If 99.9% is good enough, then . . .
• Two million documents will be lost by the IRS this year.
• 811,000 faulty rolls of 35 mm film will be loaded into cameras this year.
• 22,000 checks will be deducted from the wrong checking account every 60 minutes.
• 1,314 phone calls will be misplaced by telecommunications services every minute.
• 12 babies will be given to the wrong parents each day.
• 268,500 defective tires will be shipped this year.
• 14,208 defective personal computers will be placed on desks.
• 103,260 income tax returns will be processed incorrectly this year.
• Almost 2.5 million books will be shipped in the next 12 months with the wrong cover.
• Two plane landings today at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport will be unsafe.
• 3,056 copies of tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal will be missing at least one section.
• 18,322 pieces of mail will be mishandled in the next hour.
• 291 pacemaker operations will be performed incorrectly this year.
• 880,000 credit cards in circulation will have incorrect cardholder information on their magnetic strips.
• $9,690 will be spent each day on defective, and often unsafe sporting equipment.
• 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions will be written in the next twelve months.
• 114,500 mismatched pairs of socks will be purchased this year.
• $761,900 will be spent on compact discs and tapes that don’t work.
• 107 incorrect medical procedures will be done today.
• 315 entries in the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary will turn out to be misspelled.
(Taken from Insight, Syncrude Canada Ltd., Communications Division)
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Five Most Important Things Customers Want
A recent customer service survey conducted by The Forum Corporation identifies five essential things customers want from product manufacturers and service providers. These five elements are universal to all businesses and industries and refer both to your products and your services.
The first thing customers want is RELIABILITY. They want to dependably and accurately receive what has been promised. They expect your products to perform exactly as, or better than, stated in your advertisements or marketing materials. They want your products to withstand normal wear and tear. They expect your employees to provide exceptional customer service every time. They want to know that your staff will do the right things right the first time. They want to rely on and trust you will deliver on your promises each and every time they do business with you.
Second, your customers want RESPONSIVENESS. They expect your employees to be fast, timely and efficient. They especially want your workers to immediately notice them, and willingly help them when noticed. If there is a problem, customers expect it to be fixed promptly with no hassle. They want your employees to rectify problems and resolve concerns as quickly as possible with minimal impact on or effort from the customer. Most important, they expect a sense of urgency when it comes to delivering your services or rectifying a problem.
Next, customers seek ASSURANCE that dealing with your company will be a pleasant experience. Customers feel assured when your employees are well-informed, respond in a courteous manner, and convey respect in their demeanor. They also are assured when your employees are helpful and go out of their way to serve the customers. Customers can tell whether or not your employees are interested in serving them. Assurance, or confidence, in the consistency of your products and services is essential to creating customer loyalty.
Customers also want EMPATHY from your employees. This is exhibited in the degree of caring and individual attention provided to the customers by your employees. When customers have concerns they expect a prompt response and resolution to their problems. But they also wish to feel your employees care about and acknowledge their concerns. Resolution without empathy usually does not fully satisfy customers. People need to sense remorse from your staff for the inconvenience or difficulty the problem may have caused. Customers expect your employees to see things from the customer’s perspective and to be able to empathize with the customer experience. Patients want doctors who are not just technically proficient, but who also have a good bedside manner. Empathy can often compensate for errors in quality and service.
Finally, customers expect you to provide the TANGIBLES you promise. Tangibles are the things that create or represent your image and appearance to the customers. Tangibles are the physical properties of your products, facilities and employees. They are the way your enterprise and people look, sound and feel. Tangibles are the obvious characteristics of your products and services. Customers expect the tangible delivery of your products and services to match the image of your marketing and advertising.
These five elements are listed here in priority order from the customers’ perspective. Reliability is what customers want most. What they want least are tangibles. Yet the survey found that companies spend most of their energy focused on providing tangibles. They make their products physically appealing. They outfit their employees in pleasing attire. They ensure their facilities are ergonomically pleasing. But often these appearances are a façade shrouding shoddy craftsmanship or poor customer service. Nothing frustrates customers more than to purchase products that look good, but function poorly.
Therefore, you can greatly enhance the loyalty of your customers by effectively focusing on the five things that matter most to the customers in the order the customers care about them most.
The first thing customers want is RELIABILITY. They want to dependably and accurately receive what has been promised. They expect your products to perform exactly as, or better than, stated in your advertisements or marketing materials. They want your products to withstand normal wear and tear. They expect your employees to provide exceptional customer service every time. They want to know that your staff will do the right things right the first time. They want to rely on and trust you will deliver on your promises each and every time they do business with you.
Second, your customers want RESPONSIVENESS. They expect your employees to be fast, timely and efficient. They especially want your workers to immediately notice them, and willingly help them when noticed. If there is a problem, customers expect it to be fixed promptly with no hassle. They want your employees to rectify problems and resolve concerns as quickly as possible with minimal impact on or effort from the customer. Most important, they expect a sense of urgency when it comes to delivering your services or rectifying a problem.
Next, customers seek ASSURANCE that dealing with your company will be a pleasant experience. Customers feel assured when your employees are well-informed, respond in a courteous manner, and convey respect in their demeanor. They also are assured when your employees are helpful and go out of their way to serve the customers. Customers can tell whether or not your employees are interested in serving them. Assurance, or confidence, in the consistency of your products and services is essential to creating customer loyalty.
Customers also want EMPATHY from your employees. This is exhibited in the degree of caring and individual attention provided to the customers by your employees. When customers have concerns they expect a prompt response and resolution to their problems. But they also wish to feel your employees care about and acknowledge their concerns. Resolution without empathy usually does not fully satisfy customers. People need to sense remorse from your staff for the inconvenience or difficulty the problem may have caused. Customers expect your employees to see things from the customer’s perspective and to be able to empathize with the customer experience. Patients want doctors who are not just technically proficient, but who also have a good bedside manner. Empathy can often compensate for errors in quality and service.
Finally, customers expect you to provide the TANGIBLES you promise. Tangibles are the things that create or represent your image and appearance to the customers. Tangibles are the physical properties of your products, facilities and employees. They are the way your enterprise and people look, sound and feel. Tangibles are the obvious characteristics of your products and services. Customers expect the tangible delivery of your products and services to match the image of your marketing and advertising.
These five elements are listed here in priority order from the customers’ perspective. Reliability is what customers want most. What they want least are tangibles. Yet the survey found that companies spend most of their energy focused on providing tangibles. They make their products physically appealing. They outfit their employees in pleasing attire. They ensure their facilities are ergonomically pleasing. But often these appearances are a façade shrouding shoddy craftsmanship or poor customer service. Nothing frustrates customers more than to purchase products that look good, but function poorly.
Therefore, you can greatly enhance the loyalty of your customers by effectively focusing on the five things that matter most to the customers in the order the customers care about them most.
One's Beliefs Determines One's Willingness to Delegate
Perhaps one of the most difficult things for some managers to do is to delegate tasks to subordinates, particularly those tasks that are of high importance or entail great risk to the manager.
Delegation requires a manager to have trust, confidence and belief in the abilities of an employee to carry out a task to its successful completion. A manager must believe the person delegated to is fully capable of performing the task (competence) and that the task will actually be done (predictability). Managers often don’t delegate a task to someone else because they lack the confidence the task will be done as well as they could do it themselves.
To delegate a task to another person a manager must consciously understand the unconscious elements that play into every delegation. Before the manager can “let go” of an assignment, she must have certain “beliefs” about the person to whom she is delegating.
The first element is a Competence Belief. A manager must believe the person is capable of performing the task as directed at the level expected. This includes the assurance the individual has the skills, knowledge and ability to perform the expected result.
Having the skills to do a task, and having a willingness to do it, are two different things. Consequently, the manager must also have a Disposition Belief that the employee is not only able to perform the task, but disposed to perform as expected. The employee must be eager and willing to take on the responsibilities. If the employee is in any way hesitant or reluctant, the manager will be less inclined to believe the task will be completed properly.
Hence, the manager also needs a Fulfillment Belief that the individual will carry out the action by actually doing it. To fulfill a responsibility, an employee must have the ability, disposition, time, and resources to complete the task as expected.
This Persistence Belief gives the manager the added sense that the employee will stick to the task and do whatever is necessary to get it done in a timely manner.
Three additional beliefs that play into effective delegation are ones the employee must harbor in order to accept the delegated responsibility. Managers must consider these additional beliefs when delegating to an employee.
First, the employee must have a Self-Confidence Belief in his own abilities to perform the task as expected. He must confidently know, or believe, he can do it.
Second, there must be a Benefit Belief regarding the delegated task. The employee must perceive there is a personal benefit from his action. Some type of payoff must be dependent upon the satisfactory completion of the task and have significant enough appeal to the employee to generate his commitment to the task.
Finally, the employee must perceive, consciously or unconsciously, a No-Harm Belief. He must feel the task is within his scope of responsibility and that no harm will come to him, his boss, or his company if, for some reason, he fails in the successful completion of the task. Risk aversion is one of the primary reasons why employees fail to take on greater responsibility. Managers who can tolerate failure on the road to success have a greater propensity to delegate more.
True delegation might be better understood by using the term reliance in place of delegation. To delegate effectively a manager must be able to rely on another individual to perform the task as expected. A manager can only delegate to an employee when she feels he is reliable enough to do it right.
Delegation requires a manager to have trust, confidence and belief in the abilities of an employee to carry out a task to its successful completion. A manager must believe the person delegated to is fully capable of performing the task (competence) and that the task will actually be done (predictability). Managers often don’t delegate a task to someone else because they lack the confidence the task will be done as well as they could do it themselves.
To delegate a task to another person a manager must consciously understand the unconscious elements that play into every delegation. Before the manager can “let go” of an assignment, she must have certain “beliefs” about the person to whom she is delegating.
The first element is a Competence Belief. A manager must believe the person is capable of performing the task as directed at the level expected. This includes the assurance the individual has the skills, knowledge and ability to perform the expected result.
Having the skills to do a task, and having a willingness to do it, are two different things. Consequently, the manager must also have a Disposition Belief that the employee is not only able to perform the task, but disposed to perform as expected. The employee must be eager and willing to take on the responsibilities. If the employee is in any way hesitant or reluctant, the manager will be less inclined to believe the task will be completed properly.
Hence, the manager also needs a Fulfillment Belief that the individual will carry out the action by actually doing it. To fulfill a responsibility, an employee must have the ability, disposition, time, and resources to complete the task as expected.
This Persistence Belief gives the manager the added sense that the employee will stick to the task and do whatever is necessary to get it done in a timely manner.
Three additional beliefs that play into effective delegation are ones the employee must harbor in order to accept the delegated responsibility. Managers must consider these additional beliefs when delegating to an employee.
First, the employee must have a Self-Confidence Belief in his own abilities to perform the task as expected. He must confidently know, or believe, he can do it.
Second, there must be a Benefit Belief regarding the delegated task. The employee must perceive there is a personal benefit from his action. Some type of payoff must be dependent upon the satisfactory completion of the task and have significant enough appeal to the employee to generate his commitment to the task.
Finally, the employee must perceive, consciously or unconsciously, a No-Harm Belief. He must feel the task is within his scope of responsibility and that no harm will come to him, his boss, or his company if, for some reason, he fails in the successful completion of the task. Risk aversion is one of the primary reasons why employees fail to take on greater responsibility. Managers who can tolerate failure on the road to success have a greater propensity to delegate more.
True delegation might be better understood by using the term reliance in place of delegation. To delegate effectively a manager must be able to rely on another individual to perform the task as expected. A manager can only delegate to an employee when she feels he is reliable enough to do it right.
Three Keys to Prioritizing and Delegating
Some managers find two critical elements of management to be quite challenging -- knowing how to prioritize the work and knowing when to delegate.
Some managers become overwhelmed by the volume of issues they must address in a normal work day. They have difficulty determining the important from the unimportant, the urgent from the non-urgent. Then, once having established the priority of the tasks, they then have a hard time knowing whether the tasks should be delegated to others.
Here are three key questions you can ask yourself to determine the priority of a task and whether or not it can be delegated to someone else.
First, you need to ask yourself: Do I need to be personally involved because of my authority, skills, knowledge or perspective? Are you the only one who can perform the task because no one else has the skills, knowledge or ability to do it without your involvement?
Next, ask yourself: Does the task fall within my primary responsibility and/or does it significantly affect the financial performance of my work unit? Is this a task you should be doing because it IS your job? If you didn’t work on this task, could it significantly harm your company’s or your department’s bottom line?
Finally, ask yourself: Is a rapid response necessary? Could there be a serious negative consequence if you don’t address this task immediately? If you delayed your effort or did nothing at all, what would happen?
Once you’ve answered these three question you can determine the priority for the task using the following guidelines:
The task is a high priority if you answered “yes” to all three questions.
If you answered “yes” to question one — you need to be personally involved — plus a “yes” to either question two or question three, the task is a medium priority.
The task is a low priority if you answered “yes” to question one, but “no” to questions two and three.
Knowing when to delegate a task is simple. If you answered “no” to the first question — you don’t need to be personally involved — obviously you shouldn’t be involved. Delegate the task.
Some managers become overwhelmed by the volume of issues they must address in a normal work day. They have difficulty determining the important from the unimportant, the urgent from the non-urgent. Then, once having established the priority of the tasks, they then have a hard time knowing whether the tasks should be delegated to others.
Here are three key questions you can ask yourself to determine the priority of a task and whether or not it can be delegated to someone else.
First, you need to ask yourself: Do I need to be personally involved because of my authority, skills, knowledge or perspective? Are you the only one who can perform the task because no one else has the skills, knowledge or ability to do it without your involvement?
Next, ask yourself: Does the task fall within my primary responsibility and/or does it significantly affect the financial performance of my work unit? Is this a task you should be doing because it IS your job? If you didn’t work on this task, could it significantly harm your company’s or your department’s bottom line?
Finally, ask yourself: Is a rapid response necessary? Could there be a serious negative consequence if you don’t address this task immediately? If you delayed your effort or did nothing at all, what would happen?
Once you’ve answered these three question you can determine the priority for the task using the following guidelines:
The task is a high priority if you answered “yes” to all three questions.
If you answered “yes” to question one — you need to be personally involved — plus a “yes” to either question two or question three, the task is a medium priority.
The task is a low priority if you answered “yes” to question one, but “no” to questions two and three.
Knowing when to delegate a task is simple. If you answered “no” to the first question — you don’t need to be personally involved — obviously you shouldn’t be involved. Delegate the task.
Characteristics of Effective Time Managers
In his book Time Is Money, Ross Webber identifies seven core behaviors that are characteristic of effective time managers (ETMs).
First, effective time managers project themselves into the future. They transcend present events and look into the future to anticipate tasks. They contemplate their weekly and monthly calendars. They identify upcoming events and plan ahead. They also avoid being ambushed by unforeseen events by anticipating deadlines and assessing potential crises that could arise.
ETMs have the capacity to convert the unique or exception into the routine. They examine the flow of events on the job to detect predictable crises that can be anticipated. They then implement standing policies and procedures to deal with conflicts before they appear. The U.S. Navy is a good example of this. Responses to predictable emergencies that might arise are rehearsed and practiced to convert the emergency into the routine. Similarly, businesses can create predictable responses to such things as the loss of a major customer, a plant accident, a product failure, or the usual rush to close out accounts at the end of each month or quarter.
The ability to anticipate is key to effective time management. Unfortunately, many managers view unplanned tasks as if they are unique crises. When events are handled as unique, priorities are not differentiated, crisis predominates and a great deal of time is consumed in reactive responses.
The second trait of effective time managers is their ability to generate personal cues, momentum and artificial deadlines to govern their actions.
People who believe they have little control over their lives tend to look for external events to energize them. They want clear cues signaling when they should begin a difficult task. Such people may delay starting a diet until an appropriate time, like a Monday, or the first of the month, or after Christmas. They abdicate control over their life to chance.
Effective time managers have the courage to confront the difficult and unpleasant early. Instead of procrastinating, ETMs plunge into undesirable projects first. They develop momentum by beginning with some easy, programmed steps that lead to the accomplishment of the task. They seldom accept other people’s deadlines, creating artificial deadlines that are earlier. The self-imposed deadlines put them in control and create enough leeway to allow them to relax before the actual due date.
ETMs know when to say “no” or ignore certain cues they receive from others.
At an insurance company where I once worked the CEO was notorious for asking “what if” questions. With each query scores of his minions rushed off to collect data on his what if scenarios. After spending hundreds of man-hours researching the answer to his questions, they’d present their findings only to discover he was no longer interested in the answer. My staff was spared countless hours of wasted effort by NOT responding to the CEO’s requests unless he asked for something twice.
Developing tactics for selectively ignoring certain cues and determining what doesn’t have to be done is crucial to effective time management.
Saying “no” also extends to telling a superior when time demands are excessive or deadlines are impossible to meet. It includes assertively identifying which tasks are essential to getting the work done and which are administrivia. Large amounts of time are consumed in the workplace because managers are too passive to ignore demands that interfere with performance. For example, many people sit in hundreds of non-productive meetings simply because they feel helpless to say “no” to the norms or traditions of the company. Although some organizations do demand substantial conformity, most people are bound by ineffective chains they themselves forged.
Effective time managers know how important it is to withdraw and hide periodically. Most people actually do have spare time in their work lives. Unfortunately, the biggest problem with discretionary time is that it’s chopped up. They can’t get anything done because they’re interrupted every few minutes.
Progress on tough projects requires time periods long enough for concentration. The minimum usable time span required by most people to focus on complex issues is one to two hours. Anything less requires too many transitions. ETMs find ways to isolate themselves so they can work through tough issues.
After being interrupted several times while working on an important project, I installed a traffic signal on my door. A green light meant it was okay to enter my office for any reason. A yellow light signaled that the interrupter should pause before entering and think through how important their issue was before interrupting my work. When the red light was on I was not to be disturbed unless the building was on fire or some other dire emergency.
ETMs also find a “creative” location where they can consolidate chunks of uninterrupted time to relax and think more deeply about organizational problems and other important issues.
Most ETMs have learned the value of rewarding themselves for progress on their work. Note that effective time managers reward themselves for progress, not for effort or intention. All large, complex projects have smaller parts that can be celebrated as they are accomplished. Small rewards, like a coffee break or even an afternoon off, are justified if they mark significant progress on a lengthy project.
Effective time managers also know not to expect perfection. Perfectionists are especially prone to procrastination. Such people want to do things exactly right, so they delay working on the task until they are fully prepared. Most managerial tasks don’t lend themselves to perfect solutions. Thus managers need to be able to tolerate some uncertainty about how well the task has to be performed and be willing to enter into the task without a perfectly mapped-out plan of attack.
Finally, effective time managers confront ambiguity regularly. ETMs don’t allow themselves to get caught up in the inexhaustible supply of present details. They enthusiastically attack the ambiguities of the future. Because the future has the nasty habit of being unpredictable, managers need time to read and think, not just about their jobs, but about a wide variety of topics. Just as we never know where the next problem will come from, we can almost never predict where the next solution will come from. Consequently, ETMs relax the intensity of their work on present problems so they can focus more on future responsibilities. They value today less and tomorrow more.
First, effective time managers project themselves into the future. They transcend present events and look into the future to anticipate tasks. They contemplate their weekly and monthly calendars. They identify upcoming events and plan ahead. They also avoid being ambushed by unforeseen events by anticipating deadlines and assessing potential crises that could arise.
ETMs have the capacity to convert the unique or exception into the routine. They examine the flow of events on the job to detect predictable crises that can be anticipated. They then implement standing policies and procedures to deal with conflicts before they appear. The U.S. Navy is a good example of this. Responses to predictable emergencies that might arise are rehearsed and practiced to convert the emergency into the routine. Similarly, businesses can create predictable responses to such things as the loss of a major customer, a plant accident, a product failure, or the usual rush to close out accounts at the end of each month or quarter.
The ability to anticipate is key to effective time management. Unfortunately, many managers view unplanned tasks as if they are unique crises. When events are handled as unique, priorities are not differentiated, crisis predominates and a great deal of time is consumed in reactive responses.
The second trait of effective time managers is their ability to generate personal cues, momentum and artificial deadlines to govern their actions.
People who believe they have little control over their lives tend to look for external events to energize them. They want clear cues signaling when they should begin a difficult task. Such people may delay starting a diet until an appropriate time, like a Monday, or the first of the month, or after Christmas. They abdicate control over their life to chance.
Effective time managers have the courage to confront the difficult and unpleasant early. Instead of procrastinating, ETMs plunge into undesirable projects first. They develop momentum by beginning with some easy, programmed steps that lead to the accomplishment of the task. They seldom accept other people’s deadlines, creating artificial deadlines that are earlier. The self-imposed deadlines put them in control and create enough leeway to allow them to relax before the actual due date.
ETMs know when to say “no” or ignore certain cues they receive from others.
At an insurance company where I once worked the CEO was notorious for asking “what if” questions. With each query scores of his minions rushed off to collect data on his what if scenarios. After spending hundreds of man-hours researching the answer to his questions, they’d present their findings only to discover he was no longer interested in the answer. My staff was spared countless hours of wasted effort by NOT responding to the CEO’s requests unless he asked for something twice.
Developing tactics for selectively ignoring certain cues and determining what doesn’t have to be done is crucial to effective time management.
Saying “no” also extends to telling a superior when time demands are excessive or deadlines are impossible to meet. It includes assertively identifying which tasks are essential to getting the work done and which are administrivia. Large amounts of time are consumed in the workplace because managers are too passive to ignore demands that interfere with performance. For example, many people sit in hundreds of non-productive meetings simply because they feel helpless to say “no” to the norms or traditions of the company. Although some organizations do demand substantial conformity, most people are bound by ineffective chains they themselves forged.
Effective time managers know how important it is to withdraw and hide periodically. Most people actually do have spare time in their work lives. Unfortunately, the biggest problem with discretionary time is that it’s chopped up. They can’t get anything done because they’re interrupted every few minutes.
Progress on tough projects requires time periods long enough for concentration. The minimum usable time span required by most people to focus on complex issues is one to two hours. Anything less requires too many transitions. ETMs find ways to isolate themselves so they can work through tough issues.
After being interrupted several times while working on an important project, I installed a traffic signal on my door. A green light meant it was okay to enter my office for any reason. A yellow light signaled that the interrupter should pause before entering and think through how important their issue was before interrupting my work. When the red light was on I was not to be disturbed unless the building was on fire or some other dire emergency.
ETMs also find a “creative” location where they can consolidate chunks of uninterrupted time to relax and think more deeply about organizational problems and other important issues.
Most ETMs have learned the value of rewarding themselves for progress on their work. Note that effective time managers reward themselves for progress, not for effort or intention. All large, complex projects have smaller parts that can be celebrated as they are accomplished. Small rewards, like a coffee break or even an afternoon off, are justified if they mark significant progress on a lengthy project.
Effective time managers also know not to expect perfection. Perfectionists are especially prone to procrastination. Such people want to do things exactly right, so they delay working on the task until they are fully prepared. Most managerial tasks don’t lend themselves to perfect solutions. Thus managers need to be able to tolerate some uncertainty about how well the task has to be performed and be willing to enter into the task without a perfectly mapped-out plan of attack.
Finally, effective time managers confront ambiguity regularly. ETMs don’t allow themselves to get caught up in the inexhaustible supply of present details. They enthusiastically attack the ambiguities of the future. Because the future has the nasty habit of being unpredictable, managers need time to read and think, not just about their jobs, but about a wide variety of topics. Just as we never know where the next problem will come from, we can almost never predict where the next solution will come from. Consequently, ETMs relax the intensity of their work on present problems so they can focus more on future responsibilities. They value today less and tomorrow more.
Vision Statements That Have Meaning
As a consultant I get tired of being asked to help companies develop a vision or mission statement. It’s not that I don’t think a vision or mission statement is important. It’s just that in most companies the vision statement is not a vision and the mission statement is not a mission, they’re merely statements. Statements that usually are pasted up on a wall someplace and seldom referenced again.
A company’s vision is supposed to be a clear view of the future. The vision should be so lucid and tangible that everyone in the company can picture where the company is going and see perfectly the difference between where the company is today and where it wants to be in the future. If the company’s leaders cannot distinctly and prophetically foresee and communicate the company’s future, then a vision statement on a wall is not going to make any difference. It will not move people.
I like to say "a mission on the wall is no mission at all." If a person had a mission or purpose in his life he would not need a written statement to guide his actions. His mission would be so intrinsic to him that it would be “written” in his head, his heart, and his soul.
A company’s vision must be one that stirs people within and engages their support. It must appeal to the ideals and spirit of the employees. If prose can do that, then put your mission in a statement. Otherwise, the best mission and vision for a company is to help employees understand the business imperatives and the implied promises that everyone must achieve in order to secure a viable future for everyone who has a stake in the business.
So if you need help seeing the future, if you want to know what’s imperative to the survival of your business, if you need a clear view of the implied promises on which you must deliver to completely satisfy your customers — then call Innovative Management Group. We will help you define your true vision and mission. We’ll walk you through the steps necessary to identify your strategic intent and map out a very specific operational plan to achieve the vision you have for your company’s future.
However, on the other hand, if all you want is a vision or mission statement, then simply follow the guidelines below to come up with a sure-fire, knock-your-socks-off, humdinger that will sound great, but do absolutely nothing to move your organization forward.
Here’s how to write a worthless vision or mission statement:
The typical mission statement includes two semicolons, two dashes, and at least two business buzzwords, while a vision statement contains only one dash but makes up for it with at least one run-on sentence.
To be at all credible, a company’s mission and vision statements must include at least five of the following terms and phrases:
• world class
• premier
• high performance
• innovative
• leading edge
• benchmark
• innovation
• diverse
• empowers
• exceeds
• delights
• right the first time
• puts customers first
• puts employees first
• puts profits first
Thus, a high quality, but worthless, vision statement might read as follows:
“Our vision is to develop an innovative, high-performance mission statement — one that puts the customer first, puts the employees first, and does it right the first time in a way that delights anyone who has concerns that this mission statement would actually mean something; in order to show that employees can exceed expectations for how much unhealthy food they can consume in a single envisioning meeting; while spending an entire day in a freezing cold hotel meeting room churning out run-on sentences while real work piles up back at the office.”
Feel free to use this vision statement for your company. It's a lot more meaningful than many vision statements I've seen.
A company’s vision is supposed to be a clear view of the future. The vision should be so lucid and tangible that everyone in the company can picture where the company is going and see perfectly the difference between where the company is today and where it wants to be in the future. If the company’s leaders cannot distinctly and prophetically foresee and communicate the company’s future, then a vision statement on a wall is not going to make any difference. It will not move people.
I like to say "a mission on the wall is no mission at all." If a person had a mission or purpose in his life he would not need a written statement to guide his actions. His mission would be so intrinsic to him that it would be “written” in his head, his heart, and his soul.
A company’s vision must be one that stirs people within and engages their support. It must appeal to the ideals and spirit of the employees. If prose can do that, then put your mission in a statement. Otherwise, the best mission and vision for a company is to help employees understand the business imperatives and the implied promises that everyone must achieve in order to secure a viable future for everyone who has a stake in the business.
So if you need help seeing the future, if you want to know what’s imperative to the survival of your business, if you need a clear view of the implied promises on which you must deliver to completely satisfy your customers — then call Innovative Management Group. We will help you define your true vision and mission. We’ll walk you through the steps necessary to identify your strategic intent and map out a very specific operational plan to achieve the vision you have for your company’s future.
However, on the other hand, if all you want is a vision or mission statement, then simply follow the guidelines below to come up with a sure-fire, knock-your-socks-off, humdinger that will sound great, but do absolutely nothing to move your organization forward.
Here’s how to write a worthless vision or mission statement:
The typical mission statement includes two semicolons, two dashes, and at least two business buzzwords, while a vision statement contains only one dash but makes up for it with at least one run-on sentence.
To be at all credible, a company’s mission and vision statements must include at least five of the following terms and phrases:
• world class
• premier
• high performance
• innovative
• leading edge
• benchmark
• innovation
• diverse
• empowers
• exceeds
• delights
• right the first time
• puts customers first
• puts employees first
• puts profits first
Thus, a high quality, but worthless, vision statement might read as follows:
“Our vision is to develop an innovative, high-performance mission statement — one that puts the customer first, puts the employees first, and does it right the first time in a way that delights anyone who has concerns that this mission statement would actually mean something; in order to show that employees can exceed expectations for how much unhealthy food they can consume in a single envisioning meeting; while spending an entire day in a freezing cold hotel meeting room churning out run-on sentences while real work piles up back at the office.”
Feel free to use this vision statement for your company. It's a lot more meaningful than many vision statements I've seen.
Must End the Old before Transitioning to the New
Before you can begin something new, you have to end what used to be.
Every change starts with an ending. The transition to the new change requires people to let go of the old realities of the past. Nothing so undermines organizational change as the failure to think through what people will lose in the change. It does little good to talk about how wonderful the outcome of the change will be if you haven’t prepared people for the losses and ending of what was before. People cannot leave the past until they accept the need to end it.
Here are some things you can do to make the passing of the old less painful:
Identify Who is Losing What. Describe the change in as much detail as possible. Tell them specifically what will be different when the dust clears. Make sure everyone knows specifically what will be continued and what will be stopped.
Accept the Reality and Importance of the Losses. Don’t argue with what you hear. Accept the anguish that people are going through. Allow people to go through the grieving process regarding what they are losing in the change.
Don’t Be Surprised at People’s Overreaction. People usually overreact to change. However, it’s the losses they are reacting to. A part of their world is being lost. Rather than trying to talk people out of their overreaction, show them which losses are real and which are merely speculation or rumor. Separate truth from fiction.
Acknowledge the Losses Openly and Sympathetically. Bring losses out into the open. Do it simply and directly. Everyone is losing something. Don’t try to sugar coat or wash over it. Be kind and understanding regarding what people are going through. They had a lot invested in their past, and now they are losing some of what they worked hard for.
Expect and Accept Signs of Grieving. When endings take place, people get angry, sad, frightened, depressed and confused. Treat these emotions seriously. Don’t get defensive or argumentative. Give people time to work through their loss and expect it to take awhile before they become accustomed to the new.
Give Something in Return to Compensate for the Losses. Many organizational change efforts fail because the affected people feel only the pain. Trying to talk people out of their feelings will get you nowhere. Instead, ask yourself what you can give back to balance what’s been taken away. Find ways to recognize and reward people for making a successful transition to the new ways of doing things.
Treat the Past With Respect. Never denigrate the past. Honor the past for what it has accomplished. Present changes and innovations as developments that build upon the successes of the past. Show how the change is a natural progression or evolution from what has been done in the past.
Every change starts with an ending. The transition to the new change requires people to let go of the old realities of the past. Nothing so undermines organizational change as the failure to think through what people will lose in the change. It does little good to talk about how wonderful the outcome of the change will be if you haven’t prepared people for the losses and ending of what was before. People cannot leave the past until they accept the need to end it.
Here are some things you can do to make the passing of the old less painful:
Identify Who is Losing What. Describe the change in as much detail as possible. Tell them specifically what will be different when the dust clears. Make sure everyone knows specifically what will be continued and what will be stopped.
Accept the Reality and Importance of the Losses. Don’t argue with what you hear. Accept the anguish that people are going through. Allow people to go through the grieving process regarding what they are losing in the change.
Don’t Be Surprised at People’s Overreaction. People usually overreact to change. However, it’s the losses they are reacting to. A part of their world is being lost. Rather than trying to talk people out of their overreaction, show them which losses are real and which are merely speculation or rumor. Separate truth from fiction.
Acknowledge the Losses Openly and Sympathetically. Bring losses out into the open. Do it simply and directly. Everyone is losing something. Don’t try to sugar coat or wash over it. Be kind and understanding regarding what people are going through. They had a lot invested in their past, and now they are losing some of what they worked hard for.
Expect and Accept Signs of Grieving. When endings take place, people get angry, sad, frightened, depressed and confused. Treat these emotions seriously. Don’t get defensive or argumentative. Give people time to work through their loss and expect it to take awhile before they become accustomed to the new.
Give Something in Return to Compensate for the Losses. Many organizational change efforts fail because the affected people feel only the pain. Trying to talk people out of their feelings will get you nowhere. Instead, ask yourself what you can give back to balance what’s been taken away. Find ways to recognize and reward people for making a successful transition to the new ways of doing things.
Treat the Past With Respect. Never denigrate the past. Honor the past for what it has accomplished. Present changes and innovations as developments that build upon the successes of the past. Show how the change is a natural progression or evolution from what has been done in the past.
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