It's Time

Welcome to that time of year when Fox TV insists that playoff baseball games be played only at night. It matters not that it gets rather cold in late October and, gasp, early November. Even so, Fox is in it for the money and all of those prime time advertising dollars. Where, I ask you, is the fair play in that?

Years ago, half of the fun of the World Series for us old enough to remember -- and young enough to be able to remember -- was trying to listen to the games surreptitiously on our transistor radios with those little, tinny ear phones while at school. Being able to follow the game, pay attention to the teacher and not get caught was a terrific skill, one that earned us high praise from those unable to do two things -- any two things -- simultaneously.

Some of us, who had been previously considered less than worthy by our peers (I believe 'dork' was the technical term often used to describe us), suddenly became needed, wanted and, most importantly, admired. At least until the end of the Series. Ah, but for those 7 to 10 days we were kings!

So, for all of you in elementary and junior high schools across the country who could use a temporary elevation of social class, I say it's time for Fox TV to get it right and return playoff baseball to daylight. Do it for the kids, Fox, especially the dorks. They -- we -- need all the help we can get.

Speaking of needing help, it's time for companies to kick it into gear. Especially those that have delayed dealing with issues undermining their productivity and/or profitability. And especially those companies that need talented employees and delighted customers to win in the marketplace. (If your company does not need employees and customers, count yourself among the very lucky! And, please, tell me your secret.) Enough already of the "woe-is-me, times-are-hard, we're-just-trying-to-get-through-this" rationalization.

It's time to act.

Here's a short list of the actions we'd recommend:

1. Update your Strategic Plan and share it with everyone. Your people, customers and investors should know -- especially now -- that you have a good plan to grow your company, that the plan is being executed, and that you have a way to track your progress. Don't have a Strategic Plan? Get in touch with us now.

2. Involve your employees in the implementation of the Strategic Plan. Strategic plans have typically been the purview of executive management. Strategic plans also tend to collect dust on someone's shelf. Coincidence? You be the judge. We advocate a different approach: Enlist teams of high-performing, high-potential employees to help guide the execution of key components of the plan. Have these teams help drive the communication of the Plan, the internal implementation of the Plan, and the metrics required to track the effectiveness of the Plan. Also use these teams to help drive the Plan down through your organization until every employee has Strategic Plan goals in their annual performance objectives. When this comprehensive approach is used, implementation of the Plan is significantly more effective and company performance improves.

3. Develop metrics to track progress against the Strategic Plan. Want something to improve? Measure it. In this case, develop a scorecard to assess your company's progress against the Strategic Plan. Then develop a scorecard for each department/division of your company that is aligned with the company scorecard. Assign a high-performing, high-potential employee team to help develop the metrics, collect the data, and report results to executive management quarterly. Immediately thereafter, have the team communicate the results throughout the organization. It's not as simple as it sounds, but it's a thing of beauty when done well.

4. Address low-scoring areas of the Strategic Plan. Where is your organization failing to achieve the goals of the Strategic Plan? What must be done to close those 'gaps'? Here's another assignment for a select team of employees. When the ideas for performance improvement come from within -- rather than from above -- the recommendations tend to be more strongly embraced and, subsequently, more effective. The key learning: A capable cross-functional team can often identify useful ways to improve operational performance -- ideas that can lead to significant performance gains. Another key learning: Getting employees involved is essential if you want to achieve the goals of your Strategic Plan.

5. Leave no stone unturned. This is a great time to take aggressive steps to improve your company, its culture, and its ability to compete. Your Strategic Plan is a terrific vehicle to drive change. If your Plan is a good one, you can use it as a catalyst for improvement throughout the organization. Process enhancement, cost reduction, service delivery, organizational effectiveness, customer service are just some of the areas to explore.

You've got your hands full. There aren't enough hours in the day. These times are challenging. Even so, you know now is an ideal time to take action. Don't miss the opportunity. They don't come around all that often.


Another good-bye

Last week we lost a prince of children's television. Soupy Sales was a hero to many youngsters in the 50's and 60's. An entertainer, teacher, pioneer and friend. A man who took an untold number of pies to the face. And a guy who arguably had one of the greatest ad-libs of anyone ever on live TV. Even if you don't remember him, appreciate the inspired lunacy of him asking kids to sneak into their parents bedroom and find "green pieces of paper with pictures of guys with beards". Brilliant. We'll remember you fondly, Soupy. Even those of us who got caught 'borrowing' from our parents wallets and purses for you.

Enjoy Soupy's retelling of the event and see you next week.

Smart People Doing Smart Things

A couple of weeks ago, I ranted about the litany of amazingly insensitive, counter-productive and energy-deflating things 'smart' people at work do all too regularly. Thank you to those who wrote to remind me of the many other dumb things smart people do. Quite a list, to be sure. A few worth noting:

• Insisting that processes -- no matter how flawed or inefficient -- be followed to the letter "because that's the way we've always done it"

• Confusing a high-gloss, monthly employee magazine produced by your Corporate Communications department with 'timely communication'
  

• Using rumor and/or innuendo to incite internal competition between departments

And my favorite, undoubtedly the most insensitive and stupid thing of them all:

• Leaving drawings of revised organization charts on conference room white boards for anyone to see (Incomplete erasures qualify for this crime.)
  

A special shout-out to RZ who offered the logical possibility that my premise itself was wrong. Maybe people who do dumb things aren't particularly smart. As he put it, in not so many words, "You are what you do -- especially if you do it a lot." Point taken.

Which made me think of The Office's Dwight Schrute's brilliant advice.



To be fair (but not nearly as fun), let's consider the other side of this coin. There are numerous examples of smart people actually doing smart things at work to help their organizations in these challenging times. Some of these include:

• Using a company-wide voice mail message to kill a rampant rumor in real time
  

• Creating cross-functional 'design teams' to address an urgent business issue and, in the process, reducing the damaging effects of 'silos'
  

• Holding 'town hall' meetings, led by executives, to discuss, in frank and direct terms, the state of the company and its plans to improve performance

• Revamping and/or eliminating inefficient, time-consuming processes (e.g., purchasing, performance appraisal system)
  

• Dealing aggressively with poor performers

• Executives reducing their pay and perquisites before asking their people to do the same (yes, there are good examples of this)
  

• Using a strategic plan to engage employees at all levels and to drive aggressive performance improvement (more on this next week)

• Asking internally and/or externally for help when important problems can't be solved
  

• Implementing a creative process to identify top performing - high potential employees and then working with those people to build and execute a career development plan

• Involving customers in the design and execution of improved customer service delivery mechanisms (shocking but true!)
  

• Expanding the concept of 'business partnership' to internal and external customers, key vendors, public constituencies and even the press

• Ensuring that everyone is accountable for customer service

• Creating a 'scorecard', updated weekly, so that company performance against key success criteria is known by all
  

See, I told you it wouldn't be as fun to consider the positive. But admit it: It made you wonder about possibilities, no?

Intelligence does exist in the workplace -- even if you see little or no evidence of it where you work. Sadly, our evidence suggests that your experience is more the norm, given that the frequency of observed Stupid Behavior far outweighs that of Smart Behavior. If true, many companies will have a much more difficult time emerging from these times strong, healthy and capable of continued growth. They'll also have a harder time keeping you and, alas, their customers.

Speaking of the egocentric and self-absorbed sometimes getting it right, congratulations to the National Football League for not allowing Rush Limbaugh to pursue partial ownership of the St. Louis Rams. Although Rush was quick to blame everyone but himself, the league recognized that his comments bordering on racism might, just might, undermine the NFL image.

NFL 1, Rush 0. Nice.

See you next week.

Hidden Fees

When was the last time you bought a ticket to anything -- especially on-line -- and incurred no additional, hidden fees? A rhetorical question. I'm too angry for you to give example after example that will undermine my frustration. I'm enjoying the anger, so don't even try to talk me down.

Without going into too much detail, I was recently charged $12.50 to buy a $40 ticket on-line to a local music show. $12.50 for a $40 ticket! A 'convenience' charge. For what convenience? The convenience of buying a ticket to the show?

And get this: There was only one type of ticket for this particular show: General Admission. No seat selection, no options. $12.50 for the convenience of buying a General Admission ticket without talking to a live human being. (I wonder: Would that $12.50 have gone up or down had I needed a live human to help me? Too many good lines there, but all would make me laugh. And I'd prefer to stay mad as hell.)

So I called the venue and found out that I could buy tickets at the door -- for $40 + a convenience fee of $6. Of course I asked what convenience they were providing. My mistake. Here's how the conversation unfolded:

Lady: "What do you mean, 'what convenience'?"

Me: "You're going to charge me $6 to buy the ticket at the door. What is the $6 for?"

"It's for the convenience of buying a ticket."

"And again I ask, what convenience? Do I get to come to the front of the line? Are you going to escort me into the theater? Help me work my way through the crowd to the bar? Order my first drink? Wash my car while I'm inside? Certainly I'll get something for the $6 you're charging."

"Have you been drinking?"

"It's 9:30 in the morning."

"So?"

"No, I haven't been drinking. Though I am rethinking that position. Regardless, please tell me what I'll get for the $6."

"You'll get a ticket to the show."

"But isn't that what the $40 is for?"

"Yes, the show costs $40."

"So why do I have to pay $6 more?"

"Because you'll need a ticket to get in."

"BUT THAT'S WHAT THE $40 IS FOR! What is the $6 for?"

"For the convenience of buying a ticket."

"Oh, my. Who's on 1st?"

"Who's on first? First what? You have been drinking, haven't you?"

"No. Instead I'm considering a life of crime. One that may very well begin with you."

"That's very sweet of you to say. Please make sure you ask for me when you pick up your ticket."

"Oh, you can be sure I will."

"Good. By the way, we take credit cards."

"Is there a charge for using my credit card? It's convenient, after all."

"No, but if you don't pay your bill on time, the bank will charge interest."

"Don't get me started."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I can e-mail your ticket to you and you can print it at home."

"Great. Now that's convenient. I'll do it."

"I figured you would. There's an additional $4 charge for at-home printing."

That's when I hung up. And paid a Convenience Fee of $12.50 to buy my ticket on line. Home printing was free. Woo-hoo.

This venue isn't alone in finding ways to charge more for whatever we're buying. The airlines, for example, add a 'Segment Fee', a 'Passenger Facility Fee' and a TSA-mandated 'Security Fee' to every ticket. Rental car companies add a 'Daily Facility Use Fee' and a 'Concession Recovery Fee' to their daily rates.

Does the expression 'nickel and dimed to death' come to your mind? It does to mine.

I say enough already! If it costs $40 + $6 to buy a ticket, tell me the cost of the show is $46. If the fully-loaded daily rate for a mid-sized car at Avis is $45.50, tell me it's $45.50 -- not $29.95 + taxes and fees. I get that increasing revenue now is important but this deceptive approach is NOT the way to do it.

Because I -- like many customers -- won't forget how badly we're being treated during these challenging economic times. I promise.

And while we're on the topic of the Nobel Peace Prize (I'm told that my segues often cause whiplash), many are questioning the validity of President Obama's selection as this year's recipient of the world's top award. (Yes, the Nobel Peace Prize scores a bit higher than the MTV Music Awards -- even the one for Best Video By a Male, Female or Other Newcomer With Little or No Talent.)

The concern, of course, is that Obama hasn't done enough to warrant the prize. I beg to differ. Obama has changed the conversation. Globally. The role of the United States in world affairs, honoring the importance of all religions, our shared responsibilities for global warming, the need for a peaceful coexistence of a Palestinian state and Israel -- these are just some of the topics of conversation that Obama has influenced on a global scale. He's created a new, refreshing, optimistic vision for how we can live together on this increasingly crowded planet and, more importantly, how we, together, can solve our most important problems.

Given that many of us can't even change the conversation in our own homes, it seems that such a feat is worthy of this tremendous honor.

And by the way, you think, sir, that the Nobel Peace Prize is a 'call to action'? (To steal from Saturday Night Live:) Wasn't that what the election was?

Congratulations, Mr. President! Now, please, get something done, okay? Check your mail for my list. Due dates are included. Health care reform should be easy compared to #3 on my list: Having the Giants win next year's World Series. But, hey, if you can change the conversation globally, surely you can pull off this miracle.

Have fun this week.

Smart People Doing Dumb Things

It's continually amazing to me how well-educated, insightful, experienced, thoughtful people can do such amazingly ignorant things. And while 'best intentions' serves as a useful blanket excuse, the fact remains that we're all capable of doing dumb things, often at the least opportune time. Like now.

And I'm not talking about a pre-emptive invasion of a certain country in search of weapons of mass destruction. That was way, way, way beyond dumb.

At least, that mistake was made only once. So far.

In contrast, here are mistakes made repeatedly at work by smart, well-intentioned people:

• Workers getting the best information about their company from the Wall Street Journal or, worse, the local Penny Saver
  

• Being told in a performance review that something you did months ago -- and something that could have been easily corrected -- hurt your performance rating

• Believing meetings are productive

• Thinking people, especially now, won't be scared when you say, "We're looking to increase efficiency anyway we can."

• Saying anything about pay for performance

• Overlooking the short- and longer-term toll long hours, expanded workloads, and high pressure are taking on you and your people

• Trusting that people will be able to 'read between the lines' of a memo you've distributed
  

• Clinging to the notion that people can distinguish between 'rumor' and 'fact'
  

• Believing that your intent is what counts

• Thinking that saying it once is enough

• Considering yourself to be an effective leader because you tell people what to do

• Betting that your people are committed to your goals because they nod their heads when you talk

• Believing that secrets can be kept at work (Ha!)
  

• Thinking you can grow by cutting (unless you're a gardener)

• Avoiding performance issues, hoping that they won't be noticed and will eventually go away
  

• Believing your customers will forget how they've been treated during this very difficult period
  

• Believing your employees will forget how they've been treated during this very difficult period

Times like these are unforgiving, as are the people who inadvertently get in the way of dumb things. So, assuming mistakes happen, we suggest the following:

• Stay close to your people, asking regularly what's working and what's not

• Listen fast, so as to identify rumors and to truly hear what's being said and how it can impact your business

• Give authority to others to solve important problems, because that's what leadership is about and, importantly, actually works to achieve process and performance improvement

• Set a goal that captures the hearts of your people, because most employees want their company to win and because emotion is a terrific motivator -- and because you probably don't have a huge bucket of money lying around to reward outstanding performance

Doing these things well, in some cases, may help counteract the impact of dumb things done by smart people. If not, a number of your people may end up like the hero from Office Space. Listen closely as he's interviewed by a couple of consultants (no relation, I assure you) looking to 'increase efficiency anyway we can'.



You think Peter's views are unique? Something only in a movie? Oh, my. Please reconsider. Or I'll be forced to add that to the list above.

Have a good week, please.