"How did I get the Desired Performance!"

"Mid-year 2020, I was doubtful of achieving planned turnover for the whole year particularly since most part of the year was already lost due to the pandemic situation. I wonder, how we got the  Performance though as desired!" exclaimed the CEO on April-1st, the first day the of the next financial year!

Not an April-Fool, but it was a genuine effort of the CEO to understand the "how-&-what" of the things gone right! That - 'to be a learner' - is surely the sign of a 'good' leader wanting to be a 'great' one!

In past I often found an answer to this question in the judicious mix of the application of reinforcement techniques (as the environmental nudges to perform), intrinsic motivation of a person and her capability to perform. So was my reply to the CEO!

Ability + Motivation + Environmental nudges = Performance! I tossed the equation at him.

(Extract from the book: Ego + Ego ... We Go! Behavior Modulation Techniques To Improve Kaizen Leadership, Performance & Negotiation Skills by Shyam Talawadekar)

"You get what you review" as someone has said (or rather ask for it assertively). I've had firsthand experience of this statement (during my leadership career if at all) that one must incorporate right "nudges" in a right manner as an integral part of the Performance-equation as above, I told the CEO. 

Consistency in you conducting weekly reviews as the nudges (subtle ones more frequently) - that consisted of clarity on the weekly goals in tune with the annual ones, enabling teams to work within the "forced"  constraints on resources towards ensuring sustainable growth (as a commitment to planet before profit), to comply with the corresponding standards, driving improvements on the root causes of the shortfalls, if any - followed by instantaneous non-monitory-recognitions as Positive Reinforcements, to those intrinsically motivated employees demonstrating values-based performance, played a major role in getting the desired &/or the raised level of sustainable performance. 

It may not be out of place here to remember that there is a Difference between Ability, Capacity, Capability and the Competence that differentiate between achieving a desired level of performance rather than merely the performance itself.

By the side of the Positive Reinforcements, Negative Reinforcements where needed, such as say the fear of losing compensation proportionate to the lower level of performance, if any, play their own role.

Of course, fear of rationalised punishment, like the one that some non performing managers got in the said company, play its role too.

The positive effect of the former - the Positive Reinforcements - however, gets more than nullified by upsetting the capable as also the intrinsically motivated employees, if the latter, the Negative Reinforcement & especially the punishment to the non performers, is not put in place adequately! However, such a punishment in particular, should not be awarded unless every other effort - Saamaa-Daamaa-Dandaa-Bhedaa - had already failed.

So, effective execution of environmental nudges is as important as building capable people while riding on their intrinsic motivation in order to get the desired level of performance! 

And to get the the desired performance through right means & measures without harming the planet! "We can count, but we are rapidly forgetting how to say what is worth counting and why" as the German-American computer scientist JOSEPH WEIZENBAUM says.

It's good to reflect and build upon the causes of what went right (or what went wrong) in the above process of performance development-cum-management in its intermittent stages rather than complacently rejoicing a good performance (or playing a blame-game regretting a bad performance) at the end of the pipeline. 

Such a 'process of reflection' is called as the Hansen-Kai way to learn wisdom! in Kaizen practising companies that make a difference!

Isn't this the job of a Great leader and that of her Good leadership team!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Do You Force Customers To Quit
In-a-problem ? No-problem! Dwell-a-while!
Customer or Custo-Mer ?  
Experienced A Delightful Payment ! 
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul 
Do you keep curing your brand ?  
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality!  
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers 
Less With More And More Gets Sore 
Should one care for value ?  
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?  
The Business Of Businesses 
That's how some business partnerships work 
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily 
Does recognition really matter 
That's How Morons Work
Simplicity Of Theory Of Relativity

Difference between raam-&-krishna tactics

How To Make A Difference

"Which step have you reached today?" The picture with this question makes round on-and-often on social media as also at workplaces (gembas¹).

I don't know its source but would like to give credit to this picture that in a way, among other things, triggered this blogpost.

One can reach the 'top-step' within a moment if one knows "How to make a difference!"

One can make a difference to a given situation by training her brain to be positive. Brain can stay positive by keeping it engaged through positive behaviors.

Here is a 3-point agenda that I try to use in order to engage "myself" in positive actions and stay on the top-step.

1/ Attempt 1-small improvement a day.
2/ Appreciate improvements demonstrated by others.
3/ Say "Thanks" , "Sorry" , "Please" at every opportunity. Good if it's complimented by an action-oriented message fitting the situation rather than merely being goodie-goodie. Good leaders do so: clap as well as "slap" if necessary and appropriate.

Attempt 1-small improvement a day

This helps one to take responsibility to make a difference to status-quo of a given situation. It helps brain to challenge a problematic situation while staying positive on corresponding action.

My S.O.S. commitment to myself is to save-on-something (S.O.S.) each day be it something in the material¹ world or say water¹ or some activity such as say a few wasteful walk-steps.

This may sound like an idiosyncratic fellow, that I am. But it's difficult to dispute the fact that global-warming has crossed threshold levels of warning especially because of greed-based human activity. And of course, driven by the way we measure performance (by want-based results than the need-based input\s - process\es) at both the business as well as at individual level.

If you keenly observe you may find that a lot of human activity is unnecessary & wasteful. If one finds ways and means to combine, merge or eliminate a few activities it can definitely save some material, some human energy as well as ease some difficulties for self and others.

The other day I told a friend of mine that I'm ok with SMS invitation of his son's wedding instead of a hard copy. I even offered him my telephonic time to convince a few common friends so that he could print those many cards less. Helps "Save¹ a Tree" mission! Although it's good if 'such offer' comes from receiver's end, more often than not it gets ridiculed, sometimes as being a miser.

In another instance, a new acquaintance did appreciate my act though, when I humbly returned his business-card after scanning it immediately on Android phone. Hopefully I communicated the message S.O.S. !!!

This brings us to second point of the 3-point agenda.

Appreciate improvement efforts demonstrated by others

This one forces one to catch someone making efforts to do something good and the desired. Remember, "making efforts" or s\he "taking efforts". 

It helps one to "observe" others. It helps to appreciate the 'process' they are involved in rather than waiting for the 'results' of their action that isn't in their control. It forces one to reflect and thereby begin observing "self". It's like subtly learning from others: a source of input for the first point above. 

It also improves your active listening ability.

No need even to say 'Good' while appreciating. Just a 'Smile' as a token of expressing appreciation is OK. It's the fastest and implicit way to recognise others. It's likely to be valued by the receiver because it's done just-in-time (JIT) for the occasion.

I did it the other day when I saw a small boy putting off fan while alighting from lift. In less than a few seconds in the lift, not only I could reinforce his desired behavior but also could earn a friend. Unknowingly I am sure 'thought' process of both of us got triggered in a subtle manner. 

It's like respecting a person by taking cognizance of her efforts. 

Say Thanks, Sorry, Please everyday

This one helps one to express gratitude in an explicit manner. If done particularly when others are at a "receiving end", action-oriented messages fit for the situation also get accepted.

Other day morning my ATM card got stuck. Luckily currency notes came out promptly. Security guard on duty tried his best by fiddling with the keyboard. He seemed to be in a typing-speed contest. After a couple of minutes he acrobatically "slapped" the machine at a couple of spots but in vain. Looking anxiously through the glass as few more morning-walkers joined the queue, he offered to summon another guard on duty on rear-side door of the bank that was yet to open.

By the time both walked in to the scene (the Gemba²) a transaction-slip rolled out of ATM at snail's pace. "It came out  automatically without asking for one", I exclaimed.

"Subahmein machine ko garam honeko time laagta hai (Machine takes time to warm-up in the mornings sometimes.)", one of them said with scenic expressions.

Card however was still stuck inside. Their 'warm-up theory' refused to work this time. Sensing the 'warming temperature' out in the queue, they again "slapped" the machine. By then a bank officer walked in and 'slapped' them with seemingly abusive body language. This time again the machine made fun of all of them. It gently rolled out the card itself without even anyone touching the machine. Fearingly I grabbed the card before it could get "sucked in" again.

Looking at their embarrassed (pinkish-red) faces I said, 'thank-you' and 'sorry-for-the-trouble'. "Now 'please' do some Hansen-kai learning about this frequent 'warming-up theory'. You need to put some operation and maintenance practices in place to remove such abnormalities so that a lot of energy can be saved for yourself as well as for so many people in the morning rush hours.

Although upset, I tried to make a difference by staying cool. That's what was in my control. Of course registered a complaint! 

Doing what's in ones control rather than staying indifferent itself leads to the first-point i. e. making an improvement!! 

All 3-point actions are possible anytime, anywhere, autonomously without any budget, without anyone's permission or approval!!!

Footnotes

1: Go paperless.. is the punchline in my mails that I practice each day. An inefficient paper-mill uses 300-400 ton-water per ton-paper !.. 83,000,000++ton paper is wasted each year !!.. A-Paper-Saved => Lot-of-Water-&-A-Tree-Saved !!
2: Gemba means the workplace where action takes place. One can find a lot many improvement opportunities if the gembutsus (the ATM machine that makes abnormal noise, the card that rolls in, the paper that gets stuck, etc) there are powerfully observed for the way they function. 

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

No Time? Micro-Meditate!  

Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up? 
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully 
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important? 
Eternally Happy! 
In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while! 
I am afraid ! What do I do !! 
Fearful-Of-Death-of-Birth
Take Habits For A Ride 
Happy-Birthday-to-Youooo
Do You Celebrate Mean-or-Green 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?  
Want Need-Or-Want 
Love is Care.. Care is Love !  
Deity is in the eyes of the beholder 
Success-or-failure! What-do-you-like?
Ball-Basin-Team Combine !  Maketh The Smile Divine !! 

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

Difference between Ability, Capacity, Capability, Competency, & Excellence!

In business, we often take stock of materials and equipment meticulously but not that of the human skills with as much seriousness. We hear people say, I have able people but still don't get desired Performance.

Competency assessment and deployment is an important part of the job of leaders to get a desired level of Performance in a business setting. In order to do so, one must understand the difference between Ability, Capacity, Capability and the Competence.

As an example, one may say that, "I have the ability to write!"

But “How much can I write in what timeline?”

The ability (the skills) with a relevant measure to perform a given task or a process defines the capacity of a given person (just like that of an equipment) and in turn that of an entity. So one may say that my capacity to write is 50-words per minute (wpm) and I can keep writing for 1-hour at a stretch, say.

But “How much should I actually be able to write as per the demand of the situation?"

Say, the demand is to write 50-wpm for at least 2-hours at a stretch!

If I've the ability to improve to a level such that I can handle the gap between the demand and my current capacity level then I've the capability to perform at a raised level.

Can I win a competition of writing (speed & duration) though?

If I can challenge, compete & deliver the desired level of results (rather win the competition) in terms of quality and quantity successfully then "i am competent."

Accordingly, for Competency Assessment one may categorise employees as follows based on their competencies or the levels of their skills.

 

Five categories of employees based on their competency or skill levels to perform a job or a work are as follows.

 

1.  Novices! or Beginners! - Those who ‘don’t know’ How & Why of the job.

2.  Able! or Intermediates! - Those who ‘can do’ but ‘can’t deliver promises’.

3.  Capable! - Those who ‘can’ & improve ‘capacity level to deliver promises’.

4.  Competent! - Those who 'can troubleshoot & win' but ‘can’t transfer knowledge’.

5.  Experts! - Those who have ‘knowledge, can perform, troubleshoot, and coach others to make them competent'.

 

Table (from my book "TPM for Reliable and Just-In-Time Value Delivery to Customer") shows the evaluation criteria and corresponding training implications to graduate to a higher skill or competency level.

So how does one get performance!

The equation I've put in my book: "Ego + Ego: We Go! Behavior Modulation Techniques To Improve Kaizen Leadership, Performance & Negotiation Skills" is as follows.

With the understanding on the difference between Ability, Capacity, Capability and the Competence, I would like to revisit the above equation to get Performance as follows in order to get a Desired Level of Performance.

To get a Desired Level of Performance, it is the Capacity in place of Ability.

Now the equation looks like as follows:

Capacity + Motivation + Environmental nudges = Desired Performance

To get a Raised level of Performance, it is Capability in place of Capacity.

Now the equation looks like as follows:

Capability + Motivation + Environmental nudges = Raised level of Performance

To get a Benchmark level of Performance, it is Competence in place of Capability.

Now the equation looks like as follows:

Competence + Motivation + Environmental nudges = Benchmark levels of Performance

Believing in self to perform, planning meticulously and executing the plan to win is to lead one-self!

Helping and enabling others to do so & create more leaders is about the leadership without which the journey (as follows) to create 'benchmarks' and create 'excellent*' organisations could be a nightmare!

The Journey:

Beginner! (to) > Able! (to) > Capable! (to) > Competent! (to) > Excellent* Company!

(*10 out of 10 on a Radar* scale of 0-to-10)

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Do You Force Customers To Quit
In-a-problem ? No-problem! Dwell-a-while!
Customer or Custo-Mer ?  
Experienced A Delightful Payment ! 
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul 
Do you keep curing your brand ?  
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality!  
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers 
Less With More And More Gets Sore 
Should one care for value ?  
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?  
The Business Of Businesses 
That's how some business partnerships work 
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily 
Does recognition really matter 
That's How Morons Work
Simplicity Of Theory Of Relativity

India won! But Indians lost!

Time to celebrate for Indian cricket team!

The team had completed a mission!!

India had won the 20:20 international series 2-1 against England!!!

The team had completed their tasks over-over-the-over, over-on-over I mean!

Forgetting their own assigned duties and tasks over-on-over, the restaurant staff however in a star hotel seemed to have got distracted by the over-on-over excellent performance of the Indian cricket team.

Most of them gathered around the TV watching the prize ceremony instead of being around customers, except a trainee female staff alone catering to a couple of tables.

Indifference of the manager and staff was strikingly noticeable especially when it was an a-la-carte day instead of a buffet dinner.

Couldn't they've been a little proactive each by a smiling eye-contact with customers! Hardly a  couple of tables were occupied though!

Looking at the TV screen following in the footsteps of her leader seniors, even the trainee staff was found to be filling water in the glass or picking up yet-to-be-finished plate without the consent of the customer! A Waste!!

Can you imagine the Cost-Of-Poor-Quality (COPQ) or rather the Cost-Of-Poor-Service (COPS) of such behaviour in the industry such as Hospitality where the behaviour itself is more important along with the hard quality of course!

Staff busy watching match

Customer fetching her own batch

No one around to catch

That's my Haiku poem dedicated to such Lose-Win behaviour where Indians lost while India won!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Do You Force Customers To Quit
In-a-problem ? No-problem! Dwell-a-while!
Customer or Custo-Mer ?  
Experienced A Delightful Payment ! 
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul 
Do you keep curing your brand ?  
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality!  
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers 
Less With More And More Gets Sore 
Should one care for value ?  
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?  
The Business Of Businesses 
That's how some business partnerships work 
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily 
Does recognition really matter 
That's How Morons Work
Simplicity Of Theory Of Relativity

Digitally Lean, Physically Fat

Just heard from a marketer about Digital-Lean! that he was trying to sell. No wonder there's a pull of  IOT (internet-of-things) all around now.

Seems to be a new jargon though, like Lean-Six-Sigma that evolved while maturing the Six-Sigma initiative of Motorola, GE, et all.

Such jargons that evolve, rather 'revolve' at regular intervals confuse the practitioners.
That was a point of my contention in one of my books 'Stay Lean, Make Planet Green".

Proponents of various management techniques (under jargons) such as BPR, TOC, 6-Sigma, etc. in past advocated hardly anything different than the original JIT thinking itself of Toyota to attain Lean. Nothing is wrong with these approaches except a major difference that the same proponents tried to catch up with either under different jargons or under a few augmented versions.

Most of these approaches focused on working top-down on obviously visible problems (as the links of a steel chain, say, that had already given way) that had reached a crisis stage. Naturally such crises problems demand radical changes. JIT philosophy instead, as a preventive culture, exposes potentially weak (but so far ‘invisible’) links before they actually turn weak and before they give way.  

Apart from the above, the 'people' aspect of problem solving (the Hitozukuri) also got ignored in the former approaches in their enthusiasm to invent newer mathematical models, tools and jargons.

Behavioral part of JIT instead builds and nurtures an army of soldiers capable of exposing and fighting potential weak links. Thereby it preempts failure of the process of making and delivering (the Monozukuri) of the offering.

So, the Fad-of-the-day, Tool-focus is the culprit of confusion, if any.  

Only when it was realized that the 'Toyota approach' is 'much more proactive' and ‘heart-full’ than what met the eyes and gray cells of a few fly-by-night consultants on a study mission to Japan, that the ‘augmented’ versions of their management tools appeared on the horizon of  the management world.

After the Re-engineering as a tool; to BPR; to Re-engineering of Management, etc.; the latest example is the re-christening of highly digitized statistical '6-Sigma'! It was jargonised as 'Lean-6-Sigma' having realized that '6-Sigma' as a measurement was already in use at Toyota. 

Exactly on similar lines, Toyota already had its very own invented SIS, strategic information systems technology in the 1960s. Toyota did the IOT (internet of things) in its own way then. It had its own towers in order to telegraphically release management information so that they could respond to market needs just-in-time, JIT.

They knew that information systems with speed is an integral part in order to be a leaner company. So wherever possible and needed, it was a necessity to get over the bottleneck speed of  physical systems by installing digital systems in order to exchange information in real time as far as possible.

So to that extent, to the extent of available soft technology then, the lean journey at Toyota was already digital.

Today when I heard about Digital-Lean! I thought of cautioning the practitioners not to confuse themselves with it as a jargon. If they do, then the fate could be that the Digital! may get installed but the Lean! may still stay flat and Fat! or rather Fatter! to the extent of the investments made in going  Digital! without correspondingly justified returns (or benefits) over it.

Know that digital was always existing. It's its continual improvement and its development that the today's developed level of Digital! needs to be looked at. It is an integral part of the lean journey anyway.

For instance, going digital in today's context may call for aiding the physical Kanban by E-Kanban wherever possible in support of the physical Kanban (rather than to replace it). The E-Kanban is about the electronic information system about 'when and where to deliver what and how much, etc.' It was earlier existing anyway in terms of a physical card, physical stock management fixtures of needed material and corresponding visuals, etc. Both are supposed to prevent excessive stocks & the resulting wastes!

Another example of going digital in today's context is about the use of RFID tags to sense movements of physical resources during their flow across the supply chain or the value chain.

Or it's about digitally monitoring of the conditions and status of the resources like done using sensors to monitor equipment conditions on-line and using them for decision making (using advanced analytics and statistical analysis of big data) in real time.

But of what use the borrowed 'digital' brain (the digital analytics of data in soft form) is when the real brain 'walks over' (ignores) the real hard data: The data or the hard facts about the probable abnormalities in their seed stage that could be seen, heard, felt, tested (and also tasted) and sensitized in real time?

That's exactly where the caution is.    

                  

                    'Smile-day’ The October 2^nd: Smile!

That's where there's scope for the Digital! to get decimated to be a 'Fad' or 'Flavor of the month', 'Flavor of the week' or 'Flavor of the day', etc. It's much like celebrating such ‘fad-days’ as jargons if people celebrate going Digital! but in reality stay Fat! with problems surrounding them!

Rather than advocating 'fads', a good coach called Sensei in Japanese would handhold, guide and steer the learner to clear off anything that's unsustainable.

So let Digital Lean! evolve and get installed as a matter of strategic need rather than it getting installed to appear modern.

Otherwise it might get easier to digitally smile (as a typical robot would do) while in real world it might still be a physical frown. 

It happened once while I was flying on an airlines! The choice of seat with it's features was a 'window-seat', perfect as it was shown on the computer screen while booking the ticket. But in reality the seat did not have a window at all! 

The last seats normally don't have a window!!

Also read a few relevant blog-posts here-under: Please do consider leaving a comment or consider sharing this post.

Kaizen, even in air!

Digital Corporate Yoga

In a Problem?: No Problem ! Dwell A While !! 
Soon... Waste-to-Eat ! Sea-to-Drink !!
About my first book World-Of-Kaizen

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality! 
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers
Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow 
How To Make A Difference 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms ! 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Will It Work Here?  
Some Moron ! Some Great !!! 
That's How Morons Work 
You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable 
Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass  
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling 
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice? 
That's how some business partnerships work 
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 
Technology in-place, security dis-placed
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Customer or Custo-Mer?  
Experienced A Delightful Payment ! 
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul 
Less With More And More Gets Sore 
Should one care for value?  
ABCD of India Shining
Beware Of Political-Presentations 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings

Conscious Of Self-Esteem

"Hey, you ciant piark yer kyar thiees waye, kay?" Owner of neighboring parking slot in my society had picked up American accent.

Perhaps he recently had a week's stint somewhere there. A week ago I'd heard him saying, "Why can't you park your car this way?"

Do you find some people picking up a local slang, be it from a developed destination like in above case or from a rural-interior one from an under-developed geography?

Good if the purpose of such a behavior is to improve grammatical delivery. Or good if a newly learnt short-form is by design to add to personal vocabulary in order to increase productivity.

In both such cases the change might be good if it offers some corresponding functional benefit.

In case of 'American-accent' the change occurred over the week appears more to impress the 'foreign-return' stamp than any value-addition to herself or to the listener. In fact to the listener it was a non-value because the accent was difficult to comprehend. The behavior appears to be purely aesthetic.

In the latter case, corresponding person doesn't seem to be conscious of her self-esteem. She is allowing (rather choosing) it to get deteriorated inadvertently though.

Agreed that under some circumstances one does need to behave "Like Romans in Rome". But carrying Rome lock-stock-and-barrel back to your native place may not be a good idea.

It's like sacrificing your own identity merely to conform to others' expectations or purely to impress others. It's like refusing to take stock of "who you really are and are capable of doing". It's like lack of self-confidence or lack of belief in the self.

Lesson

It's fine if a change in behavior and in turn in personality is for the good or for the better. Alternatively if the change in personality leads to deterioration of current level of performance of the self or that of the others then it's a No.. No!

On this first day of the year, let me thank the year gone by for having given me so many opportunities such as above to learn from. Thank you the year to help me to reinforce as well as to enhance my self-esteem and to help me get ready to embrace the New-Year with newer zeal.

IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important? 
Talent-Is-Latent: Enable It! 
Take your career in fast lane!
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully
Do You Ask Right Questions?  
Do You Force Customers To Quit
Less-With-More Because More-Is-Sore
Should one care for value? 
Talk In Order To Listen!  
Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need (Part-2)
Functional-Aesthetics 

Who Comes First: Consumer Or Customer ?

Other day in one of my sessions, the marketing staff complained about (false) sale of some products. The goods sold by the company a couple of years ago were still lying in near-unpacked condition at buyer's end. The new staff at their client company appeared non-cooperative when the seller approached to effect a new sale.

The objective of the training workshop was to improve sales revenue. The case under study turned out to be one of a wrong-sale.

Why were the goods lying in near-unpacked condition for so long?

Because the user didn't find it fit-for-use.

Why?
Because the order was finalized by purchase manager without adequate involvement of the end-user.

What had happened was the seller knew the purchase manager who happened to have 'influence' on closing the deal. So he used his relationship to materialise the order.

In the process the real user got ignored.

Not only does ego of the user gets hurt due to such indifference but also some opportunities get lost.

Opportunity to understand real needs: the voices of grassroot level customers.
Opportunity to design-in such voices in order to make the offering robust.
Opportunity to outdo competition through customized offering.
Opportunity to enhance relationship.
Opportunity to create 'word-of-mouth' publicity advocates reinforced through delightful experience of the offering.

All this loss at the cost of loss of future business.

Buyer's management might succeed in forcing the end-user to use bought goods particularly if it's a costly capital equipment. But such forceful 'selling' calls for some long-term Costs-Of-Poor-Quality (COPQ): Costs due to reluctance to use. Costs of wrong use. Costs due to inadequate serving of purpose. Costs of sour relationships among people within and without.

All this waste because of overselling or inadequate selling.

What's the learning?

Understand the difference between Consumer and Customer! End-user of the pen or pencil, the child for instance, is the consumer. Buyer, the parents, are the customer.

Consider the voice of consumer regarding functional use (her needs) first while designing an offering.

Do consider the voice of customer as well in order to design-in peripheral aspects of the offering as well as nuts and bolts of the corresponding buying process: the wants.

Sometimes however the role of consumer as well of the customer may be played by the same personality.

In any case, she might take presence of both the needs and wants for granted as a 'must'. But the seller/marketeer can't afford to because the absence of both surely won't be taken for granted individually nor jointly by both the consumer as well as the customer.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need (Part-1)
Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need (Part-2)
Functional-Aesthetics
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling
How To Make A Difference
Nauseous Communication Gaps
Judge If It's Paralysis-By-Analysis
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily
Does recognition really matter
Customer or Custo-Mer ? 
Experienced A Delightful Payment !
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul
Do you keep curing your brand ? 
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality! 
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers
Do You Force Customers To Quit
Should one care for value ? 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !
Do You Ask Right Questions ? 
Talk In Order To Listen! 

Do You Force Customers To Quit

Insurance policy of both my car and scooter was about to expire.

I'd sold off the scooter. So when my insurance agent called me to renew it's policy, I ignored it saying the new owner will take care of it.

After a couple of weeks, when my car went for road tax payment I realised that it's insurance policy had expired. Actually my insurance agent did call me to renew car's policy but I'd inadvertently ignored his reminder thinking it was for the 'sold scooter'.

Red-tape that followed was inevitable. The procedure explained to me by the insurance agent was:

Take the scooter to the insurance company.
They'll inspect it before issuing the policy
They'll charge fine for 'discontinuation'.

Making the job 3D: Dirty-Danger-Difficult for the customer. 

While the insurance agent refused to followup with the company, the road tax agent came to my rescue saying "don't worry". May be the former was lacking motivation due to 'smallness' of business while the latter was interested in acquiring a new customer: Market development strategy as the jargon goes in management world! Theory of relativity!

The road tax agent got the insurance done from another company. Everything home delivered at just ten percent charge of the total official receipt amount.

In fact the policy issued by the competitor was priced at almost thirty percent discount.

The indifferent procedure of the previous insurance company and the behavior of it's agent (the first touch-point as it's brand ambassador) to take the customer for granted costed them business.

The Cost-Of-Poor-Quality (COPQ) to them was not only the loss of business but also a permanent loss of customers. I said loss of customers because bad-mouth publicity by every dissatisfied customer takes away more than one potential ones.

What's the learning?

More than the hard quality itself of your offering, it's the lack of soft quality, your indifference, that forces customers to call it a Quit!

So better to be-aware of behavior!!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

In-a-problem ? No-problem! Dwell-a-while!
Customer or Custo-Mer ? 
Experienced A Delightful Payment !
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul
Do you keep curing your brand ? 
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality! 
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers
Less With More And More Gets Sore
Should one care for value ? 
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice? 
The Business Of Businesses
That's how some business partnerships work
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily
Does recognition really matter
That's How Morons Work
Simplicity Of Theory Of Relativity

Invisible Tension

"You have to pay penalty: Rupees Two Thousand.

Why Ma'am?

Because you didn't 'declare' that you had held a passport as a child.

Madam it's inadvertent. During last visit the other 'window' advised to make fresh application under 'reissue' category instead of 'renewal'.

Then go to that window", shouted the 'cashier' (window).

"Fine. I don't have cash right now. Do you have facility to pay on-line?

Don't waste my time...". The lady reacted with an angry sermon. She kept me waiting endlessly. At the closing hours she put some remarks on the application asking to come back on Monday.

Questions that remained unanswered were:

Has she put some adverse remarks on the application?
Are they going to accept the penalty in cash on Monday?
If they do, then what are the next steps?
How many days it'll take to get the passport?
If they don't, then what? And so on.

My son returned with these thoughts that kept bothering him until Monday.

In many situations, one gets preoccupied with such worrying thoughts primarily because of lack of visibility of "what next?"

Someone borrows money but doesn't observe commitment to repay. Nor does he bother to give visibility to when he'll repay. A case of shattering trust.

School authorities don't give visibility for admission process and deadlines and so on.

A standard advice under such circumstances is not to get preoccupied with worrying thoughts. But it's easier said than done.

Isn't there some responsibility (on us as suppliers) to our customers?

Can't we bring in visibility to our role in meeting expectations of the customer and a timeline to do so?

Or is it a strategy by design to give the customers sleepless nights by forcing her to guess "what next?"

If 'Yes', then for a criminal it might be fine. But otherwise it's a criminal behavior.

Be Bug-Be Or Big-Be ?

Overcome The Tyranny Of Small Minds 

While reading the above spiritual article, it occurred to me that there could be four kinds of people in the corresponding context.

1/ Big people with small mind: Bugger-Be !
2/ Big people with big mind: Bigger-Be !
3/ Small people with small mind: Bug-Be !
4/ Small people with big mind: Big-Be !

First category of people (read the corresponding blogpost on the link) is the one that is powerful enough but doesn't bother about other's presence. Bugger-Be doesn't make contribution to other's rightful needs nor to the societal ones.

Last category of people (the so-called small people with big mind: Big-Be !) is the one that is not powerful at all. But it empowers itself in order to bother about other's presence. It also makes diffrence to the small world around them by contributing to other's rightful needs. Through their value adding actions, it makes others think and act!

It's actually the Big-people (the first and the third category) that can make significant diffrence to others and to the socio-economic needs.

Wheel-of-Worldly activity, however, is somehow getting managed because of presence of the last category of ('small') people. The wheel might run faster (and in a better fashion) if the quadrant of the first category of people reduces and the size of second category of people (Bigger-Be With Big-Mind) increases.

Easiest way for the Bugger-Be to turn into a Bigger-Be in this context is to copy actions of the last category: That of the Big-Be !

Big-people do have power to influence bigger circles of people at a bigger scale!!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

No Time? Micro-Meditate!  

ABCD of India Shining

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow

How To Make A Difference

Nauseous Communication Gaps

Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis

Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam!

Will It Work Here? 

Some Moron ! Some Great !!!

That's How Morons Work

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

That's how some business partnerships work

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!

IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?

Do you exercise your choice meaningfully

Do You Ask Right Questions?