follow the money

Detective shows sometimes say that they need to “follow the money” to see who is behind the crimes they are investigating. The phrase makes sense in the leadership/HR world too. Whenever people are consistently doing something different than intended, it makes sense to follow the money to see why. Chances are, somewhere along the line, they are being rewarded for the behavior.

I mentioned this a couple of months ago when a co-worker bought a car and was pestered, hounded, and bullied to give the salesperson top scores on the follow-up customer service survey. The company’s emphasis on measuring customer service and ultimate reward/punishment for the salesperson was creating behavior exactly opposite of what the survey was supposed to create. How do you explain an emphasis on customer service creating really poor customer service? Follow the money.

On a lighter example, my son participates in Tae Kwon Do. One day while they were doing light sparing, the instructor kept complementing my son’s punches and then telling him to work on his kicks more. However, the instructor was so complimentary towards my son’s punches, that it was little surprise he kept using them, even when he was supposed to be working on kicks. Why do people do something other than what we ask them to? Sometimes it’s because we ask for one behavior and reward another. Follow the money.

As a third and final example, I recently purchased a new car and ended up buying an extended warranty. I think extended warranties are generally unnecessary and a waste of money, so why did I buy it? The sales and finance managers were so insistent on selling it to me and I resisted for so long that they finally dropped the price to where it was silly to say no. What started out as being $2500 for an extended warranty to 100,000 miles, ended up being $216 for an extended warranty to 75,000 miles. I find this example interesting because: 1) the purchasing experience was pretty mellow and friendly and low-pressure except for the warranty; and 2) the price dropped by a factor of 10. How is this possible? Follow the money.

I nixed the extended warranty early on and then the sales and finance managers brought it up again near the end: “If you could get it for $X, would you do it?” No, no, and no. They tried the prudent / concerned approach: “These cars don’t break much, but when they do it’s expensive and I want you to be taken care of.” The you owe me approach: “I’ve come down on all these other things, why won’t you get the warranty?” The subtle emasculation: “It’s only $10 more dollars a month, but if it’s a matter of money, I understand…” Every “no” brought them back with a different approach and a lower price until it became almost comical.

Why? How? I’m guessing at this point, but the warranty is through a third party. I suspect the sales and finance managers get a bonus for each warranty they sell (and I suspect it’s a flat bonus, unadjusted for the price the warranty sells for). I also suspect that there is a lot of margin built into the price of the warranty so there’s room to negotiate. Finally, I suspect that the dealer ended up subsidizing the warranty. That is, I’d bet that on paper the price of the car was reduced to account for the warranty and keep the monthly payment almost the same. Again, I’m completely guessing, but if all my guesses are correct then two managers worked together to increase their income at the expense of the dealer’s profit. Counterproductive behavior, so why do it? Follow the money.

It makes me wonder how often poor behavior and performance is a nearly direct result of how we choose to praise, reward, and compensate our employees. People do what you reward them for. Are we rewarding them to do the right things?

Follow the money…

nerves of steel or just nervous?

I recently did a post on public speaking called the one skill to develop. Yesterday I was asked, “How do you not get nervous when doing a presentation?” It’s a great question that got me to thinking and I realized the answer is not what one might expect. I don’t have any tips to not be nervous because, for me, it’s all part of the process. The trick is living with it and using it to your advantage:

Nervous is normal: you are going to get nervous when doing a presentation. This is the big one. Everyone gets nervous and excited when doing something significant. Trying to not be nervous is only going to draw your attention to how nervous you are and make you even more nervous. It’s like trying to fall asleep by thinking about how much you need to fall asleep. Accept your feelings as normal and go do a great job.

Never compare yourself to how you think others are.The problem is, we look at people who are good at speaking and presenting and think that not being nervous is the way we should be. But we don’t see the practice, and fretting, and worrying. We don’t know that they felt like they were going to puke adrenalin right up until they started. We didn’t see them all jittery. We don’t even know what nervous looks like for them.

There is a very fine line between nervous and excited. Very fine. For me, the physiological response is the same – shaking hands, butterflys in the stomach, my attention span shortens, sometimes I start to sweat. I suspect that we often confuse being excited for being nervous.

Nervous does not equal failure. You’re nervous – so what? Don’t judge your presentation on how you felt. Judge it on the end results and the impact that it had on the audience.

Use your nerves to your advantage. I get nervous/excited when I’m looking forward to something, when I want to do a really good job, when there’s some consequence. There’s a ton of energy coursing through your body. Channel it and use it to put life and passion into your presentation.

Look forward to your nervousness. We’re all different. I used to race motorcycles and bicycles and developed a habit that’s served me well when speaking. No matter how nervous I was before a race, sitting on the starting line always created intense calm, focus, and confidence for me. All the internal chatter gets quiet and my whole being was laserbeamed on the first corner. I find speaking is the same for me. No matter how nervous/excited I am, experience has taught me that once I get started it all comes together. I look forward to those first moments when I stop being scattered and my brain quiets down and I get focused. Over the years, I’ve simply trained myself to look forward to those opening moments.

Experience helps. No lie. The more you do anything, the less awkward you’ll feel. You’ll never get better if you stay on the sidelines kicking yourself for getting nervous. Get out and do it.

Have fun. In a weird way, the audience will reflect your state of mind. If you relax and have fun, they will too.

 

Anyone else have some favorite tips to help deal with nervousness when giving presentations?

an open letter to the salesman who didn’t sell

Sir,

I got the sense when we were test driving a car that you felt like I was wasting your time. Admittedly, it wasn’t a car I had originally mentioned I was interested in and I was vague about my intentions to buy. Quite honestly, I didn’t intend to purchase a car that day. But I was trying to determine which car I would buy soon.

You had some choices to make:

  • Build a relationship that might pay off or only worry about making a sale in the next 15 minutes
  • Find out more about what I was looking for and why or take my initial thoughts as set in stone
  • Treat me as though you want me to refer others to you or treat me as though I’m only important if I can benefit you this second
  • Give me reason to buy from you or ammunition not to.

All these choices were yours.

I didn’t start the day thinking I was going to buy a car. Heck, I was just going to go mountain biking and maybe see what I could get for my truck if I decided to sell or trade it. That was my plan. I didn’t know I wanted to buy a car that day, but it didn’t take long for you to convince me that I wasn’t going to buy a car from you.

Here’s what you know: I was vague and non-committal. I was only there to get my truck appraised. I didn’t really want to buy a car that day. I wanted to test drive a car or two.

Here’s what you don’t know (and what you don’t know will blindside you). I had been seriously considering getting a car within a couple of weeks. After you gave me several reasons not to ever buy from you I went across town to a salesman I had talked to a month earlier about a used car. By the end of the day I ended up buying a brand new car from him that was 25% higher than the price range I had mentally set. I didn’t intend to buy, but I’m excited I did. That sale could have been yours.

It’s a shame I wasted your time. Sorry about that.

Signed,

Tirekicker

good profit // bad profit

“Do you want me to mount the spare for you?” the voice over the phone asked. He had just told me that my tire was unrepairable and the others were nearly worn out. He seemed hurt I didn’t take him up on the implied offer to buy a new set of tires. The flat tire actually just had a slow leak so it didn’t matter if we swapped out the spare or not so I said, “Sure, why not.”

I recently wrote about a used tire shop with a unique business model. Four days after buying a set of tires, I picked up a slow leak in one. Rather than driving all the way across town to the used tire place, I took it to a national chain tire store less than a block from my office. The contrast between the two businesses really highlights what some have termed “good profits” and “bad profits.”

Bad profits are profits made at the expense of the customer in a way that hurts good will, the overall customer experience, and prevents generating long-term profits from the customer. From my experience, the mobile phone industry follows a bad profits model. All the effort is made to acquire new customers with little effort being made to retain customers. Any business that focuses on fees or charging the customer more with little in return is a business focused on bad profits.

Good profits, in contrast, are profits made in a way that add value for the customer, creates good will, improves the customer experience, and increases the likelihood of long-term profits from the customer. Rather than seeking ways to charge the customer more fees, etc., a business focused on good profits is trying to find ways to serve the customer that makes them want to spend more. Apple and Zappos are regularly used as examples of businesses seeking good profits.

This national chain tire store told me my tire was unrepairable and the rest were getting thin and needed replacing. Then charged me $20 for installing the spare in place of the leaky tire – after they offered to; I did not ask. Lies, fees, and scare tactics to upsell the customer from a cheap repair to $800 worth of tires. They relented on the fee after I protested, but not ripping off the customer when they call you on it is not the same as treating the customer well.

I immediately drove over to the used tire shop where: they told me “no problem” on repairing the tire, hustled my tire through even though they were crazy busy, offered to install it on my truck for me, oh, and didn’t charge me anything for the repair because I bought the tires from them. No written agreements, no need to hassle them, no arguments, just a focus on doing right by their customers.

It’s cheaper and easier to retain customers than to find new ones. Why is this so hard to understand? Which business will I return to in the future? Which business do I refer to others? Which business do I want to support and see thrive? Which am I happy to give money to?

the work ethic that never was (kids these days)

Kids these days… No one gives an honest day’s work anymore… Not like when I was coming up in the organization… What ever happened to people’s work ethic…

You’ve heard these words before. Maybe even said them. I suspect each generation will say these words about the next generation until the sun flares out and the earth dies several billion years from now.

I was recently re-reading Elbert Hubbard’s “A Message to Garcia” and it made me consider the possibility that the work ethic isn’t dead, that it isn’t dying. Perhaps it never really was alive.

Hubbard’s short pamphlet was originally written as rather inspired filler for a magazine and created such demand that it went on sell forty million copies in 37 languages. Clearly, his message struck a chord. It’s a great short read that’s less than three pages long. I came across it here, but you can find it all over the internet.

In it, the author laments how few people are willing to go above and beyond or even do the very basics of their job reliably and without coercion. And how surprising it is when someone does a job and does it well on their own initiative. Speaking of the man who delivered a message to General Garcia without hesitation, without question, and at great hardship, he exclaims:

By the Eternal! There is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college in the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this or that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies; do the thing – “carry a message to Garcia!”

 

His frustration with the work ethic he saw displayed throughout society is clear. But it wasn’t written about the Millennials. Or Generation X. Or the Baby Boomers. It was written in 1899.

Kids these days…

the always only way?

The Objection

“But that’s the way we’ve always done it!”

Really, always?

Is that the way it was done 100 years ago? (no)

How about 50 years ago? (no)

20 years? (no)

10? (could be)

5? (possibly)

Perhaps you mean that’s the way you learned to do it because that’s the way it was being done right then? (yes)

 

The Bigger Questions

Even if it has been done that way for the past century, is it the best way now?

Just because it made perfect sense in the past, even when the past was only the day before yesterday, does it make sense now?

If you had to remove three steps from the process, which would be the least missed and the first to go?

If you were creating the process from scratch RightNowToday how would you do it?

Does it even need to be done at all?

hiring by proxy?

A huge challenge we face whenever hiring someone is that we can never have perfect information. No matter how big of a rock star a candidate was in their last position, we have no idea what the future holds or if their skills, interests, and personality will mesh with the job, co-workers, and the company. And that’s assuming that we know they were great. Most often we don’t.

What if they were a diamond in the rough in a past job, just held back by a lousy boss, poor job match, or personal issues they’ve since gotten past? What if they were so bad that their boss and co-workers give them glowing references just to get rid of them? [Yes, it happens. I even once had a team supervisor tell me that whenever they got a bad general manager, everyone would pull together and work hard to make the GM look great so the GM would get promoted and transferred. Apparently, getting a terrible boss promoted was easier than getting them fired.]

Not only will we never truly know what they were like in the past, there are few jobs where we can try them out. Sometimes we can do job simulations, but those can be tricky and still not provide good information. So, we end up using proxy measures where we measure one attribute in the hope and belief that it provides us information about another characteristic.

Assessments are proxy measures. We measure general cognitive ability in the belief that higher scores equates better performance. We assess personality because we think it gives us some sort of insight into their character and cultural fit. We test integrity hoping that there is a good enough correlation between what people say on paper and how they behave in real life. We do drug tests in the thought that if they are straight and sober today they will always be that way.

Past experiences are proxy measures. And dangerous ones because they are heavily influenced by our own biases. We give too much weight to people being just like us (because we rock, so anyone like us should too) or just like our best employees. For example, some managers want the candidates to have a college degree even if it’s unrelated to the job because of what the manager thinks attaining a degree demonstrates. Or they want someone who played high school sports because of what they think it demonstrates. Or, they want someone who comes to the interview dressed to the nines. Or, they think any employment gaps are inexcusable. Or, or, or… Yes, these might demonstrate a person’s commitment, drive, determination, ability to work with others, set and achieve goals, etc. Or it might just demonstrate that they were able to survive off their parent’s money and binge drink for four years. Or that their parents required them to play sports and they loathed every minute of it and only finished because of their parents constant pressure. Or that they are all flash and no substance. Or that they took advantage of being young and unencumbered and traveled (and are far more mature and focused because of it). Or not. It could mean lots of things and we run the risk of overemphasising it’s significance.

As philosopher Alan Watts noted, “the map is not the territory.” The measure of the attribute is not the attribute itself. Proxy measures are useful because it’s often the best that we can do, but it’s important to remember that: 1) it might be measuring something other than what we think it measures; 2) it’s easy to forget that it’s a substitute for the real thing and just an approximation; 3) it can be heavily influenced by our own biases and prejudices. In other words, a candidate who excels on the proxy measures could still be a lousy employee and the candidate who does poorly could still be a superstar waiting to be discovered.

Your thoughts?

the one skill to develop

Want a leg up professionally? Need a career boost? Become a better public speaker.

I can hear the collective response: Ohhh, ugh, groan. Not public speaking. Yawn. That’s lame. Give me career advice I can use. Maybe more school or certifications. I hate public speaking.

And that’s a big reason why it’s such a powerful skill. So many people hate and fear public speaking that even a mediocre speaker really stands out.

Why public speaking?

It’s valuable in all fields and every position I can think of. Any position that involves speaking to another human benefits from better communication.

I have met leaders from numerous countries and cultures and cannot think of a single one who wasn’t an adequate public speaker. Speaking and communication skills are crucial to being an effective leader.

Your skills get noticed much more quickly. Who does leadership remember: the talented wallflower or the talented person who speaks up, interacts, and leads discussion?

It’s (relatively) easy to learn. You’ve already been speaking to people almost your entire life.

You can use it personally and professionally. In fact, if you are involved in community, school, or church groups, you’ll find plenty of opportunities to put your public speaking skills to use.

 

Suggestions?

This is a big topic and books can and have been written on it. That said, there are a couple of things that really helped me:

1. Your audience is pulling for you. Most of the people listening hate public speaking so they empathize strongly with you. They feel your pain and want you to succeed. Unless you are a professional speaker, they are very forgiving of mistakes.

2. They don’t know what they don’t know. This was the most freeing realization for me. The audience doesn’t have a script. They aren’t verifying that you are saying what you intended to say. They will never know if you make minor mistakes or leave something out. Relax.

3. Know the central point and always speak from there. There’s two sides to this. First, when preparing, always stay focused on the central point and strip away anything that doesn’t directly support it. Second, if you get off track, don’t worry about what you had intended to say, just speak from the central point and you’ll be ok.

4. Put some heart in it. No matter how dry the topic, you can find ways to connect to the audience’s humanness. People respond to their emotions, not logic. You are speaking for a reason – to offer insights, inspire, persuade, influence – otherwise you could just send an email.

5. The audience is always asking themselves, “Why do I care about this? What’s in it for me?” so you should always be answering that as you speak.

6. Introverts can have a great advantage as speakers. Never confuse being introverted with being shy because it’s not the same thing at all. And being talkative can be counterproductive when it comes to public speaking. Introverts seem to be good as staying on track, keeping it concise, and providing great insights and analysis.

7. Good speakers work hard at it. You never see all the preparation that went into even a short presentation. That speaker who looks relaxed and glib and gives a great presentation likely spent hours preparing and practicing and worrying and sweating. Very, very few can ad lib a good presentation. Those who can are almost always relying on years of experience. Rest assured, it is completely normal to need to invest a lot of time getting ready.

Like any skill, no one is great at public speaking right from the start. It takes time and practice and patience to improve. But, it is also well worth the effort because it’s a skill that sets you apart.

how do i know what to do? priorities for success

It is possible to show up early, stay late, be busy, and work hard on all the wrong things. It’s possible to give it your booty kickin’ all on some pretty stupid things. Spend enough time and effort on the in the wrong places and you can turn the bottom line into a sieve.

So, how do you know if you’re focused on the right things? Only you know your business, goals, and priorities, but I can share some guidelines to help you sort things out.

ONLY spend time, thought, and effort on actions that are:

* Legal, moral, and ethical. This is a baseline given. If you can’t get this one right, the others don’t matter. I realize that only taking actions that are legal, moral, and ethical would shut down major chunks of entire industries, but we find over and over again that the short-term gains of taking legal or moral shortcuts are crushed out by the potential long-term consequences. Cut corners long enough and someone is going to find out and make your life absolutely miserable.

1. Beneficial to the customer experience. Take care of your customers and they’ll take care of your business. Hurt the customer and they’ll hurt your business. Be indifferent to the customer and they’ll hurt your business. My tip to all businesses: Spend your time and effort worrying about the fifth sale to me, not the first. I might buy from you once but if you make it painful or forgettable I probably won’t buy from you again and I certainly won’t recommend you. Make the process so remarkable that there is no question that I’ll be making my second, third, fourth, and fifth purchases from you.

2. Beneficial to the employee experience. Ultimately, your business lives or dies based on your employees. Treat your employees as though you need your them more than they need you. Operate from that philosophy and you’ll be fine. Treat your employees as though they are easily replaced cogs and you’ll soon have your company staffed with the people who have so few options left in their lives that they are easily replaced cogs.

3. Beneficial to the long-term success of the business. Yes, certain reports and paperwork must be done. No, you can’t buy every employee a Porsche as a signing bonus. No, you can’t operate without a balanced budget. Yes, decisions and tradeoffs and compromises must be made according to the mission and vision of the business. Just don’t confuse “convenient and short-sighted” with “long-term success.”

Anything else is box-checking bureaucracy. If you can’t justify an action under one or more of these conditions, why are you working on it? If you can’t show a direct connection between an action and a legal and ethical benefit to the customer, employee, or business, that action is doing far more harm than good. Stop it.

[Note: this is an expanded version of a response I made on Laurie Barkman’s “Passionate Performance” blog post People Say (and Do) The Darndest Things. She had a great example of a manager whose actions probably followed policy but were a stupid waste of time and hurt the employee experience (which hurts the customer experience, which hurts long-term success).]