According to the Harvard Business Review, there are certain things you could do to cool yourself down if you get worked up:
1. Breathe
2. Focus on your body
3. Say a mantra
4. Acknowledge and label your feelings
5. Take a break
This is one side of the coin
What does purpose really mean?
Purpose is one of the hot topics for the moment, just like mission and vision were thrown about in the 1990’s. Jonathan Knowles HBR article from March 2022 explained that different organisations use purpose in different ways; some are around competence, some are around culture, and some are around cause. I think all organisations really need to understand which type of purpose is most authentic to them, fits with their strategy and really aligns with their stakeholders. Organisations have to be really thoughtful around what really motivates employees and helps them with that alignment process as you are trying to implement strategy. Pursuing purpose is a good idea but you have to get the right purpose and ensure it’s authentic, sits with the strategy and serves stakeholders.
A is for accountability
As debate rages about restarting economies, one critical element is absent from discussion. In his Harvard Business Review article, Joseph Grenny suggests that the heart of a high reliability culture is immediate peer accountability. The predictor of our success or failure will have less to do with when businesses open their doors and more to do with how often people open their mouths. I think greater transparency is needed to generate respect, trust and support. Do you accept accountability for the actions of your organisation and for their metrics of value creation?
Perfection doesn't exist
I don’t believe in perfectionism! You need perfection in manufacturing and measurable systems, but perfection is the biggest killer of creativity. According to the Harvard Business Review: Perfectionism is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it can motivate you to perform at a high level and deliver top-quality work. On the other, it can cause you unnecessary anxiety and sometimes annoy your colleagues. Currently, the system isn’t built for discovery, it’s built for being told and when it makes no sense, I struggle and question the logic.
“One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn’t exist.....Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”
Are You Making Your Customers Happy?
Whilst paying attention to what's going on around me and contemplating what is my interpretation of the world? I am not just looking at what offer people are putting out there in terms of content and ideas, but being aware of a problem that needs to be solved. What stops all of us from being observant? Is it the fear of failure or just self-doubt? One should not wait for proof before overcoming fear, one should try anyway!
It is good to ask customers questions but it is better to observe them in action. A more lateral approach to gain insights from customers is to study in detail how they use your type of product or service and to observe what practical problems they have. Data rather than intuition should be the core background to make decisions, so the big question should be, "How to use data to drive better personalisation?" As we look to create a more personalised/customised experience and products, we must ensure that it can scale.
“Data has a clear role to play in developing a superior customer experience— and companies have access to more information on their customers than ever before. Indeed, they are seeing an exponential increase in customer-related data, driven largely by social media, mobile, and e-commerce. But these expanding troves of customer information alone are clearly not driving customer experience improvements—let alone innovation—in the vast majority of organisations.” - Harvard Business Review Analytic Services
The smarter we can analyse data (both quantitative and qualitative) the better we will be at leaving customers feeling wanted, respected and appreciated at every stage of the interaction. Moving from segmenting customers to treating them as individuals is possible by aggregating multiple data sources, being responsive to the previous behaviour of customers and acting in the moment at the right time. We all know customer expectations have accelerated exponentially and this is not slowing down. To compete for the heart and minds of the customer, businesses need to be able to engage meaningfully with people in the channels where they are, not where you want them to be.
