Surface Ripples

The “Funnel Effect”

I received an email from a client at he beginning of this year announcing new legislation in their country.  It contained one short sentence: “Please find attached letter regarding XXX reforms that will now come into effect in February 2025“.

I got it some three weeks before the “reforms” were due to come into effect. Not much time to react…

Attached to the email was a “Supplier Letter” containing links to various websites.

Instead of explaining the changes this might require for our relationship, the sender left all recipients to work things out for themselves.  They deal with multiple small suppliers in different countries.  Not all of these speak good English and have little time to decode the complexities of (in this case) UK legislation.

This is a great example of “funnel management” in action.  The organisation concerned thought, no doubt, that they had done their job by sending this letter but I suspect that many of their counterparties won’t read it and will wait until they are told what action to take.  I wrote back thanking them for the letter and asking them to explain the impact it would have on our relationship.  I still haven’t received a response half way through the year.

We’re all busy, I know.  However, I suspect that this particular organisation will find that it’s potentially storing up more problems for itself than it solves in the long run. 

It’s within our gift to make things work by being as clear as possible.  Our colleagues, customers and counter parties will thank us for it.  Letting others work things out for themselves may be a recipe for more problems further down the line. 

How do we as leaders ensure that our people and counter parties get timely information in a form that is easy to understand and act on?

How often are we guilty of the same error as the counterparty in this story?

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience 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 website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.   

Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Risk

posted by William Martin @ 10:37