CMI is Introducing a new and exciting tool: The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team

The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team combines the power of Everything DiSC with the influential teamwork model introduced by Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. This program can help team member learn to work together better to become more effective and engaged. It is appropriate for use with intact teams at all levels of the organization.

                                                      Check out Five Behaviors Program Overview Flyer

Seven Rules of Strategic Guessing

A few years ago I stood facing a group of well-heeled executives and CEOs at a conference to deliver a talk on strategic planning.

“Which of your companies plan on an annual basis?” I asked.

Only a quarter of my audience raised their hands. I opened my eyes in shock.  

“To those of you who don’t plan on an annual basis, why not?” I pressed.

In one way or another, they answered that they were too busy fighting fires to have time for that. This same group of executives then complained about low growth and no profits. They blamed the economy for their problems. With that, I suddenly understood: clearly, they were nincompoops. These CEOs did not make the connection that planning helps you deal with the economy and the issues that challenge your business.

Before we go further, let’s define what we mean by strategic guessing/planning. Rework, a book written by successful software entrepreneurs Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, declares that planning has been replaced by guessing. There is something to this. The past two years have presented a very uncertain climate for most businesses. If guessing has become “as good as it gets”, then you absolutely need a process by which to look at the future and make educated and measured calculations about creating a bright organizational future. However, while tactics are a part of this process, strategic guessing/planning focuses executives on the strategy and future moves that the company will take to achieve its health and growth.

The fact is that many small- to mid-sized companies do not have a structured process from which to conduct strategic planning. This is like many adults who do not exercise, despite knowing it’s good for them. Perfect health isn’t guaranteed by regular exercise, but the likelihood of attaining good health is dramatically increased. Strategic breakthrough business guessing/planning works for businesses in much the same way as exercise works for the individual.

Over the next few weeks I will present a streamlined list of my company’s most critical rules for strategic guessing/planning. There are only 120 of them. So, music please! What? Okay! Take it easy! (You get overwhelmed so easily.) We will go over just seven rules of planning. Is that better?

Raving Fan Customers: Creating Customer Focused Teams

Customer Focus, Feedback and Service Strategy

To create customer-focused teams, employees must understand that they win when the customers win; there is more to this positioning than meets the eye. The customer win has to be defined so that the company also wins. If you ask customers what they want they will tell you I want the service and product for nothing. Typically companies cannot stay in business by doing this. So the raving fan service strategy needs to be designed so that the company and its employees can deliver. Back to Apple, their products are easy to use and their informed employees can teach consumers how to use their products. All this conspires to make many raving fan Apple customers. Every service strategy needs to be designed so that this concept is constantly reinforced. 

The front line (people who directly impact the customer) has to get feedback so that they can:

• Know what it is doing right in creating raving fan customers
• Know what it is doing that is not working 
• Coordinate and fix problems with other departments that impact the delivery of raving fan customer service
• Ensure that the customer consistently perceives great value from the product and service that they are getting.

Two challenges exist in creating successful, high performance, customer focused teams. The first challenge is getting the voice of the customer clearly delivered to the front line regarding the service or product. Therefore, it is important to create forums and opportunities for the front line to listen to the customer. The other challenge is to make sure everyone understands the standards by which customer service is measured.

For more about creating customer focused teams click here.