Innovative Express

"Improving effectiveness by making the complex simple and making the simple work!"

November 2006

In this issue:

There is a first time for everything, right? I had never been approached by the media for interviews before. Well, I had my first experience last month when The Business Journal of Phoenix called me for an article on diversity. More specifically, it was about blending multi-generational workforce. I had a very productive interview with the writer and was quoted in the article.

In that interview, I said that diversity is about inclusion and leveraging the contributions of many. It's also about recognizing, respecting, and celebrating differences. "Whether you have a large or small company, if people's hearts and souls are not engaged, you will not get much from them. Business leaders have to create a culture of inclusion to unleash people's potential." If you want to read the whole article, you can find it at: Business Journal diversity Article...

The current issue deals with a challenge we all face. How do we market ourselves (or organizations we represent) effectively without sounding like we are tooting our own horn? I will present a sensible yet practical model so you too can "SOAR" with your strengths.

Inspired to agree, disagree, or otherwise comment? Have an interesting story to share? We hope that you will let us know your thoughts.

Wishing you a productive and successful month ahead---both personally and professionally. If you are in the U.S., please remember to vote on Tuesday (November 7) regardless of whether you are voting for change or for more of the same.

Abhay Padgaonkar
President, Innovative Solutions Consulting, LLC

Leadership According to Ken Blanchard

I recently had an opportunity to attend a luncheon with Dr. Ken Blanchard of the One Minute Manager and Situational Leadership fame at The Grand Canyon University (GCU) in Phoenix. I have to be very honest: I was a little skeptical because I had viewed his work as “dumbed-down” version of leadership.

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised! Ken Blanchard spoke from the heart. He spoke with conviction and in common sense practicalities---not with self-aggrandizing hyperbole so common among consultants. He is a great story-teller. He gave an example of a lion’s roar while on a safari in Africa and how the lion was basically proclaiming his territoriality by roaring, “Mine! Mine!” He was also funny. He mentioned that he wanted to get the B.S. out of Behavioral Sciences. He urged the leaders to take a close look at themselves and make sure that they a) have a purpose b) know what their values are c) understand their own beliefs and assumptions, and d) are in tune with their own point of view.

He spoke with passion about the Ken Blanchard Executive MBA---a 12-month program designed to equip seasoned managers (Director through CEO) to lead organizations at a higher level. Unlike other Executive MBA programs, the Ken Blanchard EMBA begins and ends with leadership including modules on Leading Self, Leading Others, and Leading Organizations at the strategic level. Rather than teaching the business courses from the traditional functional perspective, the program uses a unique cross-disciplined, blended learning approach that focuses on the often conflicting interests of key stakeholders including customers, shareholders, employees, and communities. (More information on the program can be found at: The GCU EMBA Site

Dr. Blanchard also referred to the many visible leadership failures occurring in corporate and government. He emphasized the need for leaders to surround themselves with “truth-tellers” and not sycophants. He encouraged leaders to change their attitude from self-serving to serving and repeated that humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. John P. Kotter has written that management is about coping with complexity whereas leadership is about coping with change.

The Bottom Line: Leadership is about managing the journey of change, not just announcing the destination!

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Marketing Yourself: What Have You Done For Me Lately?

In this day and age, we all might as well be from Missouri---the “show-me” state. We constantly have to prove ourselves to others. And listing a bunch of activities or responsibilities (“Responsible for 2,000 people and a budget of $100 million”) hardly says much about how you really did on the job. The other common trap people fall into is impressing people with scope, size, or history. “Over 800 offices globally” or “150 years of history” doesn’t exactly tell the listeners what’s in it for them.

As Aldous Huxley said, “Experience is not what happens to you. It’s what you do with what happens to you.” Your level in the organization hardly matters. In fact, the higher you are, the more you have to prove yourself. Whether you are an executive thinking about your approaching performance appraisal, an employee going through career transition, a consultant trying to market yourself to a potential client, or an organization trying to establish credibility through marketing, everyone has to face the music and answer the question: “What have you done for me (or for that matter anyone else) lately?"

“S” or The Situation: The situation (briefly) provides the context for the specific accomplishment you want to talk about. This allows the other party to find out the basic facts about the existing situation and establish an overall context for what you are talking about. The mistake people often make is that they forget that they only need to set the scene and not tell the whole life story!

Situation Example: “We were dealing with a situation where voluntary attrition rates among employees were running as high as 50%. It was killing us because the morale was low, the customer service was poor, and the hidden costs were sky high. We estimated that the total cost to the business was more than $3 million annually. This was clearly not sustainable.”

“O” or the “Obstacle”: The obstacle describes why the situation was particularly problematic or thorny. It describes why your accomplishment deserves even greater kudos. Depending on the situation, you can also talk about “O” for Opportunity.

Obstacle Example: “What made this situation even more difficult was that we were dealing with several call centers across the country with different job markets and leadership styles. To make things worse, the unemployment rate was at a historic low. In essence we were dealing with an employees’ market.”

“A” or the “Actions”: The actions describe specific actions you took to remedy the situation or capitalize on the opportunity. Make sure that the actions start with powerful verbs rather than worn- out, boring expressions. (Hint: Highlight the word in question in Microsoft Word and press Shift-F7 for synonyms.)

Action Example: “We scrutinized the attrition data using a sophisticated statistical technique. Based on that, we generated profiles of employees who were leaving the company at a much faster rate than the average. We brainstormed on the root causes and came up with specific action plans in three key areas: selection, engagement, and leadership effectiveness. We implemented these insights in the form of an employee retention workshop with the help of the leadership team on the ground."

“R” or the “Results”: Just like the proof of the pudding is in eating, the proof of your accomplishment is in the results. This is where the value of your solution is demonstrated. Make them powerful also using action verbs. The results need to be believable, justifiable, and sustainable.

Result Example: “The result was a dramatic 40% improvement in employee retention in less than six months. There was an equally dramatic upsurge in customer satisfaction and quality scores of 10 percentage points. Most importantly, the enhanced retention was responsible for slashing more than $1.5 million in recruitment, training, quality, and productivity costs.”

Just because it looks simple doesn’t mean it’s easy. It is not! Also, this is the general framework and depending on the situation you will need to customize it. For a resume’ you will condense it to 2- 3 lines of summary only. For a behavioral interview, you could identify the competencies and prepare S.O.A.R. stories for each. For marketing collateral, you could easily prepare a 1-page glossy.

The line of thinking is very similar if you are in a one- to-one selling mode. There, you can’t be telling, but asking questions to understand the situation, problems, implications, and results that the buyer is looking for. More information on this topic can be found in my article “Telling Ain’t Selling” that was on the most popular list for weeks at MarketingProfs.com---a destination for nearly 200,000 sales and marketing professionals.

The Bottom Line: Nothing speaks louder than a success story that's confidently told.

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Personally Speaking...

I have a nice balcony on the second floor of my house. It overlooks a small mountain with a lot of beautiful wildlife such as quails, jackrabbits, squirrels, and even a coyote once in a while. Of course, there are lots of birds that inhabit a couple of large Ficus trees as well.

Well, these birds started perching on the railing of the balcony. And as birds do, they started doing their business while on it. Needless to say, this made for a rather ugly and smelly mess. This was going on for months. I simply didn’t know what to do.

Finally, I decided to try a low-tech approach. I went to Home Depot and picked up a couple of spools of monofilament line and twisted the line around the railing. Now when the birds sit on the railing, they are afraid that their feet will get caught in it. So they don't hang around much.

The problem was solved and the balcony is clean and beautiful again. (Cost: less than $5.)

The Bottom Line: Complex problems can have simple solutions!

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Disclaimer: "This written advice is absolutely intended to be used, and if used under expert supervision is known to improve organizational and individual effectiveness substantially."

© Abhay Padgaonkar 2007. All Rights Reserved.