Tag Archives: strategy

  • -
sweet spot

Sweet Spot Is An Attempt To Please Everyone

Tags : 

Do you find yourself striving for the sweet spot? That magical position somewhere near the middle of any continuum that often seems elusive?

The middle of summer is often interesting in the climate-controlled office. Some people feel hot, others feel cold, and the temperature control panel is fiddled with until the compressor on the roof freezes up. Then everyone is hot.

The dinner buffet has similar challenges. What are the food choices, what is hot, what is cold, and what will be consumed the fastest? Trying to find the sweet spot for any one particular item may feel like a big challenge.

One common theme with both of these scenarios is that more choices make it harder to find the sweet spot.

Have you ever looked at a Chinese restaurant menu? Usually lots and lots of choices.

At the drive through restaurant, more choices mean more options, and more options might make it harder to satisfy any one customer.

If you can buy a red car or a blue car only, you’ll make a choice. If there are 13 different color combinations, you’ll find it much more difficult to decide.

Is the sweet spot a good thing and how broad should options be?

Sweet Spot

It’s often counterintuitive to customer satisfaction. Pleasing every customer is perceived to mean that you must have a lot of options.

Is that why McDonalds once test marketed selling personal sized pizza? Did it stick? The pizza may have, but the concept seems to have been let go.

One thing that has stuck in most fast-food restaurants are the limited-time menu items. Something fresh, something new, or something different gets some traction.

At the same time, the limited-time, increases the likelihood of dissatisfaction. Unlike Mikey with Life cereal, some people won’t like it. Less chance of hitting the sweet spot.

Finding the sweet spot is about choice. Fewer choices keeps the continuum closer together, not so broad.

As the producer, not the consumer, the goal might be customer satisfaction.

Perhaps, the sweet spot in satisfaction gets broader when the options are fewer.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


  • -
status quo defense

Status Quo Defense, Is That Your Position?

Tags : 

Have you ever witnessed a status quo defense? Have you been a person who delivered one?

Change is happening all around you, even though the first thought is often a defensive posture.

That will never work.

We can’t do that because we don’t have the resources.

It is too expensive, we can’t pass the cost along. It will weaken our margin.

The status quo defense is common. Is it always appropriate?

Status Quo Defense

What changes are you attempting to protect against?

Is it technology?

A face-to-face is always better than a Zoom.

The newspaper, in print, is better and easier to read when compared with an online app.

Going to the movie theatre is much better than catching a movie on a digital stream.

Is change really about the risk of going backwards or is it more about the feeling of risk attached to the unknown?

All change involves emotion. There is often a gut feel, a weighing of risk, and the insecurity of the unknown.

A list of pros and cons might be helpful, but suddenly emotion and framing start to tarnish the attempt at honesty and facts.

Business meetings and strategy sessions often attempt to unveil something new. Something new means change and change often sparks a status quo defense.

You decide on what is most helpful, but quick and thoughtless reactions might leave you stuck or falling behind.

Debates create winners and losers. The other side of the coin is that without debate there may be complacency.

You’ll likely take a position.

Remaining neutral is a status quo defense.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


  • -
social metrics

Are Social Metrics Valuable or Just Hype?

Tags : 

Do you trust social metrics? Are you using social media professionally for business, is it more of a hobby, or are you just a casual observer?

When you posted the picture of your pet, did you get a lot of likes?

What about when you posted your angry customer service story, posted a political position, or a picture of your feet in the sand at the beach?

News media is famous for drama filled headlines. Readership or clickership (not a real word), often seems like the highest priority. Who is getting the most traction and how can the story be shaped to fit a popular narrative?

What are advertisers seeking and how are market segments being defined?

These questions and many more surround the analysis or value of social metrics.

Are they valuable?

Social Metrics

Social metrics claim to measure interest. They claim to gauge the likelihood of future interactions and often seem valuable to those seeking more clicks.

Does more clicks or views really matter?

There are at least to sides to the story. The first side would suggest that, yes, they absolutely matter. More viewership or readership is exactly what the social media user desires.

When the numbers are larger, advertisers and other potential stakeholders develop more interest too. There is little measurement about how scattered or how likely the same users will click or follow a similar thread.

The other side to the story is that the content creators are really skilled at one thing. They are skilled at getting more clicks.

That doesn’t mean that the clicks are meaningful or add any kind of value, often they are simply an illustration of a click.

In most circles, the value of social metrics remains questionable.

Unless your only concern is making them increase.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


  • -
relentless focus

Relentless Focus, Will It Make a Difference

Tags : 

Are you in pursuit of something special? Is it something that will make a long-term impact or is it more of a flash in the pan? Relentless focus may be the difference between a quick flash and lasting impact.

You can be a special guest at the baseball game and maybe even throw out the first pitch, but it isn’t the same as what the starting pitcher will do.

Perhaps you can whip up a pretty good Thanksgiving Day dinner, yet it probably isn’t at the same level of the gourmet chef who has spent a decade or more crafting the perfect dish.

Showing up for work each day might mean something, but it isn’t the same as diving in each and every day with a specific focus on accomplishment and impact.

Often the highest performing employees and businesses are the top achievers because of relentless pursuit.

Do you have it? Are you deploying it?

Relentless Focus

It typically doesn’t need much explanation. If you can’t see it, touch it, taste it, or otherwise experience it you probably haven’t achieved it.

Love it or hate it, Amazon, in most cases, appears to have relentless pursuit for the customer. Zappos has been known for this and so has Disney.

How do they do it?

There is a good chance that it starts with their strategic approach.

If the organization spends too much time on evaluating short-term cash, short-run individual winning, and short-run paychecks, the long-run will always come up short for the customer.

All of those things matter, cash, individual performance, and what employees get paid, but they won’t necessarily result in something delightful for the customer.

For the individual employee or the organization at large, what you focus on is what you’ll get. Sounds simple and easy.

Maybe it is time to take a deep dive and really understand more about your focus.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


  • -
strategic plan

A Strategic Plan Means You Won’t Get Lost In Tactics

Tags : 

Do you have a strategic plan? Are you really just pushing through each moment of each day by responding to situations with tactical approaches?

In the workplace, tactics sometimes become a form of organizational firefighting. Whatever the emergency is, people jump in to solve the problem.

Jumping in to solve the problem is important, it is also valuable. Does it connect to strategy?

A quick reaction might be, “Of course it does.” Yet, does it really, or is it taking away from the strategic focus?

Solving a customer problem might be considered a tactical approach that is consistent with strategy.

The strategy is, delight the customer, the tactic is, solve the problem.

However, delighting the customer should be a strategic focus that means you don’t have to resolve a breakdown in order to provide delight.

Strategic Plan

A good strategic plan includes goals and objectives. The goals and objectives are pursued relentlessly through tactics.

Tactics may need to be adjusted, but it is not as common to throw away the strategic plan and start over.

The confusion seems to set in when the focus of the why seems to get overrun by the how.

Delighting customers through never ending problem solving is not a good strategy. It is a tactic, overrun with the mechanics of how.

Tactics often become reactionary. They are thrown in motion because something unexpected popped up. In some cases, people and organizations pride themselves on tactical firefights.

The ability to be responsive and solve problems is important. In some industries, that is the service model. For everyone else, allowing tactical firefights to consume your day probably means you need to take another look at your strategy.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


  • -
urgent problems

Urgent Problems Use The Most Energy

Tags : 

Do you have some urgent problems in your workplace? Maybe you haven’t started your day yet, or maybe you’re starting your day earlier than the most and haven’t encountered any, yet?

Ask a group of managers if they ever feel like they spend most of their time fighting fires and you’ll likely have a lot of agreement in the room.

Metaphorical firefighting is a common workplace tactic. A tactic deployed day-in and day-out. The phrase, at the end of the day, has a tiring feeling associated with it for the firefighter.

There is also another type of manager. The manager who believes he or she shouldn’t really have any problems. Things should be quiet, work alone, work for yourself, think for yourself, and a lack of questions or challenges means that you’re doing a good job.

Perhaps.

Yet, most managers are in place to react to and solve problems in their immediate area of responsibility.

What type of problems seem to get the most attention?

Urgent Problems

A challenge or problem that isn’t urgent might never be fully addressed. The reason is simple. There is always something more urgent or more costly affecting the business or organization.

How do you know it is urgent? How would you prioritize it, or is it all about the squeaky wheel?

When you enter the meeting what is the small talk?

Hey, how’s it going?

What’s new?

What’s happening today?

Even meeting agenda’s often start with addressing problems. In fact, one of the biggest reasons a meeting is schedule is to tackle some problem, challenge, or to become more prepared.

It seems that most problems are labeled as urgent problems when they first emerge. After some assessment, action is taken, or tackling the problem gets delayed because of complexity or needing additional analysis.

Small fires (metaphorically) are more easily put out while larger ones may continue to rage.

It might be important to consider the use of your energy. Fighting a bunch of small ones may leave the bigger challenges festering and never being fully tackled or resolved.

You need a good strategy first. Then use tactics.

It doesn’t work so well the other way around.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


  • -
decisions

Decisions Are Stackable, Like It or Not

Tags : 

Are you making good decisions? Is every decision, every choice, a good one?

People often blame outcomes on a decision. A choice to move forward, step back, or perhaps go side to side.

Most fortunate, or unfortunate circumstances are not the result of only one good or one bad decision.

That’s because decisions are stackable.

You may be familiar with a decision tree. Perhaps a flow chart, or a graphic that helps illustrate the steps between the first and the last. Steps are stackable.

When you make a decision to enter the ice cream shop, your next decision is likely going to involve calories and sugar.

Sign up for a gym membership, and you’re probably in for buying some related footwear and clothing, then supplements.

Buy a camera and you’re going to need lenses, filters, and software to improve your images.

All of these choices and decisions are stackable.

Stackable Decisions

In the workplace or for your business, department, or team, decisions are also stackable.

It may come in the form of a good hire, or a bad one. It may be about the choice of a logo, a physical location, or the market segment you’ll focus on.

With a different twist, it could also be because you haven’t selected a logo, decided on a location, or because you’ve positioned your market approach too wide.

In some cases, you may be able to identify a single decisions that started a chain reaction. In others, it may be difficult to identify just one single choice as the culprit.

Lucky decisions or unlucky decisions are also often evaluated. The truth is, what happens next will have the most impact. Good or bad. The reason is, decisions are stackable.

You may be quick to blame a decision, yet often it is the continuous actions, behaviors, and choices that result in what you might call, the final outcome.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


  • -
best tactic

The Best Tactic Isn’t Always Repeatable

Tags : 

Do you need to hire more employees, need more revenue, or you are looking for a way to fast-track you to the top? People often listen for the best tactic or what worked elsewhere in an attempt to replicate it. It may be possible but not always probable.

When you attend the conference or the business meeting there are often discussions about best practices. One fallacy is that often people are discussing their luckiest opportunity but it is presented as a common practice.

What worked once may not always work again especially when it comes to people, mindset, and socio-economic conditions.

Getting your biggest client may have been by luck. A chance encounter, the right place at the right time. Perhaps you met at a business meeting, in a first-class seat on an airplane, or while vacationing at Disney World in Florida.

Does that mean that you should spend each day flying around the country in a first-class seat or hanging out at Disney World?

Have you considered your best tactic? When it comes to business success, personal success, or navigating through your career, what is your best tactic?

Best Tactic

Is it repeatable?

There are some people who should be advising no people. It could even be your own thinking or mindset, an attempt to help yourself but you stay stuck.

Best tactics are likely repeatable tactics. The tactic that when practiced over and over will yield favorable results.

A farmer might plant thousands of seeds, it takes special care, but it is a proven repeatable tactic.

Meeting your largest customer on an airplane can happen, but it is much more by chance than by strategy. At the same time being prepared if the opportunity arises is a good tactic.

People often underestimate the value of repetitive actions or behaviors. The habits that you prepare for and practice every day are the best indicator of what your future success might look like.

When you are giving advice, or seeking it, be cautious of the questions you ask. Be even more cautious of the answers you receive and the strategy you deploy based on the information.

A chance encounter or a lucky break may never occur exactly the same way a second time. However, the tactic of being prepared should it happen may bring you more luck.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


  • -
sharing confidence

Sharing Confidence Is a Workplace Dream

Tags : 

Or is it a reality? Sharing confidence may actually be your competitive advantage. Are you seizing that opportunity?

What you focus on is what you get. If you don’t have focus, you are focusing on nothing. What will you get? Nothing.

Spend your energy on rumors and gossip, and you’ll have more. Spend it on production, efficiency, and providing stellar services, and you’ll be making better strides.

Does confidence play a role on what you get next?

Doubts or Confidence?

When you launch the new marketing campaign, some people will have doubts.

Build something new for the customer and some people may wonder if it will hold up under pressure or last long enough to be a great value.

Someone might suggest that it can’t be done. The change is too big, too wide, and not focused enough. Someone may suggest it is ridiculous.

Savvy organizations pursue it with passion. They set up metrics, measurements, and plot it all on a timeline with specific milestones. Do they get the work done? Have they accomplished the task? Is the strategy appropriate and are the tactics effective?

The hard part really isn’t in the planning. The plan is just that, a plan. A plan brings things to life. Brick by brick or drop by drop. The build occurs or the bucket fills.

What is the hard part?

The hard part is often inspiring the confidence to get started.

Sharing Confidence

Dreaming is pretty easy, at least when compared with fulfilling the dream.

Confidence is a competitive advantage. Less time is wasted on doubts and fears and more time spent on bringing the plan to fruition.

A lack of confidence stalls projects. It may even cause them to stop, or worse, never get started.

Organizations that build confidence within the employee teams have an advantage.

While everyone else is doing the easy part, teams with confidence are focused.

Don’t waste time sharing things that are project stoppers.

Do the hard part.

Illustrate confidence and then share it.

Dreams do become reality.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


  • -
fluid approach

Does a Fluid Approach Seem Like a Good Path?

Tags : 

A plan and a goal always seem to make sense. Are your goals rigid or do you use a more fluid approach?

Are you a little bit more of a perfectionist or do you scribble outside of the lines?

Most pathways start with a vision. It is a plan, of sorts, with directions, timelines and milestones. Spoken or sometimes unspoken they are all part of the plan.

Plans are designed to work. They are expected to achieve outcomes by going through barriers, leaping hurdles, and most certainly against all odds.

Some people identify with a system, a structure, and a protocol. It might be similar to a flight plan, a rocket launch, or a thousand-mile road trip.

Not everything fits inside the plan, and that is when the plan becomes even more important. The what if’s, or what to do when, are all expected to be part of a really good plan.

Have you budgeted for fluidity? Does a fluid approach make sense?

Fluid Approach

Sometimes people call it a backup plan. Plan B is often suggested for execution will all else has failed during plan A.

Those committed to the plan are hesitant to jump off plan A and switch to plan B. They may insist that plan A has not been exhausted yet and staying the course is most important.

Leadership requires resilience in the face of adversity. Plan A or plan B, both might contain a pathway for success.

When you plan for fluid approaches, it doesn’t necessarily mean one pathway must close in order to access another. It also doesn’t mean that one is right and one is wrong.

You still have a choice with your goals.

Stalls, delays, or dead-end stops are likely not as good as study movement.

When time matters, and it nearly always does, a detour around the block, and then right back on the original trajectory is probably much better than waiting for the traffic jam to free itself.

Leadership keeps things moving and makes way for a reason or logic to embrace a shift. Belonging often means safety, security, and a sense of accomplishment.

When getting there is the objective.

A fluid approach may be your best path.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


Search This Website

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Blog (Filter) Categories

Follow me on Twitter

Assessment Services and Tools

Strategic, Competency, or Needs Assessments, DiSC Assessments, 360 Feedback, and more. Learn more