Tag: surprise

Innovate with the Experience – Make it Memorable

We tend to focus our innovation efforts on new products, services or processes.  The questions we ask are:

*  How can we make our product better, cheaper or different?

*  How can we make our service better, easier or different?

These are always good questions to ask but sometimes we should try this question:

*  How can we make the experience of using our product or service memorable?

Our customers expect better products and services.  This is normal.  But if you can surprise them with an unexpectedly memorable experience they will be delighted and tell their friends.

Many big companies are trying this approach.  One example is McDonald’s.  They launched a ‘Pay with Lovin’ campaign which enabled customers chosen at random to get a free meal if they completed some assigned task such as calling their mother to say they loved her. This schmaltzy campaign generated some mockery but also tremendous coverage and publicity.

 

Mr Clean Car Wash introduced a water cannon for kids to fire water at cars.  Children love it.

And Coca Cola emphasized user experience with their Share a Coke – Name on the Bottle campaign.  This innovation has been rolled out worldwide.

 

Don’t just think about improving your product or service.  How can you delight your customers with an unexpected and memorable experience?

Don’t Get Obsessed with what went Wrong; Focus on what went Right.

In looking for improvements and innovations we tend to focus our attention on what went wrong. We try to fix problems. A typical management meeting consists of a group of people who are looking at what is not working and trying their hardest to come up with ways to put things right. But in the process they are often allocating blame, arguing, becoming negative and getting frustrated.

Most managers ask these kinds of questions:

o Why are sales down?

o What is holding up production?

o What can we do about customer complaints?

o What can I do about difficult staff?

o What is wrong with the current process?

o Where can we speed things up?

o How can we stop all these problems?

These are good questions and the problems have to be addressed. However, by focussing our attention on the negative we miss the innovation opportunities presented by the positive. We should also spend some time asking questions like these:

o What are our key strengths?

o What do customers like about us?

o What is going well?

o What unexpectedly good things have happened here recently?

o What new customers have we won?

o In what ways have we delighted customers?

o What is it that only we can do?

Caterpillar was a well-established leader in heavy earth-moving equipment. Then in 1996 they started selling a sideline, ‘Cat’ branded work boots. These were unexpectedly successful with young consumers who would never use or buy heavy Caterpillar machinery. By 2000 they were selling over 25 million pairs of boots. They have now branched out into other kinds of clothing and toys to exploit the Cat brand.

By focussing on our strengths and capabilities we can see positive opportunities. If we concentrate on fixing the current model then we can easily miss new possibilities. All our energies are going into alleviating problems and weaknesses – this denies us the chance to create new initiatives.

It is the same with people. When we are toddlers everyone praises us and tells us how wonderful all the things we do are. Then as we go through the school process things change and the emphasis switches, the errors in our work are pointed out and teachers tell us all the things we could better. This is well meant but the impact on fragile egos can be severe.

When we get to work we are at first acutely aware of our lack of experience and authority. At our annual appraisal we are told the things we need to focus on to improve. We plan training and coaching to improve our weak areas. Our strengths are taken for granted and development focuses on our weaknesses in order to make us ‘more rounded’.

But surely the key to success is to build on our strengths and to compensate for weaknesses. If we have a good voice but can’t dance then why try to become an all-rounder? Surely it is better to scrap the dancing lessons and put all our efforts into becoming a great singer.

In business we have to figure out what the true assets of the business are – what are our core strengths and abilities? What can we excel at? If we are great at marketing but lousy at administration then we should probably stop spending time and energy trying to get our administrative systems fixed. Outsource it to someone who is good at that and let’s concentrate on playing the game we are good at – marketing.

In addition to fixing what is wrong we should spend time examining what is right. Look for success stories, talk to delighted customers, ask them what makes us better than the others and then build on that. Find the right partners to compensate the areas where we are ordinary or weak and free up time to find creative new ways to exploit our strengths. We need to find unexpected and unusual things that we do really well because they can give us the competitive advantage we need. Let’s focus on what we are really good at and build our success on that.

Five Tips on Giving Staff Appraisals

If you are a manager in an organisation of any size then it is likely that you will give appraisals for your people at least once a year. Many managers approach these interviews with dread but, if they are done well, they should help you and the employee. Here are some hints and tips to make the task easier and more effective:

1. Ask the Empoyee to Assess Themself. Rather than launching straight into your appraisal why not start by asking the employee to give their appraisal of their performance in the preceding period? You will find that most people are quite accurate in their assessment of their performance and are aware of their achievements and shortfalls. Some are quite hard on themselves. Occasionally you get someone who plays games with you and claims they are wonderful when they know they are not – or worse someone who has a blind spot about their weaknesses. You have to show these people the evidence of any underperformance. However, for most employees, having them start the interview with their self-assessment gives you common ground and makes your job easier.

2. No Surprises. If you have been doing your job properly as a manager then there should be no surprises in the annual appraisal. If the person did things well during the year then you should have praised them there and then. If they missed objectives or showed serious shortcomings then you should have reviewed these at the time and agreed plans for improvement. If the employee is surprised by your appraisal at the end of the period that shows that your communication has not been as good as it should have been.

3. Prepare a Sandwich. Start your assessment of the employee with some praise for the good things they have achieved. If you have identified problems or improvement areas then introduce them after the initial phase. End the interview on a positive note where you point out that overall they are a valuable member of the team and that they can do even better if they follow the agreed actions. So put the problem areas in the middle of two slices of positive praise. The employee should leave the meeting freshly motivated and with a clear picture of what they need to do to succeed in the future.

4. Be Specific. If you are going to criticise any aspect of the employee’s performance then do not be vague; be specific. Give evidence and examples. Then explain what an improved performance would look like. E.g. do not just say, ‘your teamwork skills are poor.’ Go on to give some examples of where they could have helped the team more. Ask for their reaction. If they become defensive try to avoid an argument. The specific examples here should help. Try to agree a positive action plan for future improvement.

5. Seek Agreement. At each stage of the meeting you should seek agreement – on strengths, weaknesses, issues and action plans. The appraisal should be a dialogue. You should spend about 70% of the time talking about the past and some 30% of the time about the future. You should discuss how the employee can improve and grow; how they can take on new challenges and responsibilies.

The appraisal should be an honest and open assessment of what has happened in the preceding period and an agreed action plan for the future. If done properly it is helpful and motivational for both manager and employee.