Increasing Results with Creative Problem Solving

Increasing Results with Creative Problem Solving
In today’s competitive environment, and the gloomy predictions for a reduced growth rate in the UK, it is critical that companies continue to improve their absolute and relative performance. It would therefore seem to be common sense that organisations make the most of the creative talent within their workforce. How do you do this in a way that ensures both focus on business success and aligns the efforts and energy of the team?
Defining Success
There are 3 areas that companies could chose to focus on
- Financials (Top 100 FTSE investment)
- Customer (Which? Consumer survey)
- People (Top 100 company to work for).
with 2 common approaches. Big Hairy Audacious Goals (Collins) or Continuous Improvement (Deeming et al). There is of course a third way – aligning and leveraging small improvements in a series of areas to achieve a big result. Try this on your own profit and loss account. Increase sales by 1%, reduce cost of sales by 1% and reduce overheads by 1% ...... which can lead to around 20% improvement in profit!
Results Focussed Creative Problem Solving
Ideally in a cross functional team of between six to twelve people
- Clearly Define the Issue. Ensure you are tackling the appropriate topic through asking is this a symptom or a cause? Generate the “ Trigger Question “ that will provide the focus for the following
- Engage Divergent Thinking. Come up with as many possible ideas, thoughts, challenges, issues as you can. When you think you are done ask yourself what if you could come up with two or three more ideas?
- Connect The Thinking. Step back and look for commonality amongst the ideas. Cluster them together and see what common themes emerge
- Gain Insight. Identify the relationship between the clusters. How do they inter relate and effect each other?
- Focus On Actions. List the actions that would give you maximum impact to answer the original question. Be SMART
- Commit To Actions. Allocate resource and take the first step.
Is it this simple?
Yes and No. This approach has evolved and been tested over the last 12 years. For a simple question a group of twelve people could go through the whole process in two to three hours. For a strategic issue it could take two to three days.
The results speak for themselves “That was one of the most amazing meetings I have been to in a long time, especially for the way everyone came together and the output achieved in such a short space of time”
“This was a major example of teams working effectively and collaboratively on a large scale problem. If this problem had not been resolved, the effect on monthly sales and potential lost customers would have seen the business lose £millions.”
“We are delighted at the way the ideas and actions generated encouraged all our managers to contribute and own the outcome. Contributions have given incredible sales results – 110% successful”.

How to Be a Successful Company - ride out the " credit crunch "

With the current economic climate ( almost daily warnings from the banking sector ) it is even more important to think about how to be successful and how to judge success. Short term may be about Cash flow, costs, and efficiency though any decisions taken here must be balanced against longer term impact on Customers and Employees
According to the annual “Sunday Times 100 Best companies to work for “survey the companies they are voted best by their employees are also those that outperform others in the FTSE100. In the past five years the companies listed in this survey have performed TWICE as well as their FTSE100 rivals. “Looking after your staff means you are looking after your shareholders too “
Back in 1998 Collins and Porras studied 18 “Visionary “ American companies to discover what made them “ Built to Last “, what fundamental principles endure. One of their earliest conclusion was that “profitability is a necessary condition for existence but is not the end in itself ... it is not the point of life but without it there is no life “
In 2006 Ken Blanchard published “ Leading at a Higher Level “ concluding that successful High Performing Organisations focussed on what he calls the “ triple bottom line “ of becoming provider of choice, employer of choice and investment of choice.
The Sunday Times survey highlights 8 factors that employees vote on to become “ Best Company to Work For “
- Leadership of head of the company and senior managers
- Wellbeing including work life balance
- My managers day to day activities
- My team and colleagues
- Fair Deal with pay and benefits
- Giving Something Back to the community
- My Company
- Personal Growth
( Details are available at timesonline.co.uk/best100companies )

So as you make the necessary decisions to ride-out the economic conditions, take a deep breath , a step back and assess both your short term and long term needs !

Is this the best book on LEADERSHIP ever ??

Is this the best book on Leadership EVER ??!!

Hi Folks

I have just finished reading “ Leading at a higher level “ by Ken Blanchard and published by FT Prentice Hall and it has jumped straight to the top of my list of books on Leadership.

If you’ve read it – what did you think?
If you haven’t read it – what is top of your list?

After 25 years of working with and advising businesses and leaders ( remember the one minute manager? ) Ken argues that high performing companies

- Set their sights on the right target and vision
- Treat their customers right
- Treat their people right
- Develop the right kind of leadership
Easy then you say – except of course what is right!!????

Ken shares his experience of working with High Performing Companies across 300 pages and 13 chapters with the majority of the book concerned with treating your people right ( covering for example empowerment is the key , self leadership , partnering for performance )

Full of simple models and concepts, littered with illustrations, it provides an excellent framework for thinking about your companies triple bottom line “ provider of choice, employer of choice ,investment of choice “

Whether you agree with the ideas or not! this will give you plenty to mull over AND should stimulate some action.

What do you think ?

Paul Maisey
www.advancebp.co.uk

How to Successfully Manage Change ( part two )

How to Successfully Manage Change ( Part two )

In Part one I covered typical reasons people resist change and five key factors in managing a successful change programme. Part two covers how to increase pressure for change and methods for dealing with resistance to change.
Factors that increase pressure for change ( or reduce resistance ) include

- Take into account the needs/attitudes/beliefs of the individual. Ensure clear understanding of What’s In It For Me ( WIIFM )
- The greater the prestige of the change leader or desire to belong to the “ group “ the more attractive the change will seem
- Provide clear and specific information on the change to create a feeling of shared perceptions
- A group that has continued psychological meaning to an individual has more influence than a group with temporary membership

The six methods for dealing with resistance to change, according to Kotter & Schlesinger are

1) Education & Communication – where there is a lack of accurate information
2) Participation & Involvement – to gain participants commitment
3) Facilitation & Support – where people are having problems adjusting
4) Negotiation & Agreement – to avoid major resistance
5) Manipulation & Co-optation – where other approaches are seen as too slow
6) Explicit & Implicit Coercion – to override any resistance
The appropriate method for any company will need to fit the company values and be consistent with the change being implemented. A combination of approaches could be used with 1 & 2 potentially having the greatest chance of success though also the longest timescale.
Finally we should all acknowledge that change is an emotional experience and that different people will be able to accept change at different speeds. We arguably all go through seven different stages – shock, denial, depression, acceptance, testing, search for meaning and then commitment.

How to Successfully Manage Change

How to Successfully Manage Change ( Part one )

In today’s economic and business environment change is a constant. Whether firms are “losing“ staff, merging with competitors or launching a new business strategy there is a need to ensure change is effectively managed. Yet I am sure we have all experienced or seen change efforts that have gone wrong because not enough time had been spent on the softer side of change management – people!

According to Kotter & Schlessinger people resist change for four basic reasons
1) Self interest – they believe they will lose something of value to them
2) Misunderstanding and lack of trust- they do not understand why is this happening
3) Different assessments – they see different costs/benefits
4) Low tolerance of change – they fear they do not have the relevant skills
Bearing these in mind the key factors in a successful change programme have been identified as
A) Communication – a clear two way approach with all staff. Soliciting questions about issues and problems
B) Start with a Good Idea – no change techniques will save a poorly thought through plan or concept
C) Obtain Staff Commitment – involve staff in both the ideas and implementation stage
D) Provide Sufficient Resources – for example people, time ,skills ,money
E) Have a Plan – look ahead and allow for flexibility around problems
Being aware of the above and accepting that we are all human! will increase your chances of managing the change successfully.

Finally we should all acknowledge that change is an emotional experience and that different people will be able to accept change at different speeds. We arguably all go through seven different stages – shock, denial ,depression ,acceptance ,testing ,search for meaning and then commitment.

In Part two I will include thoughts on specific methods for reducing resistance to change

Leadership , goal setting and NLP

Goal Setting with NLP – Handy for work objectives or personal development

An effective leader delivers results so I thought it worth sharing a technique from Neuro-Linguistic Programming that is useful for both personal and business outcomes. So just imagine yourself being even more successful by..

1. Ensure your outcome is positively stated
As there is a tendency to get what you focus on ensure that your focus is a positive one !
Answer the question what do you want ?

2. Specify the context for your outcome
Does the outcome apply everywhere, under all conditions?
Answer the question where , when , with whom will you want this?

3. Express outcome in sensory specific form
How will you know it when it happens ?
Answer the questions what will you see/hear/feel/experience when you achieve this?

4. Check this is within YOUR capability
The outcome should be formed so that its achievement is down to you!
Answer the questions what resources have you got/can activate/can gain to get this?

5. Preserving your other outcomes/desires
How will this impact on other aspects of your life?
Answer the question will you lose anything you have now by achieving this outcome?

6. Check this is worthwhile
Does the outcome match your values and beliefs?
Answer the question is the outcome worth what it will take to get it?

7. What are the positive future consequences
Check the impact on yourself and those around you
Answer the question how will your life ( and others ) be different?

8. Do it!!
What is the first step and when will you start?

Customer Service - the way to our heart

According to a recent survey of 10963 retail customers by uk consumer group Which? Customers are “ willing to pay extra for quality service and an enjoyable shopping experience “ and our favourite aspect is “ friendly , knowledgeable staff “
In 1960 Theodore Levitt famously said “the purpose of a business is to create and keep customers “and in 1984 W. Edwards Deming said “Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your product and service, and that bring friends with them”
The surveys highest scoring companies ( judged on convenience, customer service, experience, pricing and product ) were Waitrose ( 87% ), John Lewis ( 78 %) and local independent stores ( 77% ) whilst at the bottom of the table were Woolworths and JJB Sports ( 39% ) and JD Sports ( 33% ).
Interestingly discount supermarkets Lidl (69 %) and Aldi (68%) did relatively well reflecting that customers “don’t mind sacrificing service “ IF “ the price is right and the products acceptable “ . This is consistent with the well known approach to competitive advantage espoused by Michael Porter of either “low cost” or “differentiation” focus
So how do we ensure that our company is top of the table?
Consider some approaches via this self evaluation questionnaire
1. Do you survey your customers to find out how satisfied they are and ask for their suggestions for improvement.
2. Do you survey your staff to find out how satisfied they are with their working environment and ask for their suggestions
3. Do you have a mission statement or specific goals that focus on providing the customer with quality products or services
4. Do you collect information on what poor customer service costs you in terms of lost customers, wasted time and reduced morale
5. Do you train all your staff in telephone and face to face customer relationship skills
6. Do you train your managers in skills needed to support customer service ( team building, coaching etc )
7. Do you put new staff through an induction process that highlights the importance of the customer
8. Do you have an IT system that supports staff in providing effective customer service
9. Do you make changes to policies and procedures because customers or staff have given feedback
10. Do you reward and recognise staff for their efforts on behalf of customers

Nobody is perfect so grab the opportunity to improve one small thing today ... and another tomorrow ! Treat customers how you would like to be treated.