Customers, Employees and Shareholders....in that order!

There's a joke that describes the times we live in! A father called the hospital emergency line screaming that his young 5 year old son had swallowed the ball pen the father was writing with! The Doctor on the other end reassured him that help was on its way and he then asked the father what he was doing in the meanwhile to deal with the emergency - and the father said - using a pencil!

Reading about Rolls Royce's explanation for the A380 engine glitch in today's newspapers reminded me of this joke! The very first paragraph in the article (ET)says and I quote - " The London-based Group said that the incident will cause full year profit growth to be slightly lower than previous guidelines, but also added that the company's other operations will help offset any losses".

I was shocked to see no mention about the panic and alarm the engine glitch had caused to passengers and to see first, reassurances that the technical fault was receiving the full attention of every person in the company. And that passenger safety is paramount. Instead what do I see - the investors safety and interest over customers' safety and interests? Does this shock you as it shocked me?

What confusing and warped times we live in! Wall Street madness for profitability at all costs! Investors raking in more and more at the expense of customers/employees/ecology/instant short term gratification...the list goes on.

Money makes people fly off the handle!

Lack of Soft Skills, kills softly

I work with a lot of IT folks in my programmes. I wish there were more of them in my Management and Leadership programmes - and the only reason they are not there is because people in IT (at all levels) dont believe that soft skills make a lot of difference where it really matters. (By the way, Ive always wondered why we refer to them as "soft skills"! They are as "hard" as they get in terms of importance.) here's why:
I do a capsule titled "Coders to Consultants" and I always open with this slide:

“Software engineers have the mentality of designing code with one purpose in mind: to impress everybody with the sophistication and sleekness of their software. The impact it has on what the customer is looking for and on the bottom-line of the customer is almost nonexistent for them.” Eliyahu Goldratt

Lets take the example of Customer centricity as a soft skill that is so critical. My IT folks are so caught up in what they think is a brilliant solution, they almost see the "customer" as an interruption! The ability to listen to what is said and unsaid, the ability to empathize with the customer's world, understand what really is the problem before jumping into a"brilliantly architectured" solution that does not address the fundamental problem are all indications of lack of soft skills.

The ability to really "listen" to the voice of the customer - internal or external - can dramatically impact bottom lines, accelerate execution, reduce costs and improve productivity, ESAT, CSAT all the way.....and yet among IT folks given the choice of attending a "Customer Service" training programme versus an "Agile computing" programme, the technical programme wins hands down!

And therefore is it any surprise at all that:

28 percent of IT projects are delivered on time and budget
49 per cent are delivered late or over the budget
23 percent are never delivered at all

My IT folks, if you want to move from Coders to Consultants, add soft skills to your "cloud"!

New vocabulary for the flat organization

Just today I was sharing with a colleague that the "old school" vocabulary from the command and control era is no longer valid in today's flat organizational setting!People are no longer "human resources" to be exploited in a hierarchy. Superiors (guess the opposite of this word!) no longer tell "sub-ordinates" what to do."Employees" are not beholden to their "Employers"!"Staff" no longer need to be "managed".The "Boss" has retired!

Here's the new vocabulary - Human Capital! People! Talent! Strengths! What's your idea? Reverse mentoring!Do you have any feedback on my style of leadership? 360 feedback.Does the manager inspire his/her team members? Senior talent is "interviewed" by the team members who decide whether the prospective manager is the right person for them!Do you really need me in this meeting - I dont see the need tells the team member.Skip level meetings, flexible working,tell me what needs to be done and get out of the way.

Training is out. Learning is in. The more "senior" you are, the more "unlearning" to be done.

There's a new work ethic out there - respect is earned, not given. Leadership walks the talk - seniority minus capability is seen through. Information is free in a Google world. IQ is a given - EQ is the differentiator.Choice rules.

The enterprise that understands and internalizes this new vocabulary will win the battle for Talent - the only competitive advantage still available!! Welcome to Liberation Leadership.