Is success an issue of alignment?

I was discussing why partnerships and business relationships breakdown today and found myself referring back to some thoughts I had a while ago.

Given that so many business relationships breakdown (leading the stresses in the business and possibly leading to actual business failure) I realised how important work in this area might be.

In discussion today, we were reviewing all the relationships that had gone sour that we knew of and found it came down to three key reasons:

1. Breakdown in the alignment of personal values
Friendships in business are often based on shared personal values, or at the very least a mutual respect for each other, and if this is broken then it becomes very difficult for people to work together - starting often with an inability for individuals to listen to each other, which leads to bigger problems. This is about TRUST

2. Breakdown in the alignment of business values
The second biggest reason for failure in business relationships we felt were a breakdown in the business values - the way that people wanted to run the business. If one person wants to focus on selling 'anything the customer wants' - working with someone who wants to sell a 'quality and focused product' can be difficult. Also, the way they want to run the business (say, one wanting to sell and run and the other wanting to build long-term relationships), this leads to communication problems and ultimately to a breakdown in the relationship. This is about FOCUS.

3. Difference of Opinion about the Future of the Business
Having a shared vision for the business is the next most important reason for success, and breaking it is the third reason for relationship breakdown. One partner/director who wants the business to grow 20% per week will not be able to work successfully with someone who only wants to achieve a 'lifestyle' and therefore does not see growth as important). This leads to stresses in the business and ultimately to relationship breakdown. This is about VISION.

I am not putting this forward as a scientifically vigorous researched answer, only something that is based on some difficult experiences and I would welcome your thoughts on these issues too - what is your experience?

Compelling People to Change

Whilst you can never force people to change, in fact it is a sure fire way of getting very short term results, there is a need to compel them to change.

By this I mean creating a reason for why the change needs to happen and then 'making it real' for people so that they get over the immediate problem of 'so what' (as in 'So what? Why should I change what I am doing?')

Of course, even a compelling need will still encounter the problems of WIIFM (when people think 'what's in it for me?' - will it improve my life or make it worse?) but that is all about mentoring people into an improvement programme.

If you would like to see some examples of compelling statements that organisations have put together to inspire their people to change, drop me an email to markeaton(a)amnis-uk.com.

Kindest Regards,

Mark

How can you claim to be an expert when......

....you have done whatever it is only half a dozen times?

We expect Doctors, Firemen, Policemen, Teachers and others to know what they are doing - and it is clear when one of them is a beginner, but in terms of business transformation consultancy I found myself talking to a group of so called 'experts' when I discovered that they had hardly any real experience (and certainly no verifiable training in terms of qualifications or accredited training) and were pushing very low grade product direct to clients in the NHS - and some were buying it - in fact, quite a few were buying it!

Now - firstly I have to say, well done to the 'team' for selling a product like that, but I worry about the impact this sort of 'cowboy' behaviour has on the wider market for consultancy in the longer term.

In as much as one swallow does not make a summer, one or two 'Lean Events' does not make an expert!

Any thoughts?

The impact of emotions on performance

I have been putting off a job I have been asked to do for some weeks because I do not feel very happy about working on it.

In between, I have run (and enjoyed) workshops for the NHS, a consulting programme for tro trusts, a series of activities to support a Regional Development Agency and also finalised a book. I have approached all of these tasks with my usual degree of gusto - but for some reason I cannot get excited about the job I have been putting off.

The job in question is something which is not 'core' to what I want to achieve (it is about business planning rather than transformation), I am missing a lot of the background information that I need, it will be contentious - however I do it (!) and lastly, it has the potential to let others down by not being an exact fit with their requirements.........and this is preventing me from working on it.

The fact that I have felt so bad about this (relatively) small piece of work, whilst feeling so positive about other work I have been doing around it, shows the impact that emotions can have on performance.

If I were positive about the work, if I felt it would be beneficial to all those I am doing it for (rather than just some) and if I felt I had all the information required to do the job properly, I wonder how successful it would be?

What is your experience?

Gerry Robinson & the NHS

Having spoken to a wide range of people involved in the NHS about the Gerry Robinson programme of two weeks ago, I am aware that it has generated a lot of debate.

My own opinion, based on similar work in acute care, is that the problems he identified were typical problems and the solutions that were identified were typical solutions - no surprise there!

However, where I believe Gerry went wrong was in failing to provide a structure to enable incredibly intelligent, yet busy people, to move quickly from seeing the problem to implementing the solution. This is why it took so long and generated so much stress.

The role of a Change Agent in the NHS is to provide specialist structure, guidance and support to enable teams to see the problem and then see how to quickly implement a solution, and by providing this structure the results that Gerry achieved could have been achieved with fewer tears and much faster!

I also propose that his approach would have failed completely (because it would have run out of steam) without the pressure of the TV Cameras - but I would welcome your views........

Are electronic mistakes acceptable?

Today I made a mistake - not a big one, probably not even an important one, but a mistake none the less.

As I sit here reflecting on this minor hiccup, I begin to wonder whether making minor mistakes - 'Humanisms' - is becoming more or less acceptable in business. Typical, and common, mistakes in an electronic age include sending emails to the wrong person or sending something to someone 'in the clear' when it should have been in the BCC section (sent blind). These are two of a thousand different mistakes that are now possible to make, yet difficult to withdraw, through an electronic medium.

Less obvious problems occur with the transmission of emotion electronically with people misreading innocent text as aggressive because they put their own interpretation into it. Until we can find a way of transmitting sentiment along with sentence then it will be the cause of unneccessary arguments and broken relationships.

Given that the probability tht everyone will make an electronic mistake over the year, I wonder whether it is more acceptable to forgive someone who has made a mistake of this fashion in the knowledge that you will make the same mistake in the future.

I don't know the answer, but it is one hell of a question! What do you think?

Responding to requests

I am increasingly asked by clients and potential clients for simple guides that explain about the different approaches to improvement (which I generally view as Lean, Six Sigma and Risk Management).

In responding to these requests, I have completed three e-books as follows:

• Lean for Practitioners - a guide for practitioners and those tasked with leading Lean Improvements to the secrets of Lean and how to implement it in the service sector and NHS
• Introduction to Lean, Six Sigma & Risk Management - a beginners text on each of the three approaches to improvement and how they can be integrated
• Sustaining Lean Improvement - looking at the four aspects of successful Lean and how to engage the team, transform cultures and sustain improvements, this guide is for advanced users of Lean and for those who's Lean Improvement Programmes have stalled

For further details and an order form, drop me an email via our website (www.amnis-uk.com).

I look forward to hearing from you and wish you a Happy New Year.

A balanced approach to consulting

I was reflecting during a discussion with a client this week about different approaches to consulting.

At the one extreme is complete 'facilitative' Consulting - which is all about helping the team to work together to find the way forward but not providing much in the way of structure. In some environments this is a very valuable approach to consulting, normally where the team has a known outcome and they have the skills to get there and need a neutral chairman to sort it out. However, in most improvement environments this approach is far too passive as the team often need guidance on how to move forward and the next steps to take.

At the other extreme is the 'directive' approach to consulting, what is often termed the 'Screaming Sensei' who instructs the team what to do and then makes sure it happens. In some extreme environments (such as a high risk environment when safety is at risk and the Sensei is an expert or where insurmountable obstacles are being presented to improvement) but generally the Screaming Sensei will be far too directive for sustainable improvement to occur and will normally lead to quick gains that disappear just as quick as soon as the pressure is removed.

Life needs to be in balance between these two extremes. Successful consulting, where improvements are to be sustained, need to provide the support of a facilitative approach and the expert guidance of the directive approach, but without the extremes of behaviour of either end.

What are you looking for in your consultant?

From products to services

I was chairing a meeting of the IOM's Operations Development Panel (ODP) this afternoon at Cranfield University. The ODP aims to shape thinking in Operations Management across a range of sectors and one of the topics we were exploring was 'Product Servicisation' which is where companies look to stop selling products and start selling competences.

The classic example is Rolls Royce who sell 'power by the hour' on their aero-engines, so clients have access to the value (a working engine) but avoid the liability. For many companies trying to compete on price, this approach offers the option to differentiate themselves in the market, although it requires careful planning on cashflow and having a robust model.

Cranfield are working on a two year research programme to look at the most effective way of helping companies to 'servicise' their operations and also helping service sector companies to develop products that sell and I look forward to supporting them in this research.

Making that final investment decision

Even though many organisations are seriously unhappy with their organisational performance there is always a certain level of doubt about making an investment to make it better.

For most organisations investing in a physical piece of equipment seems to be much more palatable - yet investing in expert consultancy or training support at a fraction of the cost is often subjected to more scrutiny. I know the argument that if you have a piece of equipment it has a residual value - but that is the folly of many purchases as it is often extremely difficult to realise the value that second hand equipment have on the books!

I suppose the concern comes from whether or not you are buying quality support and consulting, unlike many commodity items, is not the same irrespective of the price. I will explain this point - you would expect a TV you purchased for £50 to work as much as you would a TV for £5,000 - the picture and features might be different but fundamentally they will both work. In consulting terms the same is not true - you can pay £50 and get a 'non functioning product' - much the same as you can for a £5,000 consulting project!

This does not make it easier to buy consulting, it actually makes it harder! Coming back to the first point I made, it is very difficult to make a decision about consultancy and many, many organisations have been caught out by being sold the 'corporate package' by a well dressed partner only to have the service delivered by a poor quality graduate.

To make the right decisions I would suggest the following five points:

1. Ask who will deliver the project - and meet them to ensure you like them
2. Buy in stages (with get out clauses) so you can terminate if you are not happy
3. Understand exactly the process/methodology they will follow
4. Ask for references - they don't all need to be directly relevant but they do need to 'stack up'
5. Get 1st hand feedback from the people working with the consultants on a regular basis

Of course, you could always go and spend £500,000 on a machine - but I would always say pay £5,000 on consultancy to identify whether you need to actually buy the equipment at all!

Repetition and (no) Deviation creates Hestitation

Stealing shamelessly from BBC Radio 4's 'Just a Minute', I have modified the rules for the game to highlight a problem that came up in a workshop I was attending today at Earl's Court.

Doing the same thing over and over again makes people an expert at undertaking that task, but in the longer term - when variation is required - this repetition creates a 'furrow' into which people channel their energies - making it hard for them to create the new patterns of working that are needed.

In the worst cases, the desire to continue doing what has been done before (without deviation) delays the organisation's ability to react to the changing circumstances and prevents improvement. This hesitation can be devastating to the long term health of the organisation.

The cure is often hard bear for some people in that it requires them to accept (and perhaps even value) failure, errors and divergent thinking - something that people normally get fired for in many corporates!

But to be clear, this disruption is different to devastation - which will be the topic of a later post!

Strategy Drives Improvement?

Earlier this week I was due to run a workshop but because of a mix up I had to allow someone else to do it for me.

The topic was to explore the linkage between Strategy and Improvement and in planning for the event (which ultimately I did not undertake), I was given the time to reflect on another reason why improvement programmes go wrong - this being that the various areas improved have no impact on the organisational trajectory and therefore the net effect is like the proverbial 'arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic'.

An example I was made aware of was given me by a friend last night who had worked with one of the 'Big 5' consultancies and had been tasked with transforming the administrative processes in the business's headquarters in Switzerland. Very quickly he realised that the real problems lay with the root and branch sales activities which were spread out across Europe. However, he diligently worked through the improvement programme, charging some £500k, and the overall effect on the bottom line was nothing as the company ran out of cash and closed.

This demonstrates that if you choose to improve the wrong thing, you will improve nothing! Therefore, being clear about the Strategic Issues facing the business is almost more important that rapidly moving to action and actually doing something!

Increase in Productivity or Increase in Intrusion?

I am writing this on a train coming back from a business development weekend in Scotland - the train is moving and I am sitting here wondering whether the fact that I have cleared my emails, dealt with a client proposal for the NHS and am now writing a blog entry is an increase in productivity or just an increase in the levels of intrusion into my 'personal space'.

At present, I am feeling quite good about the experience in that I know when I finally get home at around midnight tonight that I will not have to deal with any emails and can just go to bed -but if I were here with a friend, had a good book to read or just did not feel like working, I would probably feel that the ability to access WiFi/Emails during the journey would be an intrusion, nagging away at me - asking for me to deal with issues.

In business, having a clear delineation between 'work time' and 'play time' (the latter which could include creative time) is vital - but the line between the two is disappearing. On Tuesday I have a meeting which we have had to book a room in a hotel to avoid being disturbed, but even there we will probably be interupted by mobiles and the occasional message at the hotel.

I worry that this blurring of work and play will have a serious impact on organisational performance as individuals have less and less time to themselves and less time to be creative - but for now I am just enjoying the ability to travel and work!

Success in Healthcare

Last Friday I was delighted to host a meeting of one of the Ecademy clubs I belong too (CEN). The event focused on issues relevant to Healthcare and we had a great mix of people, including some with extensive 'in house' expertise of working in the NHS.

What we discovered is that (not unsurprisingly) the opportunity for improvement is great, especially in the area of sustainable improvement (using a variety of tools such as Lean etc). It is perhaps one of the best environments for leading change - you have motivated and skilled people who share a common aim (delivering patient care).

However, the issues of 'improvement fatigue (IF)' and changing public priorities will make it a long and slow process to implement (and sustain) the benefits that individual trusts can realise.........fancy joining us to help make it happen?

Loyalty in Adversity

When things start to go wrong in relationships (whether personal or business), loyalty becomes a very important issue.

If you have built up relationships with your network, when things start to go wrong they will support you - whether you are right or wrong - but when you haven't built the relationship, or if you use up all of your 'emotional credit', the loyalty and support is not there everything becomes much harder.

In change, it is important to have a relationship with the people you are working with so that when things start to 'get sticky' (and they will), they support the change.

The Duke of Wellington had a great saying which emphasises the power of loyalty and training and went something like, "When other Generals make a mistake they are beaten, but when I make a mistake my troops pull me through."

When things go wrong, who will support your change programme?

Buzzword Bingo

It is a very worrying fact that a lot of consultants use very complex language. Well, it isn't even limited to just consultants, but to pseudo- academics and pompous people of all persuasions!

Is it because they like the sounds of the words or because they do not really know the answer and need to use complexity to mask stupidity? In my time, I have worked with both groups of people, some of them even believing that they were really impressing others by using 'complex interactive knowledge processes' when in reality they were boring the others rigid and demonstrating quite the reverse of what they were hoping - instead of appearing intellectual, they appear confused and instead of appearing dynamic they appear boring.

I was prompted to write this entry by a good friend emailing me the link to Buzz Phraser which is, I am sure, where these people get their words from!

Every experience is unique

If you think about it, everything we experience is completely unique.

Where we are sat in a room of people is unique and therefore the acoustics at that point is unique. The way our brain processes the sound and then our conscious and sub-conscious analyse the sound into concepts we can understand is completely unique.

Two people sitting side by side listening to a speaker on a training workshop will both experience different events, take different learning and have different emotions.

This makes communicating such a fascinating topic for a consultant such as me - how do you ensure that the message you are transmitting is the message they are receiving - and how do you ensure that the activity you are leading is the activity they are needing.......

I don't have the answer, I only pose the question......

Random Connection

I realised yesterday that all the important people in my life (other than brothers, uncles, aunties and children) I have met because of a random connection.

In a family context, I met my wife because she happened to be at a mutual friend's house when I was and in a business context, one of my business partners I met because I decided to try a different form of networking event.

Subsequently, these random connections lead to a wide range of things such as children, contracts, further introductions and friendships, but the root of all success comes from a random connection.

In analysing why this is an important message, it is because the more random connections you make, the more success you will have - but the real issue is pushing yourself to go and make those connections!

On a different issue, have you seen my other blog on Lean Sigma (called Flexiblean - pronounced Flexible Lean)

20 Year Complacency

I was preparing some materials for an event that I am speaking at next week (download the brochure here) and realised that we are possibly heading toward another period of complacency in the UK.

In the 1950's, there is a lot of historical evidence about the fact that UK industry were complacent about the impact that the rising quality and productivity of Japan would have on us and in the 1960's/70's it killed off our motorcycle industry (for all intents and purposes) and a lot of our electronics and automotive industry as well.

In the 1970's we were complacent about the Asian revolution, joking about the quality of what they were capable of and in the 1980's and 90's they stripped our manufacturing and are now advancing on our service industries.

In the 1990's we were complacent about the rise of China saying they would be become the 'low cost but low tech' outsourcing centre of the world and today they are encroaching upon our high tech industries and sectors.

As we move toward the 2010's, I am beginning to wonder whether we are facing another period of complacency in the UK....perhaps because of the impact of Eastern Europe, the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India & China) or even the Middle East or Africa - maybe it will not happen at all but history seems to be against us on that!

Stress + Depressed = No Success

Individuals who are stressed under-perform - everyone knows that - hence the growth in stress coaches, but have you considered that organisational health and levels of stress also affect performance?

Organisations which are feeling the squeeze find it difficult to focus on the longer game and it permeates through to the individuals working in the organisation, which in terms affects their performance and hence the results achieved by the business.

This is not about 'benchmarking', but is purely a matter of fact that organisational stress is a real phenomena and has a major impact on the results achieved - any comments?