Managing Through The “Rear View Mirror”…a dangerous practice for any business!

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Bob Champagne

You’d never drive only looking backwards…

Would you?

…Only if it’s a straight road, no traffic, and blue skies ahead; and even then, it’d be pretty dangerous and ill advised. But on any other road, doing that would almost certainly spell disaster.

It’s the same in business. And while it may sound like common sense, it’s amazing how many executives and operating managers are doing just that by the way they operate their performance management process.

Defining the metrics that guide your journey…

Over the past few decades, I’ve worked with hundreds of organizations to help drive their business improvement through the smart application of performance measurement and management practices. This work has literally run the gamut, from showing them how to use relevant benchmarks to supporting them in their target setting, to literally ripping apart and reconstructing their scorecards and dashboards.

While there are a lot of other facets to good performance management (many of which I discuss on this blog)- from establishing “line of sight” between corporate strategies and operating activities, to better integrating stakeholders within the EPM process (IT, HR, Finance et al)- the area in which my clients have had the highest impact still lies in the basic practice of measurement: that is, selecting the right measures to track, and committing to effective reporting and tracking of those indicators. Yes it’s still true…What gets measured gets managed!

But some of us are still driving backwards…

I’ve worked for so long in the measurement arena, that it has almost become second nature to me, as it has for many companies who do it well. But every now and then, I’ll read a post or an article that reminds me of just how shallow some of the thinking still is in this arena, and the degree to which many businesses still underestimate or undervalue the importance of this basic tenet of Performance Management. So I thought I’d use a little space here to refresh us all on how important the “measurement part” really is, and offer some perspectives that can help lift our “collective game” a bit.

Let’s start by looking at why we measure things. There are a myriad of factors that drive us to select a performance metric and start tracking it.

Unfortunately, as an industry, we seem to have gotten stuck on just measuring results and outcomes. More than likely, that is because those are the things we see most often on our company’s Balanced Scorecard. So our first instinctive reaction at the business unit level is to simply expand on those by adding a few lower level supporting indicators, or finding better ways to visualize the reporting (via dimensional slicing and dicing of those results metrics over various time periods, geographic areas, product lines, etc.).

But only focusing on results and outcomes is what I call “managing in the rear-view mirror”.

Getting your eyes back on the road…

Granted, over the past few years, there’s been a lot more discussion around “leading and lagging” indicators, and some companies have gained decent ground in this area. But even that area has gotten blurred, and few companies have really been able to define the types of causality linkages that are required to extract any value from these distinctions.

Often, when I look at business unit performance reports, I see things that are “labled” leading indicators. But rather than being truly predictive in nature, they are simply portraying the result of some other process that comes before “theirs”. I would acknowledge that some lagging indicators can, in fact, be leading indicators for some other process, and vice versa, but the more time I spend studying the interplay between measures inside of the broader corporate environment, the more it looks like “spaghetti thrown against a wall”, than it does a deliberate effort to define and draw clear connections and dependencies in performance and define the real performance dynamics at play.

Take full advantage of your peripheral vision…

A few years ago, I defined a simple framework to help clients think through this at a fairly basic level. But instead of focusing on whether an indicator was “leading or lagging”, I focused on how the measure was going to be used, and what kind of performance dialogue would be initiated by tracking that metric.

The framework involves looking at your performance more holistically by focusing on five “uses” for a particular metric. I’ll use a Customer Service example, but these areas could be applied to any business unit, or the enterprise as a whole.

Planning Metrics – These are the kind of metrics that help in your planning of workload and resources. There are two types of planning metrics: Those that help you see trends and variability by observing historical transaction volumes and variances; and those that are more predictive in nature (truly leading indicators) that help anticipate future trends (things like growth in particular segments, campaign “take rates”, trends in workforce demographics and attrition, etc.)
Alignment Metrics– Those measures that will help you gauge the level of alignment and commitment of your team to your operating plans and strategies. While you might not measure all of these with high frequency, they are essential beacons to look at periodically (at minimum, quarterly or annually), with focus on both plan variance and external benchmarks. These may include things like employee satisfaction and alignment, as well as trends in attendance and employee availability.
Operating Metrics– These metrics are analogous to what a pilot might use in the cockpit of an aircraft (e.g.- airspeed, altitude, etc.) Here, you are simply trying to keep these metrics within specified tolerances or control limits, so that any deviation in these can be quickly observed and corrected “on the spot.” Frequency is this area is often vital, with “real time” information being the desired level of reporting.
Improvement Metrics-Those metrics that you will review (with perhaps less frequency (daily, weekly, monthly) to show both changes in operating performance trends, as well as the drivers of departmental results. You will use these to review, diagnose and problem solve. And they will become the basis for your ongoing continuous improvement projects. This area is usually where result or outcome measures show up, even though these metrics can also be used in planning stages. Things like Customer Satisfaction, Complaint Volume, First Contact Resolution, and Employee Productivity would fall into this category.
Sustainability Metrics– While these measures may also be utilized in your planning phase, they mostly relate to those things that you are doing from a strategy perspective in shaping your long term vision for your department or organization. Driving major behavioral shifts in customer channel usage (paperless billing, mobile payments, online conversions, etc.) as well as overall customer engagement are the most common measures in this space.

There are clearly a lot of ways to look at your portfolio of measures to ensure you’ve got complete coverage. For example, some companies have success by categorizing their measures by reporting frequency, or the venue in which the metric will be discussed. But I find that understanding the stage in which the measure will be used, is equally important in ensuring you’ve got all bases covered.

While it may sound like I am contradicting the “balanced scorecard” principles to some degree by focusing on such a broad array of measures, I feel it is actually quite complementary to it. Not everything we look at is a KEY performance indicator (KPI) that would reside in your balanced scorecard. In fact, many of them won’t show up there initially. At the same time, however, I feel that some companies have gotten so “fixated” on the orthodox application of their Balanced Scorecard (in its most simplistic interpretation), that they have forgotten the many uses that metrics have in planning, managing, improving and sustaining performance.

Let’s plan a safer journey next time!

The good news is that most of you are already tracking, or are planning to track many of the metrics I mention above. At the same time, however, the manner in which these measures are tracked, reported, and utilized is most often viewed as “one size fits all”. That is, many of us will end up tracking these metrics with similar frequencies, reporting them to the same audience, discussing them in similar venues, and managing them in the same way we have always managed them.

As you move forward, I challenge you to think about your performance metrics, both holistically (do you have all bases covered?), and within their own discrete contexts for how they should be utilized and managed.

Oh, and one more thing…NO more reviewing your performance results on your iphone or ipad when you’re behind the wheel. That would likely negate any improvement gains we make in gaining back our peripheral vision (or as Stephen Wright the comedian like to call it, the “peripheral visionary”).

-b

Author: Bob Champagne is Managing Partner of onVector Consulting Group, a privately held international management consulting organization specializing in the design and deployment of Performance Management tools, systems, and solutions. Bob has over 25 years of Performance Management experience and has consulted with hundreds of companies across numerous industries and geographies. Bob can be contacted at bob.champagne@onvectorconsulting.com

“Lagniappe”- And its impact on customer satisfaction…

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Bob Champagne

The Principle of “Lagniappe”…

Being a native of New Orleans, I have always been accustomed to the term “lagniappe”. For those of you who don’t reside in the deep south, lagniappe is a cajun term used to describe the “little bit extra” someone gives you as their way of saying “thanks” and/or expressing their gratitude and generosity.

And today being Mardi Gras in New Orleans, I can tell you, there will be a lot of “lagniappe” to go around, from extra servings of gumbo and king cake, to the myriad of beads, cups, dabloons and other “freebies” that are thrown to the crowds from the parade floats.

Yes, the concept of lagniappe is still quite unique and special to those who live day to day in the New Orleans culture. It is special mainly because it is so rare to see it applied these days, largely because of the many who view this concept as “over servicing the customer” and an unnecessary gesture that could hurt profitability.

Lagniappe- As seen through the eyes of Purple Goldfish…

A few days ago, I stumbled on a twitter post by Stan Phelps that referenced the concept of lagniappe as it related to marketing and customer service. My interest was piqued for two reasons. First, it was nice to hear the term since I rarely, if ever, hear the term used outside of Louisiana. But more importantly, it reminded me of the “balancing act” that is essential when applying the “lagniappe” mentality inside a business.

On Stan’s blog, there is a recent post relating to his “purple goldfish project”, an effort to collect the many examples of “lagniappe” experienced by their readers. And there are some great examples starting to emerge if you take the time to read through the comments and entries. What a great idea to expose those companies who do in fact understand the value of great service and going that “extra mile”! There are so many posts lately on the “bad experiences” (see my recent rant on CS storefronts), that it’s refreshing to see the other side of the coin every now and then. So I really applaud Stan for getting that project going. Great stuff.

Lagniappe versus the Almighty Dollar..

Although I am a native of New Orleans, and lived there for nearly 35 years, living in the Northeast for the last 13 has tempered my views on the topic a bit. While I still value and cherish “lagniappe” when I experience it as a customer, I am now more keenly aware what it can sometimes do to the cost side of the equation. Any time I consult to a Customer Service or Marketing Executive, I am always working to find the optimal balance where good service and profitability meet.

If we think about this balance, it’s helpful to acknowledge the two very polar ends of the spectrum that are often at play- The Customer Service and Marketing folks, who view their primary goal as Customer Satisfaction, and who will do “what it takes” to earn it. And the Finance side of the business who view every investment in CS as a highly discretionary investment that, while perhaps necessary in the long haul, will have negative impact on short term profitability.

Of course, few of us operate on either end of that spectrum. Marketing and CS Executives are rarely that pollyanna when it comes to “satisfaction at all costs” , and Finance Executives are rarely that blind to customer dynamics.But the underlying biases are certainly there at some level. And anytime I hear discussion of going beyond a customer expectation, my “antennas” go up almost instinctively until I can see that a balance is present.

It’s all about Exceeding Expectations…Isn’t it?

Well that depends.

For starters, let’s look at what we mean by “exceeding expectations”. There are many ways to exceed expectations. We can exceed the customers expectation through the product itself. We can exceed their expectations on how the product is sold and delivered. We can exceed expectations on what happens after a complaint. The list goes on….In fact, the “Purple Goldfish” project has good examples emerging of all fronts.

However, while “exceeding expectations” on any one of those dimensions will generally score you points in short term satisfaction, it’s doing it in ALL of the zones that will generate “sustainable” levels satisfaction and loyalty over the long haul.

For me, all of the dimensions I reference above can be summarized into two broad categories, either of which we are capable of delivering on effectively (by meeting or exceeding expectations) or poorly (by failing to deliver). These are:

The PRODUCT ITSELF (or service) that is purchased- With respect to physical products, this generally deals with quality (does it work consistently without failure?). But with softer products or services, it could be the quantity provided ( for many, lagniappe is that extra helping or side dish you get with your meal at a restaurant), or a “feature” that you’ve grown to expect in the core product (In flight entertainment, availability and features of your bank’s ATM, Lobby services provided.)
The SERVICE EXPERIENCE (in terms of delivery/ and follow up support)- Here I’m referring largely HOW the service is delivered. It’s HOW you are handled by the sales, service staff, or even the automated channels when you interact with them. This could be during the sale itself, during the account set up phase, as part of a general inquiry or bill payment, or as a follow up to a complaint. For these purposes, I view service as “how the product is delivered“- before, during, and after the sale.

Winning with “lagniappe”…

As the chart below shows, a strategy to exceed expectation on any one of those dimensions, while failing to do the same on the other is a pretty quick recipe for trouble. The below chart shows the range of customer experiences (from below to above expectations) on each of these two dimensions (Product on the horizontal, and the delivery/ “Service” experience on the vertical).

Starting in the bottom left quadrant, few of us would argue that failing on both dimensions is a clear path to customer satisfaction HELL. While its a painful way to go, it’s often quick, unless you’re in a protected monopoly or some other type of “controlled market” that will prolong the agony. Assuming the product concept is good, and it has a decent enough business model, someone may actually step in to acquire and/or turnaround the business. But short of that, the days are numbered for companies that live in this space. Utilities and Municipal Services providers can often fall into this category because of their largely protected monopoly environment, although there are exceptions.

On the other end of the spectrum (top right) are clearly the “winners” in this game, the ones who are generating and sustaining high levels of customer satisfaction and delight. Great product. Great service. Interestingly, in more cases than not, they also have lower cost structures for servicing since good products and good first time service resolution actually results in fewer required interactions. The investment up front in product design and development of a strong service process has paid off. Apple is a great example of a company in this arena. The core product is well designed and it works without fail. It’s easy to set up, use and it rarely breaks. The service, wherever it is provided- store, call center, self help, etc…always surpasses my expectations.

(click to view full size)

And while, it’s not the “holy grail” on the chart above, operating in the cross hairs (“core players”) can actually be a pretty safe place to play. It won’t earn you much in the way of lagniappe or high levels of customer “delight”, but there is something to be said for consistently meeting both expectations ALL THE TIME. Customers value that more than we often think. Look no further than Southwest Airlines and McDonald’s for examples in this domain.

Being one dimensional often means trouble…

As with most things, failing to have a balance usually spells trouble downstream. The same is true here.

Companies in the lower right, are those who have a great product, but fail miserably on the service side. Interestingly, many of the quasi competitive utilities like Cable and Cell Providers operate in this space. Their service rarely goes out, and most of the time is truly fantastic (above expectation). But the sign up processes, inquiry resolution, and in store interactions are often pure hell. Auto companies (operating through a dealer network that varies in its performance levels) can also fall into this category.

The trouble here is threefold. First, bad service usually creates a spiral of its own spending (how many times have you had to call a second or third time to get resolution?) Second, whatever gain you got by having a great product, is at best neutralized because of the poor service. And third, given a way to get the same product somewhere else (think bad car deal experience), you’ll take it. Barriers to switch (for example, it’s not easy to mentally “uproot your TV and cable system” after you’ve gotten used to it) can certainly delay the defection. But when those barriers go away (e.g. time for a new car lease?), it’s a whole different story.

That all notwithstanding, I think the most interesting quadrant is upper left. Here lie the companies that are trying so hard, often spending out the wazoo to essentially buy their way to a desired satisfaction level. You know the types- the incessant stream of discounts, give aways, apologies, follow ups, etc… that occur on the heals of buying a poor product or service and failing to have even your most basic expectations met. Nothing ticks me off more than someone “begging” for a survey score (sometimes overtly), knowing full well that you aren’t satisfied. Its easy in this area for costs to spiral out of control because you’re fighting a losing battle from the start. Until the core service is delivered, the customer doesn’t (and shouldn’t) care about anything else. This is the one quadrant where lagniappe can in fact hurt more than it helps. Hotels that give me free cookies won’t earn my satisfaction if my bed is uncomfortable or my room is subpar. A happy stewardess does nothing for me if the inflight entertainment is down on a 10 hour flight. And an apology or free drink coupon does not help much if my flight is delayed because of a mechanical problem on a plane that has been sitting there overnight!

Get to the crosshairs, THEN move from there…

If I had to give advice to a company, it would be to first get to basic levels of expectations on both dimensions. Then worry about the lagniappe.

Define what your core product is. Go beyond just the basic product to all the things that customers expect about the service or product they’re buying. What’s your equivalent to the in flight entertainment system? or the TD bank coin counting machine? or the Chase check deposit feature (by capturing image on your phone)? even you’re pricing and rate structure/ plan options? These are the things that have brought customers to you. And they must work flawlessly just to meet expectations. Introducing new features and tools will do nothing if they either dont work, or are layered onto a poorly functioning base product

Do the same for your service offering and channels. Don’t embed a new self service channel, or new IVR if your underlying process still has major flaws. There’s nothing worse than getting stuck in a 7 layer IVR system, until you recognize that the analog process wasn’t much better. These kind of things speak volumes about the nature of your underlying process and service infrastructure. Same goes for those new kiosks, mobile bill pay, social media interaction, online knowledge base’s. Nothing is more frustrating to a customer than watching a company invest oodles in technology when it consistently demonstrates little in the way of savvy when dealing with the most basic of interactions.

Once you have your baseline set in each of these areas, and get your performance to the minimum expectation for both, you can look for more and more ways to offer those “extras” that will really make a difference, while also raising the bar for your competitors.

Who wants a second helping of crap?

Look folks, lagniappe is a often a good thing, particularly when it is added to a solid buying experience.

But when it’s not , any effort you spend to provide it will at best be neutralized, and may even cause the opposite effect. After all, who wants a second helping of a crappy meal?

Fortunately, for those who are spending Mardi Gras in New Orleans, there’s little likelihood of a crappy meal. And if you do happen to experience one, you’ll probably be to drunk to notice!

-b

Post #100 -Blogging on Performance Excellence…

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Bob Champagne

Time for a little celebration…And reflection…

While I’ve spent a little over two decades consulting and practicing in the area of Performance Management, blogging and writing in the online arena (as we know know it) is still relatively new to me. Sure, I’ve written my share of traditional articles and case studies over the past several years around specific projects and experiences, but maintaining a “steady stream” of online content via the blogosphere is a different game altogether.

As you can tell from the title, I am viewing today as a bit of a milestone in that it is my 100th post for this particular blog. And while the frequency has varied more than I would have liked (from monthly to weekly to now almost daily), I feel I have now settled into a bit of a rhythm. And from the feedback that I’ve received; the frequency, content, balance of topics, and the ability of the blog to stimulate healthy dialogue and debate, appears to have hit an optimal point. At least for me, and for now.

Nonetheless, I am continuously reminded that this is just a starting point for me, and while there is some pride in having hit the 100 mark, I am still humbled by how much I still have to learn. The blogs and posts that I read, be it though links on Social Media, or my ever expanding “Google Reader queue” , continue to amaze me. Everyday, I see something new, from a topic I want to expand on, to a new tactic I want to deploy.

So today, I will try and deviate from my typical content focus of Performance Management , and focus a little more heavily on sharing what I have learned through these first 100 posts. However, I suspect, that before the post is concluded (maybe sooner), I will somehow “wind my way back” to a performance management connection or implication. Hey, its just the nature of the beast!

Lessons Learned…

I realize this isn’t the first, or last post you’ll read on the “lessons learned” of blogging or writing in today’s online environment.

In fact, the number of “how to’s” in the arena of blogging, and all the derivatives of it; from how to drive traffic to your blog site, to how to use your blog to drive up your “follow count” and online “klout”, is reaching almost nauseating proportions. So much so that I struggled on whether or not I even wanted to go there at all. Let’s face it, a lot of what’s written on the topic is either pure babble, or so overtly self serving (apparent when the content on the page you’re directed to is weighted 90% toward ads and sales pitches, and only 10% to what little content remains), that it screams “TURN ME OFF” from the very first click.

The reason that I am continuing on with this is that I am also certain that there is some genuine interest by people like me who are in fact using this channel in the spirit with which I believe it was intended. That is, they are using this space to engage in the kind of open dialogue and learning that will enhance and grow the area in which we share a common interest (the “rising tide” so to speak). Of course, most of us who use this vehicle in our professional endeavors have made some linkage (albeit subtle) to their business or market development process. But overall, the business blog is more about brand and identity than it is an overt attempt to generate a quick “ad click through” or online sale of Viagra.

So if you’re in my camp on that perspective, and are genuinely partaking in, or continuing your blogging activity for the purposes of learning, growth, and long term relationship building, then read on. If not, it’s probably best you tune out now. These are not tips on making your first million in the next 30 days. If you’re looking for that, you’re in the wrong place.

My Top 5 Lessons Learned…

Before I dive in, let me say a few words to bloggers who are new at this. There is a LOT of junk out there on the “how to’s” of blogging, as there are good tutorials on getting started. While you may find this post useful, it is not designed to be a complete “get started” guide, but rather some of the most important lessons learned for me ( i.e. Things that took a lot of trial and error to get close to right. Things you won’t learn in a 2 minutes guide to blogging). So if you’re new to all of this, try and get a good primer. You won’t have to look far, as about one on every 10 twitter posts relates to these kind of “how to’s”. I guarantee you, they will cover all the bases (importance of frequency, brevity, storytelling, engagement, actionable lists and suggestions, distribution channels, ..the list goes on.) Not worth wasting space on that here.

So what lies below are those “other” lessons learned that you probably won’t find in that online cookbook of blogging:

Develop and harness your “idea machine”– Some bloggers will tell you that it’s good to carve out time everyday to generate ideas and fodder for future posts. While that may work for some, it’s never worked for me. Ideas hit me at various times throughout the day or night. So what works for me is to keep a log of ideas whenever they hit you (I write these down on a notepad or as an email to myself on my phone). Once a week or so, I use the draft feature on the WordPress blog site to get these “in the queue”, but only as titles at first. I fill in the body of those drafts as ideas come to me, and when I’ve got enough to work with, it only takes an hour or so to bang out a post. So instead of taking an hour a day to “create”, I’m literally creating all the time, logging ideas as I go. Instead, the hour I spend each day is on writing the actual post from one of the drafts in the queue.
Work within, and outside your “sandbox”– “They say” you should always write about what you know and are comfortable with. Perhaps that’s good advice when you are starting out, but as time goes on, challenge yourself to climb into the unknown a bit. I’m not talking about something completely unrelated (although that can also be good on occasion), but maybe an area that you haven’t applied your discipline to before- a new function, process, discipline, etc. This is as much about your learning as it is about communicating your ideas to others. Over time, you’ll find that working outside of your “sweet-spot” will not only open new doors for you in applying your expertise to new areas and applications, but will begin spark new ideas. Staying fixed within your comfort zone will force your idea queue to stagnate quickly, and will also prevent the type of learning and growth that is possible as you move forward.
Become a feedback “junkie”- Let’s face it, good feedback is not always the easiest thing to listen to. But we all have experienced the benefits that are generated from good feedback, and we inherently understand “why” we should crave it. We also understand that feedback from different sources has different value. Feedback from close friends and colleagues is much more valuable than it is from someone who doesn’t know you from Adam.The problem is that when you begin blogging, feedback will come from literally everywhere, the the explicit feedback you get in the comment section of your blog, to the indirect feedback you receive through your re-tweets and readership counts will become literally overwhelming for some. And when that happens, the temptation is to ignore it, either literally (simply by “turning off” comments feature on your blog), or by simply ignoring feedback from your “digital” network (in lieu of that comes to you via your good old “analog” friends). But in doing that, you’ll not only eliminate all of the unhelpful feedback, you’ll also eliminate a new source for those “future pearls” that will really make a difference in your growth and development. So instead of limiting the size of the “feedback pipe”, I say get better at how you filter the feedback that flows through it. The old adage “take what you like and leave the rest” is sage advice in this arena. Instead of getting upset or stewing over a particular comment or someone who disagrees with your point, simply thank the contributor and file it away for potential future reflection. Then move onto the next. As your network and feedback stream grows, you’ll find that your new “digital best friends” will emerge that are just as important to your growth as your long time trusted analog ones. And once you find those, embracing that feedback through active dialogue and debate will really begin to lift your game. It takes time to make those distinctions and learn how to apply your “internal filter”. But getting good at this will multiply your learnings many times over.
Design a routine that works for you- I touched on this in point #1, but there is more to the routine than just writing. Getting good at this (and I am FAR away from mastering it myself) does take commitment. While it does not have to, nor should it, consume your every waking hour (lest it become like an an addictive “drug” of choice), it does take time. And that time NOT all about writing. For me, that routine is simple. First, I spend an hour in the morning (something I do anyway) to read and learn Only now, instead of doing it via newspapers and an RSS reader, I do it on my mobile device with an application like “Pulse” that lets me quickly scan and read much quicker than before. It also gives me one click access to sharing posts I like “on the spot”. But the point is that my morning hour is about 75% reading, and 25% sharing what others have written. It also serves to feed the idea queue I mentioned above. Second, I spend about an hour late afternoon or early evening writing a new post from one of the “drafts” that are already mostly populated in my queue. If you get good at #1 above, this is a very easy step and the speed with which you write increases quickly. Finally, usually late in the evening, and often in bed with my iPad, I set aside some time for engaging others. Of course, like most of you, I engage throughout the day, dropping a post or two on twitter, and responding to others if I happen to have a few spare moments in a cab or on an airplane. But at night, my time is reserved for quality engagement like responding to someone else’s blog post via a well thought out response or some other type of “direct” interaction via email or message board. Now all of that may sound like a lot, but only one of those 3 hours represents something new (the actual blog post itself). All the rest is stuff I would have normally done, but simply changed the manner in which i do it so that it now serves multiple purposes.
Take the word “perfection” out of your vocabulary- … at least for this part of your life. Blogging by its nature is not formal “article writing”, although a few of your posts may evolve toward that. It is about getting your ideas on “paper” and engaging others to take that dialogue to another level. Sure, it makes sense to do a quick proof so that you don’t distract your audience, but this is not “book editing”. You should be comfortable trading off a small typo here or there, for the speed and flexibility that is necessary to create and participate in dialogue and learning. I’ve seen people (your’s truly included) spend so much time polishing something to perfection, that the topic and debate has come and gone by the time you’re ready to post. In this area, shoot to be “good” but not “perfect”.

I’ll mention one more thing, but I’ll keep it separate from the rest because you’ll see this discussed in a lot of other places. And that is the importance of measuring your progress (See, I told you I’d get back to the performance management discipline before long). Seriously though, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. Early on, your friends and colleagues (both analog and digital in variety) will be a good enough barometer for you. But over time, as your audience gets more diverse, it will be helpful to start looking at some more formal indicators. Between WordPress and Twitter, you’ll have most of what you need at first. All you’re looking for is 3 things. First, what is happening to readership (the number itself is less important that the growth). Are you seeing week on week, or month on month, gains? Second, and more importantly, are you getting some secondary effect through email forwards or re-tweets? (btw- for my own tracking, I only count re-tweets from people who I can tell viewed the article, or who I know well enough to trust. Beware of those who Re-tweet a 10 paragraph post within a nano-second of your initial post!) And finally, while it’s not your primary objective at first, you should start looking at whether or not you are making a connection to your business (if that is in fact a secondary objective for you). I’m not talking about sales or ‘click-throughs’ per se, but simply whether you driving people to the objective you have, be it referrals, visitors to you company’s website, or something else that is important to you.

More lessons await…

Like I said before, there are hundreds of other tips you will encounter, whether you try to or not. As you begin to use social media more, you will get literally bombarded with helpful (and unhelpful) tips and you can’t and won’t avoid them all. So whether you try or not, you’ll get lots of tactics to try out, from where to place your twitter button and RSS feed, to the best way to syndicate your good posts.

And as your network grows, so will your feedback. Some will be helpful and some wont. Again, take what you like and leave the rest for your “bank for downstream consideration”. Also, as you’re network and readership grows, you need to stay alert to the principle of quality over quantity. That goes for your posts, AND your network. While you may amass a significant following, a good rule of thumb is that only 1 out of ever 20 followers (at best) are what I would call “true digital friends”. That is not meant to disparage any of your followers, but just as you trust some of your “analog friends” more than you do others, the same will apply in digital space. These may not necessarily be those with the biggest following or highest klout scores (most often, they’re not). Rather, they are those who engage you and provide you with quality feedback, good ideas, and have similar interests and objectives. So make an ongoing commitment too identifying and harvesting these friendships, and growing these relationships.

Here’s to another 100!

Of course the beauty of writing posts like this is that you are never “right or wrong”. They are YOUR (in this case MINE) experiences to share. And if someone disagrees or wishes to embellish, you’ll no doubt get that wonderful feedback in your “comments” for you to process as you like.

Thanks for reading and here’s to the next 100 posts!

Data, Metrics, and Information- Are we better off than we were 4 years ago?

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Bob Champagne

Data, data…all around us…

Most of the projects I work on day in and day out involve data to varying degrees. I use data quite extensively in all of the assessments I do on organizational and operational performance. I use it heavily whenever I benchmark a company’s processes versus a comparable peer group. Data is at the very core of any target setting process. And, of course, data is (or at least should be) the beginning, and a continuous part of any gap analysis and any subsequent improvements that follows.

Today, the hunger that organizations have for good data has reached such unprecedented levels, that whole industries have developed in and around the domain of what we now call “Business Intelligence” or BI. Having consulted to organizations over the last three decades, I’ve seen this hunger level increase steadily throughout the entire period. But no more so than in the past few years.

However, despite all the gyrations that we’ve gone through over the years, one of the first things I hear from C-Suite Executives is that they still feel “Data rich and information poor”. So I’ll start this post off in the words of late President Ronald Regan by asking, “Are we better off or worse off than we were 4 years ago (in terms of translating data into useful and actionable information)?”

So are we better off than we were 4 years ago?

As any good politician, I would have to hedge a bit, and say yes, and no. And appropriately so I think.

We are most certainly better in our ability to “access” the data. If you’ve lived through the same decades as I have , you will remember the painstaking efforts we all made to extract data out of those proverbial “source systems” (when “SAS routines” had nothing to do with the SaaS of today). Everything from the data inside of our source systems, to the tools we use to access the data, to the ways in which we report and visualize the results has moved forward at lightening speed. And so, from that standpoint, we are, in fact, better off.

But on the other side of the coin, our tools have, in most cases, outpaced the abilities of our organizations and their leadership to truly leverage them. At a basic level, and in part because of the technology itself, we often have more data than we know what to do with (the proverbial “data overload”). Some would say that this is just a byproduct of how wide the “data pipe” has become. And at some level, that’s hard to argue.

But I think the answer goes well beyond that.

“Data rich, information poor”…still?

In large measure, yes. The bigger issue in my view is the degree to which the organization’s skills and cultural abilities enable (or better said, disable) them to effectively utilize data in the right ways. Most companies have put such a large premium on data quality and the ability to extract it through their huge investments in IT infrastructure and financial reporting, that it has in some ways forced leadership to “take it’s eye off the ball” with respect to the way in which that data is operationalized.

So from the perspective of using the data to effect smarter operational decisions, I’d say the successes are few and far between.

Of course, you can google any of the “big 3″ IT vendors and find a myriad of testimonials about how much better their decision making processes have gotten. But look at who’s doing the speaking in the majority of cases. It is largely from the Financial and IT communities, where the changes have been most visible. But it’s in many of these same companies where operating executives and managers still clamor for better data and deeper insights.

So while at certain levels, and in certain vertical slices of the business, the organization is becoming more satisfied with its reporting capabilities, translating that information into rich insights and good fodder for problem solving still poses a great challenge. And unfortunately, better systems, more data, and more tools will not begin to bridge that gap until we get to the heart of some deeper cultural dynamics.

Needed: A new culture of “problem solvers”

Early in my career, I was asked to follow and accept what appeared to me at the time to be a strange “mantra”: “If it ain’t broke, ASK WHY?” That sounded a little crazy to me having grown up around the similar sounding but distinctly different phrase: “If it aint’t broke, DONT fix it”.

That shift in thinking took a little getting used to, and began to work some “muscles” I hadn’t worked before. For things that were actually working well, began asking ourselves “why?”. At first, we began to see areas where best practices and lessons learned could be “exported to other areas. But over time, we quickly learned that what appeared to be well functioning processes, wasn’t so well functioning after all. We saw processes, issues, and trends that pointed to potential downstream failures. In essence, we were viewing processes that were actually broken, but appeared to be A-ok because of inefficient (albeit effective) workarounds.

“Asking why?” is a hard thing to do for processes that appears to be working well. It goes against our conventional thinking and instincts, and forces us to ask questions…LOTS of questions. And to answer those questions requires data…GOOD data. Doing this in what appeared initially to be a healthy process was at first difficult. You had to dig deeper to find the flaws and breakdowns. But by learning how to explore and diagnose an apparently strong processes, doing that in an environment of process

failure became second nature. In the end, we not only learned how to explore and diagnose both: The apparent “good processes”, and those that were inherently broken. And for the first time in that organization, a culture of problem solving began to take root.

Prior to that point, the organization looked at problems in a very different way. Performance areas were highlighted, and instinctively management proceeded to solve them. Symptoms were mitigated, while root causes were ignored. Instead of process breakdowns being resolved, they were merely transferred to other areas where those processes became less efficient. And what appeared to be the functioning parts of the business, were largely overlooked, even though many of them were headed for a” failure cliff”.

Indication, Analysis, and Insight

Few organizations invest in a “culture of problem solving” like the one I describe above. Even the one I reference above, deployed these techniques in a selected area where leadership was committed to creating that type of environment. But throughout industry, the investment in generating these skills, abilities and behaviors across the enterprise, pales in comparison to what is invested annually in our IT environment. And without bringing that into balance, the real value of our data universe will go largely unharvested.

There are a myriad of ways a company can address this. And some have. We can point to the icons of the quality movement for one, where cultures were shaped holistically across whole enterprises. More recently, we’ve seen both quality and efficiency (more critical to eliminating waste and driving ROI) get addressed universally within companies through their investments in the Six Sigma, and more recent Lean movements.

But if I had to define a place to start (like the business unit example I described above), I would focus on three parts of the problem solving equation, that are essential to building the bridge toward a more effective Enterprise Performance Management process.

Indication– We need to extend our scorecards and dashboards to begin covering more operational areas of our business. While most of us have “results oriented” scorecards that convey a good sense of how the “company” or “business unit” is doing, most have not gone past that to the degree we need to. And if we have, we’ve done it in the easier, more tangible areas (sales, production, etc). Even there however, we focus largely on result or lagging indicators versus predictive or leading metrics. And in cases where we have decent data on the latter, it is rarely ever connected and correlated with the result oriented data and metrics. How many companies have truly integrated their asset registers and failure databases with outage and plant level availability? How many have integrated call patterns and behavioral demographics with downstream sales and churn data? All of this is needed to get a real handle on where problems exist, or where they may likely arise in the future.
Analysis– When many companies hear the word “analysis”, they go straight to thinking about how they can better “work the data” they have. They begin by taking their scorecard down a few layers. The word “drill down” becomes synonymous with “analysis”. However, while they each are critical activities, they play very separate roles in the process. The act of “drilling down” (slicing data between plants, operating regions, time periods, etc.) will give you some good indication where problems exist. But it is not “real analysis” that will get you very far down the path of defining root causes and ultimately bettersolutions. And often, it’s why we get stuck at this level. Continuous spinning of the “cube” gets you no closer to the solution unless you get there by accident. And that is certainly the long way home. Good analysis starts with good questions. It takes you into the generation of a hypothesis which you may test, change and retest several times. It more often than not takes you into collecting data that may not (and perhaps should not) reside in your scorecard and dashboard. It requires sampling events and testing your hypotheses. And it often involves modeling of causal factors and drivers. But it all starts with good questions. When we refer to “spending more time in the problem”, this is what we’re talking about. Not merely spinning the scorecard around its multiple dimensions to see what solutions “emerge”.
Insight– I’d like to say when you do the above two things right, insights emerge. And sometimes they do. But more often than not, insights of the type and magnitude we are looking for are usually not attainable without the third leg of this problem solving stool. Insight requires its own set of skills which revolve around creativity, innovation, and “out of the box” thinking. And while some of us think of these skills as innate, they are very much learnable. But rather than “textbook learning” (although there are some great resources on the art of innovation that can be applied here), these abilities are best learned by being facilitated through the process, watching and learning how this thought process occurs, and then working those skills yourself on real life problems.

Dont forget “line of sight”

A few days ago I wrote a post on the concept of “line of sight” integration of your performance management content and infrastructure. It’s important here to reinforce the importance of tracking all of this back to that underlying construct.

The process of operationalizing information, is but one of many in the “line of sight” chain from your company’s vision, to the operational solutions that manifest here. And this process of operationalizing change is only a beginning of the journey you will make to translating these gains into ROI for the business (what I’ve referred to before as “value capture” or “value release”).

So as you navigate your path through the above activities, its useful to keep it in context and remember that the desired end state is to enable your business to see that clear “line of sight” from the very top of the organization right down to the work-face.

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

There’s not enough space in a post like this to elaborate as much as we could on each of these. And creating real cultural change clearly involves more than a few quick bullet points. But as has been my tradition in this blog, my intent is to introduce you to principles and techniques that can get you started on this journey, or increase the ability for you to navigate the road your on.

Apology Not Accepted! Beyond the empty words of a typical customer apology…

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Bob Champagne

Sorry seems to be the hardest word…

Almost everyone, at least from my era, remembers that old song by Sir Elton John. While you may or not like his “style” of late, you’ve got to agree, the guy does make some good tunes!

But no, this is not a blog about music, or any other topic that could emanate from a reference to Sir Elton.This is actually a post about a serious condition that is infecting the culture of many businesses today. For lack of a better term, I’ll just call it “the propensity to apologize”.

We are all taught at a very early age to say “I’m sorry” any time we harmed another person. And throughout our lives, we say it often. We say it when we offend someone we like (or sometimes even those we don’t like!). We say it when we bump into someone accidentally on the street. We say it when we interrupt or treat someone inappropriately. Initially, the words “I’m sorry” had a quite literal meaning, often used after injuring or harming someone. But over time, they began to take on broader meanings, from expressing sympathy for someone’s loss to more general feelings of regret.

Real regret or “empty words”?

But like so many words that once had quite a literal meaning, the words “I’m sorry” are now used for a wide array of purposes, and are heard repeatedly in conversations all around us. Just listen closely, and count how many times those words are spoken throughout a normal day. And while those words were once meant to “comfort” someone, they sometimes now have the opposite effect.

If you’ve ever spent time around someone in a 12 step recovery program, you know that the process of “making amends” are a big part of their journey. There is a whole body of literature on that very topic, but suffice it to say that anyone who really understands the concept of “amends”, will tell you that it goes way beyond the words “I’m sorry”. And while the spectrum of interpretation for the word “amends” can even vary widely; from the most literal definitions found in webster (“reparation or compensation for a wrong inflicted”), to a more fundamental willingness to do your part in ‘righting a wrong’, the principle remains the same. For those who take the words “I’m sorry” seriously, and who truly use them in the spirit that I believe they were intended, the words are more about ‘doing what you can to make the situation (or relationship) better’, than are about simply expressing regret or disappointment.

But today, those words seem to take on a much more shallow meaning and, more often than not, can actually have the opposite effect from “creating comfort” or “a commitment to repairing something that is broken”.

I was reminded of this when a family member told me of a recent trip he took. When sharing the details of his trip he said this to me:

“From the time I left my home until I got to my final destination, the words “I’m sorry ” were used 22 times…What the hell does that mean?”

In not one of those interactions did he feel that the words were sincere. He felt this mostly because they were expressed in such a casual manner that the “apology” appeared to him as simply a tactic used to get the customer to ‘move on’ in the process as it was designed. In other words, to him, the expression ONLY meant that the agent (or whatever provider was saying the words) was telling him (the customer) something like this: ‘Look, I’m as inconvenienced by this as you are, but let’s face it, nothing is going to change the outcome, so lets both just move on’. Perhaps they were intended to be listened that way, or perhaps they weren’t; but they created that impression nonetheless.

There is a whole body of knowledge out there on how linguistics can generate a wide array of emotions, perceptions, and even somatic reactions in people. I won’t get into all that here, because we all know that we can be better speakers AND better listeners, and that doing so can often prevent these kind of interactions from ruining our day. So for the purposes of this post, I’m going only to focus on the “speaking” side of the equation, and perhaps a little on the culture of the organization behind the expression of the apology.

Ok, “you’re sorry”, now what?

In a business transaction, the words “I’m sorry” are usually used after something in the transaction has gone awry- and a point at which the customer’s state of mind is, shall we say, “altered”. At this point, the customer often doesn’t give ‘one hill of beans’ about the words spoken, but instead just want the problem resolved. Sometimes that’s possible (often in more cases than not), and sometimes it isn’t. But when those words are spoken, there is often renewed “hope” (no matter how small) that they will leave the exchange in “better shape” than when it was initiated. And when we look at it like this, that changes the game a bit.

So what would have to happen for the words “I’m sorry” to truly have a meaningful impact, and an outcome that both customer and provider felt better about?

Solving this problem is not an easy one. And it needs to involve things at the front line level in terms of the words, tone, and behavior of the person delivering them. But more importantly, it has to involve changes to the culture within which that person operates, and the way in which that culture views commitments. More specifically, the way in which commitments are made, managed, and delivered upon. After all, most if not all business transactions revolve around commitments.

There is a great body of knowledge written on the subject of “commitment management”, and I encourage you to spend some time exploring it. There are many practices that can help in this arena, all of which can be learned, shared, and embedded within the culture of your business. Some of them are referenced in my previous blogs, and I’ll make an attempt to consolidate those for you in the future.

Toward a “commitment based” culture…

But for our purposes here, let’s look at what those practices would look like in this specific example:

1. The tone and perspective from which the words were said, would come from a standpoint of “resolution” rather than that of a simple transaction. That is, there would be an intent to change something in the future, and yes, the front line rep would feel some accountability for making that happen, even if it’s simple escalation of the matter after the immediate transaction has concluded. While all of us want problems resolved in the ‘here and now’, we are certainly more “comforted” when we feel that there is an increased likelihood of a process fix, than we are when we are just serving as a ‘stopping point’ in a broken one.

2. The company and its leadership would have an effective process for seeking out (and acting on) feedback. At a minimum that means not punishing feedback, which unfortunately is what happens all too often (look to airline pilot protocols for some great practices here). But it also involves actually encouraging it, and acting on it when it comes to light. While feedback is often withheld out of fear of punishment (which there really is no excuse for in leadership these days), feedback is often withheld because the individual simply feels it will not be acted upon.

3. Acting on the feedback, and the results of fixes would become evident. Within short order, the employee would begin to see small changes in both the process and result, and would openly talk about what they were seeing. And ultimately, it would become visible to customers, little by little. And how would this happen, you ask?

4. It’s a little thing called measurement. In problem solving terms, we would call this the “M” in the DMAIC model (Define-MEASURE-analyze improve-control). It would involve an early action by leadership (perhaps initiated by front line management if necessary) to establish a baseline of the broken process, and a commitment to measuring and reporting future changes in performance. Only then will those changes have a chance of being noticed, and further improved upon.

It’s a big job, but start now!

Today, unfortunately, the words of apology don’t even begin to scratch the surface of connoting real change. When they are spoken, they are simply an attempt by a provider to “get absolution” (in the form of a customer proceeding to the next step of the process) without having to do anything differently.

As I said in my last post, fixing a problem should start with solid leadership, as the basis for building a true “commitment based culture”. And the steps outlined above are only a glimpse of what is necessary to get there. But we can initiate change by recognizing what success looks like, and beginning to demonstrate these practices, even of they are only in the pockets of the business in which we reside and/or lead.

Next time you hear, or say the words “I’m sorry”...think bigger. Think less about it being a regretful end to a transaction, and more about it as a renewed commitment to excellence in delivery.

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