The 8020Info Water Cooler

  Highlights from the latest information
  for managers, leaders & entrepreneurs

In this issue of the Water Cooler we touch on what causes bad decisions, recommitting to your goals, tips for setting up stakeholder engagement and a useful way to prepare for meetings.  Enjoy.

1. Why Smart People Make Dumb Decisions

At times, we all look back at a decision and think we should have known better. In looking for patterns, Jesse Lyn Stoner says on her blog there are eight reasons why smart people make dumb decisions:

• Isolation: We get lost in a vacuum without important information. We may not seek input because we are confident — perhaps overconfident — and don’t feel others can add useful perspective.
• Lack of feedback: Just like it helps to use a mirror to check that the back of your hair is combed, you need help with decisions to find out what you can’t see on your own. In short, you don’t know what you don’t know — and others can help.
• External demands: Pressure from others can lead to a decision that pleases them but ignores our own best interests.
• Self-doubt: When we lack confidence, we can over-rely on the opinion of others rather than trusting our own judgment.
• Irrational beliefs: Sometimes we miss warning signals because we are desperate to take a certain path or believe we can succeed with sheer willpower.
• Lack of self-awareness: If you don’t stand for something — don’t know your core values — you can act randomly and foolishly.
• Acting out: Burying your own feelings rather than acknowledging them can lead to our animal instincts becoming unleashed.
• Selective perception: We focus only on information that conforms to or confirms what we believe.

As you take decisions, beware of those eight dangers.

2. The Power Of Reading And Writing

Too often participants rush to meetings unprepared, not having read documents in advance. They want the meeting to start immediately so it can end quickly.

At Amazon, before any conversation or discussion begins, everyone sits for 30 minutes in total silence, carefully reading six-page printed memos.

“Reading together in the meeting guarantees everyone’s undivided attention to the issues at hand, but the real magic happens before the meeting ever starts. It happens when the author is writing the memo,” organizational expert Walter Chen writes on the iDone This blog.

The memo forces the writer to think through what he or she wants to present to colleagues. The memos are called “narratives” because there is a conflict to be resolved and a story to reach the proposed happy ending. They are carefully structured:

• What is the context or question?
• How will the proposed approach answer that question? (Explain by whom, by which method, and conclusions.)
• How is your attempt at answering the question different or the same compared to previous approaches?
• Now what? What’s in it for the customer, the company, and how does the answer to that question enable innovation on behalf of the customer?

The legendary CEO of Intel, Andy Grove, had a similar love for written reports because “the author is forced to be more precise than he might be verbally.” Grove considered it as much a challenge of self-discipline as communication. It forces the author to think clearly about what must be done to move forward effectively.

3. Hamburger Innovation

Regularly reading about the clash between whether innovation should be top-down or bottom up, consultant Roel de Vries argues for a combined approach.

“You need both top-down and bottom-up innovation for success. See it as a hamburger, where you want to create harmony between the different ingredients to produce the overall best tasting dish,” he writes on the Collaborative Innovation Blog.

The top bun of the hamburger is the space where you are looking for ideas. From the top down, you want to align your innovation strategy with the overall organizational goals. That involves explaining your needs in specific assignments and setting clear criteria for ideas you want from the crowd involved in this innovation exercise.

That crowd is the bottom bun. They provide structure and foundation through their knowledge.

“Going up and down between these two buns is what creates the real magic,” he says.

4. Knowing What You Won’t Do

An essential but often missed element of strategy is determining what you won’t do, says venture capitalist Fred Wilson on his blog.

One approach is to write down all the things people inside and outside the organization are encouraging it to work on. Then break that into two lists: The things you will do and the things you won’t do. Don’t tackle this alone; it should be a group exercise, iterative, ideally using a whiteboard or similar tool.

The process will identify the things that are most important and the ones you might like to pursue but shouldn’t. In general, he suggests organizations smaller than 1,000 people limit themselves to no more than three big things a year.

5. Zingers

• Put customers on your team: Bring some customers who live your brand into your marketing team as advisors and feedback agents, says communications designer Geoffrey Colon. (Source: BrandingStrategyAdvisor.com)
• Lead like a human: The golden rule of leadership, according to consultant Terry St. Marie, is “Human first, then Leader.” We have to keep humanity first before we can truly inspire and lead. (Source: TerryStarbucker.com)
• Avoidance mutes communication: A recent Talent Board survey found 47% of candidates were still waiting to hear back from employers more than two months after they applied for a job. Only 28% received an email or phone call notifying them they were not being considered. Behind these dismal statistics, consultant Tim Sackett says, is the desire to avoid conflict. But managers have to get over their fears, he argues, and design a better system. (Source: TimSackett.com)
• Morale busters: If there is low morale in a work group, there is a greater than 90% chance that the supervisor is contributing to this condition, says consultant Ken Keis. (Source: Consulting Resource Group).
• Be specific to earn trust: Marketing consultant Jim Connolly says a good way to build trust is to give a specific time by which you will complete a task and meet that deadline. So instead of saying a report will be ready for the client by the end of the week, tell them it will be in their hands by 9am Thursday — and deliver. (Source: Jim’sMarketingBlog.com)

6.  Q&A With 8020Info:

     Reigniting Commitment To Goals

Question:  My team started the year with a strong commitment to 2017 goals. But only two months later that has dissipated. What should I do?

8020Info Associate Harvey Schachter responds:

Is this any different from other years? And should it be something to become distressed about?

In most organizations, progress on goals is usually made in the first few weeks of January and then in November and December. If we kept the momentum up all year, would it be more effective? Maybe not. A time-tested approach may occur because it’s realistic and gets the job done. If your staff aren’t loafing, then presumably they are busy with other tasks you have assigned them.

But if these goals are particularly special, or you feel more commitment and action is required throughout the year, a way to start might be with a light touch. Think of how you might remind people of the goals without sounding draconian — perhaps a contest to see who remembers them.

Beyond a reminder, you may need an all-hands team meeting to discuss (non) progress. But what happens afterwards? Have you created a series of personal scorecards linked to the overall goals, so people know their role in translating the ideas into action? Too often this step is missed because it’s difficult to develop those links and scorecards. But goals require action steps, and the all-hands meeting might be a time to address those next actions for each person.

If people aren’t meeting goals and you are anxious about it, then part of the problem (a large part, actually) may lie with you. People need to know their next actions and you have to be talking to them about their progress — and how to handle the stuff getting in the way. You may need to indicate what is of lesser priority.

So carve out some time for conversations, perhaps 10 minutes a day if your staff is small and 30 minutes to an hour if it’s larger. No time? Then those goals aren’t really important to you and staff has noticed that. If you devote the time, they will become more energized.

7.  From Our Water Cooler:

     Foundations For Public Engagement

When public sector organizations engage community stakeholders, the process is often managed with active attention to tools, channels and formats. Online survey or town hall meeting?  Webinar or focus group? Discussion paper or social media?

When asked about public consultations, though, stakeholders often talk about foundational elements of the process:

• Why are you asking them to engage? Stakeholders want to understand your motivation. Sincere, open engagement is a plus. An approach that seeks “buy-in” may trigger scepticism, especially in low-trust circumstances — the tone implies that your mind is already made up and you’re just ticking off a box.
• What’s the focus? That question covers being clear about the scope of the interaction, the boundaries of what can be discussed or not and why, as well as the purpose (brainstorming, setting priorities, critiquing?) which defines their role as participants.
• How will stakeholders see their input make a difference? They want to know how the consultation will fit into your overall decision-making process. All too often participants are asked to volunteer their time and expertise but afterwards never hear about how their feedback shaped subsequent decisions.
• How inclusive and accessible is your engagement format? Unless you’re engaging a very homogenous group of participants, it’s best to offer some choice. For example, a mix of easy-to-get-to geographic locations (or physical as well as digital options) will open pathways to participation. Similarly, certain formats such as debating in front of a large crowd can be intimidating for some participants. Can you offer other ways for them to provide you with their input?
• A mix in timing is important too: Some find it easiest to make breakfast meetings or meet on Fridays. Others can’t do late afternoons or early evenings because of family responsibilities. Some prefer daytime consultations if the engagement is part of their work; others are volunteers who prefer evenings after work. Each choice will tend to favour one type of group and exclude another — a mix covers all.
• How will you help stakeholders prepare? In public engagement processes, participants often have different levels of interest and knowledge — can you provide them with information in advance so they can prepare and start the discussion on a common footing?

Public engagement can be a complex process. It’s important to consider the foundational structure, not just the tools of consultation.

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8020Info helps strategy teams think better together as they develop and effectively implement research / stakeholder consultations, strategic plans, change and marketing communications. We would be pleased to discuss your needs and welcome enquiries.

8.  Closing Thought

“The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions.”

— Donald Caine