Cliff and Cleo approached us this week with the following message:
Your business depends on creativity as it relates to leadership and business performance, right?
You are working on creative and fresh communication formats that help leaders embrace change, "see the obvious" amidst their daily onslaught, communicate more effectively, and realize they are not alone in their challenges.
(1) Take risks. (2) Invest small and get feedback quickly. (3) Adjust quickly.
We would be remiss if we didn't tell you: Cliffhanger is not what your readers want.
What your readers want more than ever in times of greater uncertainty, is positive, straight-up advice, delivered consistently, that they can apply easily in their business. They like your tools. They come here for learning and practical value.
We feel it would be best to take a nice long vacation from your blog, and let you speak directly to your readers about the topics of interest to them:
Change. Innovation. Collaboration.
Lisa and Gerry welcome you back to the original format of this blog: Short, crisp ideas on a single topic each week, often paired with a tool you can use in a meeting, or print and reflect on.
This week, the topic is the "opposing complements" of innovation and implementation.
At a recent conference, we defined Innovation as:
New Ideas + Effective Implementation + Positive Impact on Business = Innovation
Most large companies are struggling with strong Return-on-Innovation to grow their top line.
Most entrepreneurial companies have good ideas but lack the disciplined systems to implement fast and effectively.
In the end, innovation is the alchemy that occurs when you balance ideas and implementation well. In a time when research studies show that 85% of projects fail to deliver their intended ROI, working on this equation is a significant opportunity for almost every business. Imagine what would happen to your bottom line if you could create even a 10% or 20% improvement in the straight line between ideas and profit!
In a series of interviews we conducted recently on this subject, we found one of the most common barriers is not what you would expect. Most people name "scope" or lack of sponsorship as broad issues that derail projects.
But there is an even more fundamental root cause that is very damaging to projects. It is something we call the "Elephant Factor." This is where "Ideas" and "Implementation" go from potential best friends to enemies. It looks something like this:
LEADER: The customer is concerned we haven't delivered the specs for the module upgrade yet.
TEAMMATES: Yeah, we were just talking about that. We got waylaid by Project X this week. But we think we have the answer now.
LEADER: Great! What can I tell the customer?
TEAMMATES: Tell him we'll have something definitely positively in the solution realm to show them next week.
A week later:
LEADER: How's it going?
TEAMMATES: Well ... that solution we had in mind didn't really work. In fact, we actually wondered if it would.
LEADER: So, why did you tell me it would?
TEAMMATES: We were afraid to disappoint you.
The conversation in your organization may not happen exactly like this, depending on your culture. But Elephants sit in many, many offices across businesses today, and people talk around them as if they don't exist. One side agrees to promises that appease the other side, knowing they can't deliver. One side feels they don't have power. The other side thinks nobody is accountable. Both sides are frustrated.
To avoid "Who's on First" Albott and Costello communication in your business and keep projects moving along, one simple remedy gets a lot of mileage.
Establish and live by two ground rules:
1) Did we tell the truth in a way that built trust? (This can be as simple as asking a question to clarify the meaning and intention. Name the Elephant but don't be harsh with the Elephant. In the above example, the Leader may have asked: "Can you tell me more about what you think would work?")
2) Did we create a "Clear Distinct Future" that everyone can depend on? (Often, agreements stay at a high level, are open to interpretation, and people say them without intending to do them. In the above example, the Leader may have asked: "If you were talking directly to the customer, what could you comfortably promise about the next steps, that builds trust and avoids us going back again with disappointing news?" The Teammates might have asked "What day next week do you need something from us, and what do you think would give the customer a sense we are working on the solution?
To create a shorter pathway from ideas --> profit, you need to open up the lines of communication to:
(1) Take risks.
(2) Invest small and get feedback quickly.
(3) Adjust quickly.
Even if you cannot give your customer 100% of what they want, everything moves faster when people break down barriers of hierarchy and function, share feedback, and engage in truthful, relevant conversation with the outcome of satisfying needs, versus finger-pointing and misunderstanding.
Try this exercise:
Put the above two questions on a post-it note somewhere in your desk area this week, with 2 columns next to each: (1) Yes and (2) No.
Ask these two questions of yourself, every time you communicate with a colleague, your boss, or an employee. Just make a slash mark in Column 1 if the answer is "Yes," or in Column 2 if it's "No." Nobody is going to check your work. Be honest.
Ask yourself at the end of the week: What did you learn?
And keep an eye out for those Elephants.
We'll keep the ideas coming. The implementation is up to you.
Best,
Gerry and Lisa
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