A friend of mine is a teacher who, in my opinion, doesn't teach very well at all. I feel bad for his students.
For example, I play board games and card games with my friend and I consistently notice that when it's time for him to teach me a new game, I have no idea what he's talking about.
It's not that he's not smart. In fact, he's extraordinarily smart. And I hope I'M not the problem, for heaven's sake.
I'm pretty sure it's that he provides no context--no starting point, like, "the goal is to finish first," or, "the idea is to move your pieces in a way that blocks me from moving mine," or even, "there are four things to know about this game."
Nope. My friend starts off with something like, "four bedraggles equals a missed turn."
Context is so darned important.
It's the thing that tells somebody how to interpret what's coming.
Imagine if the title of this particular blog entry was, "context is king!". I ask you, would that have been a better title? I believe it's true that context is king--but that's more about me and my beliefs than it is about you. Who cares about me?
The title actually chosen for this entry was meant to direct your attention to something that maybe you wonder about sometimes. Maybe you wonder about it because you communicate for a living, or because you know somebody who often seems unclear.
Whether it's how to edit a spreadsheet, why your product is special, how you would like your employee to tweak his or her approach, or how to operate the microwave: I believe the key to explaining things is to start with the other person's point of view.
So I say things that line up as precisely as I can with the perspective, or attitude, or challenge of the other person.
Think of how little kids learn to report something. They say stuff like, "You know how Beulah always ..."
"Yes," you say.
"And you know how she ..."
"Yes," you say, rolling right along.
"Well, she did it again, only this time..."
I think grown-ups, on the other hand, often mistakenly assume shared context.
And it's "tough noogies" for us.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
When God created the universe...
When God created the universe, she didn't expect a payback.
That's my favourite line. It was uttered by Sid Kessler in conversation with me (though i inserted the letter 's' to form the word 'she')
Before the big bang, i don't think there was anybody back there, rubbing their hands together, saying, "okay, let's see what i get out of this."
Nope.
The big bang was a unidirectional outflow of creation.
So, the key to selling? Leading? Coaching? Educating?
Alignment with the flow of the universe: unidirectional momentum to give, create, expand.
That's my favourite line. It was uttered by Sid Kessler in conversation with me (though i inserted the letter 's' to form the word 'she')
Before the big bang, i don't think there was anybody back there, rubbing their hands together, saying, "okay, let's see what i get out of this."
Nope.
The big bang was a unidirectional outflow of creation.
So, the key to selling? Leading? Coaching? Educating?
Alignment with the flow of the universe: unidirectional momentum to give, create, expand.
On the Fridge Door
Over 15 years ago I ran my training company from my basement. That's where i would sit thinking about, and designing the content for, the training programs I would deliver.
One time I was designing a program about how successful sales people operate. Part of that program was about goals -- not only the need to have them but the need to stay focused on them. So I created the sentence, "The more often you glance at the goal, the straighter the path." The idea, for example, is that if you are walking in a field towards a large tree or a tower or something, the more often you looked up to check for the tree, the straighter your path to the tree would be.
A couple of months ago, more than fifteen years after I designed and delivered that training program, a colleague of mine received an email. As do many email senders, at the bottom of the email, in her signature area, the sender had a quotation, "The more often you glance at the goal, the straighter the path."
My colleague, a trainer who has periodically delivered that same message to other groups, recognized the sentence. He was excited for me. He ran to my office with a printout of the email. We shared a lovely moment about the effect we get to have in our industry. He wrote back to her asking about the quotation in the signature section of her messages--where it came from, why she chose THAT saying.
She replied, "I don't know where I got it from, but it's very important to me. I have used it as a guide for the longest time. I even have it posted on my refrigerator door at home. Isn't it neat?"
One time I was designing a program about how successful sales people operate. Part of that program was about goals -- not only the need to have them but the need to stay focused on them. So I created the sentence, "The more often you glance at the goal, the straighter the path." The idea, for example, is that if you are walking in a field towards a large tree or a tower or something, the more often you looked up to check for the tree, the straighter your path to the tree would be.
A couple of months ago, more than fifteen years after I designed and delivered that training program, a colleague of mine received an email. As do many email senders, at the bottom of the email, in her signature area, the sender had a quotation, "The more often you glance at the goal, the straighter the path."
My colleague, a trainer who has periodically delivered that same message to other groups, recognized the sentence. He was excited for me. He ran to my office with a printout of the email. We shared a lovely moment about the effect we get to have in our industry. He wrote back to her asking about the quotation in the signature section of her messages--where it came from, why she chose THAT saying.
She replied, "I don't know where I got it from, but it's very important to me. I have used it as a guide for the longest time. I even have it posted on my refrigerator door at home. Isn't it neat?"
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
On Running a Company
I run a company. We’ve been in business for 25 years and now have thirty employees. Have I learned anything as a business owner about running a business? Here are my nine main things.
1. You’ve heard before some version of the “customer is king”. I don’t just mean that the customer is always right (though, in some way, it’s true). I mean that everything you do has to be about bringing value to the customer. Be all about the customer. I subscribe to the dictum (actually, I think I simply bastardized somebody else’s dictum) “bring value and they will buy.” Probably it would be more precise to say, “bring a sought-after value that also happens to differentiate you.” You need to be better than your competitors and there needs to be demand for what you have to offer.
2. Generally customers will buy from you if: they trust you, you “get” them, you are better than everybody else, what you sell is worth at least what you are selling it for. If you can’t nail these things, you’ve got a problem.
3. Integrity for integrity’s sake. I used to say, “don’t lie because you’ll just get caught and blah, blah, blah. Now I actually think the key is not to lie, because it’s wrong. Maybe I’m getting old. Of course, it’s tough for some people to be open and true in what they say because, at the core, they have something to hide. For example, if you haven’t actually invented the product you’re trying to sell, then it’s tough. Or if you sell pens and you know your pens are no better than the competitor’s pens, and you know you are, in truth, no better than the other people at moving pens efficiently and lovingly, that’s a problem. Maybe you would be better off confronting the question around HOW you can differentiate yourself, rather than hiding your truth.
4. Data, oh data. Information is central to running a business. There’s a mechanical aspect underneath the surface of a business. A commercial enterprise is like a machine that produces output efficiently, but only if the machine is fueled and maintained. If you don’t have fuel (money) to keep the machine running, then it stops. So you have to keep your eye on fuel levels—both in terms of what’s currently available and what fuel is on its way. You have to make sure the machine is operating efficiently (avoid too many meetings, too many hands, too little getting done), otherwise fuel is just wasted and not available when you need it. Inefficiency can also reduce the quality or purity of output. So, on a weekly basis I look at no less than thirty pieces of fresh data; things like weekly and year-to-date sales, when we would run out of money if sales simply stopped, how much people owe us, and how fast they pay us, how much we’re getting for our services, how much profit we make with each thing we do. In a complicated week, there are hundreds of data points to examine. Without data, and the ability to interpret it, to predict the future with it, a business leader is quite vulnerable.
5. As a boss, it’s tough to forfeit control; so it’s good to be busy at other things, lest you get in people’s way. It’s funny, when things slow down for me, I step out of my office, and see people engaged in meetings, briskly walking in concentration, busy at their desks doing things I don’t even know about. It’s not “ha, ha” funny. Just weird. I’m in control and out of control. A key for me is to rest in that place.
6. It’s important to say “no” to people sometimes. If there is money available to them, they will spend it. Nature fills a vacuum, especially when there is money available. But you have to say no nicely.
7. Perhaps it’s just me, but I think it’s important to pay close attention to culture—how people are feeling about their work and what the organization is up to. It’s important that they get along with one another. A mentally healthy environment lubricates things, optimizes retention, creates happy customers.
8. Anticipating problems and putting them to rest is awfully important. So you have to reserve time to think. That’s really important. Similarly, hiring people who have been around the block (though they do ultimately leave or get tired while still on the job) makes a big difference. Experienced people make educated decisions. Because they have seen things before, they tend to have more mental bandwidth to consider nuance. So they make better judgements.
9. Constantly training people to get better at things is smart. It aids employee retention, it elevates the quality of your output, it brings value to those you lead, it helps in managing succession. So teach people, all the time. Coaching, mentoring, group-based education, in any of many contemporary media—this is the information age, after all.
1. You’ve heard before some version of the “customer is king”. I don’t just mean that the customer is always right (though, in some way, it’s true). I mean that everything you do has to be about bringing value to the customer. Be all about the customer. I subscribe to the dictum (actually, I think I simply bastardized somebody else’s dictum) “bring value and they will buy.” Probably it would be more precise to say, “bring a sought-after value that also happens to differentiate you.” You need to be better than your competitors and there needs to be demand for what you have to offer.
2. Generally customers will buy from you if: they trust you, you “get” them, you are better than everybody else, what you sell is worth at least what you are selling it for. If you can’t nail these things, you’ve got a problem.
3. Integrity for integrity’s sake. I used to say, “don’t lie because you’ll just get caught and blah, blah, blah. Now I actually think the key is not to lie, because it’s wrong. Maybe I’m getting old. Of course, it’s tough for some people to be open and true in what they say because, at the core, they have something to hide. For example, if you haven’t actually invented the product you’re trying to sell, then it’s tough. Or if you sell pens and you know your pens are no better than the competitor’s pens, and you know you are, in truth, no better than the other people at moving pens efficiently and lovingly, that’s a problem. Maybe you would be better off confronting the question around HOW you can differentiate yourself, rather than hiding your truth.
4. Data, oh data. Information is central to running a business. There’s a mechanical aspect underneath the surface of a business. A commercial enterprise is like a machine that produces output efficiently, but only if the machine is fueled and maintained. If you don’t have fuel (money) to keep the machine running, then it stops. So you have to keep your eye on fuel levels—both in terms of what’s currently available and what fuel is on its way. You have to make sure the machine is operating efficiently (avoid too many meetings, too many hands, too little getting done), otherwise fuel is just wasted and not available when you need it. Inefficiency can also reduce the quality or purity of output. So, on a weekly basis I look at no less than thirty pieces of fresh data; things like weekly and year-to-date sales, when we would run out of money if sales simply stopped, how much people owe us, and how fast they pay us, how much we’re getting for our services, how much profit we make with each thing we do. In a complicated week, there are hundreds of data points to examine. Without data, and the ability to interpret it, to predict the future with it, a business leader is quite vulnerable.
5. As a boss, it’s tough to forfeit control; so it’s good to be busy at other things, lest you get in people’s way. It’s funny, when things slow down for me, I step out of my office, and see people engaged in meetings, briskly walking in concentration, busy at their desks doing things I don’t even know about. It’s not “ha, ha” funny. Just weird. I’m in control and out of control. A key for me is to rest in that place.
6. It’s important to say “no” to people sometimes. If there is money available to them, they will spend it. Nature fills a vacuum, especially when there is money available. But you have to say no nicely.
7. Perhaps it’s just me, but I think it’s important to pay close attention to culture—how people are feeling about their work and what the organization is up to. It’s important that they get along with one another. A mentally healthy environment lubricates things, optimizes retention, creates happy customers.
8. Anticipating problems and putting them to rest is awfully important. So you have to reserve time to think. That’s really important. Similarly, hiring people who have been around the block (though they do ultimately leave or get tired while still on the job) makes a big difference. Experienced people make educated decisions. Because they have seen things before, they tend to have more mental bandwidth to consider nuance. So they make better judgements.
9. Constantly training people to get better at things is smart. It aids employee retention, it elevates the quality of your output, it brings value to those you lead, it helps in managing succession. So teach people, all the time. Coaching, mentoring, group-based education, in any of many contemporary media—this is the information age, after all.
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