I Need Some Magic

Although Tom Connellan’s book, “Inside the Magic Kingdom” isn’t new, it is very fresh for the time. The book describes the secret sauce is for the mega amusement company to continue to have loyal customers who come back over and over again and don’t mind paying for the experience. It’s not about adorable creatures, mystical heroes or the most thrilling rides in an amusement park. As a matter fact you can find all of that less than 5 miles away, but the loyal Disney followers pass by it to find the magic. The magic is a state of mind. Everyone’s state of mind – the customers, the employees, the vendors, the creators – everyone.

I would propose that the key’s to Disney’s success that Connellan reveals, apply to just about any business interested in building passionate customer loyalty. The book is chock full of mind shifting ideas. Here are the concepts and just some of the great quotes that might just get you and your teams thinking.

 1. Your competition may not be who you think. “If someone else satisfies customers better than, no matter what type of business, you suffer by comparison.”

2. Pay fantastic attention to detail. “Quality is not about limited possibilities. Quality is about unlimited possibilities.”

3. Everyone walks the talk “Everyone needs to focus on providing what customers want – even people who never come in direct contact with customers”

4. Everything walks the talk “The trick is to turn common sense into common practice”

5. Customers are best heard through many ears. “If you overlook information from employees, you overlook probably the most valuable source of customer information you have.”

6. Reward recognize and celebrate. “People treat customers the same way they get treated.”

7. Everyone makes a difference. “To achieve good teamwork and optimize customer loyalty, you have to break down silos.”

8. Continuous pursuit of excellence. “Just when everyone is saying how great you are is when you’re most vulnerable”

Thanks to Tom Connellan for writing this great instructions guide to bring out the best in others and in business – “Inside the Magic Kingdom.”

Lead on!

I Need to Make A Decision

Having a rising high school senior has provided a new opportunity for our family. College tours and decisions. So many great places with different attributes and qualities. We’ve visited two universities so far and have several others on the schedule over the next 30 days. Apples and Oranges. How can she decide?  Having a Six Sigma/Lean Engineering mom brings a new decision making opportunity to this process as well. We’ve taken the C&E Matrix (Cause and Effect Matrix) to a whole new application. I’m not referring to the Ishikawa Diagram (fishbone) even though some disciplines call the Ishikawa Diagram a C&E Matrix. I’m talking about the decision making tool.

The C&E matrix is typically used to help us narrow a long list of suspected X’s (inputs) down to a more manageable one. For example if a process has dozens of inputs, it would be too difficult to start investigating each one – so instead they get prioritized based on the issue at hand which are categorized by Critical to Quality indicators (CTQ’s).

In my opinion, the reason the C&E is so powerful is that it keeps the emotion/gut in check. So we have put together a C&E Matrix for our daughter’s college decision making. The CTQ’s are what we’re calling “Important Factors”.  These are the things that are important to our her for college journey.  The inputs are the colleges and they are being measured against the CTQ’s she has identified.  The goal is to come up with a “top 3-5” list when we’re done with the circuit.  And then, assuming a standout – start the early application process.

Other rogue ways I’ve used this tool and the benefits:

• Employee hiring – helped me hire a widely diverse workforce with stills targeted to the job’s success factors not just someone like the employee previously in the role. 
• Deciding what family vacation to take – balanced all factors, not just cost and helped us think of options that catered to everyone’s preferences.
• Business investment choices – deciding when to invest in equipment, systems, furniture, office space, etc. is really a matter of two things – positive impact to the customer and positive impact to the revenue plan (of course regulatory factors supersede both). The C&E helps get the ego out of the way.

If you have questions on how to use this tool for your business or personal decision making, please let me know. And if you have used it in a unique or innovative way – share that with the New Day Solutions blog readers too.

Lead on!

Lori

I Need to Know What to Do.

The number 1 reason people leave a job/company is lack of leadership. 

People make decisions to join a company based on four straightforward criteria.  The need that is their most pressing issue carries the most weight so as the list proceeds if the first requirement is met – the others carry less weight.  Conversely, if the first requirement is not met, each following requirement becomes more important in sequential order. Prior to the recent economic downturn the order for decision making went something like this –

1. Who I work for?  – if the leadership requirements are met the rest are less important.
2. What will I do?  Will I love, like, tolerate, or stomach it?  If no. 1 is met, I’ll move further down that list.  If no. 1 is not met I will need to really like/love what I do to “stomach” the boss.
3. Where will I live? – Do I have geographic constraints that I want/require?  I may forgive 1 and 2, if I can live/be where I need to.
4. How much will I make? – If the others are met, money may not be an issue.  Other rewards take over.  However, if 1, 2, and 3 are not met – it needs to be the “offer of a lifetime”.

I have seen that the economic climate has created new level of financial stress on the un/under employed.  Many decisions are being made with no. 4 in the first position, with a much lower threshold for acceptance.  Taking a job “just for to have one – or a paycheck” is a major cause for poor performance, stress related health issues, and resentment in the workplace.

My prediction is that when unemployment rate begins to drop, many people will have a burning desire to address the emptiness of job dissatisfaction and be interested in reordering the criteria back to leadership. 

Are the people joining or leaving your team, doing so because of  you or your signature on their paycheck .  . . or both?

I Need a Brain (Ode to Dorothy Part II)

Thought leadership and decision making combine right brain and left brain processing traits.  The brain contains two hemispheres for thinking and decisioning each leading with a different agenda.  The left brain is the analytical side and the right side has more intuitive/creative dominance.  In a recent book, Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell the premise of thinking without thinking is explained.  In other words, leverage your gut more!

At times leaders delay making a decision until they feel they have “enough” information to act.  Unfortunately that delay can be costly if the market has moved during the decision making process.  Right-brain dominant leaders are comfortable making a decision with 80% information and 20% intuition and then adjusting as needed and things unfold.   For many left-brained thinkers, that must be a learned behavior.    Gladwell reminds us that we’ve long heard “haste makes waste” but his is also quick to share that there are critical moments when our knee jerk reaction or “gut” decision can offer a much better result and that pure and simple – “decisions made quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously or deliberately.”

In Blink, Gladwell shares that a key element to making good decisions is knowing when to trust that internal voice and when to question it.  Our subconscious can be thrown off when distracted, in a highly emotional situation or when there is a high desire for a particular outcome. 

Here are three litmus tests for knowing how to decide how much trust you can put into your instincts and act without all of the data:

• Is my motive based on a high emotional bias?  If yes, validate with a trusted more objective source.
• Am I comfortable with my level of focus to be sure my sensors are all active?  If no, go back and review.
• What’s my experience level with this topic?  The more experience you gain, the better and more honed your subconscious is.  If this is new to you, seek an expert to validate your intuition.

Different fields require different levels of the right brain and left brain to be successful.  Just think – doctors, designers, teachers, engineers, actors, pilots  – if they all approached their decision making the same way we might have more malpractice or really predictable décor.  Yikes!

For MANAGER/LEADERS –  A well balanced diverse team can challenge and encourage, act and trust, analyze and create through a collaborative process.  The leader who is tuned in to her/his team members’ brain dominance can accelerate its effectiveness and lessen tension by managing the differences openly.

Gladwell encourages us to not try to blend the two brain hemispheres too much.  Analyze when you need to but trust your first instinct more often.

To learn more about your brain’s natural style and dominance take this quiz.  It’s free and the results are quite extensive.

http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm

Lead on!

Lori