They are key for every efficient Sales Force. The less people you need to involve in a Sales Cycle the smoother the sales cycle can be. Sales Reps should be able to use Product Configuration and quoting tools without reading a 50 page document or going to a 5 day training class. If your environment requires additional teams to handle a product configuration or a quote you have room for improvement. Let's take it step by step. Before a Sales Rep ever gets into the situation where they have to use these tools they have to know the products they are selling. Therefore the focus for every company will be to train their sales force about their own product offering first. In some cases the product offering can become very complex (e.g. cars, computers) and so it would be challenging for even the best sales reps to memorize all the rules (e.g. sun roofs are only offered with cars above a certain $ value and in certain geographic areas). In addition to that almost all products become more customizable and hence the need for a configuration tool is only increasing going forward.
The (configuration) rules are continually changing and you want your sales force to foster good relationships with your customers and NOT to memorize all the rules because the sales objective is to increase the face-to-face time of your sales force with your customers. For e-Commerce this is obviously different. We'll address this in a future post.
Which sales tools (e.g. Salesforce.com, Siebel) you use is less important than the company culture and the support your sales operations team can provide.
If the Sales Support/Operations team is doing their job well it can open new exciting opportunities (for cross and upsell) for your Sales Force.
What does your Sales Team need to proactively address more customer needs/questions?
What is your sales cycle? How long does it usually take to prepare a quote in your industry? Are you selling online or do you meet your customers face-to-face? Do you use predominantly standard pricing or customer specific pricing? In any case you want to offer your customers as many possible value enhancing solutions as possible w/o becoming annoying. That is where the value of the Product Configuration and quoting tools can support your sales team. You want to guide your Sales Reps by giving them a powerful configuration and quote tool. If they never know about additional options they can't sell them.
Tools are important and there are a number of good tools out there. Nevertheless I think the company culture is more important than any specific tool.
What tools do you use? How is that working for you?
Showing posts with label Project Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project Management. Show all posts
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Focus on your tasks!
There are many things to look out for to have a successful and gratifying business career. If we compare a business career to a game then your education (and relationships!) is the key to let you play the game and to start the game at a certain level (which in turn will decide, in most cases, where you will end up in your career).
Once you have the education and you're in a job you are ready to play the game but now it's a different game. It is different because now you don't want to get in now you want to get up or you want to have more freedom to make decisions or you want to be noticed or you want to be liked etc.
If you focus too much on what others do, how they do it and why they get what they get instead of focusing on your team and/or work tasks you have a good chance that you won't achieve anything. It is good and smart to learn what your leaders want and how they want to get things done but you don't let that interfere with the tasks you're working on. How do you work with your teams if you are a leader yourself?
When you have a task (e.g. improve the sales order turn-around-time from x hours to y hours) then you don't need to worry about Team ABC that works on Sales Compensation. If you question why that team has more budget, why some of their team members get promoted while you can't promote anyone or you don't get promoted yourself you focus on the wrong things! You have to focus on your task (improve the sales order turn around time). Learn how you can do it. Who can help you to do it? Communicate and network with the key players in that area and make sure that they understand what your team/you are doing to achieve that goal. An attitude that shows you want to reach that goal (with your team) without putting your team/yourself in the middle of the stage will help. Put all your effort into this and get the task done!
Notice that in every sport (e.g. basketball, soccer) the players are focused on the game! Yes, there are interesting things happening all around them. There may be thousand distractions but they are there to play their sport! Take the current NBA Playoffs, most players are pretty young and they manage NOT to be distracted. This is what makes them successful! They focus on what counts when it counts. Do the same thing for yourself in your job and focus on your tasks!
Once you have the education and you're in a job you are ready to play the game but now it's a different game. It is different because now you don't want to get in now you want to get up or you want to have more freedom to make decisions or you want to be noticed or you want to be liked etc.
If you focus too much on what others do, how they do it and why they get what they get instead of focusing on your team and/or work tasks you have a good chance that you won't achieve anything. It is good and smart to learn what your leaders want and how they want to get things done but you don't let that interfere with the tasks you're working on. How do you work with your teams if you are a leader yourself?
When you have a task (e.g. improve the sales order turn-around-time from x hours to y hours) then you don't need to worry about Team ABC that works on Sales Compensation. If you question why that team has more budget, why some of their team members get promoted while you can't promote anyone or you don't get promoted yourself you focus on the wrong things! You have to focus on your task (improve the sales order turn around time). Learn how you can do it. Who can help you to do it? Communicate and network with the key players in that area and make sure that they understand what your team/you are doing to achieve that goal. An attitude that shows you want to reach that goal (with your team) without putting your team/yourself in the middle of the stage will help. Put all your effort into this and get the task done!
Notice that in every sport (e.g. basketball, soccer) the players are focused on the game! Yes, there are interesting things happening all around them. There may be thousand distractions but they are there to play their sport! Take the current NBA Playoffs, most players are pretty young and they manage NOT to be distracted. This is what makes them successful! They focus on what counts when it counts. Do the same thing for yourself in your job and focus on your tasks!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Challenge yourself!
As long as you feel very comfortable with the tasks that you do you don't grow. If you want to grow you have to challenge yourself. You should feel uncomfortable with new tasks on a regular basis because otherwise you've been there, done that. While it feels good to be comfortable with a certain task it doesn't help you to grow. There are many routine tasks that everyone needs to master in every job and they are good to build confidence but if you want to grow you have to leave this path on a regular basis.
In today's and tomorrow's workplace you have to keep learning/growing and if you want to have a successful career you have to do that while you are working on your relationship skills.
What do I mean by "feeling uncomfortable"? I mean for example that somebody might assign you a task that you feel is too much. You might think you can't do that but instead of looking for excuses or other ways to get out of it you actually sit down think about how you can approach the task. Who in your network can help you? How can they help you? What sources can you use to come up to speed? Don't accept a "no" from yourself. To make this work you have to be honest with yourself. For example if you know how to write a Software Program and somebody wants you to build a rocket you are in over your head. In this case the challenge is unrealistic! You should know yourself well enough to prevent these unrealistic to prevent unnecessary frustration. Now if somebody asks you, as a Software Programmer, to improve the performance of a critical program that somebody else has written in 2 weeks. Now that might be difficult, you might not have done that before but this is in your area of knowledge. All you need to be successful is determination and perseverance. Maybe you need others to help. The goal is to make it work and be responsible for it. No, you can't do everything yourself but you can be responsible for making it work. Take on this responsibility and grow. Don't wait for these tasks to be assigned to you. Look for them! Make sure you always have something that gives you an opportunity to grow.
You will gain much more self-confidence from these tasks than you get from the routine tasks you do today. The challenges of today are the routines of tomorrow.
In today's and tomorrow's workplace you have to keep learning/growing and if you want to have a successful career you have to do that while you are working on your relationship skills.
What do I mean by "feeling uncomfortable"? I mean for example that somebody might assign you a task that you feel is too much. You might think you can't do that but instead of looking for excuses or other ways to get out of it you actually sit down think about how you can approach the task. Who in your network can help you? How can they help you? What sources can you use to come up to speed? Don't accept a "no" from yourself. To make this work you have to be honest with yourself. For example if you know how to write a Software Program and somebody wants you to build a rocket you are in over your head. In this case the challenge is unrealistic! You should know yourself well enough to prevent these unrealistic to prevent unnecessary frustration. Now if somebody asks you, as a Software Programmer, to improve the performance of a critical program that somebody else has written in 2 weeks. Now that might be difficult, you might not have done that before but this is in your area of knowledge. All you need to be successful is determination and perseverance. Maybe you need others to help. The goal is to make it work and be responsible for it. No, you can't do everything yourself but you can be responsible for making it work. Take on this responsibility and grow. Don't wait for these tasks to be assigned to you. Look for them! Make sure you always have something that gives you an opportunity to grow.
You will gain much more self-confidence from these tasks than you get from the routine tasks you do today. The challenges of today are the routines of tomorrow.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Communicating a plan
The communication of a plan is as important, if not more important, than the plan itself. It doesn't matter if we talk about a project plan, a business plan or any other plan. As long as you need other people to achieve your plan it is key to make sure others understand what you are trying to achieve and why they should be interested to help you. Note that this applies to everyone! Good communication is not limited to a specific audience.
When you communicate your plan make sure that you do that in the most interactive format. This means whenever possible do this face-to-face. If that isn't possible that doesn't mean it can't work it just means you have to work harder to get what you are looking for. Do not try to do this in writing though! The risk that you don't get your point across is too big. If a face-to-face isn't possible try a "Skype-Meeting". If that doesn't work either you can maybe try a phone meeting if you know the people very well. In any case I think the only really acceptable format for important meetings are face-to-face or maybe a Video/Audio ("Skype") meeting.
It is a good idea to handout notes or slides at the end of your meeting so that people remember exactly what you were saying.
Keep the following points in mind for your face-to-face meeting and for your notes/presentations
When you communicate your plan make sure that you do that in the most interactive format. This means whenever possible do this face-to-face. If that isn't possible that doesn't mean it can't work it just means you have to work harder to get what you are looking for. Do not try to do this in writing though! The risk that you don't get your point across is too big. If a face-to-face isn't possible try a "Skype-Meeting". If that doesn't work either you can maybe try a phone meeting if you know the people very well. In any case I think the only really acceptable format for important meetings are face-to-face or maybe a Video/Audio ("Skype") meeting.
It is a good idea to handout notes or slides at the end of your meeting so that people remember exactly what you were saying.
Keep the following points in mind for your face-to-face meeting and for your notes/presentations
- WHY
- Why do you want to achieve a specific goal?
- Keep in mind that people need to buy into this goal. Prepare the meeting and address critical questions as much as possible. Ask for help to come up with critical questions!
- Why should people be interested to help you? What is in it for them?
- If you want to achieve the maximum benefit you need people to own the goal. Make it their goal. Show them the benefit they get when they pursue/achieve this goal. Don't do this to manipulate people but to create a true win/win situation
- WHAT
- What is the goal?
- Can the goal be measured? How often will you measure it? Who will measure it?
- What do you need from the participants/team?
- WHO
- Who needs to provide what by when?
- WHEN
- When do you want/need to achieve your goal?
- How critical is it to achieve the goal/milestones?
- HOW:
- How will you measure the success?
- How do you know if you achieved the goal?
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Complicated Systems and Training
Does your company have a complicated IT system environment? Let's look at an example, does your company have one system to create quotes and orders for your sales force worldwide or do you have a myriad of standalone systems, spreadsheets and processes that all need to be integrated? If you work for a multinational company you probably have different systems (some integrated and some are standalone) in different parts of the world (e.g. In North America you use one system for your Sales Force while you use another system for your team in Europe or Asia). The complexity gets even higher when various regional business and IT teams for these systems need to work together and agree on any changes. In this environment it is pretty obvious that a high quality training for your Sales Teams is key to being successful. Don't get me wrong the system complexity needs to be addressed (!) but that can't happen overnight in most cases and in the meantime you still have a business to run and therefore to make the best out of what you got.
Many systems have a a lot of functionality that most Sales Teams don't use. How do you train your Sales Force on the essential functions (while you work on getting better systems!) of your systems?
Does the Sales Force get appropriate product training? Do they know how you approach your customers? Do they know your systems and processes once the Sales Process starts? Can they create a quote or order themselves or do they need support from anyone?
In any case you should spend the time to put together a solid training schedule that every Sales Rep should go through. Yes, this is an investment and if it is done well it will pay back dividends. If you have a simpler system the training will be shorter and if you have a more complex system the training will be longer. Face-to-face meetings are the most efficient while you can use webinars or other audio/video options as alternatives. Because of budget concerns the cheaper options are mostly preferred but they require a different approach (e.g. an assessment at the end of the class). A good training includes a business case example in the system, a reference document that every particpant gets with the key lessons and a questionnaire at the end to evaluate the class and presenter. Once you have this all together you can bridge some system gaps and shortcomings until your systems catch up. Not ideal but practical.
Many systems have a a lot of functionality that most Sales Teams don't use. How do you train your Sales Force on the essential functions (while you work on getting better systems!) of your systems?
Does the Sales Force get appropriate product training? Do they know how you approach your customers? Do they know your systems and processes once the Sales Process starts? Can they create a quote or order themselves or do they need support from anyone?
In any case you should spend the time to put together a solid training schedule that every Sales Rep should go through. Yes, this is an investment and if it is done well it will pay back dividends. If you have a simpler system the training will be shorter and if you have a more complex system the training will be longer. Face-to-face meetings are the most efficient while you can use webinars or other audio/video options as alternatives. Because of budget concerns the cheaper options are mostly preferred but they require a different approach (e.g. an assessment at the end of the class). A good training includes a business case example in the system, a reference document that every particpant gets with the key lessons and a questionnaire at the end to evaluate the class and presenter. Once you have this all together you can bridge some system gaps and shortcomings until your systems catch up. Not ideal but practical.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Executive Communications
What you have to keep in mind when you communicate with Executive and Senior Management is that they usually don't have a lot of time. What I mean by Executive and Senior Management is a manager that manages more than 100+ people. If you are not at the peer level with them you will have to schedule a meeting ahead of time with their Admin. When you schedule this meeting treat their Admin like you would treat the Executive or Senior Manager themselves! Explain clearly what the purpose of the meeting is. Why do you need to meet with them? What do you expect to get out of the meeting? How can the Executive or Senior Manager help? Don't ask for more time than you really need. These people are busy and if you ask for too much you might not get anything at all. So keep the meeting request to the minimum amount of time because in that case you might get a chance to present your case.
Expect that even the Admin might not be very patient and friendly. There are many people who would like to spend some time with these Managers so they might not always be as patient as you would like.
Once the meeting comes it can happen that the meeting is shorter than you expected. So if you have scheduled 30 minutes for your discussion, plan to finish it in 15min or less. Note that I mentioned discussion and not a PowerPoint slide presentation! If you have to have a Slide Deck than just use it to guide the conversation. Keep the slides to a minimum --> don't use any font size smaller than 14 (the bigger the better). Don't add more than 3 bullets on a slide etc. Test the communication (if possible) with someone before you have the real discussion! This will help you to improve your communication and to have a higher chance to get what you are looking for.
Make also sure that you don't present details! These people are used to work on a higher level and will not appreciate if you bring up topics that they don't understand. Their job is to connect the dots and to lead the organization in the right direction, not to understand each and every single dot in detail! This obviously means they can't afford to get lost in details. So don't go there! If they ask for it (and you should plan ahead of time for these potential questions) give them just as much information as they need but don't give in to the temptation to show off your Subject Matter Expert knowledge. Short, clear, precise and goal focused communication is the key to any success on that level.
Last but not least keep in mind who you are talking to and prepare accordingly. If it is a Finance person then they will most likely look for numbers to verify the information you're presenting.
Even though this list sounds probably somewhat long and frighting it is well worth the investment. If you get on the same page with an Executive or Senior Manager that can have career changing implications! So yes, it's tough but well worth the effort if you do it right. Put some effort in it and prepare these communciations well and they will pay off!.
Good luck with your Executive and Senior Management conversations.
Expect that even the Admin might not be very patient and friendly. There are many people who would like to spend some time with these Managers so they might not always be as patient as you would like.
Once the meeting comes it can happen that the meeting is shorter than you expected. So if you have scheduled 30 minutes for your discussion, plan to finish it in 15min or less. Note that I mentioned discussion and not a PowerPoint slide presentation! If you have to have a Slide Deck than just use it to guide the conversation. Keep the slides to a minimum --> don't use any font size smaller than 14 (the bigger the better). Don't add more than 3 bullets on a slide etc. Test the communication (if possible) with someone before you have the real discussion! This will help you to improve your communication and to have a higher chance to get what you are looking for.
Make also sure that you don't present details! These people are used to work on a higher level and will not appreciate if you bring up topics that they don't understand. Their job is to connect the dots and to lead the organization in the right direction, not to understand each and every single dot in detail! This obviously means they can't afford to get lost in details. So don't go there! If they ask for it (and you should plan ahead of time for these potential questions) give them just as much information as they need but don't give in to the temptation to show off your Subject Matter Expert knowledge. Short, clear, precise and goal focused communication is the key to any success on that level.
Last but not least keep in mind who you are talking to and prepare accordingly. If it is a Finance person then they will most likely look for numbers to verify the information you're presenting.
Even though this list sounds probably somewhat long and frighting it is well worth the investment. If you get on the same page with an Executive or Senior Manager that can have career changing implications! So yes, it's tough but well worth the effort if you do it right. Put some effort in it and prepare these communciations well and they will pay off!.
Good luck with your Executive and Senior Management conversations.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Relying on yourself
Isn't it amazing to look at all the business books that come out and give recommendations regarding change? I mean do all these people really have so much experience concerning change? Some authors are really great and worth listening to but many authors are less convincing and are basically a waste of time. While I think it is good to get as much information as possible from a number of different resources I think we also have to start relying on our own judgement again. Before you can and should rely on your own judgement you have to put in some serious effort like learning as much as possible about the topic at hand and you have to accept that you will never know everything about a topic. It can be tough when you think there is always someone out there with something better (e.g. education, judgement, success, connections, skills etc.). While in many cases there might be someone out there with something better that shouldn't stop you, after careful preparation, to rely on yourself.
Monday, February 21, 2011
The difference between pleasing your boss and achieving results
If you just watch out to please your boss/manager then I hope for you that you have a really strong and well connected boss. If he/she knows exactly what to do and where to go, is a trustworthy person and he/she takes you along for the ride then your career might be ok. Since that is not always the case you have to keep thinking for yourself. Don't get me wrong here you work for that person and you better make sure he/she is satisfied with the work that you do but that is not all. It does not end here! Be active in your career development and think what you can do to address challenges in your work environment. What could you do today that would make a difference? It doesn't have to be some pie in the sky or boil the ocean change but it should be something that helps to improve something. A little help on a daily basis goes a long way. Instead of just following directions think for yourself, address issues, communicate them effectively to the decision makers and don't give up. Make your ideas count !
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Working from home
More and more jobs allow you to work from home, at least partially. I think there are some jobs where you can do that well and others where that is not really a good option. For Retail or Service oriented jobs it is pretty obvious that you can't work from home but for other jobs like for example consulting or professional training it is not always that obvious.If you do it right it can be very efficient and convenient. The most important aspect you need to consider, beside finding an employer that let's you work from home, is that you have enough self discipline to schedule your day as if you are in the office. Start the day like you would start a regular office day and dress as if you would go to the office. If you can do this then you can work more effectively from home as when you're in the office because you have less interruptions.
To work from home all the time, like a teleworker, requires a very high level of discipline and is definetely not the right option for everyone. In my experience many people can work from home effectively for 1-2 days a weeks but they struggle to do it all the time.
To work from home all the time, like a teleworker, requires a very high level of discipline and is definetely not the right option for everyone. In my experience many people can work from home effectively for 1-2 days a weeks but they struggle to do it all the time.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Selling yourself
You should be prepared at any time to explain quickly and simply what you do. Why is that? Because if people don't understand what you do they will not appreciate what you achieve. To say this very bluntly is you will get stuck in your career because people (managers, peers, direct reports) don't know what you can help them with. To make sure that people understand what you do you have to take some time to think about it and then tell them without jargon or long winded explanations. In short you have to sell yourself on a regular basis and in a non-intrusive manner. Just make sure that the people that most influence your career understand why it is good to have you on their team.
Here is an example: If I tell you (as my manager) that I'm working to optimize Sales Processes and Tools in the High Tech Industry does that mean anything to you? This is so generic that it is useless. It has to be something more specific like I'm working on the quoting process for my company to make sure that our quotes get faster to the customer (e.g. within x hours) and by ensuring we do that with less money and effort (e.g. cut our current costs by 20%) by June 2011.
Here is an example: If I tell you (as my manager) that I'm working to optimize Sales Processes and Tools in the High Tech Industry does that mean anything to you? This is so generic that it is useless. It has to be something more specific like I'm working on the quoting process for my company to make sure that our quotes get faster to the customer (e.g. within x hours) and by ensuring we do that with less money and effort (e.g. cut our current costs by 20%) by June 2011.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Commander's Intent
Do you know the saying “no plan survives contact with the customer?” It comes from the military saying “no plan survives contact with the enemy”. Since the army knows that this is true they came up with a high level concept in the 1980s that is called the Commander’s intent (CI). CI is a crisp and clear statement that is used at the top of every order. It specifies the plan’s goal and the desired end-state of the operation. On different levels of the organization there can be different CI’s. A high level example might be “Make Afghanistan peaceful”. The Army suggests 2 questions to arrive at the CI
1. If we do nothing else during tomorrow’s mission, we must …
2. The single, most important thing the we must do tomorrow is …
Read “Made to stick” from Chip & Dan Heath if you want to learn more concerning CI and many more valuable concepts. What is your Commander's Intent?
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Building a strong team
In many companies Managers talk a lot about how important people are but what do YOU do to really show your team how important they are? Lip service is not enough! In addition to your company standard benefits like 401K, Health, Dental, Eye Insurance etc. what is important to your team? You have to meet with them on a regular basis to find out and to stay on top of this topic. If people are taken seriously and see that you, as the manager, put in a real effort to help them move forward that makes a world of difference. Unfortunately many Managers (incl. Project Managers) are overwhelmed with this role and are more focused on themselves than their team. Instead of stepping over your team, to appear as the hero, make your team stronger. Mentor your people and provide them with the necessary connections and advice. It requires some effort and sometimes the effort will be wasted but most of the time you will get much more benefit from this than you think.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Short, mid and long term solutions
Are you working on multiple solutions to the same problem at the same time? What I'm refering to is that you have a short term business goal where you don't require any IT help. A mid term goal where you have very limited IT help and then you have the ideal long term solution that is provided by your IT Team. In many cases these solutions are quite different from each other. The challenge with this approach is that short + mid term solutions tend to hang around much longer than expected. Are you using this approach in your company? If yes, how is that working for you? While it is necessary in some cases to follow this approach I do not consider this a valid default approach. What is holding you back from aligning the short, mid and long term solutions into one solution?
In many cases the missing action is a decision. Who is making the decisions regarding your different solutions? Are these the same or different people? Is the communication and training effort worth developing different solutions? To focus only on one solution is much more effective in many ways (e.g. development effort, training effort, communication etc.) and therefore you might want to resist the temptation to always work on multiple solutions.
In many cases the missing action is a decision. Who is making the decisions regarding your different solutions? Are these the same or different people? Is the communication and training effort worth developing different solutions? To focus only on one solution is much more effective in many ways (e.g. development effort, training effort, communication etc.) and therefore you might want to resist the temptation to always work on multiple solutions.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Do something new!
If you want to stand out in whatever you do you have to do something new. In business that means that when you seek opportunities you should invest your resources in new areas of a business because these areas are neglected and uncontested. When everyone is doing it then it is a standard and no longer good enough to differentiate yourself. To do this is not easy but well worth the effort because instead of following the market you can create your own market. This obviously has some challenges as well because you can't hide behind someone or something. You also need to have a strong personal drive and considerable confidence in your ideas. Generally many of us like to be judged by how well we do compared to others. I think it is good when you try to stop that urge and instead try to differeniate yourself from the group around you. Is it better for you to be No 5 in a large pool of players or do you prefer to be No 1 in a small pool? I don't think there is a right or wrong answer here by the way, it's a personal decision.
If your answer is that you prefer to be the No 1 player then you are in good company with many successful people. We don't have to be geniuses that transform the world every day but if you can find a way to make yourself more unique you will help yourself and the environment around you.
If your answer is that you prefer to be the No 1 player then you are in good company with many successful people. We don't have to be geniuses that transform the world every day but if you can find a way to make yourself more unique you will help yourself and the environment around you.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Pleasing everyone
You already know that you can't please everyone, don't you? Are you still trying to do it anyway? If you do then try to stop it asap because it is a useless exercise that will cost you a lot of time, energy and nerves. To be clear, trying to please everyone and getting everyone on the same table to discuss differences are very different things. Let's look at an example for pleasing everyone: As a Project Manager you have to decide who within your team is going to perform a certain task (e.g. meeting with a senior executive for a project review). There are three people that all would like to do this task but you can assign it only to one person. You pick the person that seems to be the best fit for this task. In this case you can't please everyone. You will have to disappoint two people and please one.
To make sure you keep a strong and committed team you, as the Manager, have to try to prevent these occurences or at least to soften the impact of these decisions. Nevertheless these situations will arise from time to time. When they do, accept that you can't please everyone.
To make sure you keep a strong and committed team you, as the Manager, have to try to prevent these occurences or at least to soften the impact of these decisions. Nevertheless these situations will arise from time to time. When they do, accept that you can't please everyone.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Logic and decisions
Have you noticed that many people at work try to be logical at all times? Especially engineers and computer programers seem to have an excessive need to look for logic. But is the world really a logical place? I don't think so. Nevertheless some people somehow seem to hope that logic will always prevail. This will not always be the case as I can show you on one example below.
A couple of years ago I was involved in a Project that was introducing an ERP system to smaller companies (<50 employees). The effort was meant to prove that this ERP system was suitable for these companies. The leaders of these companies though were not convinced that this ERP system could really address their needs but since they had executive level relationships to the ERP vendor they went along with it. For several months we were trying to show them how they could benefit from this system. It wasn't easy and logically it would have made sense to abort this effort at some time but then the executive level relationship might have been scared. So we kept going and implemented the system. I'm not convinced that these companies really used the system long term, but that was not the point. The important thing in this case was the relationship between the ERP vendor and these companies.
Instead of waiting for logic to prevail you have to recognize that you deal with people and we all will do illogical things. Expect it and don't be surprised by it!
A couple of years ago I was involved in a Project that was introducing an ERP system to smaller companies (<50 employees). The effort was meant to prove that this ERP system was suitable for these companies. The leaders of these companies though were not convinced that this ERP system could really address their needs but since they had executive level relationships to the ERP vendor they went along with it. For several months we were trying to show them how they could benefit from this system. It wasn't easy and logically it would have made sense to abort this effort at some time but then the executive level relationship might have been scared. So we kept going and implemented the system. I'm not convinced that these companies really used the system long term, but that was not the point. The important thing in this case was the relationship between the ERP vendor and these companies.
Instead of waiting for logic to prevail you have to recognize that you deal with people and we all will do illogical things. Expect it and don't be surprised by it!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Recognize good leadership
How do you recognize good leadership? There are a whole bunch of things that contribute to good leadership (e.g. active listening, walk your talk, decision making etc.) and many books have been written about it but I think two key characteristics make it easy to spot good leadership even from the outside.
- Business Results
- Good Team Spirit
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Does experience still matter?
Depending on your job, experience can be very important or it can be less important. What is always important are your job skills. Let me explain what I mean. If you have led multiple projects that is good but it doesn't mean that you have learned something new in every project. When you do the same thing over and over you don't really learn anything new. All the projects are your experience, what you did in the different projects are your job skills. So you can potentially do projects for years without learning new skills.
Repetition doesn't necessarily add new skills. We want to be challenged, do something new, learn new skills and do something that makes a positive difference.
For many technical knowledge workers (e.g. Software Developers) I think that experience still matters a lot but it matters less than it did 10 years ago because technology changes so quickly. You can't expect to learn something today and then still make a living from that knowledge in 5 years. Instead you have to be able to apply what you learned very quickly and effectively and then move on to whatever comes next. It is a constant learning and reinvention process. Why would you want to wallow in work you had done 5 years ago anyway? That was then and you can't get it back but you still want to deliver your best work today, right? So focus on getting the best possible, up-to-date job skills for your work today.
Repetition doesn't necessarily add new skills. We want to be challenged, do something new, learn new skills and do something that makes a positive difference.
For many technical knowledge workers (e.g. Software Developers) I think that experience still matters a lot but it matters less than it did 10 years ago because technology changes so quickly. You can't expect to learn something today and then still make a living from that knowledge in 5 years. Instead you have to be able to apply what you learned very quickly and effectively and then move on to whatever comes next. It is a constant learning and reinvention process. Why would you want to wallow in work you had done 5 years ago anyway? That was then and you can't get it back but you still want to deliver your best work today, right? So focus on getting the best possible, up-to-date job skills for your work today.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Ship something today!
It seems that we sometimes spend 90% of our time talking about all the great things we would do if some things were different. If we had more people onsite then ... if we had a greater budget then ... if we had more experienced people then ... etc. Does that sound familiar to you? If it does, challenge this situation! Ask why we have to talk so much before we can get anything changed, started or done. Raise the urgency level to speed up the discussions and get ready to make a decision. Yes, this is part of what management and leadership is about, you have to make decisions. You will not always have the data you need and so you need to get comfortable with making decisions based on incomplete data. Just to be clear, I'm not recommending you to jump into action after one short discussion but instead of getting lost in Analysis-Paralysis you should strive to get started.
What counts in the end is that you and your team have delivered something useful. You will not get credit for all the great thoughts you had or for all the huge documents you've produced but for what products or services you have provided to your customers.
What counts in the end is that you and your team have delivered something useful. You will not get credit for all the great thoughts you had or for all the huge documents you've produced but for what products or services you have provided to your customers.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Strategy and operational solutions
According to the Oxford dictionary this is the definition of strategy: "a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim". In many companies this is a plan that covers somewhere between 2-5+ years.
The strategy is key to any organizations success because in that plan the organizations leadership should clearly state what the organization is going to do and what it is not going to do. Note that the decision what to do and what not to do is a key element of any strategic plan. A crisp and clear strategy will make it easier for your operations team to actively support you. In addition to the strategic goals there are also short-term or tactical or operational plans for up to 12 months.
How often are your short-term goals in conflict with your organizations long-term goal? I see on a regular basis that we have to come up with short-term solutions that might present a considerable departure from the strategic goal. In some extreme cases it might even be the opposite from the strategic goal. While I agree that in some special, isolated cases it is necessary to have these workarounds I disagree that this can be a valid default answer. You shouldn't always have to come up with a short term and a long term solution. If you have to do that you should have a hard look at your strategy process.
Make sure that the strategic goal setting provides a workable framework for your operations team. Stretch goals are desired but unrealistic goals should be prevented.
The strategy is key to any organizations success because in that plan the organizations leadership should clearly state what the organization is going to do and what it is not going to do. Note that the decision what to do and what not to do is a key element of any strategic plan. A crisp and clear strategy will make it easier for your operations team to actively support you. In addition to the strategic goals there are also short-term or tactical or operational plans for up to 12 months.
How often are your short-term goals in conflict with your organizations long-term goal? I see on a regular basis that we have to come up with short-term solutions that might present a considerable departure from the strategic goal. In some extreme cases it might even be the opposite from the strategic goal. While I agree that in some special, isolated cases it is necessary to have these workarounds I disagree that this can be a valid default answer. You shouldn't always have to come up with a short term and a long term solution. If you have to do that you should have a hard look at your strategy process.
Make sure that the strategic goal setting provides a workable framework for your operations team. Stretch goals are desired but unrealistic goals should be prevented.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)