Johnny Cash and the Necessity of Holistic Operational Design

Entrepreneurs are often fortunate to effectively deal with the recurring issues immediately in front of them. The exercises of forethought and long-term planning are luxuries in most cases. The problem comes when this condition persists for a meaningful period of time. Without taking the time to try and create a 10,000 foot view of their business, many entrepreneurs end up implementing processes meant only to serve a single purpose or solve an immediate problem. This condition is usually not intentional and it likely evolved into its current state because of one or more of the following.

  1. Business processes were built on top of each other. Like Lego pieces, the leadership kept piling up business rules, tech and resources. This happens many times as a firm starts to grow faster or the product lines become broader than originally anticipated. As these new processes and systems are added, the old ones are not dismantled or modified and this creates confusion as the old rules and new rules often contradict each other.
  2. People are added to fill narrow responsibilities- not compliment the whole. New tasks and responsibilities are regularly created in a growing company and when all the current roles are considered “maxed out,” the go-to response for many companies is to hire more people.The problem here is that we fail to look at how existing positions or responsibilities should change to create a more efficient team. Instead, the new position is assigned one core task with several ancillary low value activities to create a complete position. Repeating this cycle a few times creates a bloated and under-utilized workforce.
  3. Organizations kill their effectiveness by creating a “Strategy Du Jour.” I love working with entrepreneurial clients because they are, by their very nature, dreamers and strive to chase new opportunities every day. Unfortunately, this phenomenon may be the most value-destroying thing an owner or C-Suite leader can do. You have seen it (or done it yourself) before. Owner/ CEO/ Senior Leader calls a meeting and lays out a half-baked thought on the latest (fill in the blank) opportunity. Very little detail is communicated about how this will be implemented, what will be de-prioritized as a result or how resources should be utilized. Conversely, expectations for flawless execution are clearly conveyed. In a matter of minutes, everyone in the room now has multiple top priorities with almost no idea of how to actually pull off this new ask. It is tough to commit to a shared, all-encompassing and durable strategy but when you are constantly asking the majority of available resources to chase the latest whim, you create incredible conflict between the various priorities.

Before you realize it, the whole operation is being held together by a series of systems and processes that may have nothing to do with each other. If you think this is nuts, consider your own organization:

  • Could you ask three different people to map out how your product moves from creation through customer delivery and have all three maps resemble each other?
  • Can you point to the specific business case for each of your processes?
  • Do have at least a handful of processes that contradict each other?

Chances are, your organization experiences one or more of these every day.

One of my favorite Johnny Cash songs is “One Piece at a Time” where he describes stealing individual parts from a Cadillac assembly line over several years in order to build a whole car. Once he has all the pieces needed, he starts to put the car together.

“Now, up to now my plan went all right
‘Til we tried to put it all together one night
And that’s when we noticed that something was definitely wrong.

The transmission was a fifty three
And the motor turned out to be a seventy three
And when we tried to put in the bolts all the holes were gone.

The back end looked kinda funny too
But we put it together and when we got through
Well, that’s when we noticed that we only had one tail-fin…”

“One Piece at a Time”- Johnny Cash

Notwithstanding the obvious value of quoting Johnny Cash in any form, the song illustrates what happens when we only consider individual pieces and not the “whole” of the organization. In Johnny’s case, he got a really ugly Cadillac. In your case, you may have ended up with a really ugly operational model.

Your Customer Experience may be Killing your Company

Recently, I had some web development work I needed to complete as part of a larger product launch. Not having any resources in house, I started talking with several companies who specialized in the work I needed done. Each of the four companies I engaged was a referral from a trusted source and their work product was exceptional.

After creating a specifications document and scope of work, I scheduled and met with all four companies in person or virtually. Three of the four companies asked a few questions, agreed to get me a proposal and we ended the conversation.

The customer experience to follow was appalling.

Company A: They never called into our scheduled conference call to discuss the project scope or specifications. Ten minutes past the scheduled start time, I emailed them to ask if they were unable to make it. Three hours later I received a short email saying they had been tied up and asking if I could call them now. No apology. No explanation. Nothing.

Company B: After a productive conversation about the project, they agreed to provide a proposal within the next 4-5 days. On the 6th day, I received an email saying they were not going to be quoting the work because another big project they were waiting on called them right after our initial meeting to tell them they won the bid. They sat on this information for 5 DAYS before telling us they weren’t going to bid on the work.

Company C: These folks were probably the most comprehensive in all of our initial meetings. They asked quite a few questions and took the time to understand all the input and outputs and the relationships between them. I was quite impressed. Leaving the meeting, I was told we should expect to see a proposal in the next “few” days. Five days later I received their proposal. It was three times as expensive as the next quote and would take 4 times longer to complete than the next longest timeframe proposed.

Company D: Similarly to the B and C conversations, we had a good initial meeting but I received an actual number for the cost of the project. It was presented as a “minimum” they charged for any project. The cost was reasonable even if it was perceived as a confrontational way of approaching pricing. Ultimately, we chose this company to complete the project. We made the decision around 5:00pm on a Friday and asked if we could meet them somewhere to deliver a check so they could start work on it the following Monday. No one was at their office. After another 90 minutes of texting and emailing to see if they could agree on a spot to meet, the founder finally agreed to meet me so I could give them a check. They took on the project, delivered it on time and within budget. Their project/ account manager could not have been more professional.

Unfortunately, there was not an encore performance… Based on the initial project, we asked Company D to quote ongoing development we have in the pipeline and, again, we had a productive conversation and an agreement that a proposal would be sent in a few days.

Eleven days later, I received a text asking if I could talk with their sales guy again before he sent the proposal.

Eleven days…

During an industry meeting a few weeks later, I was discussing my experience with a friend of mine who works in a successful SAAS company and he was surprised these were the only issues I had. He then regaled me with tales of a dozen other companies committing similar or worse gaffes. Apparently, this was somewhat of a norm. It was appalling.

All of the companies we approached for this project are technically proficient and represent some of the best in web development shops. Their founders are fully engaged and they are, for the most part, growing their business at a more than respectable pace. However, it was clear that each of them lacked any real focus on creating a strong customer experience. No matter how good a company’s product or service, the customer must have a great experience buying and working with them. Here are a couple of things to consider when looking at the customer experience you have created.

  1. Communication: What are your expectations for communicating with a customer? How fast should an email or voicemail be returned? What happens when a deadline is going to be missed? Who takes responsibility for deliverables that aren’t met? Does everyone know what these expectations are?
  2. Reliability: Nothing makes me want to fire a vendor or partner faster than flakiness. Do what you say you are going to do. Meet deadlines. Satisfy expectations. Be accountable.
  3. Take their Money: Never, ever make it difficult for someone to give you money. Blow up any obstacles in the way of their money making it into your bank accounts.
  4. Know your Market: Don’t send proposals with pricing that is completely out of whack with your market and potential customer base. Not only will you not be seriously considered, you also wasted a lot of time putting it together.
  5. Communicate Bad News Fast: Company B knew they weren’t going to be able to take on my project 10 minutes after our first meeting but didn’t communicate that with us until 6 days later. Bad news is bad news but dragging your feet in communicating with a client only makes it worse. They wasted our time and time is a precious commodity.
  6. Integrity: None of the companies we spoke with appeared to do anything that wasn’t completely above board but it is worth mentioning here that this is fundamentally important. Great reputations take a lifetime to build but only a moment to destroy.

If you are debating the merits of this list or why you should spend time worrying about how your customers feel about working with you, consider that the development we are exploring represents about $250k worth of work at the current billable rate. Three of the four companies we spoke to will never have another opportunity to bid on that work simply because their initial delivery and behaviors were so poor.

Every company can audit their own experience using a myriad of processes and hire external firms to do it for theme. Since I work with a lot of startups and entrepreneurs, I might suggest a couple of simple actions.

  1. Ask three different people in your org who are responsible for customer deliverables what happens when a deadline is missed. If you get three different answers, you have a problem.
  2. Have a friend or colleague mystery shop your company. Have them fill out a web form or send an unsolicited email and ask them how long each step took and what they thought of their experience. Choose someone you know will be honest with you and let them provide a critique.
  3. Talk to your customers and ask them what they think. This doesn’t have to be overly formal- just a conversation. If you can talk to customers who fired you, do it. They can offer incredibly valuable feedback.

Lastly, don’t be scared and don’t let your ego get in the way. Ask your people and yourself some hard questions. Your product may be the absolute best but if your customers are having a dismal experience working with you, the product can’t carry you forever.

3 ways to keep from killing yourself in your next meeting

Company meetings are the butt of many jokes and a central theme of the Dilbert comic strip. In most cases, the common business practice of meetings deserves this place in our collective satire. But they don’t have to.

Here are three things that can immediately shorten meetings and improve productivity within those meetings.

1. Have an Agenda

I know this seems obvious but I am routinely surprised by how often I participate in meetings that are carrying the burden of 12 or more people’s salaries, productivity and untold opportunity costs without an actual agenda. An agenda that keeps the group on task is a must. Recurring agenda items can be a great way to set expectations around subsequent meetings which helps to shorten meetings while covering the same information. If people know what to expect, they will be more prepared and the detail provided will be of much higher quality.

2. Limit the Participants

Does every member of the marketing department need to be there or can the Director share the relevant information to their team members later? Peoples’ time is expensive and unless each participant is actively contributing in a meaningful and truly unique way, they may not need to be there. If you are inviting people strictly so their ego isn’t hurt by being “left out,” it’s time to have a conversation with those folks about where they are placing their value on your organizations’ activities. Having them sit in meetings as human paper weights is not a good way to avoid that conversation.

3. Distribute Materials Ahead of Time

If you have a room full of people looking at a spreadsheet together for the first time, you just created the adult version of story time. Distribute any data or information 24 hours in advance and hold people accountable for being prepared to discuss the data. Not only can you shorten the length of the meeting, you can also increase the quality of the discussion as questions are raised, assumptions challenged or strategies debated.

This, of course, is not a complete list but they are the most common mistakes I have experienced and also the easiest to rectify. If your organization is willing to adapt these rules as standard practice, you may not reduce the number of meetings you have but you will spend less time in them and accomplish more in that time.

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