blog

Profoundly Effective Organizations

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:22:51 +0100

“There are two ingredients in successful organizations: Smart & Healthy.

It is almost impossible to build a competitive advantage

based on knowledge because it is too easy to copy.

Very few organizations are healthy enough to tap into the knowledge that is there.”

The truth in this quote is so powerful that I can’t stop thinking about it.

How many organizations do you know that are desperately seeking solutions and yet continually ignore the wisdom of their customers, their employees and the opportunities within their own culture?

As a part of a recent organizational development project, I met individually with everyone involved, and was not surprised to find that each person was very intelligent and capable of making a significant difference.

The day we met for the first time as a group we talked about the enormous challenge facing the group:

· Getting people from FIVE DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS to function as one.

As the day progressed and we began to analyze the dynamics of an extraordinary team, the truth in the quote above became even more powerful:

· Individually the people in the room brought their wisdom and their talents.

· Individually they had incredible insight from a variety of perspectives.

However, it was only when we connected ALL of their individual thoughts that the power of this quote jumped off the wall and paraded around in front of us!

· Collectively they have every answer they are seeking.

· And collectively they could write a bestseller that would help others.

The secret is that they have to intentionally create something so healthy that they constantly tap into that collective knowledge by listening and responding to each other.

So how about your organization…

· Does it surprise you to think that the answers you seek may be within your reach?

· How can you intentionally create such a healthy culture that you build a profound competitive advantage?

· What will you do today, to make a difference?

What Is Your Culture SCREAMING To Your New Hires?

Thu, 10 May 2012 01:48:25 +0100

John recently started a new job.

In his first week on the job, some of his new peers take him aside to warn him about one particular person that he will work closely with. They go on to share that anyone who has ever been hired in a position similar to his, has consistently been driven out of the organization by this person.

A few days later someone in the community advises John that he should not trust ANYONE in the organization that he is now employed by.

Before the end of John’s second week on the job, the person he was originally “warned” about opens a conversation with these words, “Just between you and me, what do you think of ________?”

Additionally in spite of his short tenure, John has become aware that staff at all levels of this organization believe that the executives have a history of "shooting the messenger" instead of investigating opportunities to improve.

So tell me:

· What is this culture SCREAMING to new hires?

· Have you ever worked in a culture like this?

· If you were John what would you do?

· If you were an executive in this organization, how would you diagnose, treat and prevent this cancer from spreading to more of your organization?

Join the Discussion Here.

What are your thoughts about creating organizational change?

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:02:34 +0100

Ken Blanchard says there are 3 steps to creating change - Impacting knowledge, then attitude, then behavior.

My understanding of his concept is this:
• When others hear you share a powerful vision, you begin to impact their knowledge.
• When they see you modeling the behavior you just described, you begin to impact their attitude.
• When they choose to participate in the vision, you have impacted their behavior.

Organizational Change is created and sustained only when all three actions are consistently practiced throughout the entire organization.

What are your thoughts about creating and sustaining organizational change? Join The Conversation Here .

7 Reasons Your Organization Should Take The Air Out Of Its Tires

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:13:18 +0100

Several years ago I heard a great analogy about a truck that was driving on a narrow mountain road and got stuck trying to enter a tunnel. The truck could not move forward or backward. Experts tried for hours to figure out what to do. Finally a small child asked, “Why don’t you take the air out of the tires?” That simple solution worked.

In our current economy, we are all aware of organizations that are like that truck. They were moving down the road and got stuck. Now they can’t figure out how to get out of their present situation to meet their objectives.

Like the experts in the story, many organizations are so close to the situation that they can’t see the obvious. Some are so afraid of political ramifications that they do nothing. And sadly many others are unwilling to seek simple solutions and embrace opportunities to work with others to achieve greater results.

Below are several REAL examples:

1. Executives repeatedly dismiss an opportunity to increase revenue because it’s viewed as “low hanging fruit”.

· Years later that opportunity is implemented and adds over 10 Million in revenue to the organization.

2. Customers ask an organization to improve their effectiveness for more than 20 years, sometimes settling for less than what they need and sometimes traveling a great distance to get what they need from a competitor.

· Partially because the customers and the organization don’t speak the same language.

· And partially because no one in the organization is empowered to make a difference anyway.

· Plans are now being made to address that opportunity.

3. Employees share specific concerns with executives for more than 5 years about the ineffectiveness of their tools and the need for tools that will help them serve customers with more efficiency.

· Nothing changes.

· When crisis hits, it is impossible to achieve the company objectives and brand loyalty suffers.

4. Repeated customer requests cause an organization to spend millions to create a state of the art program that is a huge competitive advantage.

· After initiating the program, the organization fails to communicate what has been done and why, both internally and externally. So their own sales, marketing, and a majority of their operations teams are out of the loop; as are the customers themselves.

· Within a couple of years the baby is thrown out with the bathwater.

5. An executive is unwilling to work with a customer seeking a strong strategic partnership, because the customer does not have a big enough title to be worthy of his time.

· So instead of facilitating a strong alliance with an organization that is significantly more powerful than his own, the executive becomes a roadblock.

· As a result the attempted partnership starts and stops, and starts and stops, but never gains momentum and never reaches its full potential.

6. Managers that work in different departments have daily opportunities to serve each other at a high level.

· Their bosses frequently talk smack about each other.

· They follow the example that has been set for them. Spending more time in turf battles than aiding each other.

· As a result their teams and their customers frequently get caught in the cross-fire.

· Customer service and organizational effectiveness become less important than winning the daily battle.

7. An organization has an opportunity to increase brand awareness, brand loyalty and revenue a minimum of 25%, for work they are already doing.

· All they need to do is adjust their vision and processes.

· Their future has not yet been written…

What if…

The solution you seek begins by taking the air out of your tires?

***************

Thanks to Jon Mertz for his thoughts in Pocket Change Leadership: How do you use change?

5 Reasons Curious Leadership Will Strengthen Your Organization

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:37:55 +0100

5 Reasons Curious Leadership Will Strengthen Your Organization

View more presentations from Chery Gegelman

Accepting the TENSION Between Vision & Reality

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 07:23:59 +0100

Lay Down the WIIFM (What's In It For Me) And GROW!

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:03:22 +0100

As I consider the intense pressure that most organizations are currently under to cut budgets, maintain programming, keep morale up and improve results I am convinced that partnerships are a critical part of the answers they are seeking.

Unfortunately we live in a society that has encouraged us to focus so much on ourselves that we are oblivious to the rest of the world.

As the daughter of a small business owner I was aware that there was an endless stream of organizations that would call expecting to receive donations and sponsorships. And as soon as they received the thing they were seeking, most of them would disappear until they were planning their next fund-raiser.

Years later I worked for an organization that consistently asked others to open their doors, to give their time and to give their support. However, instead of engaging in reciprocal partnerships that would stretch and multiply both organizations, rarely did they offer anything in return. It was embarrassing. It was frustrating. And they missed so many opportunities.

According to Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman customers seek 4 things: Accuracy, Availability, Partnership and Advice. Did you catch it? The greatest value you can offer others - may not cost you anything!

Think about your customers, your suppliers, and the people in your network.

What processes and procedures can you tweak that will improve your accuracy or your availability for them?

Is there a way for you to partner with them and help them generate revenue?

What do you know that they don’t that would help them be more successful?

Great partnerships stretch resources and maximize results for everyone!

What kinds of outcomes will you create?

RISK AHEAD

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:13:47 +0100

In the first few months that my husband and were dating, we attended a retreat together. At one point in the weekend we were given a poem, and asked to read it to everyone in attendance.

Several months later I made a copy of that poem and sent it to him in basic training. Through 22 years of marriage, multiple relocation's and life changes, that poem has continuously sat in our library of memories.

This week I was thinking of friends who are experiencing failing health and nearing their final years on earth. In a recent conversation the husband cried with regret about all the years they spent working to accumulate, wishing instead that they had taken more vacations together. I thought of others that are afraid to travel, some that are simply afraid to express their love for each other, and some that are facing major life decisions.

So I dug out the scrapbook and read it again. The message is so simple, and yet it seems to grow more powerful each time I read it. Today I am sharing it with you encouraging you to take the risk. You may not win every time but you will be wiser, you will be stronger, and will have more precious moments to savor…

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach out for another is to risk involvement.

To expose feeling is to risk exposing your true self.

To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd, is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To hope is to risk despair.

To try is to risk failure.

But risk MUST be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing.

He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.

Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave; he has forfeited freedom.

Only a person who risks is free.

(Author Unknown)

People are not toothpaste tubes.

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:04:05 +0100

“The world is crying out for leaders who build up, nurture & enhance; rather than tear down, exploit and dominate.” Laurie Beth Jones

As the recession gained momentum, I heard an analogy from a manager about how a tube of toothpaste can seem empty but if you keep squeezing there is a little more in there. The point that was being made, was that if you keep squeezing people, you will get more out of them and that you should just keep squeezing.

That image still makes my stomach churn.

· People are not toothpaste tubes.

· You don’t squish them and throw them away!

Instead of squishing them, fill them: Provide vision, purpose, knowledge and support.

· You will inspire confidence, expectation and hope.

· You will unleash their hearts, their knowledge, their creativity and their reserves.

· Everyone will have more fun.

· And together, you will produce results that are greater than anyone imagined possible.

What will you do today to pour into and build up the people that you serve?

Discover THE Solution

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:59:42 +0100

In the book First Break All The Rules, Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman stress that customers seek 4 things: “Accuracy, Availability, PARTNERSHIP & ADVICE.” I love to give and receive great service. However, I have to admit that although accuracy and availability seem like obvious customer service ingredients, there was a time that I had not considered the importance or the value of developing reciprocal partnerships. Then one day a CUSTOMER asked me what he could do for me. In the moment, I was incredibly honored and completely clueless about how to answer him. It did not take long, however, for his question to spark an evolution as I learned the value of strong partnerships and in the process gained a both a mentor and a friend. His question transformed my thinking and my results. In the years since then, I have come to believe that while accuracy and availability are common sense ingredients in a customer driven organization, most have not tapped into the flood of benefits that come from strong partnerships and sharing valuable advice.

A little over a week ago I attended the Chick-fil-A LEADERcast event. Towards the end of the day the CEO of Coca-Cola, Muhtar Kent; and the COO of Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy; entered the stage together. They clearly share a special and unique partnership that is built on a commitment to serving each other’s organizations.

Kent shared two things that resonated with me on a deep level:

1. He shared a belief that we need better collaboration between business, government and civil society.

2. And he shared a question he continually asks himself, “How can we be a revenue generator for our partners?”

Both of his thoughts emphasize not only his desire to be a servant leader. I believe they emphasize THE Solution so many organizations are desperately seeking.

· By partnering with customers, suppliers and the community they are in.

· And asking each other, "How can we serve you?"

· Knowledge and creativity is shared and discoveries are made that cut cost and increase customer loyalty, branding, efficiency and revenue.

Intel asks this of their suppliers, “Take the lead, take the initiative, get involved in our operations, suggest things you can provide that will help both our strategic objectives, show us that you understand our business, and can help us improve it.”

What kind of solutions will you create?

Take the Lead, Take the Initiative, Get Involved

Discover THE Solution!