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e-Xpertise in Industry Issue #22
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In this issue...
| Feature Article: |
Filling your leadership pipeline: Carol Graser of NextGen Leaders has written this piece for Cambashi to suggest methods of filling the leadership void in your company. |
| Hot Topic: |
Big brother! Customer Success Stories: Part 2 - Getting the process right. In our last e-zine we looked at best practice in the area of customer success stories. This month Bob Brown talks about the process. |
| Book Review: |
Homepage usability: 50 websites deconstructed by Jakob Neilsen and Marie Tahir by is reviewed by Mike Evans. |
| Noticeboard: |
TEAM:
28 - 30 September 2004, Birmingham. |
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Quote for Today
Management
is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether
the ladder is leaning against the right wall. Stephen
R. Covey
Feature Article: Filling your leadership pipeline: Developing the next generation of leaders
Take a look around you. Where are the leaders in your company? Have they disappeared? Who can you count on to lead your organisation through this next phase of growth?
If you are experiencing a scarcity of leadership in your company, you are not alone. The problem is rampant and becoming a distinct detractor for companies that want to maintain competitive advantage. As the baby boomers continue to exit the work force over the next few years, many companies will find they are losing a generation of leadership. In the meantime, leadership training and development have been much overlooked during the austere era following the dot com bust and the September 11th tragedy. When costs are cut, training and development programs often suffer the first blows. In addition, many companies have held back on promotions in order to reduce expenses. These short-sighted measures have left even those companies poised for new growth without the leaders they need to take them into the future.
As for those leaders you currently have in position, are they ready to face the challenges of leadership as it transforms over the next few years? The nature of work is changing at an accelerating pace as broadband and telecommunications make the virtual workforce a reality. Work is becoming more decentralised, and leaders increasingly find themselves in situations that require them to lead people whom they seldom see face to face. Unlearning old ways of "command and control" leadership and learning new ways to manage virtually are key challenges. Managing virtually requires extra effort in designing and delegating tasks to ensure geographically remote staff don't duplicate or contradict each others efforts. However "command and control" techniques don't motivate staff in the way that "empowered authority" does.
What are companies doing to address this challenge in leadership? Some companies, such as IBM, have identified their next generation of leaders throughout the organization. These next generation leaders are assigned mentors and coaches, and are brought together for quarterly seminars led by top executives who share the vision of the company and the challenges the company is facing. Other companies are investing in executive education by bringing in professors in strategy, organisational change, finance, marketing and leadership to teach a select group of emerging leaders in the company. The result can be compared to an in-house MBA.
Classroom training is no longer the sole mainstay of an effective leadership training initiative. Many forward-thinking companies extend leadership training beyond the classroom by:
• Augmenting training through the effective use of technology.
• Providing access to leadership coaches who assist in setting goals and reinforcing leadership principles.
• Assigning mentors to help these new leaders navigate the maze of corporate structure and politics.
Effective leadership development today, encourages learning within the context of people's work. For example, GE requires their executives to teach and develop other leaders within the company. This is based on an assumption that great leaders are great teachers. Leaders are expected to develop "lessons" based on their knowledge, experience, and values, and to articulate those lessons to others. This approach goes beyond mentoring, requiring significant executive commitment in both time and effort.
What are the suggested next steps to halt a company's looming leadership crisis?
1) The first and most important step is to define the leadership competencies necessary to support the organization's strategy. These will define the blueprint for recruiting, selecting and promoting leaders.
2) Next, understand the leadership skills that you already have.
3) Identify the gaps in knowledge and skills. Design programmes to help the company and its leaders bridge these.
4) Design a rotational job framework to develop the breadth of leaders' experiences.
5) Set expectations and establish performance measures to encourage self development and the development of others.
6) Track progress and reward success.
This approach is an effective long-term strategy. You may need to perform some short-term triage on your current leadership development efforts. Consider implementing a structured mentoring programme or assign external leadership coaches to work with your high potential leaders. Ask your best leaders to commit to developing leadership in others, and recognize them for those efforts.
Good leadership strategy begins at the top, with visible
and demonstrative executive sponsorship on the values of leadership. The commitment
of current executives to develop next generation leaders is an essential element
of business and organisational growth.
Customer Success Stories - Part 2 - Getting the process right
In our last e-zine we looked at best practice in the area of customer success stories. This month we think about the process.
In our industry there are very few certainties. However, one thing that is dependable is your prospective purchaser's appetite for stories about the real experiences of other customers. This curiosity is deeply rooted in our very nature - after all, at an elemental level, it is basically a survival mechanism. For evidence to support this premise, you can point to the huge popularity of "fly-on-the-wall" documentaries and voyeuristic TV programmes like Big Brother. On a more serious note, you know that your customers and your prospects are particularly receptive to reference stories when they are engaged in any form of buying activity. So, if we're agreed, the opportunity requires no further explanation.
Capitalising on the opportunity requires four things:
1. Management recognition of the importance of the issue at the appropriate level. Make it a priority to identify or source the necessary resources and set in place the team or personal objectives to make sure it happens. Use metrics to measure the immediate outcomes and provide the basis for continuous improvement.
2. A formal process to identify and "recruit" existing customers who are willing to recount their experiences for whatever reason.
3. A resource to talk to the customer, research the story from the customer's perspective and write the copy so that it will be interesting and informative, and at the same time carries the vendor's key messages.
4. A resource to turn the copy into a finished document or web page.
I suppose you could argue that the first item on my list should be plenty of satisfied customers. If this isn't the case then you have much more serious things to worry about!
Actually none of this is rocket science, in fact, most of it is quite easy to do, and yet, as we've said before, it remains the case that while some companies perform consistently well in this area, there are others whose efforts are quite frankly disappointing, or worse!
We often read case studies that are really win stories "well known company A has just bought our new module B. They believed our marketing pitch on business benefits, thought we were nice guys and hope it will turn out all right." Customer successes should not be confused with news, a success can only be talked about after the pay back period.
There are plenty of best practice examples to follow, so what goes wrong? We've put together a simple self-assessment checklist with a scorecard which you can print off our website.
This month the exercise is internal but the criteria are objective. You can look at your immediate competitors to see how often they release customer reference stories in your market space. In our view, any score under 15 is cause for concern. Score less than ten and you should take urgent action.
Book
Review: Homepage
usability: 50 websites deconstructed, Jakob Neilsen and Marie Tahir
New Riders Publishing ISBN 0-7357-1102-X. 320pp.
£30.99.
This book is in two parts. The first 50 pages explain the authors' views of the role of the web site homepage, and a series of guidelines and conventions. The remainder of the book analyses 50 homepages from companies varying from Accenture to Victoria's Secret.
In the first part, the guidelines and conventions are explained and justified with examples from the homepages. The focus is on the way that the real estate on the home page is used and how good design practice enhances each functional item such as search or registration. Navigation from the home page to internal or "deck" pages is handled briefly.
In the second part, each home page's assumed objectives are described, the breakdown of real estate to different purposes analysed, and the content of each element of the page critiqued.
This book is highly focused on the design and role of a web site home page - it does what it says on the label! The first part of the book contains a significant number of insights. The second part of the book tends to get repetitious, but so many examples may be needed for the average reader to make a connection to a site comparable to their own. Nonetheless I highly recommend this book. It will give every marketing manager with any web site responsibility food for thought.
TEAM: which includes the following shows; DES, TCT 2004, Inspex, CIM, Motion and Control, will be held in Birmingham from 28 - 30 September, 2004.
APICS: International Conference and Exposition, 10-13 October 10-13, 2004, 2004. San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California. The four-day international conference combines high-quality education with unmatched peer-to-peer networking and a showcase of leading suppliers.
Smart Labels Europe 2004: Discover how RFID is being realised, 12-13 October, Nice, France.
COFES2005: 14 - 17 April 2005 in Scottsdale, AZ., "COFES brings users, vendors and industry analysts together in a conversation that clarifies issues and futures in the engineering automation industry," said Brad Holtz, CEO and president, Cyon Research. "This event has an impact on the way everyone views, understands and benefits from the new technologies coming towards all of us and how they will continue to mould our future business."
A full list of industry events can be found at IT industry events on the Cambashi website