This past week I had the opportunity to read Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book What The Dog Saw. Gladwell wrote the best sellers Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers.
 
What I like most about Gladwell’s books is that they are fueled by a curiosity about things that most of us don’t think twice about. In What The Dog Saw, Gladwell turns commonly held notions on their head including homelessness, panic vs. choking, what makes a good teacher and many other myths.
 
In organizations, curiosity fuels innovation and the solving of stubborn problems.  We’ll examine how to foster curiosity in yourself and others to get breakthrough results.
  
Culture of Curiosity
 
Curiosity is the root of innovation and creativity and being curious is a constructive leadership characteristic. Organizations and their leaders can snuff out curiosity by implementing rigid rules, having sacred cows and dismissing questions that could lead to new discoveries.
 
A leader who is curious will handle employee performance problems more effectively. Instead of punishing or berating an employee, the curious leader is interested in why the employee chose to behave the way he did and how it can be prevented.
 
Being curious in a conflict situation allows you to see the other person’s perspective so that you can propose mutually acceptable alternatives.
 
Being curious in negotiations allows you to understand the other party’s needs and wants so that you can achieve win/win outcomes.

Curiosity is what will create the next EBay or Google or Microsoft and curiosity will lead your organization to a breakthough opportunity.  
 
Reflection Questions
 
How curious a person are you? Is curiosity encouraged in your organization? How many things are taken at face value without being more open minded to seeing new opportunities?
 
Action Items

• Be curious about long standing problems in your workplace.
• Ask questions that inspire curiosity in others, “How could we serve our customers better and generate better results?”
• Avoid crushing other people’s curiosity when comments like, “We’ve always done it that way, ” or “That will never work.”

I had the pleasure of attending a social event connected to a convention I was attending in Calgary. The organizers had planned an entertainment-packed evening at a “cowboy ranch” with gun slinging cowboys, a comedian, a live auction, and for those who were brave enough, a mechanical bull. All the proceeds were to go to the organization’s foundation.
 
Unfortunately, many members of the audience were happy just to sit and socialize and then get back to the hotel for some rest before the next day’s program. So when the host announced that the first bus had arrived, half the group left, making the auction a dud.
 
The organizers were ticked. They spent all this time and energy to plan a great outing and the attendees had the gall to leave early!
 
They fell into the trap of “blaming the customer” and I hear variations of it in many of the organizations I work with. I’ve done it myself – blame the customer for not buying, blame the participants for a mediocre session (this happens rarely!).
 
Don’t Blame the Customer
 
You have heard the expression, “the customer is always right.” Now we know that the customer isn’t always right, however it could be said that, “the customer is always right in his/her own mind.”
 
This distinction is important because right or wrong, when the customer decides to vote with her feet and money, the impact is felt on your organization. Similarly in a “discussion” with my wife Robin I can choose between being “right” and spending quality time on the couch or allowing her to be “right” which makes for a cosier bed time.
 
No amount of “marketing” can push a bad product or service onto a customer and expect to last in the long term. Many organizations think they know better what the customer wants, when in reality the customer isn’t buying it.
 
Be Thankful for “Challenging” Customers
 
Customers with high expectations help challenge your organization to achieve more.  One group of customer service reps was complaining about how disorganized their customers were. I pointed out that those disorganized customers were placing even greater value on the service provided by their company. If the customers were better organized they would place less value on the service provided and profits would decrease.
 
There will be customers who you are better off without. The ones that cost you more than you make. Before writing them off, consider how to provide the level of service they expect at a profit.
 
Reflection Questions
 
Does your organization blame the customer for it’s challenges? Are you an accomplice to this act? How could your organization be more customer-focused and earn record profits?
 
Action Items

• Listen for signs that your organization is blaming the customer for its woes.
• Ask questions that move your organization forward, “How can we win the business and maintain profitability?”
• Stop complaining about customers and start finding ways to make them happy at a profit.
• Remember that the ultimate antidote to having difficult customers is having no customers at all…

A new business season is upon us and with it comes some old challenges and some new ones. Here are three action steps to achieve a strong finish in 2009 and set your organization up for a great year in 2010.

1. Get a Recovery and Growth Mindset

Now is the time for you and your team to shift thinking from defense to offense. As the recession begins to fade there are tremendous opportunities to grow your business. The challenge is to recognize the opportunities and then take action to exploit the potential.

2. Upgrade Your Mental Software

When was the last time you invested in growing the knowledge, skills and capabilities of yourself and the team around you? Is your team trying to achieve success in 2010 with a 2004 mindset? If your organization isn’t changing as rapidly as the environment around it then you might want to upgrade capabilities with training, coaching or consulting aimed at the areas of greatest need.

3. Lead

The root cause of both success and failure is leadership. If your team isn’t up to the challenge it may be them or it may be the leader. Develop a clear idea in your mind on what you want to achieve and then ask the team how they can make it happen. Challenge is a top motivator so get your team reenergized by focusing on a big goal that they can sink their teeth into.

If we can help your organization reenergize and refocus, please connect with us for a complimentary consultation.

Given the recent awful business environment, companies hunkered down into survival mode, cutting expenses and waiting for business conditions to improve. Expectations were reduced to match reality. Now with the economy stabilizing and beginning to expand again business leaders will need to awaken their organization to its true potential in order to achieve maximum performance.

As the recovery takes hold your organization will start to do better simply because customers will start buying again. While this provides a much needed break from the angst of recession, it will hardly provide the motivation to excel. Instead challenge your organization to achieve its true potential and watch performance soar.

Think in terms of watching runners about to compete at a track meet. Is your organization in the starting blocks, ready to launch when the starter’s pistol fires? Or will you be a spectator in the stands watching your competitors win the race?

Setting Your Organization’s Thermostat

Your organization has a thermostat. The thermostat defines the performance expectations of the business and everyone who works in it. If performance drops below the threshold, heads will roll, bonuses will be reduced or eliminated and generally everyone will work harder to get performance back on track. On the other hand, if performance exceeds expectations, the organization will tend to slack off and take it easy which will prevent the business unit from achieving its full potential. Who sets the thermostat? The CEO/president/business owner, and in turn, the senior management team defines what is possible and drives the expectations of the rest of the organization.

Stop Being Satisfied with Incrementalism

Most organizations need to rethink the incremental way they manage expectations year over year. Managers are often satisfied with a 5-10% improvement because that might be the threshold that triggers bonuses and yet leaves a little something in the tank for next year. If a target is set too high, the manager might be punished for not achieving the target even though performance improved. The result? The organization leaves money on the table because it was capable of achieving more but did not do so.

Achieving What Seems Impossible is a Powerful Motivator

A sense of challenge and growth is the most powerful motivator for employees. When goals are set too low complacency sets in. Top performers leave the organization and you are left with mediocre performers who are primarily interested in maintaining the status quo. By raising expectations employees will be more engaged and results will improve; a true win/win situation.

Enabling Questions to Help Achieve True Potential

Enabling questions are those that help you achieve greater performance and get you closer to your true potential.

How can we dominate the market?
How can we turn customers into fans who rave about us?
What other needs do our customers have and how can we meet those needs?
How can we maximize profit and cash flow in good times and bad?
How can we have employees who love working here?

Raise the performance of your organization, your department and for yourself personally by defining your true potential, resetting your thermostat to increase results and challenging yourself and others to grow.

We’re noticing that during the recession, many companies and their leaders are in a funk. Business isn’t as fun as it was in the early days and results aren’t what they were in the good times. So we’ve designed a new workshop and there is the potential for 100% government funding (more on that at the end of this article).

Innovative companies can lose their edge, especially after successfully commercializing their technology. Perhaps the owners and those involved in the start-up have lost the energy and enthusiasm they had in the exciting start-up phase.

It is time to break out of your complacency and regain the mojo that made your organization successful. To help you out, we have created a brand new training program that can be delivered first to your management team and then rolled out to other departments in your company to get the whole organization thinking about innovation.

In this session, your managers will be able to:

• Identify high probability growth areas in the business based on new and existing technologies;
• Identify and eliminate the barriers that prevent the organization from being more innovative;
• Develop a new vision that can carry the organization forward towards a higher level of success;
• Develop a skill set to tap into the creativity and possibility that exists within the company;
• Communicate the new direction clearly and repetitively to create buy in;
• Set up a system to green-light new ideas and maintain momentum.

Key Workshop Elements

1. Innovation inventory: A look back at what made the company successful in its earlier innovative days. How innovation was fostered so that the company grew.
2. Innovation roadblocks: Identifying some of the obstacles and barriers that have prevented further innovation in the company; including organizational systems, silos, negative thinking, and more. Strategize to eliminate or minimize the obstacles to let ideas and opportunities flow.
3. Innovation opportunities: Where the greatest opportunities exist to grow the business based on extensions of existing opportunities or the application of basic technology.
4. Customer consultation: How to identify customer problems that need to be solved and have a high value perception to the customer.
5. Employee involvement: How to cultivate ideas and opportunities from the staff who service customers.
6. Competitive activity: Analyzing competitor behaviour to uncover opportunities for growth.
7. Reinvigorating the Innovation Culture: Ensuring that the company systems and processes support the generation and implementation of business growth:
   - Employee development – Succession Planning
   - Reward and recognition
   - Recruitment and selection
   - Communication
   - Leadership
8. Setting the Action Plan: Creating a plan of action to implement the innovation process within the organization.

Potential for 100% Government Funding up to $50,000

The Province of Ontario, Canada has created a new program to help companies regain their innovative edge. The Yves Landry Foundation in conjunction with the Province of Ontario will pay up to $50,000 to cover the direct and indirect costs of training to give your company a competitive edge. Like most government programs, this is a first come, first served – when the money is all gone you are out of luck. Up to 100% of direct costs (trainer fees, workbooks, meeting room) and 50% of indirect costs (wages of attendees) can be covered. Get more information at http://www.yveslandryfoundation.com/ Chances are a similar program may exist in your state or province.

We invite you to call or email about how to get your organization’s innovation mojo back. We can help you tap into potential government funding.