Books

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard: Chip Heath/ Dan Heath, Broadway, 2010

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 05:25:00 GMT

Brothers Chip Heath, Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor, and Dan Heath, Duke University Center for Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship senior fellow, have followed up their Made to Stick with an excellent piece on how change can occur despite the myriad of forces that oppose change. A very dramatic case study they cite is that of changing the culture of how many hours hospital interns should be allowed to work. Anyone who is related whatsoever to someone in the healthcare profession knows two things: One, interns are expected to work infinite hours because that’s the way it’s always been done. Two, getting egotistical doctors to change doesn’t happen very easily- unless they think it is their idea.

However, the Heath brothers bring out a great example about how a hospital was able to change its intern work hours from 120 hours per week (the peer-pressure expectation) to 80 hours per week (the best medical practice maximum). This study takes into account two hospitals trying to make the same change, with one succeeding and the other failing. In the study, Hospital B had 66 percent of their superiors supporting the change while only 44 percent of Hospital A’s superiors supported the change. On the surface, the odds favored Hospital B to make the change. However, Hospital B failed miserably while Hospital A successfully implemented the change. Why?

The Heath brothers eloquently state that you can’t change behavior by implementing rules (or forcing people to do reports): “Change was coming into conflict with culture, and let’s face it, a new rule is no match for a culture.” The major difference between Hospital A outperforming Hospital B with the change implementation was obviously not the numbers of superiors who embraced the change. It was not the fact that superiors embraced the change (another false assumption about change: if the boss is for it, it will happen).

The reason Hospital A succeeded over Hospital B was there was a strategy involved with making the change occur. This strategy included creating a change incubator vehicle- a dynamic gathering, exchange, and discussion forum for those involved in the change process. It allowed for those that supported the change to reinforce each other and to prepare not only for the resistance to the change – but how they would counter the resistance to change- much like a salesperson prepares for objections on a sales call. Finally, by focusing on the goal and staying the course, the change occurred.

But change can’t be some random thing. Working with Bobby Unser on Winners Are Driven (Wiley, 2003), Bobby told me that “We always had a plan for a race, which put us ahead of about two-thirds of the competition right away because they didn’t have a plan. Then the race would be won by the teams that prepared the best, executed the plan, and ultimately were the quickest at adapting to changes during the race.”

Change can’t occur by assuming the numbers are in your favor. Change can’t occur by directive. Change can’t occur for the sake of change- it can’t be random- it has to be productive. Productive change occurs when the people who want to implement the change are allowed the opportunity to do so unfettered- and supported.

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 05:22:00 GMT

Paco Underhill’s “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping” (1999, Simon and Schuster) is somewhat a misleading title because it is a business book that every business owner and executive should read. Why? It challenges the norm that numbers mean everything and that executives know what is going on in their business because- well, they are the executive.

Paco Underhill is a business consultant who studies the mundane habits of people wandering into, through, and out of a retail store. Ultimately his team observes a retail store’s “game film” for lack of a better term.

In “Why We Buy” Underhill relates the discussion he had with a multi-billion dollar, thousand-plus store retail chain executive. Underhill’s team had just completed an exhaustive study of several of the retail chain’s stores. One element of the study was to observe the “conversion rate”: What percentage of people actually bought something versus how many entered the store.

When Paco Underhill asked the executive if the executive knew his company’s “conversion” rate, the executive exclaimed, “It must be 100%. Why would anyone bother to drive to the store if they weren’t going to buy something?!” Underhill’s study team had a different number. The conversion rate was actually 48%. Even when the store managers challenged this statistic and placed their own people at the door counting people coming in versus those going out with packages. They came up with the same number as Paco Underhill’s team.

Furthermore, Underhill’s studies show that the interception rate- the number of customers who actually come in contact with a store employee during the customer’s shopping experience- is directly correlated to not only the conversion rate, but also to the average amount someone buys.

Engagement by the executive to actually see in his stores that he had a conversion rate problem and engagement by his employees with the customer during the shopping experience would improve the top-and bottom- lines of the business. Don’t be fooled by the title- Why We Buy is a good read for any business owner/ executive.

Best Laid Plans (Alan Weiss, 1990, Las Brisas)

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 03:04:00 GMT

“In working with over 300 organizations on five continents, I’ve discovered that the failure of strategies is most often- yes, most often- not the result of poorly conceived strategies but rather the result of poor implementation. Or, to be more precise, it is the result of a weak connection between the strategic vision – the “what” the organization is to become- and the implementation- the “how” of the organization’s approach to attain that vision.”

We know what to do- why can't we get things done?

Outliers: The Story of Success (Malcolm Gladwell; 1998: Little, Brown)

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 02:38:00 GMT

Here are two excerpts from pages 38 and 39 of this book- about what it takes to truly be at the top of any profession:

“The question is: is there such a thing as innate talent? The obvious answer is yes….. Achievement is talent plus preparation. The problem with this view is that the closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play……

The striking thing about Ericsson’s study is that he and his colleagues couldn’t find any “naturals”, musicians who floated effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction of the time their peers did. Nor could they find any “grinds”, people who worked harder than everyone else, yet just didn’t have what it takes to make it to the top ranks. Their research suggests that once a musician has the ability to make it to the top of music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it. And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t just work harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.”

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey, (Fireside, 1989)

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:52:00 GMT

Here is a priceless quote on management from Stephen Covey’s best-seller leadership book:

I was in a group once when someone asked, “How do you shape up lazy and incompetent employees?” One man responded, “Drop hand grenades!” Several others cheered that kind of macho management talk, that “shape up or ship out” supervision approach.

But another person in the group asked, “Who picks up the pieces?”

“No pieces.”

“Well, why don’t you do that to your customers?” the other man replied. “Just say, ‘Listen, if you’re not interested in buying, you can just ship out of this place.’”

He said, “You can’t do that to customers.”

“Well, how come you can do it to employees?”

“Because they’re in your employ.”

“I see. Are your employees devoted to you? Do the work hard? How’s the turnover?”

“Are you kidding? You can’t find good people these days. There’s too much turnover, absenteeism, moonlighting. People just don’t care anymore.”

(Page 58)

"As They See It" Bruce Weber, 2009, Scribner

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:11:00 GMT

Think about umpiring or refereeing a professional sport as it equates to management and leadership.

Author Bruce Weber put himself through Major League Umpire School, including actually umpiring a couple of spring training intra-squad games. Here is his take on what it takes to be an umpire- and maybe an effective leader (page 110 of the book):

“In the camp games I got glimpse of the umpire’s job from the inside and, from that perspective, recognized for the first time what a mass of contradictory qualities it required. Suddenly I understood how crucial it was to both relaxed and vigilant; to be both rigid enough not to shirk any responsibilities and flexible enough to adjust when a play took an unexpected turn; to know the rules backward and forward so as to be prepared for anything they cover and yet be ready to extemporize when the rulebook falls prescriptively short; to actually see and register what’s in front of you and simultaneously anticipate the immediate future; to be confident enough to hold the balance of the game in your hand and humble enough to avoid deciding it; to hold firm opinions and to keep your mouth shut; to remember baseball is just a game and to take it very seriously.”

Sounds like running a business, doesn’t it? Comments appreciated.

"Fake Work" by Peterson and Nielson

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:51:00 GMT

“Fake Work”, Brent D. Peterson, Gaylan W. Nielson; Simon Spotlight Entertainment (Simon and Schuster), 2009.

The premise of “Fake Work” is that people, managers, executives, and organizations are busier than ever, but getting nothing done. Here is a quote from “Fake Work”:

Causes of Fake Work Cultures

“Many factors help create fake-work cultures. Many corporate processes, like decision-making, change management, communication, and operations are rife with fake work. But leadership and management are the standard-bearers for fake-work cultures. Below are some common characteristics of fake-work cultures:

Autocratic leaders. Autocratic leaders have launched entire ships of fake-work cultures….
Cavalier leaders. ….When they fail to establish the environment for success and aid alignment and execution, they enable the wrong behaviors.
Unclear business and strategic plans. Writing and communicating strategic plans is worthless if employees remain clueless about strategic direction….
A lack of clear company values. Values are the navigational stars in a company….
Being removed from the customer. Cultures that don’t stay close to customer needs create fake work by guessing incorrectly about those needs…..
Short-sighted thinking…. Every other strategy becomes a victim to short-term profits….
Arrogance and complacency. Some companies don’t imagine that competition will ever catch up. Those companies are monuments to fake work because they don’t listen to their employees, their customers, and the trends in the marketplace.
A constant influx of new systems, structures, and procedures…. In an effort to improve effectiveness, companies target process change without ensuring that they are linked to the business goals…..
Old-school performance management processes. In most companies, the way they manage, review, and reward performance is totally ineffective….
Failure to train and build managers. The investment in managers and the insistence on managers of high quality and high value are minimal in too many companies.
A tendency to hire people without clear expectations tied to competencies and company goals. People are hired all the time to fill a position rather than focus on a problem or to bring a set of competencies to a role.
Fast growth without controls…. Fake work isn’t just what you are doing, sometimes it is what you are not doing….”

Perhaps some of these points hit a nerve. Your comments appreciated.

BACK TO NEWSLETTER

"Why Employees Don’t Do What They’re Supposed To Do" by Fournies

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:46:00 GMT

Why Employees Don’t Do What They’re Supposed To Do and What To Do About It, Ferdinand F. Fournies, (McGraw Hill 1999)

This book outlines 16 causes- and provides solutions- as to why employees don’t get things done for managers. The following quote is in line with being an engaged (or disengaged) executive:

We also discovered that managers had some erroneous beliefs about human behavior that were to them a logical reason for not taking corrective action. For example, when we taught managers that their verbal compliments about an employee’s good performance were a powerful influence on job performance, many managers said, “I pay them for that. Why should I thank them for it?” The answer, of course, is, “To get what you pay for.” A lot of managers believe they should not have to work at getting people to do what they are paid to do.

This belief is based on the predominant unwritten and unproven theory that if you hire the right welder, or the right Ph.D. Chemist, or the right senior accountant, the job will get done without the boss’s help. In other words, if you put the right people on the job, you will not have to manage them. If this theory were true, a lot of managers could be eliminated.; all your organization would need is a lot of good recruiters. It is really amazing that so many intelligent people believe such a ridiculous idea. That approach is not management; it is hoping for the best.

Looking at this quote and this Newsletter’s Engaged Executive article, “Gallup Poll Results”, what comments do you have?

BACK TO NEWSLETTER