RESULTS Blog

Blog Update and Change of RSS Feed

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:07:00 GMT

We've just updated our Blog engine to give you a better experience and more frequently published blogs.

Unfortunately this has meant that we have had to change the blog location on our website and its RSS feed.

Please make a note of the new location and update any readers you are using to the new RSS feed.

New Blog Location: http://Blog.RESULTS.com

New RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/results/blog

Thanks for following our blog and we look forward to sharing more insights with you in future and receiving your comments.

All the existing blog posts will be available through the Archive link on the new blog.

Regards,

Tony Vine

Chief Information Officer - Global Operations - RESULTS.com

Lead Your Market – The Power of Focus

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:31:00 GMT

Scott Morris The quickest way to claim leadership in your market is to narrow your focus to what you do best

Define a narrow market

It may seem counterintuitive, but research shows that companies that define a tighter target market and create a brand that specifically serves that market are more successful than those that try to serve a broader audience. In the words of marketing thought-leader Seth Godin, “A product (or service) for everyone is a product for no one.”

This doesn’t mean that buyers outside your target market won’t be attracted to your brand, but by getting clear on your target market you can better define and harmonize all your communications and messaging – website, business cards, brochures, and even your “elevator pitch.”

There are many examples of this in consumer products and services. Take, for example, Grey Power in Canada: this is a brand that chose to differentiate itself by catering specifically to seniors (those 55 and over). By doing so it has claimed leadership in this space, rather than being just another car insurance provider in a crowded industry.

Doug Hall is one of the top thought-leaders in the marketing space. In his book, Jump Start Your Brain, the data clearly indicate that a focussed strategy has a 60% greater chance of success than trying to serve different market segments. Put yourself in your buyer’s shoes: wouldn’t you rather do business with a firm that only works with clients just like you? We hear this all the time from our prospects in the Energy Sector: “Who else are you working with who are in our same business?”

Getting clear on your target market

So how do you determine where to focus? It starts with a hard look at your client list:

Take a look at the clients you currently serve and segment them by industry, size, and geography. Which are the biggest segments for you? Which are the most profitable? Which will be the biggest or most profitable over the next three to five years? These are the demographic elements of your target market.
Next, consider the psychological aspects, or buying behaviors, of your target market customers – are some customers seeking excellence in safety or project management capability? Are others looking for the lowest price? Are some willing to pay more for the added service you can provide? This is psychographic segmentation and, in industries like the Energy Sector, it can be more important than demographic groupings.

Based on your company’s capabilities, which narrowly defined segment can you best serve – both today and in the future – and how do you want to differentiate yourself in that market?

One of our clients specializes in “providing integrated solutions to the energy industry for well stimulation, well completions, and enhanced oil recovery.” By being focused exclusively on the energy industry, they have become renowned throughout the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin for their proximity to high-demand areas, state-of-the-art specialized equipment, and on-site service capabilities.

The attraction of the specialist

We have seen entire industries move from generalists to specialists. Consider, for example, the automotive repair and maintenance business. A generation ago, we used to take our vehicle to the local mechanic for whatever ailed it. Today, this industry is defined by specialists in transmissions, brakes, mufflers, tires, quick oil changes, body shops, imports, and so on. In fact, in the automotive repair industry it’s hard to find a generalist any more.

We are attracted to specialists because we assume that, because they have more knowledge, they will understand us better and their products and services will be better suited to us. In the above example regarding our client, their specialty products are carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N2), or cryogenics. Not that long ago, these offerings were only found bundled in the cement and mud service companies.

Specialists aren’t just another “me, too” in a crowded vendor landscape. Your target market will quickly sense your lack of focus and respond the same way. Don’t forget: “If you are a mile wide and an inch deep, you will evaporate.”

Claiming leadership

Leading in the eyes of your target market will likely require some strategic moves. It’s usually much more than just changing your brochures and business cards, or creating a fancy new website. It may require changes to products, technologies, locations, distribution systems, core capabilities, or, ultimately, the business model within your organization. These are significant strategic decisions that must be considered in the context of your company vision and values.

The Discipline of Market Leaders, by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema, was a runaway bestseller that specifically set out the three value propositions that a company will choose from when seeking leadership in its offerings: Customer Intimate (The Best Solution), Product Leadership (The Best Product) and Operational Excellence (The Best Total Cost). Due to the unique qualities of each of these business models, an organization can only strive to achieve “best in class” in one and “threshold” status in the other two. For example, you cannot sustain a low cost value proposition and still provide tailored solutions to your target market customer.

Your Brand Promise

What do you stand for as an organization? What is your promise to the marketplace? How do you differentiate your products and services? Once you get this right, your company will dominate the target market you have identified. So how do you develop a Brand Promise? One way is to ask a key customer, “Why do you do business with us?” I once asked a major producer customer of one of our energy services clients that very question. They immediately identified “safety excellence, the best people, and cost effective execution” as being the most important reasons for doing business with our client – that was our clients Brand Promise.

The Brand Promise must also explore the following three questions:

What your products and services do – this is the Functional Benefit
What it means in time or money – this is the Economic Benefit
How it makes them feel – this is the Emotional Benefit

In the above client example, “safety excellence” became their lead promise in an industry in which Total Recordable Incident Frequency (TRIF) is the standard Key Performance Indicator (KPI) that defines, for most producers, whether or not an energy services company will even get on the bid list for a project.

A view into 2011

For those companies that survived and reinvented themselves as a result of the recent economic downturn, opportunities to grow and succeed abound. By focusing on a specific target market industry and customer, as well as executing on a powerful Brand Promise, they will increase their market share and dominate their sandbox. How well positioned is your business for whatever 2011 brings to the party?

Making KPIs Work: If You Can't Measure It, How Can You Improve It?

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 01:28:00 GMT

Scott Morris A handful of numbers, tracked relentlessly over a period of time, can be instrumental in driving success in your company. The challenge is to identify the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will give you insight into the most important components of your business. You may not identify the right KPIs the first time, but once you do, you will transform your organization.

Key Performance Indicators
– A Definition

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are quantifiable measurements that provide a pulse check on the strategic direction of your organization. They represent the main drivers of your business and provide a way to monitor and measure execution. An effective KPI is predictive – it will foretell the direction or future success of the strategic outcome it measures.

Often, the best KPIs are ratios, because they report the performance of one component relative to another (i.e., hours worked versus hours lost to injury). In order for KPIs to be effective, they must be measurable on a regular and recurring basis, preferably daily or weekly.

The predictive nature of KPIs and their frequent analysis allows an organization to be proactive in its strategic execution, rather than having to rely solely on financial data, which reflect only past performance.

Key Performance Indicators must echo the organization's strategic priorities and goals, represent true precursors of its success, and be readily and accurately quantifiable. These measures help clarify the expectations of individuals and teams, who ultimately drive behaviors. The three crucial ingredients of a KPI are:

Key: KPIs should be fundamentally important to the success or failure of your enterprise. In order to correctly identify KPIs, your organization must know its critical, long-term strategic priorities and targets.
Performance: KPIs must be clearly measured, wholly quantified, and easily influenced by the organization through specific actions and desired behaviors.
Indicator: KPIs should provide leading information on future performance.

Discovering Key Performance Indicators

For a Key Performance Indicator to make an impact, you need to find a way to accurately define and calculate it. "Generate More Repeat Customers" is useless as a KPI without some way to distinguish between new and repeat customers. Similarly, "Be The Most Popular Company" probably won't be an effective KPI because there may be no way to measure your company's popularity or compare it to others.

It is also important to define a handful of core, long-term Key Performance Indicators and to retain the same definitions from year to year. This provides you with trend information, which tracks the effect of your organization’s actions on your KPIs, and therefore the success of your strategic execution. Michael Dell of Dell Computers tracked three KPIs for years.

You also need to set targets for each Key Performance Indicator. A company goal to become the employer of choice might include a KPI of “Employee Turnover Rate.” After you’ve defined your KPI as “the number of voluntary resignations and terminations for performance, divided by the total number of employees at the beginning of the period,” and once you’ve set up a way to measure it in a Human Resources Information System, you must establish your objective. “Reduce turnover by five percent per year” is a clear goal that everyone can understand and take specific action to accomplish.

A Key Performance Indicator cannot operate in a vacuum. You must establish a KPI with a clear understanding of what is possible – so you need to set upper and lower KPI limits in reference to your market and to how your competition is performing (or, in the absence of competition, create a comparable measurement from a number of similar organizations). An understanding of benchmarks is essential to making KPIs useful (and specific to your company), because benchmarks place your level of current performance in context. They also help you check what other successful organizations consider crucial in building and maintaining competitive advantage.

Some examples of KPIs, benchmarks, and targets are:

KPI	Current	Industry Benchmark	Target
TRIF (Total Recordable Incident Frequency)	2.2	1.5	1.0
SOR (Steam to Oil Ratio)	2.8	2.5	2.5
DSO (Days Sales Outstanding)	85	73	70

Define Acceptable Performance

In order for KPIs to drive action, it is important that KPI targets show a range of values reflecting acceptable and unacceptable performance. For example, a KPI of “Booked Appointments per Day” should have target thresholds indicating success or failure for the strategic priority it represents.

A useful way to approach thresholds is by utilizing grades, to indicate progress, and colors, which visually reinforce the data. Everyone understands the simple traffic light symbols of green, yellow, and red.

	Red: Results are significantly below acceptable levels
	Yellow: Results are below acceptable levels
	Green: Results are within range or exceed

The podium structure below is a common method for adding context and visual clues to the targets and actual results. These thresholds may change during the year to reflect seasonality associated with certain products or services. For each Key Performance Indicator, establish targets for each of the threshold levels.

Example:

Booked Appointments Per Day	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
Green	>10	>15	>15	>10
Yellow	<10	<15	<15	<10
Red	<7	<10	<10	<7

Setting thresholds helps ensure appropriate actions stem from the reporting and review of your KPIs. Using color assists with the visualization, and promotes accountability for execution on strategic priorities.

Reporting

Effectively reporting KPI results is critical. Pictures and diagrams speak volumes, so use graphics whenever possible. Dashboards with simple dials to show the data will quickly communicate progress or problem areas. Show the target for each KPI, and show the progress toward that target. An effective KPI and dial will provide an obvious call to action when needed. Make these KPIs a significant part of your weekly execution meetings.

Simple scoreboards, placed in high traffic locations like employee lunch rooms, meeting rooms, or remote field facilities, can highlight KPIs and their status. Your company website and intranet can also be great platforms for KPI visibility. It will amaze you how often employees look at the KPIs and scoreboards, question the importance and validity of the metrics, and wonder what they can do to positively influence the results.

Using Key Performance Indicators

Once you have defined effective Key Performance Indicators, that is, measurable KPIs that reflect your organization's priorities, what do you do with them?

Focus: Properly communicated KPIs will focus your people on, and align them with, your strategic priorities. KPIs give everyone in the organization a clear picture of what is important and what they must make happen. It’s important to ensure that everyone in your company is focused on meeting or exceeding those KPIs they can influence.
Accountability: To be effective, KPIs must drive behavior. Employees must see KPIs as predicting a future they eagerly desire, or an outcome they passionately want to avoid. In order to drive accountability and underscore ownership of the numbers, assign one person to be responsible for KPI accuracy and communication. In this way, there should be no debate about the correctness of the indicator, but lots of discussion regarding the actions and accountability required.
Cascade: Sometimes it will be necessary to translate corporate level KPIs into metrics that are more directly associated with specific business lines or teams (i.e., a corporate level KPI of “Employee Engagement” may become “Hours of Training Per Employee” when it reaches the field).

If you really want to be “best in class” in your industry segment, you must identify, track, and improve the chosen few Key Performance Indicators that will drive your success. As Tom Peters says, “The missing 98% is execution.” Without measurement, effective execution is just a pipe dream.

The “Ultimate Question” for Improving Customer and Employee Loyalty

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:19:00 GMT

Scott MorrisFrederick F. Reichheld is a business author and strategist best known for his research and writing on loyalty marketing and the loyalty business model. His books include The Loyalty Effect (1996), Loyalty Rules! (2001), and The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth (2006).

His most recent book, The Ultimate Question, focuses on Net Promoter® Score, or NPS, a concept he developed based on his research in measuring customer satisfaction and its link to revenue growth and profitability. This metric serves as an indicator of the loyalty and advocacy customers show for a company. Research shows a correlation between companies with the highest NPS and the market leaders in their category.

Net Promoter® is a measure of customer loyalty that directly links to company growth, proven in numerous studies across industries and around the globe. It has since become a standard that successful companies worldwide have begun using for measuring and improving customer loyalty. NPS is the top customer loyalty metric now used by General Electric, eBay, Harley-Davidson, Apple, and American Express, among others.

Restaurant Analogy

If you have a “satisfactory” experience at a restaurant, do you tell anyone? Not likely.
You are only apt to spread a word-of-mouth opinion if the dining experience was either:

Wonderfully good – in which case you would be a promoter of the brand, or
Woefully bad – in which case you would be a detractor of the brand.

The restaurant example is a great illustration of how you can apply this simple, yet powerful principle to any business. The Net Promoter Score is based on the question: “How likely are you to recommend company X to friends or colleagues?” Net Promoter Scores contrast customers with positive sentiments and behaviors (promoters) against customers with negative sentiments and behaviors (detractors) to diagnose the net loyalty of an organization’s customer base. The customer base can act as an engine of business growth when a larger proportion of promoters contributes to repeat business and new customer acquisition (via positive word-of-mouth). Conversely, the customer base can act as a drag on growth when a larger proportion of detractors leads to lost sales opportunities (via negative word-of-mouth) and defection. World-class companies have Net Promoter Scores of 50 or more—some, like Amazon and eBay, score higher than 70.

Traditional Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Successful Net Promoter programs are not traditional customer satisfaction surveys with the “would you recommend” question added for convenience. Before Net Promoter, many customer satisfaction programs yielded management reports that lacked credibility and, more importantly, didn’t deliver business results. Customer satisfaction scores for the majority of large corporations have not historically shown significant improvement. Many CEOs express a lack of confidence in their customer satisfaction efforts.

It’s interesting to note how the NPS equation handles customers who respond with 7s or 8s on traditional customer satisfaction surveys. These so-called “fence sitters,” or “passives,” are neither promoters nor detractors. With other customer satisfaction surveys, they are considered “satisfied customers,” and the organization may be content with those scores. However, research proves that these groups do not support business growth and, in fact, are very likely to defect, based on reasons such as price. These customers suppress your NPS score, which should keep you focused on how to move them from passives to promoters.

How to Improve Customer Loyalty

You can pull specific levers in your organization to improve your Net Promoter Score and your overall customer loyalty. Some of the key drivers of “likelihood to recommend” in a business to business (B2B) context are:

Value/ROI – Overall business value, value for money, price for performance, ROI.
Ease of doing business – Creating an “easy to do business with” set of processes.
Sales – Sales reps, sales process, purchase experience, procurement.
Account management – Overall relationship, maintaining an executive relationship, sales and account management.
Product reliability – Performance, reliability, durability, availability.
Product quality – Overall quality, overall performance, product experience.
Consulting/professional services – Consulting service, consulting engagement, professional service.
Customer support – Customer service, technical support, incident management.
Loyalty metrics – NPS and other loyalty metrics held to the standards of financial reporting.

Employee Engagement

How useful would it be for your business to get the real truth about how engaged your employees are? And what if you could score that employee engagement?

Gallup survey data indicate that, in the average North American business, 71% of employees are not engaged. The costs of this “nonengagement” are staggering—up to $400 billion per year!

As a matter of fact, only 24% of employees have had 2010 company objectives clearly articulated to them. When 150,000 workers were asked to name the top priorities of their companies, only 15% could respond correctly. Even worse, only 6% knew what their own individual priorities were. (Source: Stephen Covey and Bob Whitman, Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times)

Happy Employees are Productive Employees?

Actually, the opposite seems to be the case. Research indicates that productive employees are more likely to be happy employees. Employee engagement is positively correlated with:

Increased customer loyalty, sales, and company growth, and
Decreased staff turnover, absenteeism, and accidents.

Although Fred Reichheld originally developed the Net Promoter Score as a customer loyalty metric, the adaptation of NPS to employee engagement is a natural fit. By refocusing the question to: “How likely are you to recommend company X as a place to work to a friend or family member?” you now have the “Ultimate Question” for employee engagement.

Is the Net Promoter Score for employee engagement a metric or a way of doing business? The answer is both. The Net Promoter Score is a discipline that has progressed well beyond the computation into a series of best practices that drives positive results for employee engagement in organizations that adopt it. By asking the question and listening to what your people are saying, you are more likely to encourage a culture of accountability and execution.

The Final Word

Whether you are focused on improving the relationship you have with existing customers or employees, or are looking to grow one, the other, or both, the Net Promoter Score is a simple, research-based set of tools and processes designed to ensure continued success in your business. When was the last time you asked the key stakeholders in your business the “Ultimate Question”?

Schedule Another Meeting? You’ve Got to Be Kidding!

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:29:00 GMT

Scott Morris“On a scale of 1 to10, how would you rate the value of the average meeting at your organization?”

This is the question we pose at the start of our “Effective Meetings” training sessions. In the 12 years I’ve been in the training business, I’ve worked with literally thousands of people. And you can probably guess the response we usually get to this question—a rating of 2 or 3, on average.

The follow-up question is equally provocative: “Have you ever calculated the cost to your organization of those meetings?”

The response is always the same. With knowing grins, everyone in the room nods and reflects on the astonishing costs of putting three, four, or more, well-paid individuals into a room for that regular “staff meeting.”

And what’s just as astonishing is that we’ve grown to accept mediocrity when it comes to meetings. Like the proverbial “boiling frog,” we’ve become gradually accustomed to meetings as a necessary evil, a mind-numbing experience, and a purgatory we must endure before we can get back to our “real“ work.

In his book, Death by Meeting, Pat Lencioni explores this organizational phenomenon. He suggests that meetings are a reflection of a firm’s culture, and it’s up to its leaders to inject some life and energy into meetings. To do this, Lencioni suggests using the techniques of a Hollywood movie; he teaches companies how to engage their audiences (that is, their meeting attendees) with drama, urgency, healthy conflict, and “the hook,” the all-important opener that grabs the attention of meeting participants.

If you want to see an effective meeting in action, visit YouTube and search for the 1800GotJunk Daily Huddle. This Canadian firm is admired around the world for its business processes, including its high-energy, seven-minute, standup meetings.

Meeting Rhythms

Just like the beat of a good jazz band, healthy organizations need a rhythm. A regular structure of daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly meetings create “the beat” to harmonize and align everyone’s work activities.

Verne Harnish, in his book Mastering The Rockefeller Habits, devotes a whole chapter to the structure of meeting rhythms. Harnish details the huddles that Edward D. Rockefeller held daily with his leadership team as he built the Standard Oil empire.

Daily AND Weekly Meetings? Are You Crazy?

Interestingly, a predictable structure and frequency of daily huddles and weekly meetings can actually reduce your time in meetings. It seems counterintuitive, but if your team can eliminate most of the adhoc, interruptive, and “have you got a minute?” get-togethers by “batching” their communication for the next scheduled meeting, they can reduce their total meeting time.

One tool we suggest to our clients (and that we use ourselves) is to maintain three rosters that anyone can add items to and that will be reviewed at each meeting. The rosters are for:

Roadblocks – issues that are keeping me from getting my work done.
Suggestions – ideas I have for making things better.
Lessons – something I’ve learned that I want to share with the team.

Anyone on the team can drop items onto these lists at any time, and at the next meeting the items are reviewed and either actioned or cleared.

Creating Clear Objectives

All meetings have to have a clear objective, right? If you haven’t heard this before you’ve been living under a rock! But just setting a topic isn’t enough. Something like, “Discuss the Palliser Exploration Program,” isn’t results-oriented and won’t create the necessary level of focus.

The Outcome Statement should be used when planning and starting any meeting. It says that every meeting should begin with an unmistakable commitment, such as, “By the time we leave this meeting we will have . . . ” This approach gets everyone on the same page. It also provides for a ready evaluation at the meeting’s end, when we ask, “Did we achieve what we set out to?”

The Test – Do We Need to Meet?

Another way to make meetings more valuable for everyone is the “Do we need a meeting?” test. Once the objectives are established, as described above, simply ask the question, “Is there a way, other than with a meeting, that I can achieve my purpose?” For instance, if it can be achieved with a one-way communication to the team, maybe a well-worded memo or recorded presentation would suffice. Then any follow-up meeting to make decisions and take actions related to the information can be more focussed.

Meeting Structure

Much has been written about meeting agendas, processes, roles, and minutes, but if I were to pick the three key elements that make a meeting more valuable, they would be:

Clear objectives – Use the Outcome Statement described above.
Timekeeping – Everyone is “time-poor” these days, so make it an organizational habit to start and end meetings on time, and allot time to each agenda item or topic. This is more than just convenient—it shows respect and professionalism toward your teammates.
Who/What/When – Make and maintain a list of agreed-upon actions. Use a simple “Who/What/When” table to capture each item so there is absolute clarity about each person’s accountabilities.

Maybe you’ll never achieve a 10 out of 10 on the meeting rating scale, but if you can get your meetings moving in the right direction using these techniques, you’ll create a more productive and successful team.

Behavioral Profiling and Assessments – The Science of Building Your Team

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 03:31:00 GMT

Scott MorrisMost organizations consider their people to be their greatest asset, so when those people leave the company, or their performance is less than stellar, it can create serious problems for leaders and managers.

Why do some employees and teams succeed, while others fail miserably? Often it’s because most companies don’t understand how to recruit the best talent and then foster the right work environment for success.

Navigating without a road map on a long trip is a disaster; similarly, it’s a poor way to run a business. Yet this is how most businesses behave in the way they attract, develop, and promote their employees.

The hiring process most often begins with an ad in the business section of the local newspaper, or on one of many internet-based services currently in use. The position is usually described from a “skills required” perspective, less so from a behavioral science approach.

“A survey of top HR executives in 25 global companies found that 80% of their external hires turn out to be disappointments, and promotions produce disappointing results 75% of the time.” ghSMART and Associates

The world is composed of people who fall into several basic and identifiable behavioral categories. Each behavioral style is unique and consists of specific strengths and weaknesses. No one is better or worse than another, but some are better suited to certain jobs than others.

People generally gravitate to jobs that fit their individual preferences and personality styles, and certain styles match well with specific job families. Engineering positions, for example, generally attract detail- and procedure-oriented people. Individuals who are more people-oriented are usually better aligned to human resources and sales positions.

In order to be most effective, a leader must understand and relate to every kind of person, and, therefore, every type of behavioral design. The best way to retain high quality employees and reduce turnover is to create an environment that fits each individual’s natural style.

“Do Unto Others as They Wish to Be Done Unto”

The Golden Rule says to “Do unto others as you would like to be done unto,” whereas the Platinum Rule states, “Do unto others as they wish to be done unto.” There is a fundamental difference in the latter philosophy and approach. Everyone is different in terms of their behavioral design, and it’s important to adapt to their natural style to open the door to effective communications.

Behavioral Profiling Tools

In less than ten minutes, individuals can complete a behavioral-style questionnaire and begin a process of self-understanding that will benefit them both professionally and personally. This information will provide a better understanding of work and management style, and can lead to the development of an action plan to enhance both professional and personal growth. There are numerous behavioral profiling tools on the market—a few of them are the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Insights, and DISC. In terms of business application and usability, DISC is well-known and utilized in over 40 countries.

DISC Behavioral profiling is designed to accomplish several things:

¨ enable people to learn more about themselves;

¨ allow leaders to understand how to deal with different people differently;

¨ improve communications and working relationships;

¨ augment the hiring process; and

¨ put people in roles where they can play to their strengths.

Leaders can use this information for the benefit of the individual and the team. By understanding how their employees see the world, leaders are better able to provide the appropriate roles, responsibilities, and work assignments that can engage people at a higher level.

“At Work, Do I Have the Opportunity to Do What I Do Best Every Day?”

In Marcus Buckingham’s recent book, Now, Discover Your Strengths, he writes that most organizations are built on two flawed assumptions:

1) that each person can learn to be competent in anything; and

2) that each person’s greatest opportunity for growth is in his/her greatest weakness.

Buckingham goes on to propose that there are two assumptions that define the world’s greatest managers:

1) that each person’s talents are enduring and unique; and,

2) that each person’s greatest opportunity for growth is in his/her greatest strength.

Using Gallup’s total database, Buckingham and his associates asked the “Do I have the opportunity to do my best” question of more than 1.7 million employees in 101 companies from 63 countries. Globally, only 20 percent of employees working in the larger organizations felt that their strengths are in play everyday. In North America, recent surveys show that fully 71 percent of employees are disengaged! (see Gallup slide).

Buckingham rejects the traditional approach to performance management and employee development. He reinforces the importance of identifying and developing people’s strengths, while devoting little time to trying to correct their weaknesses. By asking the question, “At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?” you can identify those who are working to their strengths and who are most likely to be productive and flourishing in your organization, versus those who are disconnected and likely to flounder and eventually leave.

A simple tool to get at an individual’s strengths is “like-loathe.” By asking each member of your team what they specifically like best about their jobs and what they loathe about them, you can take action to restructure their responsibilities to reflect more of the like and less of the loathe.

“Teamwork Remains the Ultimate Competitive Advantage”

In his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Pat Lencioni writes that the first and most important dysfunction a team must learn to overcome is the absence of trust. Trust is about vulnerability—team members who trust each other are comfortable being open with one another about their failures and weaknesses. In high-performing teams, this behavior begins with the leader and is shared by all the team members.

So how do you do this? Answer the following questions, related to your personal history, in a team setting:

¨ Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school?

¨ How many siblings do you have?

¨ What was your first job? What was your worst job?

¨ What was your most difficult challenge growing up?

After going around the table and having each team member share their personal history, it is amazing how people start to open up to each other and begin to develop trust.

A leader’s job is to attract, develop, and retain the best available people to fill any and all positions in their organization. Gone are the days when hiring and promotions were based on whether the candidate was most like the leader—“If she looks like me, thinks like me, and acts like me, she must be the best person for the job!” The opportunity to be more scientific about how we deal with “our greatest asset” will create the platform for winning at the talent game.

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Boxing lessons for business: Planning to win your fight

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:49:00 GMT

Ben RidlerAll boxing fans know that the right strategy can win fights. A large part of the skill of becoming a great boxer is understanding your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses - then developing a fight plan that will neutralise his strengths and exploit his weaknesses.

Your plan must include a realistic assessment of your strengths and weaknesses.

I’m short and not overly fast as a boxer, so a plan that has me trying to dance around and land punches from the outside like Muhammad Ali isn’t going to work for me. Generally my opponents will have a height and reach advantage of four or five inches - so my plan has to be to get in close to take away their advantage – and allow me to exploit the leverage and angles that a shorter fighter has on the inside.

Likewise, developing an effective strategy for your business needs to take into account a number of things: A realistic look at your business’ strengths and weaknesses; an understanding the external factors and trends; and of course understanding your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

Having a great plan is an essential part of success – in boxing and in business.

It’s one thing to have a great plan. It looks great on paper, until you get in the ring and some 6 foot guy is punching you in face every time you try to get near him.

Business is similar. You have an offsite meeting with your leadership team and you develop a Strategic Execution Plan – a clear roadmap of how your company will successfully compete over the next 3-5 years. Then as soon as you step back into the business “ring” you become quickly distracted by the number 1 enemy of execution - “Business as Usual”.

One of the most important lessons that I have learned at RESULTS.com over the last 15 years of growing businesses is that creating the strategic plan is the easiest part. You have to have one, or you have no chance of achieving extraordinary results. However the big challenge is always executing your plan when you step back into your business.

In boxing where a six foot guy is trying to take your head off - you forget that your plan was to stop him by getting in close. You’re too busy reacting to what is happening right now - ducking punches etc.

It’s just the same in business. You get side-tracked dealing with all the day to day operational “stuff” that every business has to deal with – people issues, market conditions, competitor activities etc.

Fight according to your Plan

The key to success in both boxing and business is being able to do what you planned to do while simultaneously dealing with what’s coming at you.

Execution of your plan is the ultimate key to success in business. The enemy is “business as usual” and all the day to day things that you spend your time reacting to.

Surveys show that 90% of strategic plans don’t get implemented - they just get replaced with another one that also fails to get implemented. There are several key lessons you can take from boxing to help you more effectively execute your plan. Here are a couple…

Keep your plan visible

In boxing you will hear the corner men yelling out instructions (strategic moves) throughout the fight: “Close the distance; keep moving in; straight right - left hook” etc. In business you need to share your plan with your team, then keep reminding them what the key strategic moves are, over and over - as they duck and dodge in the day to day of business. The more visible the plan the more likely it is to be executed.

Keep the score visible.

You will hear a fighter’s corner men telling him how he did between rounds. “You’re one round up; we need a knock out” etc. It can be hard to tell whether you’re winning or losing when you’re in the middle of the fight. Business is the same. Use dashboards to make sure everyone in your company can see the score. Tracking the key numbers and sharing them is crucial to being able to execute a plan and keep on track. What gets measured gets done.

There are many more boxing lessons that apply to business and I’ll keep exploring them in future blogs. Post any comments or ideas for other boxing blogs for business here.

Kia Kaha

Ben

Boxing Lessons for Business - Those who set the pace win

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:22:00 GMT

Ben RidlerIf you set the pace you control the fight.

In boxing one of the earliest lessons you learn is how to pace yourself, how to stay relaxed when you need to and how to ensure you can go the distance. You can’t go full out the entire fight. You learn when to use maximum energy and when to conserve your strength so you make sure you last the distance.

The most graphic example of this was the legendary rumble in the jungle where Muhammad Ali tricked George Foreman with the now famous “rope a dope” strategy. Leaning back on the ropes and goading him to keep throwing punches until he ran out of energy.

The person who sets the pace usually wins, if you set the pace you control the fight.

Business leaders who win know how to pace themselves and pace their teams, they have a huge advantage over those who don’t. In business to get to the top you learn how to pace yourself to be at your most effective when it has the most impact. Like boxing you can’t go flat out all the time, if you do you stop being effective.

Unlike boxing, in business you may not have anyone to point it out for you.

I have been guilty in the past of letting the world set the pace. When you build a business there are always more things to do than can be done. If you don’t set the pace you won’t win the fight and often you won’t last the distance. So many of us have had stress and health issues, don’t spend the time we should on other parts of our life and don’t understand that it is us and us alone that sets the pace.

Large companies understand this too, Apple, Google, Toyota and most others who led their category set the pace for their industry while the rest of the industry reacts and tries to keep up with them.

As leaders the impact of the pace reaches far greater than just ourselves, we set the pace for all those in our teams as well. Even if we can handle the pace we set for a while (sometimes years or decades) before it gets us, we can burn others out along the way.

Pacing yourself and your business is about using energy on the things that have the most impact and not wasting it on those that don’t. Leaders that are the most successful are usually less stressed and prone to stress than those who try and emulate them. They know when to push for a deadline and when to reset, when to ask more from their team and when to ease up, most of all they have worked out the few things that make the biggest impact and they put their energy into achieving them.

Learning to pace myself in the ring has changed the way I operate everywhere in life, from taking regular holidays to learning to say no to more and focus on less. It’s a skill that I can continually improve and it has made my life and the life of those I interact with more enjoyable and productive…

“The smart fighter wins not by his strength or speed, but his control over the pace of the fight”

Please send comments or questions to my twitter address @benridler, I have another 6 boxing lessons for business blogs underway and welcome suggestions for any others.

Kia Kaha

Ben

Listen to RESULTS.com interview on Blog Talk Radio

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:22:00 GMT

Ben RidlerBen Ridler - RESULTS.com CEO (Chief Execution Officer) and Stephen Lynch – COO (Chief Operating Officer) spent an enjoyable hour being interviewed by Zane Safrit on Blog Talk Radio in the USA last week.

In the interview we discuss our personal views on a diverse range of topics including: strategy, execution, transformation, leadership, social media, dealing with the recession, science fiction novels, and boxing!

You can listen to the streaming audio on this link

Download the podcast from iTunes on this link

Or you can read the transcript highlights on Zane Safrit 's blog.

Let us know what you think.

Cheers,

Stephen

RESULTS.com interview on Blog Talk Radio in the USA

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:32:00 GMT

Stephen LynchRESULTS.com team members Ben Ridler - CEO (Chief Execution Officer) and Stephen Lynch – COO (Chief Operating Officer) are looking forward to being interviewed on Blog Talk Radio in the USA on Wednesday, November 11, Central Time.

The internet radio show is hosted by Zane Safrit - a well known business commentator in the USA.

The show’s theme is business education and will be live streamed on:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Zane-Safrit/2009/11/11/Resultscoms-COO-Stephen-Lynch-and-CEO-Ben-Ridler

7 Ways to earn trust

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:33:00 GMT

Stephen LynchIf you want loyal followers you need to earn their trust first. Here are some simple (but not always easy) actions you can take – inspired by a blog post in Random acts of leadership.

Be on time for meetings Being frequently late sends a loud message about your unreliability, and your lack of respect for the people who have to wait for you. Why should they trust you if you don’t respect them?

Be prepared for meetings

Failing to prepare for meetings wastes peoples’ valuable time. If you waste their time, why should they trust you with other things of value to them? Poorly run meetings are breeding grounds for mistrust and resentment. Make sure you send out the agenda in advance and come prepared with your ideas and answers. Also be prepared to verify that you fulfilled any commitments you made at the last meeting.

Only make promises you can keep

Be very specific about what you agree to. Actions do speak louder than words. If it becomes apparent that you will not be able to deliver on your original commitment, raise this issue as soon as possible with the relevant people, and work out how to address the situation. You may not always be able to keep your original promise, but you can maintain trusting relationships.

Do not gossip

If you have an issue with someone, work it out with them face to face. By all means rehearse what you want to say with someone you trust, but do not gossip about others behind their back. People you gossip to can reasonably presume that you will also gossip about them when they are not present.

Keep confidential conversations confidential

Keeping confidences is a big responsibility, and it is a true test of your trustworthiness.

Own your mistakes

Admit when you have made a mistake and take full responsibility for dealing with the consequences. Share the lessons you have learned with your team. This creates a culture where people feel safe to experiment, make mistakes, learn and grow.

Admit when you don’t know something

Admitting you don’t know is a sign of strength, not weakness. If your staff can see that it is safe to admit when you don’t know something, they also will tell you the truth. Admitting you don’t have all the answers opens the door for collaborative learning.

If you are a business leader with a passion for learning about and discussing the latest business trends – or if you have a business question you would like to ask us - please click on this link to apply to join our RESULTS.com Group on LinkedIn.

Stephen Lynch

Chief Operating Officer - Global Operations
RESULTS.com

Psychologically proven ways to make better decisions (part 2)

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:34:00 GMT

Stephen Lynch Consider both costs and benefits

Our minds tend to consider either costs or benefits only. Taking both perspectives into account takes mental effort. Force yourself to list the pros and cons. One factor we often forget is the 'opportunity cost.' When we do one thing, we can't be doing something else at the same time. It’s either or. When you watch TV the benefit is relaxation and enjoyment - but the cost is that you can't use that same time to read a business book.

Justify yourself

When we think someone will check up on us we make more mental effort, leading to better decision-making. Imagine you have to justify your decision to someone else. Would you still make that decision?

Distance yourself from the issue

Our brains are influenced by our current emotions, which can impair rationality. Big decisions are better made after a night's sleep. Step back and consider the likely chain of events. What are the future implications of this decision? Have you considered all the consequences?

Don't believe the hype

It's easy to be persuaded by vivid stories and ignore scientific evidence. Our minds are naturally influenced by sensational information that is high on hype, but low on factual substance (e.g. as propagated by the media). Look carefully at the information source and sample size - are you being manipulated?

Make fewer decisions

Peter Drucker said effective executives do not make many decisions. They concentrate on making a few important ones. Make the big strategic decisions, rather than try to solve lots of little problems. Do not make fast decisions. Make the right decisions that have the biggest impact.

What would Spock do?

Just reminding ourselves to think rationally helps us make better decisions. Consciously trying to think rationally will also help activate all the other techniques described here.

If you are a business leader with a passion for learning about and discussing the latest business trends – or if you have a business question you would like to ask us - please click on this link to apply to join our RESULTS.com Group on LinkedIn.

Source: Professor Gary Marcus of New York University

Stephen Lynch

Chief Operating Officer - Global Operations
RESULTS.com

Source: Professor Gary Marcus of New York University

Leadership lessons from the CEO of Mattel

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:36:00 GMT

Stephen LynchBob Eckert, CEO of Mattel, was interviewed in Fortune Magazine in August 2009. Here’s a summary:

Try starting from scratch:
Be open to starting over - instead of building on previous decisions. Early in my tenure the company was struggling financially. We'd been paying a dividend of 36¢ a share every year, and were borrowing money from banks to pay dividends to shareholders, which doesn't make a lot of sense. I said, "We have a blank sheet of paper. Let's do the right thing" so we cut the dividend to 5¢ a share. The day we announced it, the stock price didn't go down, it went up.

Don't put off layoffs:
If you have to make employee cuts, just get on with it. Procrastination isn't good for anyone.

Mind the generation gap:
When it comes to managing ‘twentysomethings’, remember: With an iPhone and Google, they can get to the truth in about two seconds. So don't try to give them a snow job.

Research before hiring:
When you're considering hiring someone, find out whom you both know and phone that person for his or her perspective on the applicant.

Always make an outline:
Whether you're preparing for a small meeting or addressing a large gathering, do an outline of what you want to cover.

Run efficient meetings:
Do the preparation work before having a meeting - it will pay off. Send out materials in advance. Make sure everyone reads them, and use the meeting to focus solely on the topic at hand.

Enforce punctuality:
One of my colleagues locks the door at the meeting start time. Trust me, no one ever arrives late a second time.

Target your message:
When giving a speech, focus on the audience. Most people spend too much time on what they want to say instead of on what the audience needs to hear.

Stephen Lynch
Chief Operating Officer - Global Operations
RESULTS.com

(If you are a business leader with a passion for learning about and discussing the latest business trends – or if you have a business question you would like to ask us - please click on this link to apply to join our RESULTS.com Group on LinkedIn.)

Are you Linked In

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:36:00 GMT

Stephen LynchLinkedIn is the premier social networking site for “business leaders”, with more than 40 million users worldwide. Currently, the average user is 41 years old, well educated, earns a 6 figure income, and more than 50% of users claim to be key decision makers in their company.

If this sounds like your target market - then we recommend you get active on LinkedIn in order to connect with, and build trust-based relationships with these business leaders.

Key benefits of LinkedIn:

LinkedIn replaces the traditional paper resume – it’s your online record of who you are and what you’ve done in life
Increasingly, people will Google your name prior to doing business with you – your LinkedIn profile is where you can market yourself online in a positive and compelling manner
You can describe exactly what makes you (and your company) unique. Think of it as another marketing tool.
Testimonials about your work (called “recommendations”) are linked to your profile, and the author’s identity and credentials can be easily verified by others
Recommendations you receive from your customers - provide prospective new customers with real reasons to trust you and do business with you
You can link your profile to your company website / your blog / your twitter account / your email signature - wherever you want people to know more about you
If you are planning to do business with someone new, you can research their profile, or the entire staff of a particular company prior to meeting with them
LinkedIn helps you keep in touch with the people in your network – to understand what they are working on right now – and how you may be able to help them. Remember the golden rule of networking whether face to face or online is “Givers Get”.

In summary, with LinkedIn you can create and build a “trust based asset” – a positive profile about you (and your company) that is just one mouse click away for your next customer.

If you are not sure where to begin, the following links will help you get the most out of LinkedIn:

Starting out with LinkedIn

How to get started with LinkedIn

Make your LinkedIn profile work for you

If you are already on LinkedIn, and you are a business leader with a passion for learning about and discussing the latest business trends – or if you have a business question you would like to ask us - please click on this link to apply to join our RESULTS.com Group on LinkedIn.

Stephen Lynch
Chief Operating Officer
RESULTS.com

Psychologically proven ways to make better decisions (Part 1)

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:54:00 GMT

Stephen LynchSource: Professor Gary Marcus of New York University.

Force yourself to consider alternatives:
Our brains are not good at making rational decisions unless we generate a range of alternative options first. Be willing to listen to contrary points of view. Forcing yourself to think about the opposite point of view will help you make better decisions.

Reframe it:
The context we use to frame an issue has a huge impact on our decisions. Politicians, advertisers and other influencers use "framing" techniques to create the context that persuades us to their point of view. To avoid being locked into one frame of reference, invite a diverse range of people to provide you with alternative ways of looking at a situation.

Correlation does not equal causation:
There's a clear correlation between foot size and being richer. That's because people with small feet are usually children. Having big feet doesn't cause you to be richer. Beware the trap of thinking that correlation equals causation. It doesn't.

Sample size:
Beware of jumping to conclusions. A small sample of events does not extrapolate to them being universal laws. Obtain a statistically significant sample size before making generalizations.

Beware your impulsive emotional responses:
Use strategies to counter your emotional impulses: – take 10 deep breaths before responding to an emotionally charged situation, sleep on it before making a major business decision, avoid shopping in the confectionary isle when you are hungry etc.

Goal specificity:
Achievement improves immensely when you have concrete goals and action steps. Abstract priorities like 'read more business books' or 'lose weight' are not effective. Replace these with: 'read this book by next Tuesday' and 'go to gym 3 times this week'.

Make important decisions when relaxed:
Stress does make us stupid. Studies show that stress impairs cognitive function and leads to poorer quality decisions.

Stephen Lynch
Chief Operating Officer
RESULTS.com

RESULTS Blog

Blog Update and Change of RSS Feed

Lead Your Market – The Power of Focus

Define a narrow market

Getting clear on your target market

The attraction of the specialist

Claiming leadership

Your Brand Promise

A view into 2011

Making KPIs Work: If You Can't Measure It, How Can You Improve It?

Key Performance Indicators – A Definition

Discovering Key Performance Indicators

Define Acceptable Performance

Reporting

Using Key Performance Indicators

The “Ultimate Question” for Improving Customer and Employee Loyalty

Restaurant Analogy

Traditional Customer Satisfaction Surveys

How to Improve Customer Loyalty

Employee Engagement

Happy Employees are Productive Employees?

The Final Word

Schedule Another Meeting? You’ve Got to Be Kidding!

Behavioral Profiling and Assessments – The Science of Building Your Team

Boxing lessons for business: Planning to win your fight

Boxing Lessons for Business - Those who set the pace win

Listen to RESULTS.com interview on Blog Talk Radio

RESULTS.com interview on Blog Talk Radio in the USA

7 Ways to earn trust

Be prepared for meetings

Only make promises you can keep

Do not gossip

Keep confidential conversations confidential

Own your mistakes

Admit when you don’t know something

Psychologically proven ways to make better decisions (part 2)

Stephen Lynch Consider both costs and benefits

Justify yourself

Distance yourself from the issue

Don't believe the hype

Make fewer decisions

What would Spock do?

Leadership lessons from the CEO of Mattel

Are you Linked In

Psychologically proven ways to make better decisions (Part 1)

Key Performance Indicators
– A Definition