The Recipe for Success ⁰

I make a baked ziti that everyone loves and which is frequently requested by dinner guests. When I was asked how to make it, I found it hard to describe because I make it by taste and smell, what I call a “dump” recipe. When others tried to make it, I was told the taste wasn’t the same as mine. I decided to document the recipe so it could be repeated by others to be just as successful.

I see the same things going on in companies. The master who built the company through trial, error and putting his personality into it created a wonderful business success story. But once he retires, the business falters and is never the same. What happened? The company didn’t have a documented repeatable process, or what I call a recipe for success.

Because the originator of the success story refined his recipe over years and years of tweaks and adjustments, it probably came as naturally to him as making my ziti comes to me. He saw no real need to record his “dump recipe.”

Even in the rapidly changing times of this new economy, a repeatable recipe of success needs to be recorded within the company. Each department can have their own recipes of success. How does the best salesperson on staff turn a resistant prospect into a long-term customer? There is a recipe for that. Document it.

How does the supervisor in production consistently produce high performance on her shift, no matter what shift she is leading? There is a recipe for that. Document it.

Why is there one VP in the company everyone wants to work with? He has a recipe that works! Document it.

Employees at all levels will transition in and out of organizations. The key for leadership to maintain success throughout these transitions is to document the recipes for success in each area of the business. Create the repeatable processes that can be transferred from employee to employee to strengthen the performance of the organization.

When you are driving success for your company, there should be no “secret sauce.” Make sure your recipe for success is widely known in your organization.

Speaking of recipes: If you would like my recipe for a tasty baked ziti, email me at Russell@RussellWhite.com and in the subject line say: I gotta have the ziti recipe!

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How to Make Your Employees Hate You ⁰

Do managers ever do this intentionally? I’ve never met a manager who intentionally tried to get employees to hate him, but it sure happens daily in the workplace. What causes employees to lose respect for their leaders? Causes employees to no longer trust the boss?

Here are three significant mistakes managers make that will cause employees to hate working for him:

1. Employees hate surprises.

A drastic schedule change based on what the manager wants to accomplish with no respect to the employee’s desires is not a surprise the employee is going to welcome. If this happens with any kind of frequency, the employee will quickly become disengaged with the job.

Another surprise surveyed employees said they hated is trying to guess the boss’s mood. In leadership, attitude consistency is critical to creating a solid work environment. When the boss is moody, the tone of the workplace, meetings and interactions change dramatically.
If employees are watching to see when the next explosion is going to happen, or what kind of day they are going to have based on how the boss walked in that morning, their focus is in the wrong place.

2. Employees hate unclear goals.

Executives frequently announce the company goals without any clarity on what each employee’s goals are or how they contribute to the overall. All employees want to know the score. Whichever way you measure your success in your business, it’s important for employees to understand how they make that success happen and what their personal goals are in helping the company overall.

Be sure to provide your employees either personal goals or shift goals and provide them continuous feedback on how they are performing against those goals; otherwise, your employees are not going to show any interest in what you are trying to accomplish.

3. Employees hate empty talk.

Don’t say it unless you truly plan on doing it. Managers who make promises or commitments and fail to follow through for any reason will create a trust barrier with their employees. When you promise to get back to them on a question they had, or told them they could have a day off, they fully expect that to happen. When the manager fails to follow through, not only is trust lost, but any extra effort or commitment your employees had been giving you will be lost.

Managing people can be a significant challenge in the fast pace of business today. Building workforce loyalty and commitment while creating a desire to perform is critical to enjoying business success. The last thing you need is for your employees to hate you because of your poor management actions.

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Customer Loyalty Programs that Work ⁰

Customers today are the savviest we’ve ever dealt with. They comparison shop, not just for cheaper prices, but for quickest rewards, best service, and greatest value as well. So it makes perfect sense they would shop for customer loyalty programs that really work.
In fact, a big debate is happening among retailers whether loyalty programs work or just provide customers the opportunity to game the system. According to LoyaltyOne’s research, the average American household belongs to 18 customer loyalty programs but participates in only 8. Why don’t they participate in all of them actively? It’s a matter of value and ease of use.

So how do we engage the savvy customer?

It’s more than the dollars back

Reward programs are as ubiquitous as airbags in a car. They are quickly taken for granted or forgotten about. All programs offer a discount or an accumulated freebie. Savvy loyalty programs go beyond pricing to offer perks. Perks such as complimentary wi-fi, a loyalty line (for quicker ordering), or an opportunity to preview new items have an impact on customers beyond just getting something a bit cheaper.

Make levels attainable

When I speak on goal setting, I always recommend having goals with reach but within reach. The same goes for customer loyalty programs. In other words, the advanced levels have to be attainable or the customer will lose interest. If you require 20 purchases to get the “freebie,” on all but the most loyal customers of your products, the desired impact will be lost. One restaurant with which I am familiar has a graduated loyalty program to keep customers interested. On the fourth purchase you receive this reward, on the eighth something bigger, on the 12th a bigger item, and on the 16th purchase you get the top reward. It keeps the customer involved along the way, and it then becomes a mission to reach the top level like a video game. Do you know the right pacing for your reward levels?

Have cross-promotional partners

What is the business in town that is complementary for your customers? For example, grocery stores share rewards and promotions with gas stations. Customers in these cross-promotional programs quickly realize by gaining more points faster they can create bigger rewards in these businesses. Cross-promotions can work for fellow small businesses, retailers located in close proximity, or as a thank you to another business, such as a bank giving away free tickets to an amusement park that is a business client. The loyal consumer benefits, the financial client benefits, and the bank has a loyalty program with some buzz.

Appeal to your customers’ technology level

My mother was a green stamp collector and coupon clipper in the prime of her purchasing power. I still remember as a kid pasting green stamps into books for purchasing products at the redemption centers. She still gets a newspaper and clips coupons. That is her preferred level of technology.

Many of today’s consumers want to have an app and the ability to track their points online. I am able to do this with my US Airways status and frequent flyer miles I get from my flights and loyalty program credit card.

What is the technology comfort level of your customers? If you are offering stamp cards to customers who want electronic loyalty programs, they will not be very well engaged. By the same token, if you are trying to convince my mother’s generation to get an app on a phone she only uses for emergencies, that program will not be effective. Know your customers’ technological comfort zone and deliver your loyalty program at their level for maximum effectiveness and ease of use.

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Are You Ready for Your Agile Advantage? ⁰

The world is becoming smaller and more interconnected, intelligent, and technology-driven, bringing challenges and opportunities alive to businesses and those who work in them. Customer demand for personalized services, mobile access, and open and ongoing communication will only grow. The speed with which the pace of business is accelerating requires rapid change and increased agility.

A car with a wobbly tire may be able to move down the road at 20 miles per hour; however, the vehicle can’t function properly with the same wobbly tire at 90. Businesses are also learning that with greater speed comes greater complexity and greater demand for maximum performance. Small business leaders are being forced to ask themselves whether their organizations have the agility to turn these challenges into opportunities.

Technology, Talent, Tenacity

Recognizing and adapting rapidly to market changes is always difficult. At the speed of change in today’s new economy, having the ability to manage change is not optional if the organization is going to succeed and grow. Companies embracing the changes and eager to embrace the new economy are leveraging technology, talent, and tenacity to increase business agility through the new model of business leadership designed for continuously improved processes and systems.

The Agile Business by design is capable of fluid, effective working relationships with employees, customers, and suppliers. It relies upon repeatable, rapid, and reliable systems throughout the organization. Agile Businesses have the versatility to allow employees to make process improvements to respond quickly to change without having to rely on the command-and-control managerial hierarchy approval process that impedes the speed of change.

By being agile enough to manage change, leaders in an Agile Business can capitalize on new opportunities and beat competitors in the tight profit margins of the new economy. By innovating with top talent and ever-improving technologies, with the Agile Advantage, a business can achieve incredible levels of market dominance.

I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that customers are disappointed with limited options. Technology is already changing customer control of options, much to the consternation of those typically in command and control. For example, television programming is still decided by the networks. They make the choice what shows get on, when they will run, and who gets to see those shows. With Digital Video Recording devices and websites such as Hulu.com, customers are taking away some of that control as they record and watch shows when they want to with the added ability to fast forward through unwanted ads. This is changing how advertising functions, how networks charge for ad space, and how marketing philosophy is shifting from interruption marketing to permission marketing.

Your Agile Advantage

To create your agile advantage for your organization, develop the following characteristics for your organization:

Create a culture that allows for agility to stay in front of customer demands
Maximize the potential of your top talent by letting them make decisions
Conduct on-going training to develop better decision making as close to the customer as possible.

Think of the changes you are seeing in your customers. How are they locating you? What do they know about your competition? How are you reaching them with your marketing strategies? All of this is changing in the new economy. Agile businesses know how to stay in front of these changes. Ole school businesses always feel as if they are catching up. Which best describes your business?

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The OODA Loop of Agile Decision Making ⁰

An important skill for an Agile Businesses is the ability to be decisive in indecisive times. Previously, managers made all important decisions because they were considered the most-informed, most capable of understanding all of the facts, and best trained for making decisions.

This condition created laborious approval processes and delayed decisions. By the time the final approval was given, it typically was made by the person farthest from the situation. This approval process also sent a not-so-subtle message that employees cannot be trusted to make good decisions.

Today, decisions must be made faster and often with less than complete information. To wait for all facts to be known, all costs to be completely understood, and to get buy-in from all executives, most likely the critical moment has passed. A more agile competitor has grabbed the opportunity while your organization was still thinking. Business opportunities will be lost again and again using this time-consuming approval process in the new economy.

For example, the CEO of one of my clients (a multi-million dollar company) must get board approval for any expenditure over $5,000. When this rule (and dollar amount) was established in the 1980s, that may have been a more reasonable figure. Today it’s a handcuff to timely decision making.

Decisions in the new economy need to be made as close to the customer as possible to create better agility. As decisions are being forced lower and lower in a company, the entire organization needs to be taught how to make proper decisions by using a basic model that is one of the simplest, most easily repeatable processes for making good decisions at the speed of the new economy.

The OODA Loop is a decision-making tool that allows for real time decision making as quickly as needed. Currently SEAL teams are being taught the OODA Loop because they can no longer wait on the chain of command for decisions. The speed of decision can literally mean the difference between life or death in conflict situations.

Fortunately, business decision-making doesn’t have consequences as dire, but the training and development of real-time decision making can create a more agile business in a highly competitive environment.

The OODA Loop

OODA is an anagram for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. As with most skills, the more a person uses it, the more comfortable they become and the more efficient in using it.

Observe

The decision maker must be observant. Let’s use an example of a customer who needs assistance. Is this an enraged customer, or someone who simply has a question? Does this person expect the company to do something immediately, or is he looking for lengthy explanations and details? Observations help gain perspective of the decision at hand. The decision maker must be aware of the situation they are in.

Orient

Once you have made your observations, you need to orient them. For example, you have observed you have an angry customer and you orient this situation with the corporate policy of providing the ultimate in customer service. Does it make sense to immediately announce “I’ll get the manager” and walk off? This action is only going to inflame the situation, add more wait time, and train all future customers never to talk with anyone but the manager again. Not only is this a waste of time for the angry customer, but a waste of time for a manager who needs to be focusing on other aspects of the business. Orientation takes observations and places them in a context for a decision.

Decide

Once you’ve observed the situation and oriented it with your company vision, you are presented with a number of options. When dealing with the upset customer, the decision maker can argue the point, offer reparation, send the decision up the line, listen and defuse the situation with a savvy response that will calm the customer, or check out and pass it along to the boss to handle.

Act

Next, you take the best possible action. As we all know, in business we don’t make the right decision every time, but we have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes. By continually repeating this process to the level of complete comfort, not only are better decisions made more frequently, but the evaluation of poor decisions by walking through the process again will quickly show where the error happened along the way.

Decision making in the new economy requires a different skill set and speed; the more split-second decisions you make, the better you get at making them.

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Who is the King of Beers Today? ⁰

Budweiser might retain the slogan of “King of Beers” but the Bud brand is slipping in the every changing marketplace. In the age when people are looking for something fresh and new (not referring to the ad campaign of born-on-date) Bud is on the decline.

So who is gaining the most market share year to year in the United States? Would it be an upstart brand that is a flash in the pan success? No, how about the oldest brewing company in the U.S.: Yuengling Traditional Lager, made in the U.S. since 1829.

Yuengling (YING-ling) has increased sales revenue by more than 36% over last year. It is one of the cheaper priced beers in the marketplace; however, the brand loyalty comes from word of mouth about the taste of the beer.

Word of mouth marketing indicates Yuengling has found the right combination of taste and price to be considered the best buy in the American beer market.

Annually they are shipping close to 9.5 million cases a year for a sales volume of over $206 million. In fact, Yuengling is the largest American-owned brewer. (Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors are both foreign-owned.

Congratulations to Yuengling for finding the Agile Advantage. How are they doing this? By growing steadily with smart brewery purchases, working with employees instead of against employees (to the point employees were convinced they no longer needed union representation to be heard by executives,) and by expanding their brand in a calculated effort to be recognized for what they do best — make a good tasting quality product.

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Yum Brands Takes an Agile Advantage Leap ⁰

Yum Brands, Inc. (YUM), the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut is selling hundreds of its restaurants back to franchisees in order to be more nimble for market development overseas.

With each of their restaurant chains, they are reducing the number of stores they own to facilitate their new strategy of increasing equity stakes in emerging markets such as China, which offer greater returns.

Are they sending out a statement they are abandoning the U.S. market? Not at all, they say they are purely more interested in having the locations operated by those who are the best at it: their most successful franchisees, who will no doubt jump at this opportunity.

The Agile Advantage to Yum Brands is in how they are shifting their equity stake, giving them greater opportunity to establish a presence in the fast growing markets globally. In the last year, their U.S. operations have shown a slight loss of sales, indicating this is not their greatest growth market.

Agile companies are quick to recognize how to find the fertile ground for growth and restructure in order to be a leader in the new markets. Obviously, this is a significant change many organizations would be fearful to make, and this is why this bold step will give Yum Brands an Agile Advantage.

What shifts should your business be making in order to facilitate better growth?
Where is the fear of change holding your organization back from taking agile steps to gain market share?
Where does your organization need to re-focus resources in order to capitalize on forthcoming opportunities?

The Agile Advantage comes with an accurate vision, the comfort in taking necessary risks, and a willingness to make change swiftly. Some may think a company based in Louisville, KY is foolish to redirect efforts half-way around the world. As long as executives of their competitors are thinking this way, Yum can continue to enjoy their Agile Advantage in the new economy.

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Why Use Strategic Planning? ⁰

Why Use Strategic Planning

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The Destructive Power of Disinformation and Misinformation ⁰

Coke and Pepsi Forced to Change Recipes

In the new economy changes are happening rapidly even to old school secret formulas of global organizations. The caramel coloring in the popular colas currently carries enough carcinogens that would mandate by California law the drinks carry a cancer warning label. The providers for almost 90 percent of the soda market have announced they are making adjustments to their cola recipes in order to comply. Have we been exposed to cancer causing agents for all these years at the ignorance of these cola giants?

The American Beverage Association released a statement saying that consumers have no reasons for any health care concerns.

A representative of Coca-Cola said, “While we believe there is no public health risk that justifies these changes, we will comply so as not to be subjected to this unfounded warning.”

To a skeptical society these words will ring as disingenuous or hiding important consumer health information. Who is speaking with disinformation, misinformation or the truth? It can be difficult to determine unless you drill into the facts.

According to the Food and Drug Administration a consumer would have to drink more than 1,000 cans of soda a day to reach doses that can cause cancer in rodents. A study has yet to be done to show whether there is even any impact on humans.

Is it any wonder why we as a society continue to question the information we receive? Clarity of facts is becoming a lost substance in the information age. Be sure as a consumer you read beyond the headlines.

As a business owner be sure you get in front of any stories about your organization filled with misinformation or disinformation before the story becomes perceived as the truth whether based on fact or not. Because the speed with which social media spreads stories, all organizations must be ready at a moment’s notice to defend their facts.

In the new economy disinformation and misinformation are becoming strategies to gain ground on a competitor.

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Behavioral Bias will cause Brain Blunders ⁰

Behavioral Bias will cause Brain Blunders

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The Recipe for Success ⁰

How to Make Your Employees Hate You ⁰

Customer Loyalty Programs that Work ⁰

Are You Ready for Your Agile Advantage? ⁰

The OODA Loop of Agile Decision Making ⁰

Who is the King of Beers Today? ⁰

Yum Brands Takes an Agile Advantage Leap ⁰

Why Use Strategic Planning? ⁰

The Destructive Power of Disinformation and Misinformation ⁰

Coke and Pepsi Forced to Change Recipes

Behavioral Bias will cause Brain Blunders ⁰

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