Aug 3, 2020 | Leadership, Operations
I love smart goals, they provide a road map, discipline, and a definition of what success looks like. Over the years they have proved to be very useful.
However, as I get wiser, I realise there is one vital element missing from Smart goals:
Compounding.
Compounding is, as Einstein noted, the most powerful force in the universe. To compound, you do little things that build on each other over time, becoming increasingly more powerful at a geometric rate.
The benefit of compounding is that you learn as you go, it is learning oriented, whereas SMART is by definition, goal oriented, it has an end point.
The obvious solution to this dilemma is to make every project a series of goal oriented components, that together and compounding, deliver the continuously improving outcomes. This sort of view forces to you to be ambidextrous in the way you look at performance.
On one hand, you are down in the weeds working with the detail, while on the other hand, there is the really important helicopter view that is able to make the compounding impact of all those tiny improvement obvious over time.
At its core, this is what lean thinking is all about, continuous improvement that delivers over time.
Jul 22, 2020 | Change, Leadership, Strategy
As we hesitantly, with stumbles, come out of this lockdown, we will see the landscape has changed. For some, it will be a land of opportunity, for others, a wasteland.
Rather than seeing it as a calamity, those who choose to see it as an opportunity, will be able to look and see that what has actually happened is that the lockdown has dramatically accelerated many trends that were already slowly impacting on our lives. They were all evident before to those who were looking, now they are in ample evidence to everyone who is not completely blind.
The more obvious ones, are:
‘Digitisation’.
So called digitisation has taken off, whatever digitisation means in your context. Suddenly ‘digital’ is the new normal. From remote control of factories to grannies interacting with their grandchildren via Zoom, nobody has been immune.
Remote work
Working from home, cafes, the car, has been developing for a decade. Suddenly, it has been accepted as an alternative to expensive office space in central locations. What will probably evolve is some combination of decentralised ‘meeting places’ and working from home, serviced offices, and cafes. The trend has been pushed along a decade in 5 months.
Retail delivery services.
Similarly have been pushed ahead a decade. Everything from the local restaurant to the supermarket, and department store now have to be geared up to deliver, or lose the sale. This will change the nature of retail from transactional to more ‘showrooming’, a trend harnessed by Apple a decade ago while everyone else was cutting retail prices and locations in order to save money. However, retail shop fronts will become more important than ever as a means to communicate with customers, rather than just being a point of sale.
The end of ‘purpose’ marketing.
The focus of marketing, at least by corporate marketers, will have pivoted from the banality of the ‘purpose driven’ marketing of the last few years. In the absence of a compelling idea, marketers deluded themselves that people really cared about their empty statements of ‘purpose’. Your potential and current customers will be demanding evidence that the statements carry weight in the behaviour of those seeking their money.
Politics.
Politicians have had a huge wakeup call. We voters really hate the division and spite of the practise of politics as usual pre corona. We long for some evidence that those elected to lead, actually do so, rather than just taking the trappings of office for their own benefits. The pressures on politicians and the political orthodoxy that has dominated to date will have to be revised. The basic assumptions about what services government provides, and from who and how, the necessary funds are raised to pay for them, have moved.
Not since 1939 have our politicians been confronted with the profoundly difficult choices that now face. I wonder if they are up to the challenge?
The economy.
The economy has suffered a major stroke, one for which substantial rehab over a long period will be required. It would be naive to believe it will recover to look much like the pre stroke version, but recover it will, over time. For those willing and able to push the boundaries, there will be opportunity everywhere, from the remaking of supply chains, to the potential of rebirth of sophisticated niche manufacturing, and new export markets. Digitisation of just about everything that has been accelerated massively, will demand investment and different business models and enterprise capabilities. These will offer great opportunity as well as what for many will be a terminal challenge. None of this will be easy, but it will happen.
As we ‘wake up’ from the corona coma, there will be an inclination to revert back to the known, and comfortable. Succumbing to that urge will be a mistake, as we have all been forced to move on, to push the edges of our comfort zones. The economic and social climate has changed dramatically, and those that seek the comfort of the Pre Corona status quo will find themselves isolated, and falling behind their competitors.
Picking your way through all this will take effort, experience and careful planning. When you need the injection of those skills, give me a call.
Jul 10, 2020 | Governance, Leadership
Both sides of politics are claiming victory in last Saturday’s by-election.
Labor because they won, and Liberal because they did not lose by much, and anyway they did not expect to overturn a century of precedent in by-elections, despite the PM having high personal approval ratings for the handling of the corona crisis. Largely forgotten is the pathetic floundering that went on over the bushfire season, except by those still waiting on the promised assistance, and living in tents.
What lies underneath is a range of gaps, often chasms, between opposing views and outcomes.
It is not unusual to have substantial socio economic gaps in an electorate, it just seems those in Eden Monaro are more starkly drawn.
Gaps between the coast and inland regions, gaps in the nature of business in the varying regions, lifestyle, wealth, access to public services, and more.
The electoral result is an average, and as with all averages, they can be very misleading.
There are also substantial gaps in the apparent ‘values’ held by differing parts of the electorate, and a huge gap between the promises of politicians seeking a vote, and their performance on the ground.
As a group, we are increasingly cynical and distrustful of those in politics who espouse values, then appear to be acting in a contradictory manner.
These differences produce internal conflict that when combined with a poor economy, starts fights over how the pie is to be divided. There will be pressure on the current Covid induced income support regime, and longer term, to change corporate and individual tax rates, not just to fix the unholy mess they are in currently, but to set out to address the inequities.
However, when you have the gaps in wealth distribution, personal and corporate values, political ideologies, and powerful vested interests, you have a volatile environment, not well suited to making fundamental changes. Therefore we will get more and more Band-Aids stretched over a broken system.
Then you have the external environment to consider. There is geopolitical strife of many colours, the war for trade, technology, talent, capital, and over the systems of government that apply.
Einstein’s first law, that energy is not created or destroyed, it just moves from one form to another, seems to apply to the manner in which the pie is cut. In that process there are always winners and losers, and nobody wants to be a loser, while the winners are usually pre-ordained.
That is the situation we find ourselves in currently, wealth and power are based on increasingly fragile foundations. The implications of those foundations crumbling are challenging to envisage and articulate, and so remain undiscussed in open forums.
As I said, elections are averages, and averages always hide the essential truth.
Jul 8, 2020 | Governance, Leadership, Strategy
I am not in the habit of quoting V. I. Lenin, but he did get some big things right.
‘There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen’
We are in one of those ‘weeks,’ the inflection point of a lifetime for most of us.
Almost every trend we look at, and forecast by, is somewhat linear. There will be bumps and jumps, but overall, looked at over time, they are linear.
Most business models are built on the automatic assumption of those linear trends holding true. Our institutions utterly depend on that being the truth. As a result, when the inflection point comes, it is traumatic; the response slow and often inappropriate, assuming all will return to a ‘new normal’, that it is just another bump in the road. Perhaps a nasty one, but a bump nevertheless.
I suspect that is not the case currently, this is not a bump in the road; this is a U-turn down a bush track into the unknown.
Forces build for a while in the background, looking linear, and then some sort of catalyst creates a confluence that totally changes the forces that drive the industry. The resulting chaos creates opportunity as much as it creates uncertainty, disharmony and dislocation of the pre-existing status quo.
Today, we are watching as several trends come together, which will create a new normal, looking little like the old one.
The digitisation of everything, has taken a dose of steroids since January, changing the way we shop, communicate, and work. To me it looks a bit like I imagine the confluence of the internal combustion engine and electricity looked in 1920. They had been around for a while, but suddenly converged to become transformative powerhouses that led to a 50 year burst of productivity increases.
Similarly with education. We have been wandering down a road of increasing commercialisation of education, marketing a tertiary qualification to Australians as the road to a good life and to international students as the ticket to wealth and a visa, while gutting the development of trade skills. Suddenly we have closed borders, the major source of international university students actively discouraging coming to Australia, and a massive shortage of depth of trade skills we cannot fill with 457 visas.
The education sector is in deep financial and philosophical trouble.
What about energy? For years we have clung to coal as not only our primary energy source, but as a huge magnet for international investment and export commodity sales, to the active exclusion of alternatives. Now we have wind and solar producing energy more cheaply than coal, and technology rapidly solving the storage problem. At the same time, the distribution of power is changing rapidly from a centralised system to a localised one. That confluence must be producing a bad case of reflux in Canberra. Political donations, existing political institutions, and relationships will not be enough to stem the tide, and the outcome is likely to be bloody, inevitable, and very soon.
Coming at us are revolutions in biology, driven by gene therapy and CRISPR. The human genome was first mapped in 2003, at the cost of billions. Now you can send a sample along and get your own map for a couple of hundred dollars. CRISPR, discovered in 2012, has accelerated our gene editing capability faster than Henry Ford’s production line accelerated the manufacture of cars, and look what happened then. Massive investment in roads, the 2 day weekend, and people travelled daily further than they had in a lifetime just a generation before.
That is before we consider the coming tsunami of AI, Quantum computing, additive manufacturing, and the new materials being developed with properties that seem to be out of the mind of Jules Verne.
As the old Chinese proverb goes: ‘May you live in interesting times’. We are, and to some measure that will be due to the changes driven by the Chinese journey out of poverty into world dominance in just over 30 years. This is trend reaching a tipping point without a lot of notice, or thought about the consequences.
Are you ready?
Jun 29, 2020 | Collaboration, Governance, Leadership
I was recently asked to turn my mind and experience to the question of mentoring, and to reflect on the benefits and pitfalls that may be present.
Over the years, I have had the benefit of a couple of mentors who profoundly influenced my view of the world, and in turn, have set out to pass on these lessons to others.
At the core of a mentoring relationship is the opportunity to engage in ways not easily replicated in the normal run of activities in an enterprise. Attributed to Benjamin Franklin is the sentence: ‘Tell me and I will forget, show me and I will remember, engage me and I will learn’. Over 45 years of commercial life, this simple observation has proven to be absolutely true.
The means of engagement comes from Greek philosopher Socrates, and as a result is commonly called the ‘Socratic Method’. It relies on leading someone to a conclusion by asking questions. By driving towards a conclusion that the mentee reaches by themselves, being directed by questions, the impact will be greater, as they will be fully engaged.
Objective of a mentor/mentee relationship.
To pass on experience, both professional and life, that enables the mentee to develop their capabilities and skills faster than would otherwise have been possible.
The role of a mentor is:
- Develop the mentee professionally and personally. To achieve this requires mutual trust and respect, which has to be earned, as it will not be just given, in either direction.
- A precursor of trust is that there is a clear understanding that mutual confidentiality will be maintained.
- Listen to the words, and understand the meaning of the words of the mentee, as a means to ensure there is clear understanding of the questions, problems, and personal nuances present.
- Help the mentee to solve their own problems themselves, do not do it for them, but assist in the process by questioning.
- Not to expect, or want the mentee to be a clone of yourself. Everyone is different, and those differences of experience and perspective should be encouraged and leveraged.
- Advocate for the mentee, offering exposure and guidance to others in the enterprise, and to the challenges that emerge in every organisation and personal career.
- Deliver appropriate resources to the mentee when they will be most useful
- Act as a role model
The process of mentoring
- Establish ground rules, goals, and mutual expectations early on.
- Do a ‘needs’ assessment and gap analysis, that recognises the strengths and weaknesses of the mentee, as well as their opportunities for growth. The gap analysis should be influenced by the next logical step, mentee aspirations, and observed/agreed weaknesses that require being addressed.
- Agree mutual goals for the process, together. What are the expectations and goals of both parties?
- Agree a formal contact schedule, supplemented by the ‘rules’ that may apply around informal contact.
- Listen and question, rather than advising, and only advise after listening. This should be an iterative process, and advice should be the last item, well after questions that are often ‘What if’, ‘Why not’, or ‘How’, have been exhausted
- Let them make their own decisions and understand the consequences of accountability, and the buzz that comes from it.
- Be mutually accountable
- Recognise, address and be transparent about your own biases.
- Build trust, an authentic connection.
- Recognise a round peg that may be in a square hole, and provide feedback and assistance to either reshape or move elsewhere, to everyone’s benefit.
- Finally, and perhaps most importantly. Ensure there is a sense of psychological safety for the mentee, such that they are prepared to open up, knowing that there are no negative repercussions, just advice and acceptance. This will only happen over time, and assumes that the relationship has evolved positively.
- Not every mentor/mentee relationship will work, and there should be no hesitation for either party to acknowledge that, and move on.
Why invest the time in mentoring
- Every enterprise needs to build a functional and leadership ‘bench’. People move on, and around. A successful enterprise ensures that there are processes in place to renew management and leadership capability that are robust and continuously improving, so that they can accommodate those movements of individuals.
- It is a means to identify and develop those skills that will be of benefit to both the enterprise and the individual.
- Mentoring is a powerful way to build personal and functional networks. This enables problem solving and collaboration on a scale much wider than would happen in the absence of a mentoring process.
- Teaching, or mentoring, is the process of breaking down and addressing challenges and problems, considering options, and their possible outcomes. Engaging in such a process improves the capability of the mentor, as much as it does that of the mentee.
- It is simply making a contribution, not only to the mentee, but to the organisation and wider community.
What makes a good mentor?
- They need to be keen to do it, and enjoy the process
- They must engage with the mentee, and show they value learning, and teaching, and learning as they go from the act of teaching.
- They will encourage mentees to go out of their comfort zone, continually expanding it by way of active listening and Socratic questioning.
- They provide regular, formal and informal feedback, and articulate the paths to improvement.
- They are experts, and willing to share that expertise.
- They show the mentee the value of being mentored, what is in it for them.
- Leads by example.
- Recognises that the process is one of education, not training. Educating implies developing an open and critical analysis of situations, and formulation of tactics that reflect that situation. By contrast, training implies the application of a template that tells you what to do, which may not always be the optimum reaction. The ‘Why’ is always more important than the ‘What’ in a conversation.
What makes a good mentee?
- Watches and learns from the mentor
- Critically evaluate the lessons taken from the mentor and actively discuss the implications and application of the lessons.
- Willing and able to engage in the process
- Puts a high priority on the relationship with the mentor, without becoming dependent
- Actively engages in mutual critical thinking in the setting of goals, improvement initiatives, and improvement milestones.
- Is able to accept negative feedback when it comes, by seeing it as an opportunity to improve, rather than an attack on performance.
A final observation. In this day of #metoo and great sensitivity about the relationships of all types between genders in the workplace, we have to be absolutely transparent. The majority of mentoring relationships, at least in the near future, will be between a woman and an older man, someone who has the power by virtue of position and influence that can be leveraged for the benefit of the younger woman. In some instances this may create an obstacle absent in a mono gender relationship.
Jun 8, 2020 | Leadership
It has been a busy year so far for marketing departments, especially those without any real foundation and understanding of why people might engage with them, and their lousy products.
Each of the three has been taken as an opportunity for many marketers to show their humanity and support for those impacted by tweeting, posting, and even making expensive TV ads, to demonstrate their support and humanity.
By the way, buy my shit, because I ‘reached out’ to you!
We recognise those real acts of humanity and courage: volunteer firefighters risking their lives to save homes, (while some of them lost their own); medical teams and carers risking their lives to save our loved ones; business operators fighting to preserve their livelihoods while serving their community – those employers who’re quietly revising apprenticeship schemes to ensure the young, those most at risk from social injustice, get an even break.
My nephew is a highly skilled tradesman. He is willing to take on (what his mother calls), ‘rescue’ kids. He teaches them work ethic, trade and life skills that will enable them to survive and prosper as they move on from their apprenticeship. He’s making a real difference by putting his skills and energy into education and training; he is saving lives.
The so-called marketers ‘reaching out’ make no difference at all. They are talking to themselves from inside their bubble, making themselves feel good because they can. It is like taking a shower with a raincoat on: no value, and stupid.
Even worse than the deluded wankers who call themselves ‘marketers’ are the ones sitting in Boardrooms who condone this crap. They spend money that is not theirs on some consultant to develop a ‘Vision’ and ‘Values’ statement that no-one cares about, or believes. They give a nod to social responsibility while operating with transfer pricing with a Head Office in some tax haven so they can minimise taxes – the very means by which a society services their communities and by which they can address inequalities. They use the “Kerry Packer” defence: that governments are stupid, lazy, and waste the money so why pay them a penny more than is required by the laws that cannot be avoided? And yes, governments have their contingent of arrogant, self-interested people who mouth platitudes to get elected and gain the trappings of power and money, however, they are outnumbered by people who’re doing the best they can with what they have and taxes are their only tool to fund changes that will help others … like our volunteer services, our health professionals, our independent business communities – people like my nephew – who are keeping it real and doing genuine good.
Get out of your bubble, and do something useful, and for Christ’s sake stop reaching out to me with automated emails and flatulent advertising, to make sure I am OK!
