Social Media Is Changing Us!

Social media has changed the way that we interact and the way the world interacts.  From a business perspective, it is impossible to separate social media from business.  Word of mouth is now WORLD of mouth.  One bad customer experience used to be told to up to 10 people. It is now shared with more than 1000, and usually within 10 minutes of the experience via Twitter mobile or facebook mobile, or some other mobile social networking application.  Check out this video to see how this phenomenon has changed us!

I love this IBM commercial.  I think it depicts a lot of the philosphy of people wanting to simply throw money at problems instead of fixing what is wrong.  MuRF has always looked at problems as things that have rational solutions.  Every complex problem has a simple, easy to understand, wrong answer, and a complex systematic right answer.  We will help you get to the right answer!

 

Without vision, the people will perish...

Helen Keller once said "It is a terrible thing to see and yet have no vision." As someone who had no physical sight, I can only imaging how challenging the world must have been. Yet, she realized that it is not our physical sight, but the vision for our lives that truly counts. She had a vision to be, do, and have more than the world would normally allow for someone with her challenges.

Within companies, it is equally sad to see leaders who have no real vision. An example of a bad vision is... It is our vision to be the best in our field by the end of the year. No, that is a hope, not a vision. While some people can be excited about the organization being the best, it takes something that can truly inspire people to get them to want to follow the vision. An inspiring vision might be to witness a world that is cancer free, or to see a world where every child is born with the opportunity to learn, or build families where domestic violence does not exist. You have to keep in mind that not everyone will buy into your vision. People need to know how they will benefit from the vision, not just how the managers will get bonuses if the vision is fulfilled.

The following are 3 keys to an effective vision for your organization or for your life...

1. It must be believable. It starts with you as the leader. If you don't believe 100% in the vision, then you will not pass it on to your people. If they don't believe 100% in the vision, then they will not pass it on. In order for something to be believable all the way down the line, it cannot be about your profit, bottom line, sales increase, etc. It has to be something that stimulates the intrinsic (internal) side of motivation.

2. It must be challenging. If it were easy, everyone would do it. You need to make it tough enough for people to see that it cannot be done alone. It also needs to create enough of a challenge that you can sit around drinking coffee and playing the Mission Impossible theme song after you do attain it because you just did what nobody outside of your team thought was possible. Curing cancer is not easy! It is a challenge! You must turn a profit in business to stay in business, but that cannot and will not inspire others to perform. Make it something that people can see mentally. A concrete company might be "laying the foundation for a better future." A flower company might be "opening hearts to love." Their vision might be to help relationships to bloom through the love shown in flowers. Their overarching objective with that vision might be to reduce divorce rates by 10% per year until there is not more divorce in their area. Your catch phrase, vision statement, and purpose statement must all flow together and be tough enough that it requires your whole team and then some to accomplish it.

3. It must gel people together. Many companies create a rallying cry during tough times. They remember the Alamo, or the crash of '88, or great management turnover of 2001. Whatever it is that they lived through, they remember how tough it was. Tough times are actually the easiest way to gel people together. They unite to overthrow a common enemy. You don't actually have to wait for that down time to gel though. The truth is that a rallying cry can be created in good times just as effectively as in bad times. What is it about your organization that can be a common theme (not money) that can pull everyone from the Janitor to the CEO together. Ford - Quality is Job 1. That is what Dr. Edwards Deming used with Ford Motor Company to turn them around and make them into the powerhouse that they are now. It worked! Ford - our CEO needs a bonus just didn't have the same ring to it. (snicker snicker).

If you will remember those principles, you can have a great vision. It is often helpful to use an outside facilitator to help create the RIGHT vision for your organization. Someone who can view your organization from 30,000 with only one objective - cast a vision that the people will follow.

If you would like to learn more about vision at work or have specific questions, feel free to post. You can also email me at: jody@murfsystems.com

To your success!


Jody Holland

Good Decision Making Research Results...

Good decision making is no simple matter.  The composition of the group and the processes followed can have a great impact upon the outcome from such activity.
The McKinsey group has released the results of its most recent global survey of over 2000 corporate executives on their decision making processes and outcomes. This included questions pertaining to:

The results of the survey highlighted the benefits of decision making disciplines, ensuring the right people are included and adopting organizational-wide approaches to risk and outcome analysis. It also highlighted flaws in strategic decision making, especially around the impact of irrational thinking on corporate planning. MuRF Systems researchers are currently exploring the components of a selection tool for decision making groups to improve the outcome of such groups.

Based upon the research of the MuRF Systems industrial psychologists, group process steps strongly associated with good outcomes include:

Including people with the right skills and experience in decision making
Clearly defining decision criteria
Making decision on facts, not personal assumptions
Managing contributing politics, such as some consensus and alliance building

More than 75% of investment decisions were aimed at revenue growth rather than cost savings and just over half [57%] of decisions related to human resources were aimed to improve efficiency or productivity:

Most decisions were driven by the executive team, most of these outside the annual planning process.  While the McKinsey survey showed that overall, outcomes for decisions were good, it also supported other findings that execution is too often overlooked when making decisions, with operations executives only being consulted in less than one third of the most financially unsuccessful decisions. Decision outcomes were assessed in terms of met or exceeded executives’ expectations for revenue growth and cost savings, speed, implementation cost, and gains in market share or efficiency. The expected payback period of decisions was less than 2 years.

Successful decision outcomes result from:

The MuRF Systems Research found some common decision making mistakes such as:

The same research identified some good decision making principles worth noting:

Analysis...

Implementation

A concise analysis and understanding of what constitutes:

Politics

Encouragement of participation on the basis of individuals’ skills or experiences
Reliance upon transparent approval criteria for the decision
Having an understanding of how the decision will impact the whole organization allows for relationship and alliance building ahead of implementation, positively impacting the success of both the speed of implementation and the outcome.

One interesting paradox emerging from the both the McKinsey survey and the MuRF Systems research was that the most successful and the most unsuccessful projects were those where the CEO was highly involved. Certainly, the CEO has a major impact in managing the internal politics of a program and ensuring that impact and risk are assessed at organizational levels, not departmental. This ensures that departmental goals remain aligned with the overarching organizational goals.

The research and the McKinsey survey revealed the error in relying on decision makers using rational thinking even when highly strategic outcomes were at stake. Irrational thinking adversely impacts both individual decisions and corporate strategic planning.

The survey and research support the premise that in spite of the perception held by executives that they alone are capable of solid, rational decision making, it is merely a perception, not the reality. The time in which executives today are pressured to make decisions fails to provide sufficient time for human driven collaboration and analysis.

The use of business intelligence tools such those developed and in development at MuRF Systems is critical if this vital part of the decision making process is executed well. MuRF Systems tools and training also help ensure that decisions are tied to high level strategic goals and how the decision may impact them.