here are some clues as to what they are doing as a strategy, they are clearly organised and goals & values driven - people LIKE that:

1. See - Corporate Growth Strategy

2. See - 5x5 Report Card

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

Best Companies ATTRACT Best People

Comments Tanya:

Google have definitely hooked onto the fact that it takes more than money to keep really valuable employees.

The days of people feeling obliged or grateful for their jobs are coming to an end, especially in more senior roles.

Loyalty is created when people feel valued, and it's the things like free car washes that add to that feeling!

Generation X'ers wanted money up to a point, and then wanted to be cared for. The Generation Y's really want the whole package. We see law firms and accounting firms struggling to keep article clerks as candidates are not willing to put up with shoddy pay, long hours and two years of unstimulating work.

Go Google! The best companies attract the best people...