Sometimes we just need to unplug. We can get so wrapped up in the politics and frustrations of work life and the turmoil of everything else that sometimes we simply can't breath - but on monday morning do yourself a favour. Set the alarm for about 4, earlier if you can stand it and go outside, hopefully where there is little light pollution and just look up.
First thing you will notice is that there is no moon, This is a good thing - and then you should begin to see dozens and dozens of shooting stars. If you are lucky enough to be in the Southern hemisphere it will be even more. what you will see is the remnants of Halleys' Comet, well bits of it bouncing, across our atmosphere.
Take your kids out with you, rent them or borrow them if you don't have any. And just look. Take a blanket and lie on the ground, with fresh coffe and a big sweater.
And while you do try some communicating with yourself. You might like what you hear.
Although the din of the dawn chorus, now in full voice, might make it a bit tricky to hear yourself think but will probably make even better.
Just enjoy.... its a day off anyway so you can go back to bed.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Intranet World and Virtual Reality Intranet
Thanks to all the lovely people who turned up at Internet World and heard my colleague Tony Tickle from t3d and myself talk about Virtual Worlds- a reality check. We received some interesting and complimentary feedback and at the request of a couple of people are just about to launch our own blog on the subject of Virtual Reality Intranets.
We are looking for a good name though so any suggestions for a working title would be gratefully received.
Intranet World itself was interesting but only in what hasn't changed- just more of it; More CMS vendors, with bigger garish stands, more SEO companies and a lot more speakers which is frankly the main reason for going. So please Mr Organisers, can we have some bigger theatres so more people can attend. and here is a thing, why not a conference without an exhibition or vendors but a real conference, not something just tagged on. Internet World has outgrown the venue. It is pretty cramped and just nasty. Move it to the NEC where we can all get a hotel, travel to it, walk around without traffic jams and get home before midnight and not have our cars towed- Tony is still upset. And it will give all those poor London bods a nice day out. They need to get out more anyway.
Having said that I know t3D who were exhibiting there were overwhelmed with interest in their web enabled VR solutions, and some fantastic enquires and contacts to work with. So he isn't complaining. well maybe about his car...
to make him feel less like Mr Grumpy you can check out his web site
www.t3d.co.uk
We are looking for a good name though so any suggestions for a working title would be gratefully received.
Intranet World itself was interesting but only in what hasn't changed- just more of it; More CMS vendors, with bigger garish stands, more SEO companies and a lot more speakers which is frankly the main reason for going. So please Mr Organisers, can we have some bigger theatres so more people can attend. and here is a thing, why not a conference without an exhibition or vendors but a real conference, not something just tagged on. Internet World has outgrown the venue. It is pretty cramped and just nasty. Move it to the NEC where we can all get a hotel, travel to it, walk around without traffic jams and get home before midnight and not have our cars towed- Tony is still upset. And it will give all those poor London bods a nice day out. They need to get out more anyway.
Having said that I know t3D who were exhibiting there were overwhelmed with interest in their web enabled VR solutions, and some fantastic enquires and contacts to work with. So he isn't complaining. well maybe about his car...
to make him feel less like Mr Grumpy you can check out his web site
www.t3d.co.uk
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Blogging About
I’m having a great time right now, putting together the final chapter on my book, and the workshop that goes with it, which looks at communication strategies and tools for innovation amplification in an organisation. What I call Speed Duck Herding.
It has a little bit of everything. Basically, I walk readers through a four-step system for improving their internal communications generally but specifically for ideation and new knowledge. The same ideas work for any communication goal if I’m honest, but as it is supposedly about creating and promoting innovation I thought we best focus on that.
1. Research. This is the essential but sometimes tedious part of finding out what people probably already know or suspect and would normally pay a huge consultant's fee just to have a sanity check. What you get back is ' nobody in the warehouse has a clue what the sale departments are doing'. ( Sales don't know what they are doing anyway so no surprises there) That sort of stuff: we do introduce the concept of simplifying it using a Map of Engagement™ and lines in the sand.
2. Planning. The even more tedious part which lays out what we are going to do although it is basically is the same for each programme, just the copy and paste and change the name of the project. It is that generic. I can actually write it in a paragraph but most people seem to think that they need 50 pages of analysis and justification for any document to be worth anything. They don't feel as if they are getting their money's worth unless there are at least five appendixes. Common sense is as common as a politician’s apology.
3. Implementation. Now this is the fun part, where we talk about the development of the stories and beautiful questions, the ways to get them out there into the social software and all the social media, intranets and all the fun stuff that really floats my boat.
4. How are we doing then? The necessary stuff about measurement- to look at gaps, impact and essentially gives the bullets for the gun that gets the budget from the board for the next phase.
I’ve passed this new the chapter on to a few colleagues for their input. I had thought that the implementation and soclal media part would be of most interest, but I'm surprised at how hungry people are for information on the 1, 2 and 4 processes.
And, as usual with my writings, I'm learning as much as I am teaching. For example, one of my network was telling me about what is happening in their company were they have a policy where any employee can blog . . linked to their intranet, (clever people) .and about 30 % of them are bloggophiles which is a pretty remarkable take up. They use them to share information, swap ideas, get the word out about something, anything. From baby news, holiday and car sharing to asking and looking for specific solutions. All sorts of reasons.
But their bosses are using it in a different way I hadn’t heard of before. They are a multi site operation; have 200+ retail outlets and are using a variation of the 'management by walking about principle'- a really effective tool started in the 80’s and used with great effect by managers with imagination. Definitely so in this case, as rather than burning petrol, they are popping on with the odd comment, to employee's blog sites. They read the comments, and see what people are saying and add to the discussion. Just a brilliant use of social networking to get a real dialogue going throughout an organisation that bypasses the upward and sideways filters that so often get in the way of the real story.
The process has been gaining momentum on the back of just one story of it working in practice. One casual employee, a student who just worked a few hours a week, posted on their shop blog site a low level complaint that the stock was not being labeled clearly enough and the codes were all over the place. Wouldn’t it be easier to put a photograph of the content on the outside?
Operations director talked to their suppliers about labeling, and just asked the question, was it actually doable? And it was so. Now it is being phased in across their suppliers as part of prequalification. This saves them hours of frustration, clipboards, climbing up and down ladders to read code at 10 pt size from ten feet. It makes the retail managers jobs a whole lot easier more fun and requires less training. Its is so easy to misread a 12 figure code number so they are adding images to their ERP system and stock control and ordering system. You do it for your client on your web site, why not for your own colleagues? Of course the IT department had a kitten fit about bandwidth- No Surprises there then) Derrrr. . God knows how much money time and effort it saves them but importantly it shows how sometimes the obvious can be overlooked. The scary part is that this idea that would have been missed. The Saturday girl comes up with the beautiful answer.
Now I remember one CEO who used to complain to me that 'his door was always open' but no-one ever came through it and I was trying to explain, tactfully, that the door works the other way too. He has legs. His staff, no matter how affable he thinks he is are just plain scared. That is how it works. The beauty of blogging about is that with just a few minutes every day any manager get a feel for the mood, problems and general well being of her of his ecosystem. Identify problems and eliminate some of those worst practices that have a disproportionate effect on company morale. You can’t be everywhere but the benefit of employee blogging gives the opportunity to at least have the opportunity to absorb and understand in a way that zillions of reports and PowerPoint files and spreadsheets just cannot do. And most importantly to provide a continuous feedback and constant noise rather than an annual engagement survey which is basically a historic document as soon as you receive it. But you have to start somewhere.
Of course, it will only work if employees are allowed to blog in the first place . . . so it probably won’t catch on anytime soon.
But I’m going to have to add another bloody chapter now, just in case it does.
It has a little bit of everything. Basically, I walk readers through a four-step system for improving their internal communications generally but specifically for ideation and new knowledge. The same ideas work for any communication goal if I’m honest, but as it is supposedly about creating and promoting innovation I thought we best focus on that.
1. Research. This is the essential but sometimes tedious part of finding out what people probably already know or suspect and would normally pay a huge consultant's fee just to have a sanity check. What you get back is ' nobody in the warehouse has a clue what the sale departments are doing'. ( Sales don't know what they are doing anyway so no surprises there) That sort of stuff: we do introduce the concept of simplifying it using a Map of Engagement™ and lines in the sand.
2. Planning. The even more tedious part which lays out what we are going to do although it is basically is the same for each programme, just the copy and paste and change the name of the project. It is that generic. I can actually write it in a paragraph but most people seem to think that they need 50 pages of analysis and justification for any document to be worth anything. They don't feel as if they are getting their money's worth unless there are at least five appendixes. Common sense is as common as a politician’s apology.
3. Implementation. Now this is the fun part, where we talk about the development of the stories and beautiful questions, the ways to get them out there into the social software and all the social media, intranets and all the fun stuff that really floats my boat.
4. How are we doing then? The necessary stuff about measurement- to look at gaps, impact and essentially gives the bullets for the gun that gets the budget from the board for the next phase.
I’ve passed this new the chapter on to a few colleagues for their input. I had thought that the implementation and soclal media part would be of most interest, but I'm surprised at how hungry people are for information on the 1, 2 and 4 processes.
And, as usual with my writings, I'm learning as much as I am teaching. For example, one of my network was telling me about what is happening in their company were they have a policy where any employee can blog . . linked to their intranet, (clever people) .and about 30 % of them are bloggophiles which is a pretty remarkable take up. They use them to share information, swap ideas, get the word out about something, anything. From baby news, holiday and car sharing to asking and looking for specific solutions. All sorts of reasons.
But their bosses are using it in a different way I hadn’t heard of before. They are a multi site operation; have 200+ retail outlets and are using a variation of the 'management by walking about principle'- a really effective tool started in the 80’s and used with great effect by managers with imagination. Definitely so in this case, as rather than burning petrol, they are popping on with the odd comment, to employee's blog sites. They read the comments, and see what people are saying and add to the discussion. Just a brilliant use of social networking to get a real dialogue going throughout an organisation that bypasses the upward and sideways filters that so often get in the way of the real story.
The process has been gaining momentum on the back of just one story of it working in practice. One casual employee, a student who just worked a few hours a week, posted on their shop blog site a low level complaint that the stock was not being labeled clearly enough and the codes were all over the place. Wouldn’t it be easier to put a photograph of the content on the outside?
Operations director talked to their suppliers about labeling, and just asked the question, was it actually doable? And it was so. Now it is being phased in across their suppliers as part of prequalification. This saves them hours of frustration, clipboards, climbing up and down ladders to read code at 10 pt size from ten feet. It makes the retail managers jobs a whole lot easier more fun and requires less training. Its is so easy to misread a 12 figure code number so they are adding images to their ERP system and stock control and ordering system. You do it for your client on your web site, why not for your own colleagues? Of course the IT department had a kitten fit about bandwidth- No Surprises there then) Derrrr. . God knows how much money time and effort it saves them but importantly it shows how sometimes the obvious can be overlooked. The scary part is that this idea that would have been missed. The Saturday girl comes up with the beautiful answer.
Now I remember one CEO who used to complain to me that 'his door was always open' but no-one ever came through it and I was trying to explain, tactfully, that the door works the other way too. He has legs. His staff, no matter how affable he thinks he is are just plain scared. That is how it works. The beauty of blogging about is that with just a few minutes every day any manager get a feel for the mood, problems and general well being of her of his ecosystem. Identify problems and eliminate some of those worst practices that have a disproportionate effect on company morale. You can’t be everywhere but the benefit of employee blogging gives the opportunity to at least have the opportunity to absorb and understand in a way that zillions of reports and PowerPoint files and spreadsheets just cannot do. And most importantly to provide a continuous feedback and constant noise rather than an annual engagement survey which is basically a historic document as soon as you receive it. But you have to start somewhere.
Of course, it will only work if employees are allowed to blog in the first place . . . so it probably won’t catch on anytime soon.
But I’m going to have to add another bloody chapter now, just in case it does.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
King Coal
Even though China is bringing on line two coal powered power stations a week it currently has only a couple of weeks coal left stock piled after a terrible winter according to New Scientist. And air con requirements in the southern provinces are actually outstripping industrial demand so the summer isn't going to help much..
Now this is a really interesting and relevant story for me being based in the centre of the old Yorkshire coal mining area that was ripped out in the late 80’s, - I can see the old NUM HQ and Arthur's Seat from my window. It shows, amongst a great deal of other things, that one man's gold is another man's poison. And now - and I'm not sure if it is ironic or paradoxical or probably both, we, in my little town, are sat on a bleedin' fortune. Like steel, the price of coal is set to go through the roof and what used to be a marginal business looks like it may rise again. Chinese economic growth is actually limited by how much coal they have and how fast they can get out of the ground.
Another interesting fact the article points out is that despite its reliance on fossil fuels for generation it still has a lower emissions per head figure than the US.
Maybe the Olympic torch will be the only light shining at some times in Bejjiing this summer. If you are going, take your own candles. In the mean time anyone got a shovel?
Now this is a really interesting and relevant story for me being based in the centre of the old Yorkshire coal mining area that was ripped out in the late 80’s, - I can see the old NUM HQ and Arthur's Seat from my window. It shows, amongst a great deal of other things, that one man's gold is another man's poison. And now - and I'm not sure if it is ironic or paradoxical or probably both, we, in my little town, are sat on a bleedin' fortune. Like steel, the price of coal is set to go through the roof and what used to be a marginal business looks like it may rise again. Chinese economic growth is actually limited by how much coal they have and how fast they can get out of the ground.
Another interesting fact the article points out is that despite its reliance on fossil fuels for generation it still has a lower emissions per head figure than the US.
Maybe the Olympic torch will be the only light shining at some times in Bejjiing this summer. If you are going, take your own candles. In the mean time anyone got a shovel?
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
He who asks the best questions gets the customer
Questions are the basis of all sales
Questions are the basis of all knowledge
Questions are the basis of all creativity
Questions are the basis of all discovery
Questions are the basis of all learning
Questions are the basis of all listening
Questions are the basis of all understanding
and just to repeat
Questions are the basis of all sales
For my top 20 sales questions of all time e-mail me at barry@thesavvypartnership.co.uk and I will send you them for free.
Questions are the basis of all knowledge
Questions are the basis of all creativity
Questions are the basis of all discovery
Questions are the basis of all learning
Questions are the basis of all listening
Questions are the basis of all understanding
and just to repeat
Questions are the basis of all sales
For my top 20 sales questions of all time e-mail me at barry@thesavvypartnership.co.uk and I will send you them for free.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Questions about questions
Types of Questions and Why They Work
Asking The Beautiful Question is essential to creativity. Ask the right question and people will move into different places in their head and help them to see the same landscape but with new eyes.
In innovation and creativity there are a whole slew of questions based around the principles of TRIZ that I use to enable people with the opportunity to shift their preconceived ideas. But even at its most basic level a brainstorming session will only be productive if the questions the participants are asked to throw their energies into are refined enough paradoxically to open up the horizons. Creativity loves constraint.
Questions and what to ask when are essential in any communication, building engagement, rapport and trust. We don't ask enough or use their power to anything like their full potential
So here is a whistle stop tour of some questions I use, how and why they work.
1. Are you saying…?
Identifies someone’s language patterns.
2. Are you willing to…?
Tests someone’s limits.
3. Can you give me…?
Encourages examples and specifics.
4. Can you remember…?
Taps into someone’s memory.
5. Did you ask…?
Questions someone’s questions.
6. Have you considered…?
Non-threatening proposal of options.
7. Have you given any thought to…?
Suggestive, yet doesn’t sound like advice.
8. Have you thought about…?
Forces someone to think!
9. How are you constantly…?
Promotes consistency of action.
10. How are you creating…?
Proves that someone has a choice.
11. How can you become…?
Future oriented, motivational.
12. How can you make…?
Enlists someone’s creativity.
13. How could you have…?
Focused on past performance improvement.
14. How do you feel…?
Feelings are good.
15. How do you measure…?
Clarifies and specifies someone’s statement.
16. How do you plan to…?
Future oriented, process oriented, action oriented.
17. How do you want…?
Visualises ideal conditions.
18. How does this relate to…?
Keeps someone on point, uncovers connections between things.
19. How else could this be…?
Encourages open, option-oriented and leverage-based thinking.
20. How long will it take to…?
Clarifies time specifics.
21. How many different ways…?
Enlists someone’s creativity, explores various options.
22. How many people…?
Clarifies and specifies.
23. How might you…?
All about potential and possibility.
24. How much energy…?
Identifies patterns of energy investment.
25. How much money…?
Identifies patterns of financial investment.
26. How much time each day…?
Identifies patterns of (daily) time investment.
27. How much time…?
Identifies patterns of energy investment.
28. How often do you…?
Gets an idea of someone’s frequency.
29. How well do you…?
Uncovers abilities.
30. How will you know when/if…?
Predicts outcomes of ideal situations.
31. If you could change…?
Visualizes improvement.
32. If you had to…?
Possibility thinking.
33. If you showed your…?
Imagining what others would say.
34. If you stopped…?
Cause-effect question.
35. If you were…?
Ideal situation.
36. In what areas…?
Searching for multiple answers.
37. Is anybody going to…?
Deciding if something even matters.
38. Is there any other…?
Challenges someone to find ONE more answer.
39. Is there anything else…?
Yep, there probably is. Answers are rarely absolute.
40. Is your idea…?
Forces someone to think objectively.
41. On a scale from 1 to 10…?
Putting a number to an emotion clarifies it.
42. What are some of the…?
Encourages list making.
43. What are the biggest mistakes…?
Negative based for preventative measures.
44. What are the keys to…?
Searching for best practices.
45. What are the patterns of…?
Uncovering commonalities.
46. What are the things that…?
Because there’s probably more than one answer.
47. What are the ways…?
Freedom (not) to resign to one solution.
48. What are you currently...?
Assesses present situations.
49. What are you doing that…?
Assesses present actions.
50. What are you willing to…?
Explores limits.
51. What can I do to…?
Demonstrates a desire to serve.
52. What can WE do to…?
Partnership-oriented.
53. What can you do right now…?
Focuses on immediate action being taken.
54. What can you do today…?
Focuses on daily action being taken.
55. What causes your…?
Uncovering true motives without the dreaded, "Why?"
56. What challenges are…?
Identifies barriers.
57. What did you learn…?
Because people don’t care what you know; only what you learned.
58. What do you need to…?
Needs assessment.
59. What does that tell you about…?
Encourages someone to figure out the answer individually.
60. What else can you…?
Because there’s always options.
61. What evidence…?
Because specificity is persuasion.
Asking The Beautiful Question is essential to creativity. Ask the right question and people will move into different places in their head and help them to see the same landscape but with new eyes.
In innovation and creativity there are a whole slew of questions based around the principles of TRIZ that I use to enable people with the opportunity to shift their preconceived ideas. But even at its most basic level a brainstorming session will only be productive if the questions the participants are asked to throw their energies into are refined enough paradoxically to open up the horizons. Creativity loves constraint.
Questions and what to ask when are essential in any communication, building engagement, rapport and trust. We don't ask enough or use their power to anything like their full potential
So here is a whistle stop tour of some questions I use, how and why they work.
1. Are you saying…?
Identifies someone’s language patterns.
2. Are you willing to…?
Tests someone’s limits.
3. Can you give me…?
Encourages examples and specifics.
4. Can you remember…?
Taps into someone’s memory.
5. Did you ask…?
Questions someone’s questions.
6. Have you considered…?
Non-threatening proposal of options.
7. Have you given any thought to…?
Suggestive, yet doesn’t sound like advice.
8. Have you thought about…?
Forces someone to think!
9. How are you constantly…?
Promotes consistency of action.
10. How are you creating…?
Proves that someone has a choice.
11. How can you become…?
Future oriented, motivational.
12. How can you make…?
Enlists someone’s creativity.
13. How could you have…?
Focused on past performance improvement.
14. How do you feel…?
Feelings are good.
15. How do you measure…?
Clarifies and specifies someone’s statement.
16. How do you plan to…?
Future oriented, process oriented, action oriented.
17. How do you want…?
Visualises ideal conditions.
18. How does this relate to…?
Keeps someone on point, uncovers connections between things.
19. How else could this be…?
Encourages open, option-oriented and leverage-based thinking.
20. How long will it take to…?
Clarifies time specifics.
21. How many different ways…?
Enlists someone’s creativity, explores various options.
22. How many people…?
Clarifies and specifies.
23. How might you…?
All about potential and possibility.
24. How much energy…?
Identifies patterns of energy investment.
25. How much money…?
Identifies patterns of financial investment.
26. How much time each day…?
Identifies patterns of (daily) time investment.
27. How much time…?
Identifies patterns of energy investment.
28. How often do you…?
Gets an idea of someone’s frequency.
29. How well do you…?
Uncovers abilities.
30. How will you know when/if…?
Predicts outcomes of ideal situations.
31. If you could change…?
Visualizes improvement.
32. If you had to…?
Possibility thinking.
33. If you showed your…?
Imagining what others would say.
34. If you stopped…?
Cause-effect question.
35. If you were…?
Ideal situation.
36. In what areas…?
Searching for multiple answers.
37. Is anybody going to…?
Deciding if something even matters.
38. Is there any other…?
Challenges someone to find ONE more answer.
39. Is there anything else…?
Yep, there probably is. Answers are rarely absolute.
40. Is your idea…?
Forces someone to think objectively.
41. On a scale from 1 to 10…?
Putting a number to an emotion clarifies it.
42. What are some of the…?
Encourages list making.
43. What are the biggest mistakes…?
Negative based for preventative measures.
44. What are the keys to…?
Searching for best practices.
45. What are the patterns of…?
Uncovering commonalities.
46. What are the things that…?
Because there’s probably more than one answer.
47. What are the ways…?
Freedom (not) to resign to one solution.
48. What are you currently...?
Assesses present situations.
49. What are you doing that…?
Assesses present actions.
50. What are you willing to…?
Explores limits.
51. What can I do to…?
Demonstrates a desire to serve.
52. What can WE do to…?
Partnership-oriented.
53. What can you do right now…?
Focuses on immediate action being taken.
54. What can you do today…?
Focuses on daily action being taken.
55. What causes your…?
Uncovering true motives without the dreaded, "Why?"
56. What challenges are…?
Identifies barriers.
57. What did you learn…?
Because people don’t care what you know; only what you learned.
58. What do you need to…?
Needs assessment.
59. What does that tell you about…?
Encourages someone to figure out the answer individually.
60. What else can you…?
Because there’s always options.
61. What evidence…?
Because specificity is persuasion.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Lets kill marketing
The word 'Marketing' often gets a bad rap. It is seriously contaminated by intrusive telesales, junk mail, spam, and advertising that seems to fill every waking and sleeping second.
Internal marketing, which if IC professionals are really honest is what we really do, is even more tarnished and viewed with skepticism. Focus groups, quality circles or yet another management gimic - it is often difficult to separate out the genuine from the lip service however polished it may be. Marketing means Manipulation for most of the population. So why not reposition marketing in your head and everyone who comes into your space? Here are a few suggestions
It’s not marketing.
It’s STRATEGIC SHARING.
It’s not marketing.
It’s TRANSFERRING EMOTION.
It’s not marketing.
It’s TELLING A STORY.
It's not marketing.
It's BEING YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF
It’s not marketing.
It’s STICKING YOURSELF OUT THERE.
Internal marketing, which if IC professionals are really honest is what we really do, is even more tarnished and viewed with skepticism. Focus groups, quality circles or yet another management gimic - it is often difficult to separate out the genuine from the lip service however polished it may be. Marketing means Manipulation for most of the population. So why not reposition marketing in your head and everyone who comes into your space? Here are a few suggestions
It’s not marketing.
It’s STRATEGIC SHARING.
It’s not marketing.
It’s TRANSFERRING EMOTION.
It’s not marketing.
It’s TELLING A STORY.
It's not marketing.
It's BEING YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF
It’s not marketing.
It’s STICKING YOURSELF OUT THERE.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
idea kick start
My friend Scott came up with the following which I’d like to share about how to capture and kick start new ideas and get some momentum.
He is such a smart guy
1. As soon as you get the idea WRITE IT DOWN
Because if you don’t write it down, it never happened.
2. ASKING yourself, “What’s the next action?”
Because ultimately, that’s the only question that really matters.
3. LISTING all the steps you need to take to leverage an opportunity.
Because listing is the quickest, most efficient way to organise all of your thoughts.
4. GOOGLING various elements of your idea as soon you get it.
Because you need to find out if someone else is already doing it.
5. ASKING for feedback from smart people right away.
Because they can ask questions and see things you can’t.
6. REGISTERING domains as soon as you get the name of the idea.
Because he owns the domain owns the idea.
7. EMAILING someone right away with a action-oriented question.
Because initiative is attractive.
8. SCANNING your opportunity radar constantly.
Because now that your mind is fixated, related ideas will be attracted to you.
He is such a smart guy
1. As soon as you get the idea WRITE IT DOWN
Because if you don’t write it down, it never happened.
2. ASKING yourself, “What’s the next action?”
Because ultimately, that’s the only question that really matters.
3. LISTING all the steps you need to take to leverage an opportunity.
Because listing is the quickest, most efficient way to organise all of your thoughts.
4. GOOGLING various elements of your idea as soon you get it.
Because you need to find out if someone else is already doing it.
5. ASKING for feedback from smart people right away.
Because they can ask questions and see things you can’t.
6. REGISTERING domains as soon as you get the name of the idea.
Because he owns the domain owns the idea.
7. EMAILING someone right away with a action-oriented question.
Because initiative is attractive.
8. SCANNING your opportunity radar constantly.
Because now that your mind is fixated, related ideas will be attracted to you.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Storyteller or agent provocateur?
Story telling has the power to inspire, influence and persuade. Any arguments out there? Hopefully not. If so please step away right now and mind the gap.
It also has the power to challenge, and changing the normal thought processes and modus operandi is the key lubricant in freeing up any organisation innovation inertia.
Thinking sideways is a powerful skill. The best stories are the ones with the slight twist, the ones that have the ah-hah moment as opposed to the ha-ha moment. There is only an 'h' difference but that 'h' is a mighty big letter.
Internal communications for me is primarily about looking at ways of delivering stories not just to engage and inspire change but to make anyone think what if I….??
I was in a meeting last Friday that turned from a brainstorming session about a part of a new promotion into a therapy session for one of the participants. He suddenly woke up to the fact that the reason he was so unhappy at work, and everything was getting complicated and he couldn’t keep on top of the basics was that he kept passing the responsibility for the decision onto other people. Justifying this by, but then cloaking it in, a laudable desire for inclusiveness; instead of just simply doing it.
I remember one day talking to another group about a time I had had to make some not insignificant changes to the intranet web site copy. The group in question, working in that organisation, asked how I had got through the mass of approvals they would normally have to go through? I told them I just did it. I didn't ask. By the time the permissions had worked their way down through the mass of emails and cc’s (continuity cock-up) the opportunity to address the topical issue would have disappeared. And the chance to make a salient point had evaporated. I hate wasted ideas.
So i just did it and hoped that the reason for my indiscipline in the ranks would allow me to escape the headmaster’s wrath. The result was interesting. Firstly, the powers to be didn’t even notice and then,when I did mention it in passing and through guilt to the person who should have been at the head of the approval food chain, they were not only supportive but began a process to shortcut the process in future. He is, not unusually, continually stacked up with e-mails and appreciated that no decision is worse than the wrong decision, in virtually every situation.
Waiting for approval for stuff that they pay you for your judgement to produce is just nuts. Frustrations with poor communications and irrelevant controls are sited as the major reason that employees leave companies. Here is the rub. Bosses feel the same frustrations believe me. They do empathise. So if you do find a renegade in the ranks, don’t fire them; nurture them. culture them, and get them to spread the word. To tell their story. See what happens.
It also has the power to challenge, and changing the normal thought processes and modus operandi is the key lubricant in freeing up any organisation innovation inertia.
Thinking sideways is a powerful skill. The best stories are the ones with the slight twist, the ones that have the ah-hah moment as opposed to the ha-ha moment. There is only an 'h' difference but that 'h' is a mighty big letter.
Internal communications for me is primarily about looking at ways of delivering stories not just to engage and inspire change but to make anyone think what if I….??
I was in a meeting last Friday that turned from a brainstorming session about a part of a new promotion into a therapy session for one of the participants. He suddenly woke up to the fact that the reason he was so unhappy at work, and everything was getting complicated and he couldn’t keep on top of the basics was that he kept passing the responsibility for the decision onto other people. Justifying this by, but then cloaking it in, a laudable desire for inclusiveness; instead of just simply doing it.
I remember one day talking to another group about a time I had had to make some not insignificant changes to the intranet web site copy. The group in question, working in that organisation, asked how I had got through the mass of approvals they would normally have to go through? I told them I just did it. I didn't ask. By the time the permissions had worked their way down through the mass of emails and cc’s (continuity cock-up) the opportunity to address the topical issue would have disappeared. And the chance to make a salient point had evaporated. I hate wasted ideas.
So i just did it and hoped that the reason for my indiscipline in the ranks would allow me to escape the headmaster’s wrath. The result was interesting. Firstly, the powers to be didn’t even notice and then,when I did mention it in passing and through guilt to the person who should have been at the head of the approval food chain, they were not only supportive but began a process to shortcut the process in future. He is, not unusually, continually stacked up with e-mails and appreciated that no decision is worse than the wrong decision, in virtually every situation.
Waiting for approval for stuff that they pay you for your judgement to produce is just nuts. Frustrations with poor communications and irrelevant controls are sited as the major reason that employees leave companies. Here is the rub. Bosses feel the same frustrations believe me. They do empathise. So if you do find a renegade in the ranks, don’t fire them; nurture them. culture them, and get them to spread the word. To tell their story. See what happens.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
People don’t want more information
People don’t want more information
They want faith, which only comes from trust.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am passionate about storytelling and how you can weave these into the communication tools and techniques we use every day; not just in face to face communications but in on-line and print too. Storytelling, in my opinion, is the one skill which is singularly lacking at every level in virtually every organisation yet is the one that can move mountains In some cases literally. No-one ever made the decision to follow somebody else’s dreams because they saw a Powerpoint presentation nor were carried away on the wings of an Excel spreadsheet. They have their place ( no-where near as many as most people think) but what moves, what engages, what motivates you and me and has for thousands of years is the craft of the story.
Today we have to deal with so much information, too much that is just contradictory or useless and we are simply overloaded. We live in a time of record levels of depression and stress, not just in the workplace, largely because we feel out of control, uninvolved and irrelevant.
Every religion across the world uses stories to maintain, guide and control its followers Churchill’s ‘fight them on the beaches; motivated a nation’. Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ changed the face of a nation that was in itself born from the stories told in coffee shops and street corners across Europe. Story is the single most powerful tool we have, used wisely it can provide the lubricant for change or shift the perception of a generation. Used mistakenly it can lead us into a trillion dollar war. Not convinced ? Those with even short memories can remember 45 minutes to missile launch and WMD.
Our children will be the ones that win the real battle to save our environment, not because of a bunch of statistics ( which no two scientists seem to agree about anyway) but because they have engaged with the story. They can see their role,they see that they can have a influence, no matter how small. But it is not one big story but the small stories which move people step by step. Funny that - isn’t that exactly what Change management. Is all about. Why is it that storytelling seems to have no consistent or formal place in the IC toolbox?
Engagement surveys, Pulse studies, are there for one reason; to show us just how good or bad we are at story telling. It’s a view. Discuss.
I am reminded daily of that old joke- She is so intelligent, she agrees with everything I say.
They want faith, which only comes from trust.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am passionate about storytelling and how you can weave these into the communication tools and techniques we use every day; not just in face to face communications but in on-line and print too. Storytelling, in my opinion, is the one skill which is singularly lacking at every level in virtually every organisation yet is the one that can move mountains In some cases literally. No-one ever made the decision to follow somebody else’s dreams because they saw a Powerpoint presentation nor were carried away on the wings of an Excel spreadsheet. They have their place ( no-where near as many as most people think) but what moves, what engages, what motivates you and me and has for thousands of years is the craft of the story.
Today we have to deal with so much information, too much that is just contradictory or useless and we are simply overloaded. We live in a time of record levels of depression and stress, not just in the workplace, largely because we feel out of control, uninvolved and irrelevant.
Every religion across the world uses stories to maintain, guide and control its followers Churchill’s ‘fight them on the beaches; motivated a nation’. Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ changed the face of a nation that was in itself born from the stories told in coffee shops and street corners across Europe. Story is the single most powerful tool we have, used wisely it can provide the lubricant for change or shift the perception of a generation. Used mistakenly it can lead us into a trillion dollar war. Not convinced ? Those with even short memories can remember 45 minutes to missile launch and WMD.
Our children will be the ones that win the real battle to save our environment, not because of a bunch of statistics ( which no two scientists seem to agree about anyway) but because they have engaged with the story. They can see their role,they see that they can have a influence, no matter how small. But it is not one big story but the small stories which move people step by step. Funny that - isn’t that exactly what Change management. Is all about. Why is it that storytelling seems to have no consistent or formal place in the IC toolbox?
Engagement surveys, Pulse studies, are there for one reason; to show us just how good or bad we are at story telling. It’s a view. Discuss.
I am reminded daily of that old joke- She is so intelligent, she agrees with everything I say.
Friday, March 28, 2008
A Terminal Five moment
I am really sorry to be jumping on a bandwagon but if ever there was a case study brewing for calamitous communications, planning, delivery and execution then the events 27th March (and what now appears to be the upcoming weeks) will go down as one of the biggest and blackest days in the Communications industry history.
A 'T5 moment' will enter the lC lexicon.
There but for the Grace of God go we all.... or maybe not.
A 'T5 moment' will enter the lC lexicon.
There but for the Grace of God go we all.... or maybe not.
Planning ahead - Writing your way to redundancy
The written word is powerful. We all know that. It can be incredibly positive and motivating or, with one misplaced word, a slight ambiguity or the use of an over blown phrase can work in exactly the opposite way and kill all the hard work and good intentions.
I was trying to explain to a CEO that the ‘ planning ahead;’ phrase above, (one that he used more than once in his weekly newsletter), and while understanding entirely what he meant could be sharpened considerably just by using the first word and cutting out ahead. It took a while to sink in. In fact we revised his copy so it said exactly the same but was a third the length.
The problem is that everybody thinks they can write. Just as everyone is an expert in design. The challenge is that communication isn’t just about words. It is about impact, emotion and clarity and that is a skill and a hard skill to master while you are busy juggling all the other aspects of your job.
The CE0 in question read his version, read ours and then smiled. ‘I get it’ he said and you know what, he really did. That is why he is a CEO and a brilliant one at that. Everyday you learn something from somebody else. What I leaned was that the best leaders know when to let somebody else lead.
I was trying to explain to a CEO that the ‘ planning ahead;’ phrase above, (one that he used more than once in his weekly newsletter), and while understanding entirely what he meant could be sharpened considerably just by using the first word and cutting out ahead. It took a while to sink in. In fact we revised his copy so it said exactly the same but was a third the length.
The problem is that everybody thinks they can write. Just as everyone is an expert in design. The challenge is that communication isn’t just about words. It is about impact, emotion and clarity and that is a skill and a hard skill to master while you are busy juggling all the other aspects of your job.
The CE0 in question read his version, read ours and then smiled. ‘I get it’ he said and you know what, he really did. That is why he is a CEO and a brilliant one at that. Everyday you learn something from somebody else. What I leaned was that the best leaders know when to let somebody else lead.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tweets and Twitters
You may have noticed, sneaking up in the right hand column, that I am now a twitterer - I think that is what you call it. It is an interesting cute name but actually an awesome tool, in the right hands and used the right way.
Its been gaining steady interest in the US since early last year but, always on the 'bleeding edge' of technology, as Jo Savage at Barnsley BDA calls it, and being on the ball as the UK IC industry generally is ( I am joking of course) its now starting to find its way over here.
Of course you don’t just use technology for its own sake sake but now that it has been field tested I am always one for jumping on a band wagon. Providing it still has wheel, so here goes.
Essentially twitter is like a text message crossed with a blog You can post up to 140 characters and receive updates as text messages on your phone or RSS reader. Lets say you post a rather incredible blog and it then goes off into the ether. Twitter automatically sends a little message to your mates, colleagues - the ones you really want to read it anyway.
I’ve got mine hooked up on to my IPhone, using a web app called Hahlo 2.1 ( which fits perfectly with the Iphone design and function vibe ) although you can get other great looking apps and apps for Messenger too - and it works a treat and looks just right. It allows me to use my blog site to post mini blogs on the fly.-' Tweets', how cute is that.
A longer article is on its way but I can see dozens of uses for the technology in corporate environments, the largest of which could be to try to curtail the avalanche of e-mails and using it prioritise messages.
Watch this space or follow my Tweets on social media applications for IC and KM
.
Some links you may find interesting that helped me
Twitter on the Web
Twhirl, a desktop client built with Adobe AIR - very sexy
Twitterberry (Twitter for BlackBerries)
Twitter Display for your Blog
Twitterfeed (posts your latest blog on Twitter)
Play Nice!
Friday, March 21, 2008
How to be listened to
There are no big secrets to becoming a person who can communicate effectively - and remarkably enough it is the effective communicators who get the rewards in their career. More importantly are the positive effects we receive as it spills over into work and social relationships. More often than those that master that skill get the work/life balance right too.
.
The ‘La’s’ as I call it is a one of the workshops I use as part of a Internal Communication Bootcamp. The following has been written by over 500 people who have taken part in them and is a work in progress so i can’t take any credit for it. I’m just the facilitator. But it increasingly makes sense to me. If you want to add then please feel free to post. I’m not one for tree hugging but this is about as close as it gets to a mantra.
How to be listened to.
Learn: We spend most of our time in delivering projects and remaining time in learning new technology skills. Apart from this, we should invest our time to learn how to build long-term relationships, how to be congruent, and how to develop one’s strengths.
Laugh: It is important to know how to avoid making mistakes, but is more important to know how to handle mistakes and move on by laughing at yourself. And when you can laugh at yourself, other people are more comfortable with you.
Look: The most obvious step to differentiate yourself is to look beyond expected. Looking for associations that have never existed before, looking for relationships that will yield maximum benefits to both parties, looking for simplicity, and looking for clarity are some of the ways to do something remarkable to receive the attention that you desire.
Lasting Impression: People you meet along the way constantly reshape your life and every engagement offers you the opportunity to make the lasting impression. We can leave a lasting impression by caring for other’s problem as if it is ours, solving the right problems, by getting things done, by going beyond the call of duty, and by being resourceful.
Love: To be successful, love what you do and do what is required. Nothing can substitute passion—not hard work, not intelligence.
Leverage: When you apply the concept of leverage in your life, you will accomplish more in 24 hours than you can on your own. The focus should not be on saving money, it should be on saving time. Money can be earned back, but you can not get back time!
Likeability: If we are likeable, people will often bend rules and make exceptions for us. To increase the likeability index, we need to make others feel good about themselves, be genuinely interested in other people, add measurable value in somebody’s life.
Listen: We all know the importance of listening well. Feedback is the breakfast of champions and if there is no listening, there is no feedback. If you want to be a champion, start listening and practice this ability consistently.
Lead: Leadership is not tied to a position. To lead, look for gaps in your organization and start filling those gaps
.
The ‘La’s’ as I call it is a one of the workshops I use as part of a Internal Communication Bootcamp. The following has been written by over 500 people who have taken part in them and is a work in progress so i can’t take any credit for it. I’m just the facilitator. But it increasingly makes sense to me. If you want to add then please feel free to post. I’m not one for tree hugging but this is about as close as it gets to a mantra.
How to be listened to.
Learn: We spend most of our time in delivering projects and remaining time in learning new technology skills. Apart from this, we should invest our time to learn how to build long-term relationships, how to be congruent, and how to develop one’s strengths.
Laugh: It is important to know how to avoid making mistakes, but is more important to know how to handle mistakes and move on by laughing at yourself. And when you can laugh at yourself, other people are more comfortable with you.
Look: The most obvious step to differentiate yourself is to look beyond expected. Looking for associations that have never existed before, looking for relationships that will yield maximum benefits to both parties, looking for simplicity, and looking for clarity are some of the ways to do something remarkable to receive the attention that you desire.
Lasting Impression: People you meet along the way constantly reshape your life and every engagement offers you the opportunity to make the lasting impression. We can leave a lasting impression by caring for other’s problem as if it is ours, solving the right problems, by getting things done, by going beyond the call of duty, and by being resourceful.
Love: To be successful, love what you do and do what is required. Nothing can substitute passion—not hard work, not intelligence.
Leverage: When you apply the concept of leverage in your life, you will accomplish more in 24 hours than you can on your own. The focus should not be on saving money, it should be on saving time. Money can be earned back, but you can not get back time!
Likeability: If we are likeable, people will often bend rules and make exceptions for us. To increase the likeability index, we need to make others feel good about themselves, be genuinely interested in other people, add measurable value in somebody’s life.
Listen: We all know the importance of listening well. Feedback is the breakfast of champions and if there is no listening, there is no feedback. If you want to be a champion, start listening and practice this ability consistently.
Lead: Leadership is not tied to a position. To lead, look for gaps in your organization and start filling those gaps
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
A great town hall meeting??
Face to Face communications The Town Hall Motivator
Love this video. Bit of background Sam Kell the owner of The Chicago Tribune has been criticised in certain quarters for his colourful use of language. This is his response to the staff, Interesting, what do you think?
Paste this link into your browser and stand back,. I don’t think he has a script writer but does he need one? Could he get way with this in the UK? Probably. Maybe.
Click on this link
Sam Kell at the Chicago Tribune
What do you think about the use of profanity in internal communications? Post below.
Love this video. Bit of background Sam Kell the owner of The Chicago Tribune has been criticised in certain quarters for his colourful use of language. This is his response to the staff, Interesting, what do you think?
Paste this link into your browser and stand back,. I don’t think he has a script writer but does he need one? Could he get way with this in the UK? Probably. Maybe.
Click on this link
Sam Kell at the Chicago Tribune
What do you think about the use of profanity in internal communications? Post below.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Facing the face to face communication challenge.
Employee engagement Part 2
Extract from Defrag your business
Change management's biggest challenge is inertia. I’m not telling you anything that isn’t blindingly obvious here. I can’t count the number of times I have wanted to run from a meeting room screaming “why don’t they get it?’ But we always have to remember it is a fair and human position. They haven’t heard or really probably listened to your story yet. Or, more likely we just haven’t told it well enough. We are all guilty of making assumptions, it is just part of the human condition for the majority of us and is heavily weighted by the simple fact that bad news has far more speed and penetration in transmission than good news. And it will come from lots of different directions. One of Steven Wright’s, my favourite comedian, questions is ‘What is the speed of dark?’ I can tell him that its it is twice the speed of light.
The key skill in any face to face communications in my opinion is in employing techniques to challenge, as gently as possible, the assumptions people have made.
This is hugely important in coaching the news deliverers, the steps in the cascade and vital in any internal communication or change mangement process.
Over the years my colleagues and I developed what we call our ‘Ass’ breaking questions. What do I mean?
Well, before we start though bear in mind that:
Some people make assumptions.
Some people speak without thinking.
Some people are full of BS.
Some people are nothing but talk.
Some people use invalidated, vague, baseless arguments to prove their points.
We have to use techniques to challenge them - to identify the hidden assumptions and avoid mindless acceptance.
You do this for two reasons:
1. YOU gain clarity on their motives, intentions and beliefs.
And probably more importantly
2. THEY gain an opportunity to restate, reform and rethink their ideas. In other words you give them an opportnity to find a dignified way out.
Here are seven examples of common situations and dialogues where you can use them, some are painfully obvious:
THEM: “I can’t do that!”
YOU: “Why not?” or “Says who?”
THEM: “I never thought I’d say this, but…”
YOU: “Why did you never think you’d say that?”
THEM: “Well, they say that…”
YOU: “Who’s ‘they’?”
THEM: “So, is this your full time job?”
YOU: “Yes. Why do you ask?”
THEM: “I’ve been calling you all week and I’d really like to get together to talk about a business opportunity!”
YOU: “What is your positive motivation for wanting to meet with me?”
THEM: “I heard/read it was terrible…”
YOU: “Who’d you hear that from?” or “Where’d you read that?”
THEM: “I dunno, this seems pretty expensive?”
YOU: “Compared to what?”
Here are a few others you may want to think about using; Some require a little more skill in presenting as you can imagine.
1. Is that always the case?
2. How do you measure that?
3. How did you arrive at that?
4. So?
5. Why do you believe that?
6. What do you plan to do with this feedback
7. Why?
8. What’s (really) bothering you?
9. What’s your point?
10. When did you decide this?
11. What would happen if you didn’t?
12. What’s your proof?
13. How do you know that’s true?
14. Where’s the evidence?
15. Are you sure that’s true?
16. What stops you??
17. Can you prove it?
18. Why did I receive this email?
19. Why do you think that happened?
20. Why is that so important to you?
21. Why was I put on this list?
All these questions, if the delivery is right:
Catches their attention.
Causes them to stop and think.
Causes them to clarify their remarks.
Causes the REAL motives and beliefs to surface.
Causes you to better understand where they’re coming from.
The delivery is all important. Framing these in anything that remotely suggests an aggressive or condescending manner will have the opposite effect.
The point is that we should always
Challenge irrational thoughts.
Challenge programmed knowledge.
Challenge people's positions.
It helps both parties. Vocalising an argument is the best way any individual can fully come to grips with almost any situation and reach that state of acceptance, the warm fuzzy feeling, which needs to precede their buy in to your idea.
Let me ask you, if you have any other 'Ass breakers' then please post them here. I’m running out of questions with one of my current clients. For them the sky is pink and the sea is made of custard and that is view the CEO and it filters across the whole of the organisation. If he is reading this listening he knows who he is. Sometimes, even with all these little skills and tricks and experience you just have to shake your head and walk into the sunset.
Copyright Rainmaker 2008
Extract from Defrag your business
Change management's biggest challenge is inertia. I’m not telling you anything that isn’t blindingly obvious here. I can’t count the number of times I have wanted to run from a meeting room screaming “why don’t they get it?’ But we always have to remember it is a fair and human position. They haven’t heard or really probably listened to your story yet. Or, more likely we just haven’t told it well enough. We are all guilty of making assumptions, it is just part of the human condition for the majority of us and is heavily weighted by the simple fact that bad news has far more speed and penetration in transmission than good news. And it will come from lots of different directions. One of Steven Wright’s, my favourite comedian, questions is ‘What is the speed of dark?’ I can tell him that its it is twice the speed of light.
The key skill in any face to face communications in my opinion is in employing techniques to challenge, as gently as possible, the assumptions people have made.
This is hugely important in coaching the news deliverers, the steps in the cascade and vital in any internal communication or change mangement process.
Over the years my colleagues and I developed what we call our ‘Ass’ breaking questions. What do I mean?
Well, before we start though bear in mind that:
Some people make assumptions.
Some people speak without thinking.
Some people are full of BS.
Some people are nothing but talk.
Some people use invalidated, vague, baseless arguments to prove their points.
We have to use techniques to challenge them - to identify the hidden assumptions and avoid mindless acceptance.
You do this for two reasons:
1. YOU gain clarity on their motives, intentions and beliefs.
And probably more importantly
2. THEY gain an opportunity to restate, reform and rethink their ideas. In other words you give them an opportnity to find a dignified way out.
Here are seven examples of common situations and dialogues where you can use them, some are painfully obvious:
THEM: “I can’t do that!”
YOU: “Why not?” or “Says who?”
THEM: “I never thought I’d say this, but…”
YOU: “Why did you never think you’d say that?”
THEM: “Well, they say that…”
YOU: “Who’s ‘they’?”
THEM: “So, is this your full time job?”
YOU: “Yes. Why do you ask?”
THEM: “I’ve been calling you all week and I’d really like to get together to talk about a business opportunity!”
YOU: “What is your positive motivation for wanting to meet with me?”
THEM: “I heard/read it was terrible…”
YOU: “Who’d you hear that from?” or “Where’d you read that?”
THEM: “I dunno, this seems pretty expensive?”
YOU: “Compared to what?”
Here are a few others you may want to think about using; Some require a little more skill in presenting as you can imagine.
1. Is that always the case?
2. How do you measure that?
3. How did you arrive at that?
4. So?
5. Why do you believe that?
6. What do you plan to do with this feedback
7. Why?
8. What’s (really) bothering you?
9. What’s your point?
10. When did you decide this?
11. What would happen if you didn’t?
12. What’s your proof?
13. How do you know that’s true?
14. Where’s the evidence?
15. Are you sure that’s true?
16. What stops you??
17. Can you prove it?
18. Why did I receive this email?
19. Why do you think that happened?
20. Why is that so important to you?
21. Why was I put on this list?
All these questions, if the delivery is right:
Catches their attention.
Causes them to stop and think.
Causes them to clarify their remarks.
Causes the REAL motives and beliefs to surface.
Causes you to better understand where they’re coming from.
The delivery is all important. Framing these in anything that remotely suggests an aggressive or condescending manner will have the opposite effect.
The point is that we should always
Challenge irrational thoughts.
Challenge programmed knowledge.
Challenge people's positions.
It helps both parties. Vocalising an argument is the best way any individual can fully come to grips with almost any situation and reach that state of acceptance, the warm fuzzy feeling, which needs to precede their buy in to your idea.
Let me ask you, if you have any other 'Ass breakers' then please post them here. I’m running out of questions with one of my current clients. For them the sky is pink and the sea is made of custard and that is view the CEO and it filters across the whole of the organisation. If he is reading this listening he knows who he is. Sometimes, even with all these little skills and tricks and experience you just have to shake your head and walk into the sunset.
Copyright Rainmaker 2008
Give them new eyes, not new landscapes
Employee engagement Part 1
Extract from ‘Defrag your business’.
I’ve been working on one truly inspirational and breathtaking web based project for over eight months now. It is just mind boggling and humbling to come in every day and see what the boys and girls have achieved. No-one can say that web technology hasn’t taken massive leaps forward over the last few years. Except, that is, if they look at one specific area. Intranets. Almost without exception they look exactly the same as they did five years ago. While the wide-scale adoption of social networking and the early stages of true Web-based applications are part of our daily out-of-office lives we haven’t seemed to connect to the benefits and opportunities they provide. Sure, they may have added a few tweaks and funky functions but actually fundamentally not much has changed.
I find this both bewildering and exciting. Exciting as being in exactly this business it presents me and frankly my business with tremendous opportunity. Bewildering because the power and potential is passing by with scarcely a nod or glance.
Intranet audits are a staple of my consultancy. I see lots of them, I’m working on three of these audits at this moment. With some glorious exceptions that I can count with my socks off there is little to suggest that intranet teams, (where the intranet it is actually seen as a key lubricant for internal comms programmes), are utilising the true power of intranets and adopting the characteristics of the “read-write” Web to develop the concept of two way communication and engagement and all the fluffy pink stuff we put into our mission statements.
Sure, forums, blogs and wikis are finding their way onto some intranets, but the number of companies employing these social computing tools is a bare fraction of the total number of intranets functioning today. As for the other elements of Web 2.0, I’m aware of less than a handful of intranets that have embraced notions like social tagging (as exemplified by del.icio.us, the social bookmarking Web site. The opportunities for social computing applications on intranets are huge.
Some enterprising companies are starting to use Wikipedia to develop an in house internal knowledge banks.( arguably more useful is actually a failure bank but that’s another story) These tools are used so not much for communication but stitches into the ‘at least we know where it is when we want to find it’ principle. But the true asset value of a company is its knowledge repository. It is 60% and more or your net worth if you believe Harvard Business School. Can you think of a better reason than giving the management of knowledge flow, its retention and acquisition in your organisation anything less than 150% support and making it your number one priority? I can’t think of any either but amazingly although Internal communications, innovation and differentiation features in pretty well every survey of corporate priorities, and even more annual reports, few pay it more than lip service. Why? Because it is hard to do and few know really where to start. ‘We tried the intranet thing but it doesn’t work ‘is probably the most often used phrase I hear. So you give up do you? Or, do you just get better at it?
The commonest .net2 deployment are blogs used by collaboration and project documentation but even these only have even now a tentative deployment. Which is frankly bonkers.
Imagine, just for one dizzying moment, that the CEO has a blog for a new product and then, just imagine the impact and discussion arising from 40 sales people dealing with the inevitable launch issues and how quickly these issues would be flagged, fixed and customer facing people made aware of solutions.
Imagine him feeding back by video with a small thank you and identification and appreciation. It really isn’t hard this stuff but lets not get too giddy here.
As I keep saying, there is nothing common about common sense.
So, why have so many intranets become covered in dust and moss?
Frankly, because it is not that big signal on the corporate radar simply because on the face of it there are few metrics that can get put on the spreadsheet for the weekly meeting that get the juices going. It is true to say that the benefits (and costs) are largely hidden. But if you have to pick one try just this one. Staff retention. Then look at the incurred costs for loss of knowledge and recruitment and training. Now that is truly scary. It can wipe of the profit for a business unit in no time. One loss alone will pay for the tweaks in the intranet that may (I would say probably) alleviate much of the frustration in allowing them to do their jobs effectively. Which, if you are still awake, is cited as the number one reason individuals leave jobs
If you can’t measure it then you can’t do anything about it. Its blindingly obvious and one of the true clichés in business. I don’t know why I even have to mentioned it. This position is reinforced by the often prevailing view that it is just good money chasing after bad. The existing intranet hasn’t lived up to expectations in the first place; why invest time and effort in it now? Many executive teams, optimistic about the intranet’s potential in its early days, now wonder what all the noise was about. While there certainly are productivity tools online—that’s just a matter of common practice in the workplace anyway—the innovation and the knowledge sharing that was supposed to flow from the intranet just never materialised.
Why? Well we could point to a range of contributing factors. Actually just pick one and you won’t be far wrong. Ill advised planning, design, not enough thought given to search and findability but in most cases its just simply down one major description often made at the beginning of conception- will will be its ownership. Who looks after it, nutures it and cultivates it. For the answer to that see Chapter 8. ‘What does a knowledge manager manage then?
’
Being more specific it is easy to blame IT departments. Too easily in most cases. Now I’m going to stick up for them, well for a minute anyway. It’s a s**t job. That is why they bring their own sandwiches, it is their one small pleasure. (Its really so they can play war games at lunch and not leave their desks). I
t is a close tie as to whether HR or IT departments get more bad raps. To be fair to IT they have probably invested time and effort into developing the infrastructure of the current iteration of the intranet and, unsurprisingly, are in no hurry to move in a different direction. They haven’t had their lunch yet anyway. Intranet software vendors aren’t exactly blameless either. Few are using .NET2, most use ASP. or ASP.net at best. which is five year old technology. Do you get the theme here? I can’t help thinking what is going to happen next few years and when are they going to make that leap. And then we haven’t even mentioned Sharepoint!!! Or bless it, Lotus Notes and making that compatible with their new ERP system.
Corporate IT staff and corporate coms staff, some of them, anyway—are largely under informed, if we can put it delicately, about what’s happening on the Web and often have a blind-spot that something they use daily actually could be relevant to them. They hold the belief, justified or not that ‘Our company would never sanction that’ so they don’t suggest or push their ideas forward. Its a self fulfilling prophecy and a depressing spiral. And any way, the IT department should be doing that. Who should be keeping on top of this - Can it really be the IT department’s responsibility, most of which are stretched pretty thin just keeping the meter fed, printers on line, drying out the latte in sales reps keyboards and coping with Mr. Gates First Tuesdays. And beating their previous best in Call of Duty 4.
Many communicators figure the intranet is working just fine the way it is; why fix what isn’t broken? An interesting view from the delusions of competence. How do they know??? By definition, at least the ones I know, change is not discrete but is perpetual motion. It’s a classic mistake to look at the project having an end and walk away from it when it goes live and not put continuity and development factored in to its ongoing lifecycle. If it is put down on a shelf you can’t be surprised if it just gathers dust and gets ignored.
Trust in communications is developed through consistency, relevancy timeliness and accuracy. One intranet I recently was asked to look at had not had anything added to it for three years. That is not an intranet, it is a historic document. Is it any surprise I some times have to run out of meetings screaming.
Then we start talking numbers as you or somebody else from higher food chain undoubtedly obligingly point out. That there already has been an investment that been made in the existing portals that haven’t produced the kind of results most companies hoped for. It’s difficult for organisations to write off significant investments in order to start from scratch. But that doesn’t mean you should persevere with old tools tactics otherwise we would all still be pushing paper memos around. It is interested to see the metrics applied to measure its affect, success or return on investment. Generally it’s a big fat none, which is just plane daft. Its tricky yes, but hardly impossible.
The really infuriating thing is that none of this has to be expensive either to implement. SOAS such as Basecamp to name but one, or my current favourite Page flakes which has now demoted my I-Google as my home page costs peanuts or less than that compared to your ERP or SAP introduction. The effect though is disproportionately positive
There are some practical limitations too and by far the trickiest for most organisations, both public and private sector, is struggling to retain a command-and-control structure for their intranets. Tools that put control into employees’ hands are an anathema to intranets where only authorized representatives of the company can contribute content. But is that what they should be their role anyway? Is there an argument for loosening the approval processes in key areas? I’d argue, yes absoblinkinlutely yes. Should senior management really be a feared of any possible negatives and shouldn’t they be aware of them and manage them anyway? We live in a world of 360 degree reviews and employee engagement surveys, you carry out them of course don’t you? You don’t? Well you are in trouble then.
Or maybe you subscribe to the view I saw recently in a post from an HR VP which was a thinly disguised ‘You should be bloody lucky to work for us, just get with it’. And then to sweeten the message, guess what, we are having a pajama day next week just to show you how cool and cute we are. Erm, yeah. Really? Then I’d polish my CV. You will be needing it when your competition cream you into history or you get ‘outsourced’.
Just ask for this stuff, what can they say? No? Its just a word and won’t kill you. I’m hoping here that you actually have some form of innovation and idea management built into your intranet. No? Then start reading at the top again and pass this onto your boss.
Copyright Rainmaker 2008
Extract from ‘Defrag your business’.
I’ve been working on one truly inspirational and breathtaking web based project for over eight months now. It is just mind boggling and humbling to come in every day and see what the boys and girls have achieved. No-one can say that web technology hasn’t taken massive leaps forward over the last few years. Except, that is, if they look at one specific area. Intranets. Almost without exception they look exactly the same as they did five years ago. While the wide-scale adoption of social networking and the early stages of true Web-based applications are part of our daily out-of-office lives we haven’t seemed to connect to the benefits and opportunities they provide. Sure, they may have added a few tweaks and funky functions but actually fundamentally not much has changed.
I find this both bewildering and exciting. Exciting as being in exactly this business it presents me and frankly my business with tremendous opportunity. Bewildering because the power and potential is passing by with scarcely a nod or glance.
Intranet audits are a staple of my consultancy. I see lots of them, I’m working on three of these audits at this moment. With some glorious exceptions that I can count with my socks off there is little to suggest that intranet teams, (where the intranet it is actually seen as a key lubricant for internal comms programmes), are utilising the true power of intranets and adopting the characteristics of the “read-write” Web to develop the concept of two way communication and engagement and all the fluffy pink stuff we put into our mission statements.
Sure, forums, blogs and wikis are finding their way onto some intranets, but the number of companies employing these social computing tools is a bare fraction of the total number of intranets functioning today. As for the other elements of Web 2.0, I’m aware of less than a handful of intranets that have embraced notions like social tagging (as exemplified by del.icio.us, the social bookmarking Web site. The opportunities for social computing applications on intranets are huge.
Some enterprising companies are starting to use Wikipedia to develop an in house internal knowledge banks.( arguably more useful is actually a failure bank but that’s another story) These tools are used so not much for communication but stitches into the ‘at least we know where it is when we want to find it’ principle. But the true asset value of a company is its knowledge repository. It is 60% and more or your net worth if you believe Harvard Business School. Can you think of a better reason than giving the management of knowledge flow, its retention and acquisition in your organisation anything less than 150% support and making it your number one priority? I can’t think of any either but amazingly although Internal communications, innovation and differentiation features in pretty well every survey of corporate priorities, and even more annual reports, few pay it more than lip service. Why? Because it is hard to do and few know really where to start. ‘We tried the intranet thing but it doesn’t work ‘is probably the most often used phrase I hear. So you give up do you? Or, do you just get better at it?
The commonest .net2 deployment are blogs used by collaboration and project documentation but even these only have even now a tentative deployment. Which is frankly bonkers.
Imagine, just for one dizzying moment, that the CEO has a blog for a new product and then, just imagine the impact and discussion arising from 40 sales people dealing with the inevitable launch issues and how quickly these issues would be flagged, fixed and customer facing people made aware of solutions.
Imagine him feeding back by video with a small thank you and identification and appreciation. It really isn’t hard this stuff but lets not get too giddy here.
As I keep saying, there is nothing common about common sense.
So, why have so many intranets become covered in dust and moss?
Frankly, because it is not that big signal on the corporate radar simply because on the face of it there are few metrics that can get put on the spreadsheet for the weekly meeting that get the juices going. It is true to say that the benefits (and costs) are largely hidden. But if you have to pick one try just this one. Staff retention. Then look at the incurred costs for loss of knowledge and recruitment and training. Now that is truly scary. It can wipe of the profit for a business unit in no time. One loss alone will pay for the tweaks in the intranet that may (I would say probably) alleviate much of the frustration in allowing them to do their jobs effectively. Which, if you are still awake, is cited as the number one reason individuals leave jobs
If you can’t measure it then you can’t do anything about it. Its blindingly obvious and one of the true clichés in business. I don’t know why I even have to mentioned it. This position is reinforced by the often prevailing view that it is just good money chasing after bad. The existing intranet hasn’t lived up to expectations in the first place; why invest time and effort in it now? Many executive teams, optimistic about the intranet’s potential in its early days, now wonder what all the noise was about. While there certainly are productivity tools online—that’s just a matter of common practice in the workplace anyway—the innovation and the knowledge sharing that was supposed to flow from the intranet just never materialised.
Why? Well we could point to a range of contributing factors. Actually just pick one and you won’t be far wrong. Ill advised planning, design, not enough thought given to search and findability but in most cases its just simply down one major description often made at the beginning of conception- will will be its ownership. Who looks after it, nutures it and cultivates it. For the answer to that see Chapter 8. ‘What does a knowledge manager manage then?
’
Being more specific it is easy to blame IT departments. Too easily in most cases. Now I’m going to stick up for them, well for a minute anyway. It’s a s**t job. That is why they bring their own sandwiches, it is their one small pleasure. (Its really so they can play war games at lunch and not leave their desks). I
t is a close tie as to whether HR or IT departments get more bad raps. To be fair to IT they have probably invested time and effort into developing the infrastructure of the current iteration of the intranet and, unsurprisingly, are in no hurry to move in a different direction. They haven’t had their lunch yet anyway. Intranet software vendors aren’t exactly blameless either. Few are using .NET2, most use ASP. or ASP.net at best. which is five year old technology. Do you get the theme here? I can’t help thinking what is going to happen next few years and when are they going to make that leap. And then we haven’t even mentioned Sharepoint!!! Or bless it, Lotus Notes and making that compatible with their new ERP system.
Corporate IT staff and corporate coms staff, some of them, anyway—are largely under informed, if we can put it delicately, about what’s happening on the Web and often have a blind-spot that something they use daily actually could be relevant to them. They hold the belief, justified or not that ‘Our company would never sanction that’ so they don’t suggest or push their ideas forward. Its a self fulfilling prophecy and a depressing spiral. And any way, the IT department should be doing that. Who should be keeping on top of this - Can it really be the IT department’s responsibility, most of which are stretched pretty thin just keeping the meter fed, printers on line, drying out the latte in sales reps keyboards and coping with Mr. Gates First Tuesdays. And beating their previous best in Call of Duty 4.
Many communicators figure the intranet is working just fine the way it is; why fix what isn’t broken? An interesting view from the delusions of competence. How do they know??? By definition, at least the ones I know, change is not discrete but is perpetual motion. It’s a classic mistake to look at the project having an end and walk away from it when it goes live and not put continuity and development factored in to its ongoing lifecycle. If it is put down on a shelf you can’t be surprised if it just gathers dust and gets ignored.
Trust in communications is developed through consistency, relevancy timeliness and accuracy. One intranet I recently was asked to look at had not had anything added to it for three years. That is not an intranet, it is a historic document. Is it any surprise I some times have to run out of meetings screaming.
Then we start talking numbers as you or somebody else from higher food chain undoubtedly obligingly point out. That there already has been an investment that been made in the existing portals that haven’t produced the kind of results most companies hoped for. It’s difficult for organisations to write off significant investments in order to start from scratch. But that doesn’t mean you should persevere with old tools tactics otherwise we would all still be pushing paper memos around. It is interested to see the metrics applied to measure its affect, success or return on investment. Generally it’s a big fat none, which is just plane daft. Its tricky yes, but hardly impossible.
The really infuriating thing is that none of this has to be expensive either to implement. SOAS such as Basecamp to name but one, or my current favourite Page flakes which has now demoted my I-Google as my home page costs peanuts or less than that compared to your ERP or SAP introduction. The effect though is disproportionately positive
There are some practical limitations too and by far the trickiest for most organisations, both public and private sector, is struggling to retain a command-and-control structure for their intranets. Tools that put control into employees’ hands are an anathema to intranets where only authorized representatives of the company can contribute content. But is that what they should be their role anyway? Is there an argument for loosening the approval processes in key areas? I’d argue, yes absoblinkinlutely yes. Should senior management really be a feared of any possible negatives and shouldn’t they be aware of them and manage them anyway? We live in a world of 360 degree reviews and employee engagement surveys, you carry out them of course don’t you? You don’t? Well you are in trouble then.
Or maybe you subscribe to the view I saw recently in a post from an HR VP which was a thinly disguised ‘You should be bloody lucky to work for us, just get with it’. And then to sweeten the message, guess what, we are having a pajama day next week just to show you how cool and cute we are. Erm, yeah. Really? Then I’d polish my CV. You will be needing it when your competition cream you into history or you get ‘outsourced’.
Just ask for this stuff, what can they say? No? Its just a word and won’t kill you. I’m hoping here that you actually have some form of innovation and idea management built into your intranet. No? Then start reading at the top again and pass this onto your boss.
Copyright Rainmaker 2008
Monday, October 15, 2007
Idea bubbles
One of the questions I am often asked in seminars and by my clients is “how do you get your ideas?’
I’m glad you asked too. I’m just assuming this as presumably you are reading because as you are a little curious. Most of my rent is actually paid by providing the answer to that very question and showing people how they can plug into their own creativity.
For my sins I have always been endlessly curious, I always want to see what is on the other side of the hill and desperately avoid giving what I call “car key’ answers. You know that feeling of mild panic when you can't find your car keys? When you find them, you stop looking don't you? Most people answer questions in the same way and work on the basis that the first answer is the correct one. They don’t push on to look at the alternatives, the outlandish, the bizarre, the more creative solution. Some people are good at sport, singing, maths. I'm blessed, or cursed if you like, by being a thought nomad. My school reports didnt; ever suggest that this would actually be a good thing, but i can't complain and the journey it has taken me on and count myself lucky that it has allowed me to meet such an interesting bunch of people along the way.
This part of my persona has got me into trouble on several occasions, caused some amiable ( at least on my part) frictions with other colleagues who are content to paddle their canoe with everybody going in the same direction, at the same speed. There is nothing wrong with that. Its is comfortable. I’m just not comfortable with comfortable. It doesn’t float my boat. That's not to say I seek the uncomfortable for the sake of it. That would be daft and I’m not that. Bewildered and deluded maybe. My other pet hate is waste, wasted talent, wasted time, wasted opportunity. I’ve always struggled with the balancing act between the two. Sometimes you have travel up a dead end just so you and others don’t go there in the future. Ask Mr Edison( If you could). That my frustration is now my mission in life - to show the people paddling the canoe how much fun it is, how rewarding and just how fulfilling getting out of their comfort zone can be. Then they really would be able to exploit their talents and experiences and enjoy their 37 hours a week plus the commute. And take it home with them to their relationships, their children, their hobbies.
I know for some people the coming up with a new idea it seems insurmoutable. It is difficult to get the creative juices fully flowing. Our current educational system, seemingly at every stage, fails woefully to train us how to think sideways, upways or downways. It doesn’t help that in any creative process we are asking ourselves, and others, to move out of the comfort zone. You almost always have to move out of the canoe flotilla. Being out on your own, the fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of a whole bunch of stuff, can build mental barriers that are almost impossible to breach. But I firmly believe that anyone, and I mean anyone, even the most cynical sceptic, (providing they can fog up a mirror), can be trained how to be creative. No really... even accountants. You just have to know how to plug them in to the mains.
Not every technique works in every circumstance. A case in point is the brainstorming session; one of the most used tools to effect creative thinking. Over twenty years in this business have failed to leave me convinced of their true effectiveness in most circumstances where they are poorly executed and only serve as the starting point for the innovation process that should follow. Few see the connection. We had a brainstorming session It'll be alright then, then. Despite the fact that there may be a 'no judgment’ rule, in good brainstorming sessions anyway, you just know that at the next coffee break somebody will be whispering: "Did you hear what he said? How stupid is she?" They work for certain projects for certain groups, copywriting and ad campaigns come to mind, but only with a great facilitator and they are a rare bird indeed. I’ve lost count of the truly painful mind numbing sessions, that I've had to chew my tongue through,that have created enough flip charts to kill a small forest. They have their place true but I’m not a fan for other more practical reasons too, there are much better techniques but we shall save that for later posting
My own trick, which seems to improve my personal ideation productivity at least initially, involves working alone. Not that I’m antisocial. Just the opposite actually, according to teh resluts of my latest character personality assasination/anaylsis questionaire. Please never put me in an open plan office if you want quick answers. My “place” is my study at home, I kick off my shoes and grab a very strong coffee and then pace about the room for an hour, or more, often all afternoon, humming. This foible, I find, tends to drive people mad in an open office. Others, I know, need a hot shower and to get dressed up, and , sad as this sounds I know, may even have to put a tie on! Some will drive a car, walk the dog, do the ironing, or jog. Mundane repetition has been shown by psychologists, studying the bleeding obvious, to clear the brain; providing a sort of colonic irrigation for the head. Just a word to the wise here. Don’t, as a friend of mine did, ever suggest that the ironing would be 'therapeutic' for his partner and ‘free up her creative energies’ or you may find that the flying iron can leave a nasty mark.
There are lots of places and tricks we can use, and what works depends on individuals and the organisation and its social software. Somethings we do unconciously are actually the triggers. I read in one academic paper that smells can do it too. Interesting to observe the test programme for that I think.
Over the fifteen years I worked in New Product development I’ve gathered a few tools along the way to help my colleagues and me smash through hurdles. There are a dozen or so techniques for fueling creative thinking, which I’ve found consistently work really well, but the first and most important part of any creativity exercise is figuring out what is the right question to ask in the first place.. The killer question as Phil McKiney calls it.
But how do you figure out what the key questions should be? Glad you asked.. again. One of the key tools that has consistently helped extract myself and my team out of a pile of whatever is a methodology called TRIZ, (This is pronounced ‘Trees’ by the way, I give you this information just so you don’t look like the clot I did for three years when you talk about it!) A Russian gentleman developed this technique about 50 years ago. He obviously had too much time on his hands, as he reviewed hundreds of thousands of patents looking for common threads. We must thank him sincerely (Through a medium) for his efforts though as Mr Altschuller identified 40 inventive principles. Along with these his matrix and contradictions principles form the basis of the key tools and have lead directly to some huge steps in technology I won't bore you with here. The current database has now reviewed over 2.5 million patents. If you want more information then google TRIZ after you have raed this and I’ll wake you up in the three months it takes you to read every paper written about it. It looks and is damn confusing when you start off, until some kidn soul takes you by the hand and shows you the way. Luckily for me I found one such person. It isn’t the most accessible of tools and, to be frank could do applying some of its own problem solving power to some creative self PR.
However, over the years it has been modified and simplified somewhat and developed into the systematic inventive system, a series of tools for those tricky problems, in new product development, problem solving, inventin and innovation. It is particularly effective at deveoping and strengthening patents. It has been getting a much higher profile with the CEO's as they can now more easily evaluate and develop their company's most valuable asset, its IP.
Although developed initially by and applied largely to engineering problems the same principles can be applied to any aspect of Marcoms, CRM, new product and service development and is even being applied to conflict resolution in the MIddle East and other theatres. Maybe Mr Blair and Mr Brown need some edification in its delights?
There are five key Tools to help you. Although the idea behind each Tool is quite simple (the Tool of Subtraction, for instance, simply asks that you subtract some element from an existing product), actually using the tool can be tough, since it requires that we think in new and unintuitive ways. That is the hard part. Our natural resistance to doing truly unintuitive things - moving outside our comfort zone- creates a mental obstacle, which makes it hard to get the most out of the Tools. To solve this problem, a set of Principles was devised which we use alongside the Tools. The Principles help the user of a tool get into right head place for using it and, hopefully, becoming more innovative. Unfortunately it is not a substitute for talent. It enhances those who have it, but it does often make those who may ordinarily struggle at least stand out from the crowd.
No point just talking about it. Let's see how it works in practice using one of the tools, the Tool of Subtraction, and the Principle that they call the Path of Most Resistance (PMR).
Imagine you're a mobile telephone manufacturer and you're trying to come up with a new product. What sort of innovations comes to mind?
Most, if not all, of your ideas probably involve either adding something to the phone, or enhancing a feature that already exists. Can you actually get a phone without a camera? At the risk of being accused or becoming one of the Grumpy Old Men I have to admit that this drives me slightly nuts when I go into one of my defence industry or R&D clients. For security reasons you often cant take your camera phone on site so you have even more forms to fill in and check outs and check ins often take longer than the meeting itself. I digress.
When we try to create things, our usual mindset is to add something to the existing product. It has to be faster, smaller, have more buttons, more functions - it's the easiest way to go about it, and we naturally follow the path of least resistance. To use the Tool of Subtraction - to take something away from the product - is not intuitive, and not as easy. It requires us to follow the Path of Most Resistance - to do the least intuitive, most uncomfortable thing - at least temporarily.
As we move forward, we continue to use the Tool and the Principle together. Let's start by subtracting what seems like the most essential element of a phone- the screen. We will most likely want to rush to replace the missing screen with something - a monitor, or LED, let's say. But since replacing the missing component is our intuitive response, and we're trying to follow the Path of Most Resistance, let's try, at least for the time being, to leave the screenless telephone as is. Let's ask ourselves if there could be any possible use for such a product. Well of course there is, they didn’t used to have screens until a few years ago anyway but then maybe we have forgotten and revisit some of the basics.
In fact, there are some interesting possibilities for our screenless telephone:
A communication and entertainment tool for the sight impaired
A telephone you can use just in the car
A phone you can take into secure areas, (yippee!) You know some libraries and museums are banning camera phones to protect copyright and pirate photocopying!
A low cost onsite telephone system for employees
A phone you can build into other appliances and equipment, or a car.
Sound far fetched? Wrong answer. If you are looking for a real example of reduction just look at the Motorola Razr phone. I’m not sure how true this but it is a story doing the rounds in innovation circles in the telecommunication business as I write. It was originally canned by the Motorola execs as they thought there wouldn’t be a market for a phone that had less functions than the competition. The only reason we, and seemingly every other body in the universe are walking around with them now is because one engineer ignored them, used his budget to rapid prototype in China and then presented it to the board only after he had shown it to two or three major potential carriers. I for one, can easily believe it. On a roll now, just applying one simple change took it into the stratosphere. Praise the soul who asked the next question “What if we make it pink? We will double the potential market”. Actually one of the 40 TRIZ inventive steps on your checklist is, 'change the colour'.
A product that may at first have seemed ludicrous turns out to have several uses.
The value of using a Principle like the Path of Most Resistance is that it forces us to think differently than we normally would. But you might have noticed that once we were pushed past our initial resistance, it was fairly easy to come up with uses for a screenless telephone. The Tool and the Principle working together make it easier to be innovative.
Let's return for a moment to our screenless telephone. If we continue to follow PMR, we can push this idea even further. Once we see that the product has potential users - the blind, the security conscious and drivers - we may want to consider how else those users can use the product. Will the driver, for example, use her screenless phone outside the car? Will the blind person's sighted family be able to enjoy it? Yes - but only if they can see, and not just hear, their programs. Which of course requires a screen. Our natural inclination might be to search for the best possible screen to which we could attach our screenless TV, but PMR will direct us to look for at solution that already exists in the product's immediate environment - like a PC. This can be the basis for a sort of PC TV, which is easy to implement by installing a card into the PC or plugging your phone into a laptop or the DVD TV player in your kitchen for wireless video streaming and video conferencing . Or….. you get the idea.
In this case, the user of Subtraction is guided by the PMR Principle, to maximize the tool's effect. Similarly, all the Principles support the use of any of the five tools. Just for fun I can tell you that the other tools are;
Attribute Dependency
Division
Multiplication
Task unification
But they are a whole other bag of monkeys! To be continued…
However, please don’t overlook the most important tool. What we in the innovation business call the ‘Idea Capture Device” but, you may know as simply a notebook. You never know when the idea will come and if you don’t write it down as soon as it arrives, you risk loosing it forever. At my last count I've got over 200 notebooks, but them I'm an idea Junkie.
Next Blog issue, "capturing the moment and couple of tricks to help".
I’m glad you asked too. I’m just assuming this as presumably you are reading because as you are a little curious. Most of my rent is actually paid by providing the answer to that very question and showing people how they can plug into their own creativity.
For my sins I have always been endlessly curious, I always want to see what is on the other side of the hill and desperately avoid giving what I call “car key’ answers. You know that feeling of mild panic when you can't find your car keys? When you find them, you stop looking don't you? Most people answer questions in the same way and work on the basis that the first answer is the correct one. They don’t push on to look at the alternatives, the outlandish, the bizarre, the more creative solution. Some people are good at sport, singing, maths. I'm blessed, or cursed if you like, by being a thought nomad. My school reports didnt; ever suggest that this would actually be a good thing, but i can't complain and the journey it has taken me on and count myself lucky that it has allowed me to meet such an interesting bunch of people along the way.
This part of my persona has got me into trouble on several occasions, caused some amiable ( at least on my part) frictions with other colleagues who are content to paddle their canoe with everybody going in the same direction, at the same speed. There is nothing wrong with that. Its is comfortable. I’m just not comfortable with comfortable. It doesn’t float my boat. That's not to say I seek the uncomfortable for the sake of it. That would be daft and I’m not that. Bewildered and deluded maybe. My other pet hate is waste, wasted talent, wasted time, wasted opportunity. I’ve always struggled with the balancing act between the two. Sometimes you have travel up a dead end just so you and others don’t go there in the future. Ask Mr Edison( If you could). That my frustration is now my mission in life - to show the people paddling the canoe how much fun it is, how rewarding and just how fulfilling getting out of their comfort zone can be. Then they really would be able to exploit their talents and experiences and enjoy their 37 hours a week plus the commute. And take it home with them to their relationships, their children, their hobbies.
I know for some people the coming up with a new idea it seems insurmoutable. It is difficult to get the creative juices fully flowing. Our current educational system, seemingly at every stage, fails woefully to train us how to think sideways, upways or downways. It doesn’t help that in any creative process we are asking ourselves, and others, to move out of the comfort zone. You almost always have to move out of the canoe flotilla. Being out on your own, the fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of a whole bunch of stuff, can build mental barriers that are almost impossible to breach. But I firmly believe that anyone, and I mean anyone, even the most cynical sceptic, (providing they can fog up a mirror), can be trained how to be creative. No really... even accountants. You just have to know how to plug them in to the mains.
Not every technique works in every circumstance. A case in point is the brainstorming session; one of the most used tools to effect creative thinking. Over twenty years in this business have failed to leave me convinced of their true effectiveness in most circumstances where they are poorly executed and only serve as the starting point for the innovation process that should follow. Few see the connection. We had a brainstorming session It'll be alright then, then. Despite the fact that there may be a 'no judgment’ rule, in good brainstorming sessions anyway, you just know that at the next coffee break somebody will be whispering: "Did you hear what he said? How stupid is she?" They work for certain projects for certain groups, copywriting and ad campaigns come to mind, but only with a great facilitator and they are a rare bird indeed. I’ve lost count of the truly painful mind numbing sessions, that I've had to chew my tongue through,that have created enough flip charts to kill a small forest. They have their place true but I’m not a fan for other more practical reasons too, there are much better techniques but we shall save that for later posting
My own trick, which seems to improve my personal ideation productivity at least initially, involves working alone. Not that I’m antisocial. Just the opposite actually, according to teh resluts of my latest character personality assasination/anaylsis questionaire. Please never put me in an open plan office if you want quick answers. My “place” is my study at home, I kick off my shoes and grab a very strong coffee and then pace about the room for an hour, or more, often all afternoon, humming. This foible, I find, tends to drive people mad in an open office. Others, I know, need a hot shower and to get dressed up, and , sad as this sounds I know, may even have to put a tie on! Some will drive a car, walk the dog, do the ironing, or jog. Mundane repetition has been shown by psychologists, studying the bleeding obvious, to clear the brain; providing a sort of colonic irrigation for the head. Just a word to the wise here. Don’t, as a friend of mine did, ever suggest that the ironing would be 'therapeutic' for his partner and ‘free up her creative energies’ or you may find that the flying iron can leave a nasty mark.
There are lots of places and tricks we can use, and what works depends on individuals and the organisation and its social software. Somethings we do unconciously are actually the triggers. I read in one academic paper that smells can do it too. Interesting to observe the test programme for that I think.
Over the fifteen years I worked in New Product development I’ve gathered a few tools along the way to help my colleagues and me smash through hurdles. There are a dozen or so techniques for fueling creative thinking, which I’ve found consistently work really well, but the first and most important part of any creativity exercise is figuring out what is the right question to ask in the first place.. The killer question as Phil McKiney calls it.
But how do you figure out what the key questions should be? Glad you asked.. again. One of the key tools that has consistently helped extract myself and my team out of a pile of whatever is a methodology called TRIZ, (This is pronounced ‘Trees’ by the way, I give you this information just so you don’t look like the clot I did for three years when you talk about it!) A Russian gentleman developed this technique about 50 years ago. He obviously had too much time on his hands, as he reviewed hundreds of thousands of patents looking for common threads. We must thank him sincerely (Through a medium) for his efforts though as Mr Altschuller identified 40 inventive principles. Along with these his matrix and contradictions principles form the basis of the key tools and have lead directly to some huge steps in technology I won't bore you with here. The current database has now reviewed over 2.5 million patents. If you want more information then google TRIZ after you have raed this and I’ll wake you up in the three months it takes you to read every paper written about it. It looks and is damn confusing when you start off, until some kidn soul takes you by the hand and shows you the way. Luckily for me I found one such person. It isn’t the most accessible of tools and, to be frank could do applying some of its own problem solving power to some creative self PR.
However, over the years it has been modified and simplified somewhat and developed into the systematic inventive system, a series of tools for those tricky problems, in new product development, problem solving, inventin and innovation. It is particularly effective at deveoping and strengthening patents. It has been getting a much higher profile with the CEO's as they can now more easily evaluate and develop their company's most valuable asset, its IP.
Although developed initially by and applied largely to engineering problems the same principles can be applied to any aspect of Marcoms, CRM, new product and service development and is even being applied to conflict resolution in the MIddle East and other theatres. Maybe Mr Blair and Mr Brown need some edification in its delights?
There are five key Tools to help you. Although the idea behind each Tool is quite simple (the Tool of Subtraction, for instance, simply asks that you subtract some element from an existing product), actually using the tool can be tough, since it requires that we think in new and unintuitive ways. That is the hard part. Our natural resistance to doing truly unintuitive things - moving outside our comfort zone- creates a mental obstacle, which makes it hard to get the most out of the Tools. To solve this problem, a set of Principles was devised which we use alongside the Tools. The Principles help the user of a tool get into right head place for using it and, hopefully, becoming more innovative. Unfortunately it is not a substitute for talent. It enhances those who have it, but it does often make those who may ordinarily struggle at least stand out from the crowd.
No point just talking about it. Let's see how it works in practice using one of the tools, the Tool of Subtraction, and the Principle that they call the Path of Most Resistance (PMR).
Imagine you're a mobile telephone manufacturer and you're trying to come up with a new product. What sort of innovations comes to mind?
Most, if not all, of your ideas probably involve either adding something to the phone, or enhancing a feature that already exists. Can you actually get a phone without a camera? At the risk of being accused or becoming one of the Grumpy Old Men I have to admit that this drives me slightly nuts when I go into one of my defence industry or R&D clients. For security reasons you often cant take your camera phone on site so you have even more forms to fill in and check outs and check ins often take longer than the meeting itself. I digress.
When we try to create things, our usual mindset is to add something to the existing product. It has to be faster, smaller, have more buttons, more functions - it's the easiest way to go about it, and we naturally follow the path of least resistance. To use the Tool of Subtraction - to take something away from the product - is not intuitive, and not as easy. It requires us to follow the Path of Most Resistance - to do the least intuitive, most uncomfortable thing - at least temporarily.
As we move forward, we continue to use the Tool and the Principle together. Let's start by subtracting what seems like the most essential element of a phone- the screen. We will most likely want to rush to replace the missing screen with something - a monitor, or LED, let's say. But since replacing the missing component is our intuitive response, and we're trying to follow the Path of Most Resistance, let's try, at least for the time being, to leave the screenless telephone as is. Let's ask ourselves if there could be any possible use for such a product. Well of course there is, they didn’t used to have screens until a few years ago anyway but then maybe we have forgotten and revisit some of the basics.
In fact, there are some interesting possibilities for our screenless telephone:
A communication and entertainment tool for the sight impaired
A telephone you can use just in the car
A phone you can take into secure areas, (yippee!) You know some libraries and museums are banning camera phones to protect copyright and pirate photocopying!
A low cost onsite telephone system for employees
A phone you can build into other appliances and equipment, or a car.
Sound far fetched? Wrong answer. If you are looking for a real example of reduction just look at the Motorola Razr phone. I’m not sure how true this but it is a story doing the rounds in innovation circles in the telecommunication business as I write. It was originally canned by the Motorola execs as they thought there wouldn’t be a market for a phone that had less functions than the competition. The only reason we, and seemingly every other body in the universe are walking around with them now is because one engineer ignored them, used his budget to rapid prototype in China and then presented it to the board only after he had shown it to two or three major potential carriers. I for one, can easily believe it. On a roll now, just applying one simple change took it into the stratosphere. Praise the soul who asked the next question “What if we make it pink? We will double the potential market”. Actually one of the 40 TRIZ inventive steps on your checklist is, 'change the colour'.
A product that may at first have seemed ludicrous turns out to have several uses.
The value of using a Principle like the Path of Most Resistance is that it forces us to think differently than we normally would. But you might have noticed that once we were pushed past our initial resistance, it was fairly easy to come up with uses for a screenless telephone. The Tool and the Principle working together make it easier to be innovative.
Let's return for a moment to our screenless telephone. If we continue to follow PMR, we can push this idea even further. Once we see that the product has potential users - the blind, the security conscious and drivers - we may want to consider how else those users can use the product. Will the driver, for example, use her screenless phone outside the car? Will the blind person's sighted family be able to enjoy it? Yes - but only if they can see, and not just hear, their programs. Which of course requires a screen. Our natural inclination might be to search for the best possible screen to which we could attach our screenless TV, but PMR will direct us to look for at solution that already exists in the product's immediate environment - like a PC. This can be the basis for a sort of PC TV, which is easy to implement by installing a card into the PC or plugging your phone into a laptop or the DVD TV player in your kitchen for wireless video streaming and video conferencing . Or….. you get the idea.
In this case, the user of Subtraction is guided by the PMR Principle, to maximize the tool's effect. Similarly, all the Principles support the use of any of the five tools. Just for fun I can tell you that the other tools are;
Attribute Dependency
Division
Multiplication
Task unification
But they are a whole other bag of monkeys! To be continued…
However, please don’t overlook the most important tool. What we in the innovation business call the ‘Idea Capture Device” but, you may know as simply a notebook. You never know when the idea will come and if you don’t write it down as soon as it arrives, you risk loosing it forever. At my last count I've got over 200 notebooks, but them I'm an idea Junkie.
Next Blog issue, "capturing the moment and couple of tricks to help".
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Can you Innovate too Early?
Ever had one of those ‘told you so’ moments? 12 years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was working in the development and promotion of a new technology to help engineers align rotating machinery, pumps, fans, gear-boxes and other oily stuff. Traditionally this has been done with rules and feeler gauges and maybe a clock indicator and the back of a fag packet, or some guy standing back, cocking his head, wiping his oily rag across his forehead and saying ‘That’ll do’er, Jim’. Now you probably think this is non- too exciting field and a bit of a conversation stopper. Never seemed to work for me on the dance floor I can tell you. You may think that, until you start to dig a bit and do the numbers. Why is this important? Well, the main reason a rotating a machinery breaks down is because it is out of alignment the bits inside like bearing, seals. couplings etc wear prematurely and have to be repalced. If these are unpredicted breakdown then this really gets expensive. Plants get shut down and don’t produce product, which CEO’s and shareholders don’t like. It’s a major headache. To correctly align a machine, with the old techniques can take a full day, if you do it properly and so so it stays in the right alignment. So here are two problems, they have to do it accurately and they have to speed up the process and the market would like a solution.
Is this a big enough problem for a enough people to make it a viable business? Is the Pope a Catholic? This is where the numbers get bit bewilderingly large. The first number to think is about just how big is the market size. Is it worth bothering about? How many places do you actually find a pump or a fan or a compressor. Trust me, not this is not just a few , just as a starter actually 4.5million pumps where installed in 1990 just in the EU countries as they were then. And these aren’t little pumps either such as those that you may use for your jacussi or hot tub or goldfish pond, and be powered by a solar cell the size of a Blockbuster card. No, these are the big process pumps. In fact do me a favour and stop reading, well in a second and take a look around you, OK you can come back now. Everything you see pretty much has involved a machinery to process it, or transport that to you at some point in its life. That is every mine, oil refinery, every factory, train, boat, plane, AC equipped office and some rotating machinery that has an impact on your life. Anyway, you get my point, there are a heck of a lot. If misalignment or as it is known in the trade correctly or poor shaft alignment, is the root cause of the vast majority of machinery breakdowns, then that is an awful lot of spare parts, engineering travel, downtime that it cost. In fact more illustrious personages than me have calulated that it costs the US economy literally Billions of dollars a year. OK, I think we coudl all agree that there may be a case to answer here and , indeed the laser (read diode) based devices we helped develop are now in use in a lot of plants and engineering shops, in Europe and North America, although hardly any are use in Asia or the Middle East. YOU coudl say teh reaosn for this what that it was, at that time, a realtively costly piece of kit, just because so few where actually being bought Just out of interest they sold at about $10,000 and you can buy an awful lot of spanners for 10k. It just wasn't taken up and converted into numbers we thought it might be. LOyt of reaosn for that but there are a lot of reasons why some people don’t want things to work better. Like maintennce and servie companies seal and bearing manufacturers whom surprisingly make theri money from replacing worn out bits.
YOu take thse things on the chin. But then we come to the ‘told you so’ bit and that which has been the thorn that’s under my skin since the beginning.
If you correctly align a pump you reduce all the points of friction between the rotating and non rotating components. It takes less power, or electricity to turn it. Obviuos eh? Measuring the pre alignment current draw of a motor and post precision alignment, which actually takes a quarter of the time as all the traditional trial and error methods, is taken out of the equation, we could reduce conservatively reduce e power consumption by 2%. In some cases cooling tower fans I remember being - worst case we came across, to the reduction in energy consumption could be as much as 18%. Now the weird pre Kyoto Kuwait thing is that we happily won awards all over the place for its for innovative design- this was produced by a a Swedish company and it was hot, if I do say so myself. It was like nothing else in the market place, used to hammers and wrenches and bigger hammers for the precision jobs. We were using touch screens and icons way before Steve Jobs and got around to it on his I-phone. We won those awards for its design not for its contribution to all things Green.
What used to both amaze and amuse me was that wherever we went to show off our toy there would invariably be lots of stickers around the offices reminding us with jolly cartoons of light bulbs blinking photocopyers with smiley faces to switch of power .Those snappy one liners imploring us to ‘Turn me off and save a tree’. Or something equally pithy. These where in the very same factory using any number of these electric motors, for any one of which would be the equivalent for paying paying the electricity bill of a small hamlet. A 60Kw motor is a baby. If, my maths is correct, that’s 1000 light bulbs running 24 hours a day 365 days year. For one pump. I’ve been in a petrochemical operation in the UK which has 1200, 200 KW motors just in one plant. That plant has one shaft alignment kit and nobody was trained to use it. In fact alignment is hardly taught at all as a basic fundamental engineering skill in any academic institution. The general acceptance of the problem, has I think for all those concerned been a bit disappointing.
As Spike Milligan’s Epitaph on his headstone says, ‘I told you I was ill’ I know what he means.
This was, and still is an innovative approach to an old problem but maybe was ahead of its time, or required modification or priced to high and too small an aspirin for too small problem. Personally I think, without trying to sound patronising, was that it required education of the market as to what the problem and the solution was all about and what it actually meant to their bottom line. It was something engineers just lived with, machines break down, so what. Innovation is all about timing. A month too late, a year early. So, look back, keep looking back at opportunities that died, maybe now is the time to open them up again or at least take a peak.
Laser shaft alignments systems are ten years on, a pretty common tool, they haven’t changed that much in that time, same players are making the same old same old. The price has dropped a bit, but there are still very few players in the market. But no where near as well adopted as part of best prcatice or any indicators of benchmarking s would gauge. There are hardly any are used at all in the Middle East or Asia. But even in North America and Europe there are still plant managers who bitch at the price, now about $5000. It reminds me of the story of the shoe salesmen sent to a Pacific island who faxes back to Head Office, ‘Bring me back, they don’t wear shoes’. So they send another salesman out who faxes back, ‘send me all your stock, they don’t wear shoes’.
Innovation isn’t just about coming up with a really neat idea, its about having the right story to tell and the right time to tell it. And you may have only a short time to tell it. Now with the looming energy crises, emission restrictions and post Kyoto a fallout Thanks s Mr Gore up there is a new story to tell that may ring a few bells, claxons, alarms – and the laser shaft alignment system is reborn as the Laser Energy Conservation Tool.
By the way, If anyone out there wants to know how they can get into this, what the market should be doing and making now or anything about shaft alignment drop me a line. I’ve still got the book I wrote about it 10 years ago somewhere in my drawers. I was very, very sad , once.
Is this a big enough problem for a enough people to make it a viable business? Is the Pope a Catholic? This is where the numbers get bit bewilderingly large. The first number to think is about just how big is the market size. Is it worth bothering about? How many places do you actually find a pump or a fan or a compressor. Trust me, not this is not just a few , just as a starter actually 4.5million pumps where installed in 1990 just in the EU countries as they were then. And these aren’t little pumps either such as those that you may use for your jacussi or hot tub or goldfish pond, and be powered by a solar cell the size of a Blockbuster card. No, these are the big process pumps. In fact do me a favour and stop reading, well in a second and take a look around you, OK you can come back now. Everything you see pretty much has involved a machinery to process it, or transport that to you at some point in its life. That is every mine, oil refinery, every factory, train, boat, plane, AC equipped office and some rotating machinery that has an impact on your life. Anyway, you get my point, there are a heck of a lot. If misalignment or as it is known in the trade correctly or poor shaft alignment, is the root cause of the vast majority of machinery breakdowns, then that is an awful lot of spare parts, engineering travel, downtime that it cost. In fact more illustrious personages than me have calulated that it costs the US economy literally Billions of dollars a year. OK, I think we coudl all agree that there may be a case to answer here and , indeed the laser (read diode) based devices we helped develop are now in use in a lot of plants and engineering shops, in Europe and North America, although hardly any are use in Asia or the Middle East. YOU coudl say teh reaosn for this what that it was, at that time, a realtively costly piece of kit, just because so few where actually being bought Just out of interest they sold at about $10,000 and you can buy an awful lot of spanners for 10k. It just wasn't taken up and converted into numbers we thought it might be. LOyt of reaosn for that but there are a lot of reasons why some people don’t want things to work better. Like maintennce and servie companies seal and bearing manufacturers whom surprisingly make theri money from replacing worn out bits.
YOu take thse things on the chin. But then we come to the ‘told you so’ bit and that which has been the thorn that’s under my skin since the beginning.
If you correctly align a pump you reduce all the points of friction between the rotating and non rotating components. It takes less power, or electricity to turn it. Obviuos eh? Measuring the pre alignment current draw of a motor and post precision alignment, which actually takes a quarter of the time as all the traditional trial and error methods, is taken out of the equation, we could reduce conservatively reduce e power consumption by 2%. In some cases cooling tower fans I remember being - worst case we came across, to the reduction in energy consumption could be as much as 18%. Now the weird pre Kyoto Kuwait thing is that we happily won awards all over the place for its for innovative design- this was produced by a a Swedish company and it was hot, if I do say so myself. It was like nothing else in the market place, used to hammers and wrenches and bigger hammers for the precision jobs. We were using touch screens and icons way before Steve Jobs and got around to it on his I-phone. We won those awards for its design not for its contribution to all things Green.
What used to both amaze and amuse me was that wherever we went to show off our toy there would invariably be lots of stickers around the offices reminding us with jolly cartoons of light bulbs blinking photocopyers with smiley faces to switch of power .Those snappy one liners imploring us to ‘Turn me off and save a tree’. Or something equally pithy. These where in the very same factory using any number of these electric motors, for any one of which would be the equivalent for paying paying the electricity bill of a small hamlet. A 60Kw motor is a baby. If, my maths is correct, that’s 1000 light bulbs running 24 hours a day 365 days year. For one pump. I’ve been in a petrochemical operation in the UK which has 1200, 200 KW motors just in one plant. That plant has one shaft alignment kit and nobody was trained to use it. In fact alignment is hardly taught at all as a basic fundamental engineering skill in any academic institution. The general acceptance of the problem, has I think for all those concerned been a bit disappointing.
As Spike Milligan’s Epitaph on his headstone says, ‘I told you I was ill’ I know what he means.
This was, and still is an innovative approach to an old problem but maybe was ahead of its time, or required modification or priced to high and too small an aspirin for too small problem. Personally I think, without trying to sound patronising, was that it required education of the market as to what the problem and the solution was all about and what it actually meant to their bottom line. It was something engineers just lived with, machines break down, so what. Innovation is all about timing. A month too late, a year early. So, look back, keep looking back at opportunities that died, maybe now is the time to open them up again or at least take a peak.
Laser shaft alignments systems are ten years on, a pretty common tool, they haven’t changed that much in that time, same players are making the same old same old. The price has dropped a bit, but there are still very few players in the market. But no where near as well adopted as part of best prcatice or any indicators of benchmarking s would gauge. There are hardly any are used at all in the Middle East or Asia. But even in North America and Europe there are still plant managers who bitch at the price, now about $5000. It reminds me of the story of the shoe salesmen sent to a Pacific island who faxes back to Head Office, ‘Bring me back, they don’t wear shoes’. So they send another salesman out who faxes back, ‘send me all your stock, they don’t wear shoes’.
Innovation isn’t just about coming up with a really neat idea, its about having the right story to tell and the right time to tell it. And you may have only a short time to tell it. Now with the looming energy crises, emission restrictions and post Kyoto a fallout Thanks s Mr Gore up there is a new story to tell that may ring a few bells, claxons, alarms – and the laser shaft alignment system is reborn as the Laser Energy Conservation Tool.
By the way, If anyone out there wants to know how they can get into this, what the market should be doing and making now or anything about shaft alignment drop me a line. I’ve still got the book I wrote about it 10 years ago somewhere in my drawers. I was very, very sad , once.
Monday, January 15, 2007
I thought an apache was an injun
One of my clients called me yesterday. He is trying to figure out which CMS he should buy for his revamped innovation web site and KM intranet. He rang me up having had a beauty parade of five or six vendors. He was lucky to get just that few. In the UK there are something over 300 suppliers of various hues and slendours. His IT manager however wants him to go ‘open-source’ for his solution. ‘Its free’, he said ‘Well John, that’s true’ I told him ‘But open source stuff is just like water. Its free, but then you have to pay a guy to come and plumb it in for you. And you can never find a plumber when you want one. And if the plumber goes off on holiday or gets sick what are you going to do? And when did you last see a poor plumber? and what are you going to tell your misuss when the washing machine won't wash. I'll hold your coat.
'Code is poetry', If thats the case it needs a new publicist.
Interesting point though about open source stuff. Most of us have heard at least of the likes of Linux, and MySQL.They are, I hear from reliable sources, tremendous tools but the skills and benefits they provdie tend to be hidden in the bowels of an IT or app developer, and the secret codes of acronyms on boomin' millions of web sites should you care to Google away the small hours. To the casual observer it seems to be another land with its own language. and culture. If only we, the mere mortals, who have to live with the consequences could get a handle on what they actually do that makes them so life affirming that was written in plain english, or your native tongue, rather then the arcane and mesmerisingly boring stuff they throw at us, we might make more adventurous decisions. Until then the likes of John and me, who is actually supposed to know a bit about this stuff, will talk wisfully about this mystical land of giveaways ignore it and write the PO for the,out of the box solution. Plug in our Navmans, I-pods and iphones and ihavnetgotacluehowitworks butitdoesosidontcare gizmos and sit back and relax.
On one web site I saw the slogan ‘Code is poetry’. I think it could do with a good publicist if thats the case. John and everyone who runs a business will be faced with the dilemma and confusion of object based or SQL, XML and what do I want a taxidermist for anyway? And then, just when you thought you had it under your belt the second round of the shortlisted presentations. And IT have their for pen'orth
Ask them about their approach to 'automotic link checking,' that’ll keep the salemans busy for an hour or so. It will give you time to leave the room and for your IT manager, to wallow in importance and have somebody just be nice to him for a change and not yell at him about the sales guys laptops crashing- just because their spilt their skinny latte on the keyboard. He won’t be signing the cheques anyway.
Innovation isn’t just about doing it. It’s about telling the world, in a language they can understand, what it actually does for them.
'Code is poetry', If thats the case it needs a new publicist.
Interesting point though about open source stuff. Most of us have heard at least of the likes of Linux, and MySQL.They are, I hear from reliable sources, tremendous tools but the skills and benefits they provdie tend to be hidden in the bowels of an IT or app developer, and the secret codes of acronyms on boomin' millions of web sites should you care to Google away the small hours. To the casual observer it seems to be another land with its own language. and culture. If only we, the mere mortals, who have to live with the consequences could get a handle on what they actually do that makes them so life affirming that was written in plain english, or your native tongue, rather then the arcane and mesmerisingly boring stuff they throw at us, we might make more adventurous decisions. Until then the likes of John and me, who is actually supposed to know a bit about this stuff, will talk wisfully about this mystical land of giveaways ignore it and write the PO for the,out of the box solution. Plug in our Navmans, I-pods and iphones and ihavnetgotacluehowitworks butitdoesosidontcare gizmos and sit back and relax.
On one web site I saw the slogan ‘Code is poetry’. I think it could do with a good publicist if thats the case. John and everyone who runs a business will be faced with the dilemma and confusion of object based or SQL, XML and what do I want a taxidermist for anyway? And then, just when you thought you had it under your belt the second round of the shortlisted presentations. And IT have their for pen'orth
Ask them about their approach to 'automotic link checking,' that’ll keep the salemans busy for an hour or so. It will give you time to leave the room and for your IT manager, to wallow in importance and have somebody just be nice to him for a change and not yell at him about the sales guys laptops crashing- just because their spilt their skinny latte on the keyboard. He won’t be signing the cheques anyway.
Innovation isn’t just about doing it. It’s about telling the world, in a language they can understand, what it actually does for them.
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