Joined-Up Thinking
I hear a lot of people using the phrase “joined-up thinking” to describe that state where things have clearly been thought through and all possibilities and contingencies considered.
What people mean is that one has the idea, but without a process of working out what it entails, problems are likely to arise from any number of sources. This is another way of talking about project management. I always think of the first verse of Rudyard Kipling’s well-known poem The Elephant’s Child:
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
Following this framework helps to sort through moving an idea from the concept to completion. We ask questions such as “Why are we doing this in the first place?” “What needs to be done”? Who needs to do it?” “When does it need to be done by?” “How will it be done?” What needs to be done before it to make it happen?” Whose approval will we need?” “Who will be affected?” “What if this happens instead of this?” and so on. The more questions we ask (and succeed in answering), the higher the chances of things working out.
Why don’t things work out? Usually because people don’t want to ask the “awkward” questions for fear of antagonising the boss, or because they may not know which questions to ask. Good leaders ask the “right questions”. If you ever watch them in action, you find that they tend to ask a lot of questions and also listen carefully to the answers, often asking supplementary questions based on what they’ve just heard.
The next time you’re faced with bringing a project to life, ask yourself:
- Why are we doing this (what’s the result we want)?
- What needs to be done?
- By When?
- By Whom?
- How?
- What needs to be done before it?
- Where will resources come from?
- How will we know if we’ve succeeded?
These questions all relate to the three main pillars of any project: Time, Money and Resources. We can ask more as we go along.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My websiteprovides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Leadership, Strategy, Teamwork
The Time to Act is... Now
One of my clients is experiencing a degree of frustration with a buyer. Essentially, the problem is that they send out an invoice, only to be told on chasing the invoice a month later, that the buyer now has to set them up in their “vendor system”, thereby delaying payment. This obviously impacts my client’s cashflow, as well as affecting relations with the buyer.
It reminds me that “Customer Experience” continues to be key. My client’s payments are delayed due to bureaucratic excuses, whilst the buyer’s systems and processes appear unfit for managing its suppliers. I can understand the buyer not wanting to go through the process of setting up a supplier in a system if that supplier never supplies anything (that would be a waste of time), but equally, once the supplier does supply goods or services, the set-up should happen immediately upon receipt of the invoice, not when the supplier chases them.
Customer Experience is a two-way street in this instance. If my client has fulfilled the needs of their buyer as agreed with the buyer, they have the right to be paid promptly. Further bureaucratic delays are not part of this deal and are the buyer’s responsibility.
In reality, some buyers know that they hold the “upper hand” and can treat suppliers more or less as they wish. The only problem is that this can work against them in the end (in terms of reputation at the very least).
Our duty to our suppliers is as strong as our duty to our buyers and customers if we want to maintain a strong reputation as professional organisations. Bureaucracy is an internal issue; customer satisfaction is external and along with it goes reputation. If that goes, so does our business.
We all owe it to our suppliers to manage them as professionally as we can.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My websiteprovides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Training Counts
I recently returned from a trip to another country where we stayed in a very good hotel in the centre of town for the first time. Our check in was somewhat “fraught” as the member of staff on duty didn’t seem able to find the reservation we’d made for my wife, myself and our daughter. I suspect that part of the problem was that we’d used an internet booking site to make the booking, but it became clear that a lack of experience was also contributing. In the end, we managed to sort things out.
What particularly impressed me was that, throughout what was clearly a very stressful situation for the staff on duty, his voice remained calm and he seemed to be going through a mental “troubleshooting checklist” to resolve the problem. He didn’t try to hide behind excuses, he stayed calm and finally referred to a colleague with more experience who was able to find our reservations.
Training had obviously “kicked in” with the young man and he followed it perfectly. Although he lacked experience, someone had clearly told him that, no matter what, he should remain calm and keep telling the customer what he was doing (which he did). The net effect that was that we, as guests checking in, felt that he was doing everything he could to identify the problem and find a solution. Through no fault of his own, it was simply technical knowledge that was lacking (or forgotten).
Yes, it was annoying that we experienced this at the start of a holiday we’d been planning and looking forward to, but the situation could have been much worse. Throughout we were handled with respect and kept informed. Often, I’ve found that when there’s a problem, people withdraw and don’t want to tell one what’s going on, or where the problem is and this is how problems escalate into crises and complaints.
Training can’t be underestimated in these cases, and yet the training budget is the first to be cut when times are hard, with the resulting impact on quality of service. For me, this was a clear-cut case of “training pays”. We’ll certainly stay in that hotel again.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My websiteprovides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Customer Care, Strategy, Teamwork
