Taking it on the Chin

Did you know that chin implants are the fastest growing type of cosmetic procedure in the US? According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) 20,680 operations were carried out in 2011, a 71% increase since 2010.

The ASPS represents 7,000 surgeons in the US. Its president, Malcolm Roth, said: “People are considering chin augmentation as a way to restore their youthful look, just like a facelift.”

In the corporate world facelifts are also prevalent with companies undertaking cosmetic surgery to mask underlying issues or problems. Cosmetic surgery however never delivers the results required and companies, like people, often times look rather strange with obvious surgically enhanced features.

Equally with companies as with people, few ever point out that the facelift is rather obvious and that it is doing little to mask the flaws that exist underneath. As Management Consultants it is our job to provide this insight and it is not always what the client wants to hear but nevertheless we would be negligent if we did not provide an objective assessment.

So what do some of these corporate facelifts look like? Perhaps it’s a new logo, a new marketing strap line, a cost saving drive, a restructure or the purchase of another company. None of these things help if there is no clear vision and strategy and none of these things help if the root causes of the company problems are not fully understood and acted upon appropriately by the leadership team. Cosmetic solutions simply cover up larger issues.

When trying to change an organization it is worth remembering that 70% of change initiatives end in failure. More often than not, what ends up happening is the organization only has the “stomach” for the first part of the change. It is as if they believe that by just doing something like a restructuring of the organization that somehow magically all problems will be solved. Unfortunately this is the equivalent of just getting half a facelift.

Of course, getting half of the facelift is a bit silly and makes no sense and yet, the equivalent to this phenomenon occurs regularly in organizations.

It is better to look in other areas or figure out other ways to improve performance than to launch an organizational change or some other form of cosmetic facelift that you’re only going to be able to start but never complete.

There are literally hundreds of small process tweaks that can be found to make incremental changes. Focus on these and particularly those that create the most pressing issues in the ability to deliver on the corporate goals.

Without completing all components of a change program, organizational inertia will likely pull people and teams back to the way they used to act therefore achieving nothing.

Take it on the chin – understand the corporate and organizational flaws and deliver on the fundamentals rather than what looks good on the surface but does nothing to address the core issues.

A Strange Turn of Events

For 35 years, New Zealand has been the only place on Earth to force vehicles turning left to give way to vehicles turning right.  New Zealand traffic drives on the left, as in Britain.  However, at the moment, even drivers turning onto a minor road from a major road have to give way to oncoming cars making a right-hand turn.

The infamous rule has become known for causing sudden halts on fast-moving roads.  That will change at 5am on Sunday, when the rules will be reversed.  No one really knows why the rule was introduced some thirty-five years ago and in general it is viewed by motorists to be rather silly if quite courteous.

The New Zealand Transport Agency, which implements road rules, says Sunday’s switch will speed traffic flows, reduce accidents and avoid an estimated one fatality and 97 injuries per year.

When working with clients we often find examples of processes or rules that exist where no –one currently in the organization can clearly articulate why the rule or process was introduced in the first place.  Nevertheless, regardless of how unproductive the process or rule might be, it is followed slavishly with nobody seeing themselves as accountable for raising the hand and asking the question “why do we do it this way?”

For those of you with good Continuous Improvement programs you will find this strange as a good Continuous Improvement or BPM program encourages the workforce to challenge established processes and routines if a better way of doing it can be demonstrated.  For those without such a program we can say with certainty that there will be plenty of inefficient, out-dated or simply inappropriate processes that are creating drag within your organization.

Continuous improvement is not a fad but a necessary part of the leadership’s obligation to run its company properly. Gone are the days when quality did not matter – the banking crisis remains testament to this.  The new attitude is for higher quality work, and at a lower cost. In attempting to keep pace with the new attitude, a quality management system that helps keep costs down is well worth implementing.

If you don’t have such a program perhaps it is worth investigating one that suits your purpose and organizational culture.  Be it Six Sigma, Lean, a hybrid or one of the myriad of other options available to you, investing in a quality program to reduce the waste and inefficiency will pay dividends in the medium and long term.  Don’t be slaves to the past when the future is where the profit lies.

New Zealand is hoping that all turns out well for them over the weekend and spokesman for the New Zealand Transport Agency, Andy Knackstedt, said the agency is encouraging motorists to give a friendly wave when things go wrong.  And to be clear, he said, a one-fingered wave doesn’t count as friendly…

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

On the tenth anniversary of the launch of Google, the company has been awarded a US patent for the ‘self driving car’.  The intellectual property rights relate to a method to switch a vehicle from a human-controlled mode into the state where it takes charge of the wheel.  It explains how the car would know when to take control, where it is located and which direction to drive in.

The application for Transitioning a Mixed-mode Vehicle to Autonomous Mode was applied for in May, but had been hidden from public view until this week.  Patent experts note that Google’s patent will not prevent others developing rival self-drive vehicles.

“This patent, which is effective in the US only, would only be enforceable to prevent other companies from using the same specific method and not to prevent other companies also providing autonomous vehicles in general,” said Andrew Alton, a patent attorney at Urquhart-Dykes & Lord.

Apparently Google has been testing a fleet of driverless cars for several years.  The test cars have travelled along Highway 1 between Los Angeles and San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge and elsewhere. Two humans were on board at the time – one to oversee the driving and intervene if necessary, the other to monitor the equipment from the passenger seat.

On hearing this, we here at Zeitgeist got to thinking about the ‘self driving organization’ – a Nirvana state where everyone understands where to focus and leadership to drive the organization becomes just an outdated business practice.  Then we remembered that unlike a technical object with no feelings, conscience and will, human beings are significantly complex beings that require leadership to maximize their potential.

While the concept of organizational self-governance has been studied for years, perhaps the Brazilian firm Semco SA is the only organization to have successfully managed industrial democracy with any degree of success.  Ricardo Semlar’s organization has been visited by many major companies and yet the move to copy the model has been non-existent despite the growth and financial rewards achieved by Semco through their model.

To this end then, it seems like we are destined to continue down the investment in leadership path as we deal with complex adaptive systems more commonly labeled as humans.  The move away from command and control to more of a self governing culture is certainly more appropriate for the latest generation of employees but for us at least, leadership and good governance is here to stay.

Experts say driverless cars could become a commercial prospect sooner than most people believe.  For leaderless organizations the prognosis is not so good…

Zeros to Heroes

The worst soccer team in the world has won their first game…ever!   The US protectorate of American Samoa battled to a 2-1 victory over Tonga, after 30 straight defeats, to claim their first victory in their entire twenty year history.

Prior to this performance they were famous for being on the wrong end of the worst soccer defeat in International Football history, when they crashed to no less than perpetual football under-performers Australia, by the incredible score of 31-0 back in 2001.

So, on this Thanksgiving weekend here is one team that has a lot to be thankful for and observers at the match likened their celebrations to those of a team that had won a World Cup or Champions League title!  And, as an estimated 45 million Americans travel this weekend to celebrate with a turkey dinner, there will be a small community of Samoans perhaps enjoying the occasion that much more.

The story is an inspiring tale of relentlessly pursuing results despite continual set-backs.  At times we visit clients where many set-backs have been experienced and it appears (certainly to them) that they are never going to win.  How then do we coach them to maintain the focus and motivation to keep going?

The answer is as complex as it is simple in concept…  Vision.

Having a clear vision of the desired end state is key.  By focusing on the end game, the result or the future state (call it what you will), the leadership team will retain the faith that they are doing the right things and, like our American Samoan friends, eventually get the win.  We often mention the ability of leaders to see the future threats of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity as espoused by the futurologist Bob Johansen.  By doing so we can focus on the antidote – Vision, Understanding, Clarity and Agility.

The modern leader needs to be relentless in pursuit of the vision and the results… It is, after all, the results that count!

As for American Samoa it is yet to be determined if this run of form will continue beyond the one game winning streak but we will be watching the forthcoming results closely.

History Lessons?

We’ve often said in this blog that ‘change is the new normal‘, so we thought this brief list might be of interest:

• A volatile financial and economic crisis.
• The ‘corporatization’ of national politics.
• An increasingly vocal ‘disenfranchised 99%’.
• Increasingly ineffective political leadership – particularly in Europe.
• Growing nationalistic rhetoric.
• Rampant insider trading and overt market manipulation.
• Sudden bank runs driven by a collective loss of confidence in the banking sector.
• Demands for cash bailouts from China after ‘friendly’ economic partners fail to respond effectively.
• The manipulation of border controls leading to mass migration.

Although it might look like a precis of last night’s news, this is the backdrop to James Clavell’s Noble House – published 30 years ago, in 1981 – A fictional novel closely based on life, business and politics in 1963 Hong Kong.  The close parallels with current events suggest that, as ever, there is much to be learned from the events of recent history.

However, if we were to add to this list the latest news regarding the US re-militarization of the Pacific, growing pressure on the Syrian government from the Arab League and the ‘systemic crisis in of the Eurozone‘, it appears that not only is ‘change’ perpetual but that the rate of change is accelerating.

Finally, if the underlying global situation can change so dramatically, so continuously, is it any surprise that ‘change leadership’ and ‘change management capability’ are considered to be the essential, differentiating, skills of the modern leader in business?

Europe’s bad haircut

This week, Europe’s leaders are holding an emergency summit in Brussels aimed at tackling the eurozone debt crisis.  The meeting will try to agree a plan that was thrashed out at the most recent in a series of summits convened to address the eurozone’s problems.

In the past year, problems have spread from Greece to the Irish Republic and Portugal, to Spain, and to Italy. Now, even France is beginning to look vulnerable.  As a result, many commentators are of the view that the outcome of this meeting will determine the future of the single currency in Europe.

Once again the situation is described as ‘being on a knife edge’, with the potential economic ramifications, both for the EU and the rest of the world, profound.  And yet there still appears to be a basic lack of consensus amongst Europe’s leadership over the true situation and how best to address it.

At this stage many areas of disagreement remain and many issues still need to be ‘fixed’, including; how best to expand the European Financial Stability Facility (better known as the bailout fund for debt-ridden countries), how to reduce Greece’s debt mountain before it is forced to default and how to protect those banks that are vulnerable as a result of lending to highly-indebted countries.

Of course, the situation is further complicated by political self-interest.  A sub-plot to all the discussions is the realization that a ‘bad deal’ for their own country would dramatically shorten the career of the leader in question.  This is at the heart of the row between France and Germany over Greece’s “haircut”.  In essence, Greece will simply be allowed to pay back less than it actually borrowed. This means those institutions that lent money to Athens will have to write off some of the money they are owed.  France is concerned because its banks have lent more heavily to Greece, and are therefore more exposed, than those in Germany.

So, here we are: a continuing lack of consensus regarding the ‘true’ underlying situation; no agreed plan to address the root causes of the issues; disagreement over priorities and urgency; stakeholders still promoting their own interests ahead of the greater good; systemic slow decision-making and, most worrying, no respected, unifying leadership.

If the EU was a business, its days would be numbered.

Independent Amendment

In the US during the hot and sweltering summer of 1776, members of the second Continental Congress travelled to Philadelphia to discuss their frustration with British rule.

By the 4^th of July, America’s founding fathers approved a simple document penned by Jefferson that enumerated their grievances and announced themselves a sovereign nation.  We know this document today as the Declaration of Independence – the founding of a new empire.

It was also totally illegitimate and illegal… or at least that was what lawyers from the UK argued during a debate at Philadelphia’s Ben Franklin Hall on Tuesday night.  The event pitted British barristers against American lawyers to determine whether or not the American colonists had legal grounds to declare secession.

While undoubtedly an interesting debate, we drew parallels in business where we often see client organizations debating at length decisions or issues made in the past that are either irrelevant to the focus on key results or where there is no chance to change the decision that has been made or it is an outcome that cannot be influenced or amended.

Spending time debating such issues is fruitless, unproductive and frankly costs money.  It is also too easy to become victim to past decisions and to blame today’s performance on things determined in the past outside of your tenure or sphere of influence.

We like to remind our clients of the act of driving in such circumstances.  There is a reason that the windshield of a car for looking forward is far bigger than that rearview mirror.  While it is important to remember the past, the good leaders are those that can keep it in context, understand the influence on today’s circumstance but maintain perspective.  The past is not always a good predictor of the future.

If you are interested at all, the final debate vote fell in favour of the American argument, perhaps unsurprisingly bearing in mind that the event was held mere yards from where the original Declaration was drafted…

Pigs Might Fly

On September 26th the “Pink Floyd Pig” once again flew above the Battersea power station in London – marking the release of the band’s remastered albums and previously unreleased music.  It is thirty-five years since the iconic pig first rose above the power station, creating the striking image captured on Pink Floyd’s 1976 album ‘Animals’ and generating media interest around the globe.  This time, the band (or should that be ‘brand’?) decided to recreate history and re-launch the famous pig.

Despite the best laid plans, unfortunately the original pig had to be replaced as, according to a spokeswoman for the band, “Two weeks prior to the event, the original neoprene glued pig was officially declared not airworthy and a brand new high-frequency welded PVC replica Pink Floyd Pig has been made for the occasion.”

The event, titled ‘Why Pink Floyd?’ showcased an array of new goodies from the band, including a brand-new “Best Of” album, restored live concert screen films and previously unreleased material.  None of the remaining band members attended the event.

The phrase “pigs might fly” is a figure of speech so hyperbolic that it describes an impossibility. The implication is that the circumstances in question will never occur and the phrase is often used to scoff at over-ambition.

This might be the case with Rick Parry, the US presidential hopeful.  It’s too soon to say that Rick Perry’s campaign is over, but things look bad for him.  He still leads the Republican field in national polls, but three terrible debate performances have weakened him. The latest New Hampshire poll puts him in fourth place in what is a crucial state.  His positions on immigration and compulsory vaccinations have tipped off conservatives that he isn’t as Right-wing as they thought and his description of Social Security as a Ponzi scheme has alienated centrists.  Mitt Romney has cynically but brilliantly exploited Perry’s radical rhetoric to suggest that he can’t beat Obama.  Romney is turning into a 2012 version of Richard Nixon – slippery and ruthless, yet well attuned to the public mood.

So, perhaps someone who hasn’t so far declared is suddenly worth a second look?  For months now political commentators have been saying that Sarah Palin (remember her?) is damaged goods.  Her performances in the last election and subsequent appearances on a reality show have deservedly left her open to ridicule in certain quarters.  But is it possible that Mrs. Palin has actually been playing a brilliant long game… letting the other candidates beat each other up before entering the fray?

Palin is low on personnel and campaign funding but the Tea Party knows who she is and will still back her if there is no viable conservative alternative.  Apparently she is just five points behind President Obama in a hypothetical match-up – a better position than Rick Perry!  Political commentators must surely be rubbing their hands in anticipation.

The reality though is that at this point, we are no closer to knowing who will take on President Obama in 2012.  As for Sarah Palin?  Perhaps pigs might just take to the air…

Recruitment not working?

Recent research indicates that even the very best employment advertising is viewed by less than ten percent of suitably qualified candidates. Furthermore, the response rate of these suitable applicants is a damning 1%.   When hiring for senior positions, the statistics are even worse.

Clearly these figures are representative of a systemic failure of ‘the standard’ approach to recruitment, but how can this actually happen?  By way of illustration, we conducted a straw poll of 100 senior leaders in a variety of industry sectors and asked them a simple question… “How up to date is your resume?”

In reality, we expected the majority to say that their resume was at least moderately out of date but we were surprised to hear that over 70% of the senior leaders questioned don’t even have a resume and, in fact, they don’t recall the last time they responded to a career advertisement. 

Ask those same individuals if they were seeking to attract another senior leader to their organization what might a benchmark profile look like, and they will usually refer to one of the existing leadership group.

So what? Well, this means that in reality the person you really want to hire is not actually seeking a new role and is almost certainly not looking at your ad online or in the newspaper, no matter how nice, big, or expensive it is.

Let’s assume that you’ve reached the point where you have decided to hire a recruitment firm.  Your research into the many companies available should result in a fairly rapid realization that the majority of firms base their business models on an extension of the advertising model, supported by an extensive database of applicant resumes.

However, we’ve already established that virtually none of the leadership team has a resume registered with anyone and, if they did, they are not at this point interested in “other opportunities”.  Many of the larger retained firms do work hard to maintain an extensive network of contacts but, if that was exhaustive, we would never see recruitment firms advertising.

The approach to recruitment projects has evolved over the years but the majority of projects are still defined by senior management before being delegated, usually to an internally focused human resources department.

The problem here is that the human resource profession has been the primary contributor to the development of data management systems which are designed to generate, sort and screen resumes; a system which is shared by the majority of recruitment firms.  While these systems have proven effective in surplus markets, they have no place where critical, qualified, resources are known to be in deficit.  The caliber and quantity of options are negatively impacted and business objectives compromised.

The thing is that critical and strategic recruitment initiatives need to be just that – critical and strategic.

A recruitment project needs to be managed in similar fashion to a major business development initiative.  The target market needs to be exhaustively researched to identify information that can be utilized in the development of an acquisition plan.  The recruitment ROI (the fiscal return that should be achieved as a direct result of recruiting the ‘ideal’ individual) also needs to be determined.  Once all the viable targets have been assessed, the “ideal” options can be professionally introduced to a market aligned business plan with clearly defined contribution and benefit points that represent a logical career transition and professional acceleration opportunity.

We must acknowledge that no one voluntarily changes employment without significant expectation of improvement.  Those performing at a high level are typically receiving the professional and financial recognition to keep them engaged and unlikely to seriously consider casually presented options.  While there are definitely exceptions, they are just that, exceptions, and most business leaders would not want to base their business’s future on that.

This commentary is certainly based on current market conditions but, based on the demographics alone, available and accessible talent is expected to decrease for the foreseeable future.  Those organizations which are first to recognize that they are not the “buyer” in this market and who develop programs to define, pursue and acquire the caliber of talent essential to long term business growth, will be the ones to prosper.

This week’s guest blogger is leading human capital strategist, Mike Palmer.

Mike is a partner with Chapman & Associates, a human capital consultancy which supports clients with business intelligence, counter measure strategies and aligned advisory services to establish the ‘acquisition of expertise’ as their competitive advantage.  Mike can be reached at m.palmer@chapmanassociates.ca

 

Busted

A couple of weeks after the news that Blockbuster Canada’s remaining stores are set to close, the media story is moving on to the inevitable loss of jobs and the imminent availability of large amounts of commercial retail and office space.

It seems that each Blockbuster store employs an average of 10 people, meaning about 2,500 people could be out of work in addition to the 1,400 people who lost their jobs during the first round of store closures earlier this summer.

So what happened to this once dominant global player?  According to the Receiver last week “As a result of the significant changes in Blockbuster Canada Co.’s competitive landscape, the company’s ‘bricks and mortar’ business model has experienced significant challenges over the last few years, largely due to the proliferation of various alternatives available to media consumers in Canada.”

By way of background, in May this year Blockbuster Canada was placed into receivership by an Ontario court as a result of a combined US$70 million claim made by a number of movie distributors, including the Hollywood studios that provide its DVDs.

Previously the Canadian operations had acted as a guarantor for Blockbuster’s U.S. business, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2010, while it attempted to restructure its debt.  This seemingly last-gasp action was aimed at reducing the company’s debt from circa $1bn to around $100 million, with the hope that it would enable the company to compete with rivals; something that it had not been able to do in recent years.  Blockbuster U.S. was later sold to American satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp, who declined to buy the Canadian operation but left it to pay the bills.  Dish Network also pushed to prevent Blockbuster Canada from using the highly recognized brand name going forward.

It’s all a bit of a mess… but the reality is that Blockbuster had been struggling to stay relevant in a time of increasing digital movie downloads facilitated by the dramatic increase in internet accessibility together with an associated increase in data transfer speeds opened new channels to market.

It’s clear that the Internet and accelerated digital streaming are here to stay and, with ever faster download speeds, the user experience is set to improve even further.  At the same time there has been a fundamental shift in consumer preferences and expectations.

Rivals to Blockbuster, such as Netflix, quickly took advantage of these changes and stormed ahead as they harnessed the opportunities presented.  Blockbuster, on the other hand, struggled to service its debts and the resultant lack of liquidity led them to become increasingly inwardly focused as they fought to stay afloat. As a result, Blockbuster was forced into a turnaround position, reworking its strategy and attempting to differentiate itself from rivals as the only company to provide products across multiple delivery channels.

Our recent blog ‘Navigating Choppy Waters’ spoke about the increasing challenge of staying competitive in increasingly uncertain and rapidly changing economic conditions and detailed the ‘Top 5’ steps every company must take.  The Blockbuster example further demonstrates that in order to compete over the long term, companies must focus externally and on the surrounding business realities and not just internally.