Portmanteau

Posted on July 2, 2012 by

I realized something recently.

I make myself nauseous.

With “corporate consultant speak”.

With words that sound great (because they do sound great), but really don’t mean anything. Metaphors.

Portmanteau 

And I’m going to thank a colleague for unknowingly dialing me into this terrible behavior. You see, the place she works (a place I spent several years) is f-u-l-l of self-aggrandizing people. All of them clamoring for position, rank, air-time with executives, invites to ‘the right meetings’, a title, an office, and a catapult from a respectable position at a big company to a great position in a smaller company who would surely value someone coming from an esteemed one like theirs.

And it is gross, really. I picture an ant colony when I think about it.

Ick. 

Here’s more ick.

She was “talking” about work and used a term I couldn’t forgive. Other terms I let roll off. But this one? Too much. 

(drum roll) 

“I can’t help it if they want to be Autobots!”

Wha-? Autobots? AUTOBOTS?

She said it several times. I cringed every time.

I didn’t even know what it meant, so I looked it up. And sure enough, it doesn’t have anything to do with what her/their frustration is. Nada. But it is baked into their idiom now.

The Autobots are running rampant, and they don’t know who they are, or that they’ve garnered this great label (from the Transformers series). 

Anyway, back to the point.

I’m a word guy. I love the language. I love great words. I love the illustrative, mysterious, and unexpected words; I am enamored by the pursuit of exactly the right word. It’s how I am built.

The problem is this: In order for me to communicate effectively, I must communicate in a way that people understand. 

It wasn’t long ago that I started challenging people to explain their idea/thought/concept/challenge/etc. in a way that a 13 year old would understand it.

Guess what?

Corporate Consultant Speak doesn’t translate into 13 year old terminology.

“Like, IDK, its not even close!” 

So, my challenge to you (and me) is this: Exercise communicating in the simplest, clearest of terms. Focus on the understanding, rather than on the delivery. After all, communicating is one-way, but understanding requires your audience to connect and interpret. What you want is to make sure they interpret correctly. 

(And for what it’s worth, being an Autobot might be pretty awesome?!) 

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Power Struggles

Posted on June 12, 2012 by

I’ve been thinking a lot about power struggles: between people, functions, divisions, organizations, etc.

I’ve been watching how we allow others to disempower us by giving them permission to prevent us from doing what is right, from being great, from changing the world for the better.

And I’ve been wondering why.

Why do we do it? Who prescribed this behavior?

More than that, why in the world do we continue to do it? It never feels good to give away our power.

“Oh, so-and-so would never let me do that!”

You want to do something extraordinary for your customers, but its outside of the process and you don’t have permission. You know your customer would be elated.

But you give so-and-so the power. And so-and-so may not even know it. So-and-so may not even agree with you.

But sometimes its just safer, isn’t it? To go unnoticed. To not make a stir. To work quietly and anonymously. To measure ourselves by our adherence to the rules. To meet exactly the expectations (which are to follow the process) that were hopefully put before us.

To me, it too often looks like we give our power away out of fear. A lizard-brain resoponse to staying safe.

And for many, the impacts of decisions made this week within the enterprise seem to validate how important it is to remain “safe”. For many it is a reminder that there is no safe. But my great hope is that for others it is a reminder that safe is NOT being heads-down, unnoticed, or anonymous.

Any one of us could be forced to seek employment, regardless of how safe we try to be; therefore, the more important question to me is, “If I am forced to interview, do I want to impress someone with how safe I am? Or, do I want to dazzle them by demonstrating how much I care, how much I do to make a difference, how I have been bold enough to be great, what I have learned and how it has made me better, and the lengths I am willing to go in order to be special for their customer, too?”

For me, the answer is pretty easy.

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Loyalty is an Emotional Response

Posted on January 1, 2012 by

So the question is:  What emotions do you want your customers to have?

Protected?  Embraced? Adored? Better for choosing to do business with you? 

If you don’t know, then your customer strategy is incomplete; then you are missing your chance to create an intended customer experience.

If you do know the answer, but can’t articulate what you do in support of your intended experience, then your strategy is still incomplete.

Intentions alone do not make for a strategy.  And when in doubt, ask your customers for their help understanding what you could do better.  After all, they want you to be as amazing as you do.

Posted in Customer Experience, Leadership, Product Strategy, Random Thoughts | Tagged | Leave a comment

(Re) Launch

Posted on March 5, 2011 by

Nearly 18 months ago I set out to flex my atrophied writing skills here on this blog.

I wrestled with topics, with the courage to open up, with the humility that someone unknown may find and dismiss my ramblings.  And then a year ago this very month I made a left turn by deciding instead  to focus on an internal blog at work.

A first in our sizable company.

And the experience has been phenomenal.  I have learned to have appropriate expectations of my readership.  I have learned to expect both everyone and no one to read any given post, as I have expected both of them to engage in any sort of dialog.

I have learned that impact posts come in many different sizes.  And I have learned that I can learn exponentially more from those who have thoughts, ideas, feedback, and ultimately comments to contribute.  Therefore, I have learned that each post is more a journey than a destination; that the post becomes a platform.

I have also learned that my wandering style isn’t considered (by most) to be annoying or difficult to follow or rambling or… the feedback I receive is that others appreciate the stream-of-consciousness of the format, and that it feels less contrived and more human.

Score!

 

So, while it may be difficult (for me) to maintain two blogs, I am making a decided effort to try to do so.

 

Welcome to my (re) launch.

Posted in Leadership, Random Thoughts | Tagged | 1 Comment

Product Sans Customer

Posted on March 5, 2011 by

Today I am frustrated.  Frustrated and exhausted.  I am paralyzed by the reality that there are still those who have not come to realize that products sans customer-perceived value really aren’t products at all.  After all, what is a product without  a consumer?  An idea.  No more and no less.

It is a song which will never be heard.  A picture no one will see.

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Customers a close second?

Posted on February 27, 2011 by

What happens if you turn your attention to your employees? What happens if you insist upon treating them better than your customers, knowing that your goal is to delight your customers?

What happens to productivity? Morale? Engagement? Emotional commitment? Customer service? Customer engagement? Customer loyalty?

Retention.

Referrals.

Profits.

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Who am I to judge?

Posted on December 16, 2009 by

Here’s the deal.  I wax on and on about all of these things I believe in – horizontal teams, focusing on associates first, managers vs. leaders, victims, puppies, and so on.  I am passionate about these topics; I am passionate about the responsibility we have for our associates.  Yet, I worry.

I worry that I have posted several articles now, but I have not been forthcoming with my own shortcomings.

I haven’t paused to share my introspection.  I haven’t demonstrated my own humility.

1. In my life I have been accused of being arrogant, dismissive, walking over people, and so on.  I was first faced with this “feedback” by a classic, power-hungry, manager; someone whose inclination to lead rather than control is less than 0%.  It is null.  The chances of this person ever being revered, inspirational, or even just adored are null.  Less than zero.

It turns out I was failing to acknowledge the thoughts and opinions of others before I offered up my own perspectives.  In doing so, my coworkers felt as though I was dismissing them without regard, and dominating the conversations with my own opinions, and therefore I was arrogant.  I would feel the same way.

Much thanks to my brother-in-law for helping me understand.  (My classic monolithic manager couldn’t explain it, and was then literally mad at me when I resigned!) It was an invaluable lesson.  But to say I have overcome this challenge would be a lie.  I still struggle with hearing others out, but often because I feel like the problem is crystal clear before they finish or others have had a chance to weigh in.  Other times, I may quickly recognize that the problem they are describing is one I have seen before, and because of that, I may not entertain them as they talk/work through the problem.

In the end, it doesn’t change the fact that I can give others the wrong impression of my intentions – and in doing so I may alienate them.  It is my problem.

2. Regarding seeing straight through to the underlying issue, I have come to learn that many people need to have the opportunity to peel the layers of a problem away until they finally reach the root of it.  To complicate things, my delivery can be very candid at times, and I think sometimes the combination of my candidness combined with others’ unwillingness to take ownership for a problem can be a lethal mix.  I do work on it.

But, again, this is my problem – not theirs.

3. I don’t know how to articulate this one, so I will talk through an example of it.  ”Victims”.  I refer to people being victims a lot.  I use it as a catchall term which is a little sensational, a little dramatic, but is intentionally startling to move the notion into the front of someone’s conscience – and the word itself is one most people do not want to be labeled with.  The problem, however, is that some are more sensitive than others, and using a term like “victim” may immediately cause people to check out because of its negative connotation.

Yep. My problem, not theirs.

And there are others, but I do try to keep my posts relatively short.  Why?  Because I also don’t do well with too many words!  :)

I often use the analogy of a stewardess’ safety instructions when taking a flight; specifically, that passengers are instructed to put on their own oxygen mask before they attempt to help others.  My analogy is that you must help yourself before you can be of help to anyone else.

Managers, this applies to you.  If you aren’t growing. If you are continuously reinventing yourself and refreshing your skills.  If you aren’t engaged in your own growth and betterment, then how much help can you really be to your associates?

Like I tell my kids, over and over, “To be good at anything takes a lot of hard work, a lot of practice, and generally a lot of help and coaching.”  Don’t fool yourself into thinking that just because you have been in a management role for a long time that you are good at it.  Leadership is a craft.  You have to work at it.  You have to learn new skills.

The next time you are inclined to demand some sort of improvement from your team or an associate, ask the mirror if you can demonstrate how you have improved in your role.

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