Innovative Express

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

February 2007

In this issue:

Revisiting Past Issues
Winning Through People: A Case Study
Personally Speaking...

I hope that you are off to a good start for the new year, although it may seem like a distant memory now.

In 2005-2006, I consulted on a project for a blue-chip client. I am thrilled to report that the project just won the 2006 Excellence in Practice Citation from the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) in the Performance Improvement category! The ASTD Board of Directors will honor the winners at an awards ceremony and reception in June, 2007 in Atlanta during ASTD’s International Conference. The winning practices will also be featured in an awards booklet distributed at the conference and posted on the ASTD Website.

I am particularly proud because the Excellence in Practice applications go through a “blind” review process conducted by a panel of experts from companies in the ASTD Benchmarking Forum, ASTD staff, and other training, learning, and performance improvement experts. In other words, the reviewers neither know the name of the company nor the industry, and as a result the winners are decided purely on merit. The Excellence in Practice Citations are presented for practices from which much can be learned, have strong evaluation plans, meet a demonstrated need, and have appropriate design values. They recognize organizations for results achieved through the use of practices and interventions.

The current issue of Innovative Express shares this case study of “Winning Through People.” One thing to keep in mind is that in any initiative of this scope, size, and complexity you have to fire on more than one cylinder. Also, and this is especially true in large companies, simple is not synonymous with easy. To prove that at least one consultant eats what he cooks, I have used the SOAR methodology discussed in the November, 2006 newsletter, to describe this case study! Inspired to agree, disagree, or otherwise comment? Have an interesting story to share? We hope that you will let us know your thoughts.

Abhay Padgaonkar
President, Innovative Solutions Consulting, LLC

Revisiting Past Issues

No, I don’t mean personal “issues.” I want to provide recent updates on a couple of topics discussed in the past issues of Innovative Express.

The September 2006 issue discussed the case study of HP vs. Dell and how and why the companies were going in different directions. In late January, Dell announced that Michael Dell would assume the duties of Chief Executive Officer replacing Kevin Rollins.

In the January 2007 issue I discussed how India is no longer a sleeping giant. The late Milton Friedman, Nobel laureate in economics, granted an interview to The Wall Street Journal in July, 2006. Milton Friedman died on Nov. 16, 2006 at age 94. Here is an excerpt from Q&A exchange he had by email—shortly after their meeting—with his interviewer, Tunku Varadarajan, the Journal's editorial features editor.

India -- how do you assess its prospects?

Friedman: Fifty years ago, as a consultant to the Indian minister of finance, I wrote a memo in which I said that India had a great potential but was stagnating because of collectivist economic policies. India has finally started to disband those collectivist policies and is reaping its reward. If they can continue dismantling the collectivist policies, their prospects are very bright.

Any thoughts on a China versus India comparison?

Friedman: Yes. Note the contrast. China has maintained political and human collectivism while gradually freeing the economic market. This has so far been very successful but is heading for a clash, since economic freedom and political collectivism are not compatible. India maintained political democracy while running a collectivist economy. It is now unwinding the latter, which will strengthen freedom of all kinds, so in that respect it is in a better position than China.

Winning Through People: A Case Study

Situation: Sometimes, lack of a visible problem itself can be a problem. That was, in fact, the case for this 2,000+ person strong unit of a blue-chip client. Because there was no “burning platform” to speak of and nothing obviously “broken,” everyone had become accustomed to and had taken for granted the unit’s steady performance in employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and financial profitability. Without any visible pain, a sense of complacency had taken effect. As the old adage “squeaky wheel gets the grease” would suggest, the resources, investments, and management attention were diverted to more pressing issues and challenges faced by other units in the division.

Obstacles: Laissez’ faire attitude was not the only obstacle. A unique staffing situation in this key business unit presented a serious challenge as well. The employees were scattered throughout the U.S. in hundreds of locations in nearly 500 separate offices. Over 400 locations had an average employee presence of only two employees. Reaching out to this employee population was extremely difficult and costly. Connecting with them emotionally was even harder. A recent acquisition had also created walls and melding of different cultures—one with an easy- going, customer focused attitude and the other with a more bureaucratic, profit-driven approach.

Actions: Recognizing that many factors contributing to the performance challenge were interrelated, the leadership team took a holistic, employee-centered approach to involve and engage the entire staff. The practice created a common purpose to rally a remote workforce. Multiple communication vehicles articulated the necessity of change. A one-page business plan helped paint a clear vision of the future. Online assessments, train- the trainer sessions, and cascading coaching/feedback meetings taught the “soft” skills of improving customer interaction. A Customer Satisfaction Toolkit captured step-by-step, practical guidance from experienced peers. More specifically, we took the following actions.

Communication: We used multiple communication vehicles to connect with the frontline staff such as Mission Statement Contest, Monthly Newsletter, Mailbox, Roving Reporters, People Calls, Radio Talk Show, and Employee Town Halls.
Personalized Assessments: We rolled out a DISC- based customer service version of a behavioral assessment, which identified work style—the “how” of a person’s observable behaviors, namely, how they dealt with people, problems, pace, and procedures. Through this assessment and the primer, employees learned about their natural and adapted customer service, problem solving, and communication styles; tips to identify customers with different styles; and strategies to interact effectively with others who may be different from them.
Tracking: Tracking reports were continuously published during the 4-week assessment period to generate enthusiasm (and some healthy competition) and get the word out without making the assessments mandatory. Over 90% of the employees took part voluntarily.
Train-the-Trainer: Every team leader, manager, and director attended a train-the-trainer session and received a toolkit that explained how to interpret the assessment reports, how to prepare for the coaching session with their employees, the do’s and don’ts of conducting the actual session, how to gain commitment, and how to conduct follow-up sessions.
Coaching and Feedback: Everyone was encouraged to hold the coaching/feedback sessions one level below in a cascading manner. In addition to the direct benefit of the employees learning more about themselves and how they were seen by their customers and colleagues, the rich dialog helped in building trust and strengthening the associate-team leader bond.
Practical Guidance: The customer satisfaction toolkit provided step-by-step, practical, and user- friendly guidance from experienced peers in the FAQ format on key topics such as measurement, root cause analysis, prioritization, planning, execution, and maintenance.
Performance Reporting: We reported progress against established goals in the employee, customer, and shareholder categories on a regular basis.

All in all, rather than putting all the eggs in the “training” basket, a more comprehensive and integrative approach was used to drive and sustain performance improvement.

Results: The results have been nothing short of astounding.

Employees: Employee Satisfaction in all 14 dimensions exceeded the point-of-arrival benchmarks set at the company level by an average of 8 percentage points, including the highest possible ratings on all three components for Values, Engagement, and Diversity. The overall “% Favorable” score has increased from 74 in 2004 to 80 in 2005 to 85 in 2006.
Customers: There was an equally dramatic upsurge in the customer satisfaction scores. The Top-Box scores (% of customers reported to have been completely satisfied) broke through an unprecedented barrier and have remained above it continuously and have continued to rise.
Shareholders: The unit contributed handsomely to the bottom line with a slight increase in profitability margins in a very challenging and competitive industry environment.

The Bottom Line: The best interests of the employees, customers, and shareholders are neither disparate nor are they a zero-sum game; however, it does take caring, passionate, and creative leadership to unlock the synergies.

Personally Speaking...

I had a local company for weekly pool service to make sure all the right chemicals were added at the right time to my swimming pool. Since I work from home, I used to see the person drive up, check and add chemicals as necessary, and drive off. Occasionally, I used to go out and talk with them about some problem or question related to the pool. After a while I noticed that every few weeks there was a new kid coming by.

I talked to one about his job. He wasn’t happy. He complained about how he was paid a trifle amount per pool when the customers where being charged many times more than that. He grumbled about the number pools on his route and how long it took for him to finish the work. He went on to tell me that I didn’t really need to use the pool service if I went and bought a test kit from a store nearby. Now it made all the sense why there was a revolving door and why the company had trouble keeping their employees.

So I took his advice and canceled the contract that I had pre-paid for a full year!

The Bottom Line: Disengaged employees make lousy ambassadors of your company!

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."