Successful strategies come from learning organizations

Not long ago, my 13-year old cousin came to spend some time with me. It was her summer vacation, and as a precocious (er, precious) young teen, her parents are constantly trying to find news ways of keeping her out of trouble. We spent the week doing various activities – and of course each of which required a different strategy to get her interested in doing whatever I had planned. (Even shopping required a strategy!)

A lesson in process and management from “Hell’s Kitchen”

Chef Gordon Ramsay knows how to keep a production line in order. In one episode he yells: “It’s mush! It’s mush, it’s mush, it’s mush!!!!! The halibut’s dry, and right now two of the guests have sent food back. HURRY UP!”

Although his methods are somewhat less orthodox than the average kitchen (read: an explosive temper, mostly filled with enraged expletives and flying plates), the award-winning world class chef knows a thing or two about preparing food to perfection.

Can companies learn from speed dating? You bet.

I spent this past Canada Day stretched out on a lounge chair overlooking Moose Lake in Haliburton, ON, reading Blink, by Malcom Gladwell. Blink – hardly the fluffy read one might have chosen for the setting – is about split-second decisions: how we make them, when we should listen to them, and when we should not.

In his book, Gladwell argues that everyday our brain processes thousands of pieces of information. In order to make split-second decisions, our brain must ‘thin-slice’. More precisely, it must draw on the ability of our unconscious mind to find patterns in situations and behaviors based on very narrow slices of experience. Gladwell further suggests that a decision made in the blink of an eye can sometimes be more powerful than the ones we spend months researching and weighing out.

You may not like it, but at least it’s fair

Applying the principles of fair process to decisions

What if your manager walked into your office one morning and arbitrarily announced that you would no longer be doing your job? Instead, you would take on the responsibilities of your colleague, who also found out this morning that he was being shuffled off to another location. No rhyme or reason.

I bet you’d be pretty confused and upset. (So angry, in fact, that you may even sabotage the effort!)

How to achieve the ultimate customer-focused company

Credit for this snapshot of silos goes to B & B Rogers, urban photographers from Louisville.

Last year, Ranjay Gulati wrote an article entitled “Silo Busting: How to Execute on the Promise of Customer Focus” in the May issue of the Harvard Business Review. Gulati’s main argument was that many companies claim to be focused on their customers, but are unable to deliver on these promises without restructuring or changing the company culture. Gulati honed in on four essential values that companies must espouse in order to successfully be customer-centric. These are coordination, cooperation, capability and connection.

Misoneism

From A.Word.A.Day:

MISONEISM

PRONUNCIATION: (mis-uh-NEE-izm)

MEANING: noun: A hatred or fear of change or innovation.

ETYMOLOGY: From Italian misoneismo, from Greek miso- (hate) + neos (new). Ultimately from Indo-European root newo- (new) that also gave us new, neo-, neon, novice, novel, novelty, innovate, and renovate.

USAGE: “The prevailing attitude was therefore one of extreme conservatism: may I indeed say of misoneism?”
Expanding Trade, Changing Ways of Life-Conclusions; Addis Tribune (Ethiopia); May 15, 1998.