Your success with building a change and adaptability culture in your business depends not only on coming up with great ideas and making them happen but also on establishing the culture with employees. No business attribute is more important today as that of an adaptability culture, as many, many businesses are on the brink of irrelevance … unless they change as fast as change itself. You need to have and try many creative business ideas as often as possible … take to heart what Peter Drucker had to say in the quote shown above. That is why this needs to be a part of the culture of your business.
It’s also important to recognize that culture comes from the people—it is the people. Think about the individuals within your organization—what are their personalities like? Who are they outside of work? What tickles their fancy? All of these things lend to the culture of your organization, and ultimately your products
We live in a business world accelerating at a dizzying speed and teeming with ruthless competition. As most of the tangible advantages of the past have become commoditized, creativity has become the currency of success. A 2010 study of 1,500 CEOs indicated that leaders rank creativity as the No. 1 leadership attribute needed for prosperity. It’s the one thing that can’t be outsourced; the one thing that’s the lifeblood of sustainable competitive advantage.
Unfortunately, most companies fail to unleash their most valuable resources: human creativity, imagination, and original thinking. They lack a systematic approach to building a culture of innovation and then wonder why they keep getting beaten to the punch.
Creative change and adaptability could become the main strengths of your company and the pillars of its long term growth and success.
Here are some useful tips on how to help move toward a change and adaptability culture in your business:
Encourage curious, imaginative minds
We are big believers in change and adaptation. They contribute heavily to creative minds. We’re first curious about something, and it’s that curiosity that drives us to create new ideas. Try to think of inventors who created something without first being curious or imaginative. Difficult isn’t it?
Your employees should feel like members of one big family. They are the biggest assets of your business.
Creativity doesn’t often happen in a vacuum. As the author Steve Johnson says, chance favors the connected minds. When people are together, talking, laughing, thinking, exploring — they’re going to throw out ideas. These ideas trigger something in someone else’s mind, and it snowballs. Before long, this group of folks has developed a creative change that wouldn’t have been possible without the collective collaboration.
Don’t fall prey to the myth that only some people are adaptable and you’re not one of the chosen few. We are all adaptable; it’s just a matter of figuring out in what way. So find things you’re curious about and that are interesting to you, use your imagination a little, stay motivated and work at it, and surround yourself with others who are doing the same.
Foster adaptability
Creativity drives change and adaptability and can be taught. There are many courses that teach people different creative techniques. Give your employees the opportunity to acquire skills that will help them become more productive and proficient in what they are doing.
Encourage new ideas to flourish
People should be encouraged and inspired to openly and freely share ideas for change. There should be no censorship in the creative process and in ideas for change. Welcome everyone to contribute with their ideas for improving, from the couriers and drivers to the top managers.
Ziba, a top innovation-consulting firm in Portland, has an “Ambassador Program,” which allows employees to spend three months working in other disciplines, known as “tribes.” During that time, the ambassador team member participates as part of those teams.
This helps to create an understanding of another world. That diversity of thought and perspective, in turn, fuels connection and adaptability. It also translates to better business results.
Diversity in all its shapes, colors, and flavors helps build a culture of change. Diversity of people and thought; diversity of work experiences, religions, nationalities, hobbies, political beliefs, races, sexual preference, age, musical tastes, and even favorite sports teams. The more diversity the better.
Encourage Autonomy
We all prefer control over our environments. According to a 2008 study by Harvard University, there is a direct correlation between people who have the ability to call their own shots and the value of their change and adaptability. An employee who has to run every tiny detail by her boss for approval will quickly become numb to the environment of change.
Granting autonomy involves extending trust. By definition, your team may make decisions you would have made differently. The key is to provide a clear message of what results you are looking for or what problem you want the team to solve. From there, you need to extend trust and let them do their best work.
Start small
ITW is a diversified manufacturing company that produces a wide array of products from industrial packaging to power systems and electronics to food equipment to construction products. It is a highly profitable company nearly 100 years old. Yet this big, old company, which is nestled in a traditional industry, thinks small.
The leaders at ITW believe that being nimble, hungry, and entrepreneurial are the ingredients for business success. As a result, any time a business unit reaches $200 million in revenue, the division “mutates” into two $100 million units.
Like an amoeba, the unit subdivides so it stays hungry and nimble. The company would rather have 10 independently run and innovative $100 million units than a single, bureaucratic, and clunky $1 billion unit. Guess what? It’s a great environment of change and adaptation.
Companies that can stay more curious and nimble, have a better ability to change and adapt more easily. They have a stronger sense of urgency and are not afraid to embrace change. They put their curiosity, imagination, and creativity to work
Motivate by sharing
Most of the time, you’ve got to want to be adaptable. You’ve got to work at the change to be able to change.
But every once in a while someone will walk into my office, look around at the walls and ask how I came up with some of the ideas. Or we’ll be in a meeting and something will click for me as I’m scribbling in my little black notebook.
What most people don’t know is that I actually work on it. Yes and I actually practice. I think people think you’ve either got it or you don’t, but I think everyone adapts in their own way.
So I started doing things to challenge myself to change. Sometimes they were business-related. Other times they weren’t. And now I have an arsenal of things that I do on a regular basis to stretch my mind. It’s trying to make creative thinking and practice a consistent habit.
Passion starts with leaders
Believe in what you preach. Give yourself 100% to the cause. Be honest if you want to be accepted. Lead by providing the example. Do not just lead – inspire!
With a team full of passion, you can accomplish just about anything. Without it, your employees become mere clock-punching automatons.
Celebrate even small successes
Social norms in any culture are established by what is celebrated and what is punished. Consider more narrowly how they function within an institution. Nearly every business’s mission statement includes words about “innovation,” yet risk-taking and change are often punished instead of rewarded.
Rewards come in many forms, and often the monetary ones are the least important.
Celebrating change and adaptation is not only about handing out bonus checks for great ideas—although that is a good start. It should also be celebrated with praise (both public and private), career opportunities, and perks.
In short, if you want your team to be creative, you need to establish an environment that celebrating their successes.
Foster risk-taking
Zappos as a company is known as much for its culture as for its innovative business model. The company has built a business that is growing rapidly by allowing individuals the freedom to take creative risks without that overwhelming sense of fear or judgment.
They tell their employees to say what you think, even if it is controversial. Make tough decisions without agonizing excessively. Take smart risks. Question actions inconsistent with our values.
Another interesting example: A software company in Boston gives each team member two “corporate get-out-of-jail-free” cards each year. The cards allow the holder to take risks and suffer no repercussions for mistakes associated with them.
At annual reviews, leaders question their team members if the cards are not used. It is a great way to encourage risk-taking and experimentation. Think this company comes up with amazing ideas? Absolutely.
Foster a change climate
Always look for alternatives, improvements, and non-standard ways of solving problems. Many of ideas that your team will come up with will be unfit, some of them will be excellent and a few will be brilliant.
Sometimes one brilliant idea is all it takes to make huge business success.
Readily accept mistakes and failure
There is no success without failure. Ask any successful person and they will confirm that they have failed in life but that their failures made them stronger and even more determined to go on. It is perfectly OK to fail as long as we learn from our own mistakes. Your employees should not fear failure because it will kill their desire to create new and unusual ideas.
In many companies, people are so afraid of making mistakes that they don’t pursue their dreams. The simply follow the rules and keep their heads down, which drives nothing but mediocrity.
James Dyson, the inventor of the Dyson Vacuum cleaner, “failed” at more than 5,100 prototypes before getting it just right. In fact, nearly every breakthrough innovation in history came after countless setbacks, mistakes, and “failures.”
The great innovators and achievers weren’t necessarily smarter or inherently more talented. They simply released their fear of failure and kept trying. They didn’t let setbacks or misfires extinguish their curiosity, imagination, and ability to change.
Failing means taking risks and increasing the rate of experimentation… and exploring. Some bets will pay off; some will fail. The key is to fail quickly. The speed of business has increased dramatically and every minute counts. The best businesses try lots of ideas and let the losers go quickly and with no remorse.
As you can see, some of these ideas do not take much time and money to implement. Start from small and transform your company step by step. Creating a change and adaptation culture is a process that takes time, but as the first creative ideas become reality, and the first results show up, both you and your employees will appreciate the positive effects.
The bottom line
No one has all the answers. A company where only management makes decisions is a surefire way to send A and B players away to other companies. As some companies get bigger, they tend to limit employee freedom.
The employees are less and less involved in key decisions and their impact on the business is drowned out. It becomes a part of the culture. Employees go to work, do what they’re told, and just help someone else achieve their dream. The worker’s impact on the business is minimal and they become “just another employee at just another company.” And for some people, it’s all they want: go into work, take orders, do the job, and wait for the clock to hit 5:00 P.M.
But this is not what the best employees want.
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of collaborative innovation. And put it to good use in adapting to changes in your business environment.
It’s up to you to keep improving your learning and experience with adaptability, change, innovation and creativity efforts. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy continually improving your continuous learning?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
More reading on learning from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
The Nine Most Valuable Secrets of Writing Effective Copy
We took some liberties from the original Peter Drucker quote by adding the word repeat. Repeat customers. That is what business is all about, right? If we had to depend on new customers for 100% of building repeat customers of our business, it really would get hard. Really hard.
Customer loyalty is a hard job. And getting harder all the time.
We all know that providing exceptional customer service is the stated goal of every business leader, regardless of how large or small the company. It’s common knowledge that customers are more loyal to companies who treat them as more than just a number.
For a long time, marketing was driven by taglines—short, evocative slogans that captured the essence of a brand’s message. Nike encouraged us to “Just Do It,” while Apple inspired us to “Think Different.” Miller Lite simply had to say, “Tastes great, less filling” and the product flew off the shelves.
Taglines worked because they cut through the clutter and stood out in a sea of brands vying for our attention. Marketers needed to project images that were compact, but meaningful or risk getting lost in the mix. Yet it is no longer enough to merely grab attention. Marketers now need to hold attention.
Galileo once said that “All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” Great marketers uncover those obvious, but unexpected truths to win consumer’s hearts and sell products.
So what does it take to turn first-time buyers into repeat customers? Consider these 10 tips we frequently use with our clients to keep their customers coming back. They form the enablers of customer retention strategies we build.
Be accountable
Don’t pass the buck. One of the most aggravating things a customer faces where customer care is concerned is being passed around like an old hat that no one wants.
Impeccable service ensures that every company employee, regardless of rank, handles customers to the fullest extent of their abilities.
Never refer a customer to someone else simply because you don’t know how to handle his problem. Instead, take the time to help him fix the problem, if possible.
Or at the least, if you must refer a customer, find someone who can resolve their issue and provide a warm hand-off. Ensuring your customer achieves a desirable outcome will help you create a customer for life.
Provide solutions
Be innovative. Once you understand the customer’s problem, offer a solution. Refrain from telling the customer what you can’t do. Instead, focus on what you can do to remedy her situation, and offer some options.
Working to solve your customer’s problem — even if not to the extent she may have hoped — will help her feel as if you care about her and her business.
A solution-focused attitude will keep customers coming back even after they’ve faced a problem with your company.
Personalize your service
Be genuine. When a customer calls with a complaint or a concern, make the time to treat them like an individual. And ensure your employees do, too. While calling a customer ma’am or sir is respectful, it doesn’t offer a personal touch.
Replying, “Yes sir, I understand,” is polite. And polite is good! But adding the customer’s name, as in “Yes Mr. Jones, I understand,” is so much better!
Using a customer’s name whenever possible helps her see you are truly engaged in serving her, regardless of the problems she’s brought to your attention. And it helps her realize she’s more important to your company than her checkbook.
New ideas
Come up with new ideas for customers. You have experience and knowledge. You know what’s happening in your industry and your customer’s needs. Make a serious effort to share your thoughts with customers.
Our job as marketers is to do the hard work of finding and nurturing charismatic ideas we can be proud of. One place to start is to look at the ideas you’re trying to spread.
Consider whether they’re charismatic enough to earn the effort you’re putting into them–and if not, how to replace them with ideas that are.
Customer feedback
Seek customer feedback early and respond quickly. Follow up the first sale with some form of customer
contact soon after delivery. Try to pinpoint any problems immediately. Satisfied customers want a positive response when they run into problems or have serious questions.
Be empathetic
Listen, acknowledge, validate & apologize. Listen to your customers. Sometimes people really do just need to vent, and rarely should a complaint be taken personally.
Learn to acknowledge the customer’s issue, and train employees to do the same. It helps your customers to know that someone understands their concerns.
Let them know you understand the way they are feeling and apologize even if you don’t feel you need to. A sincere apology works wonders in creating happy, loyal customers. It confirms your willingness to take responsibility for their problems.
Be responsive
Prospects expect a quick reaction to a request or a problem. They also expect your employees to try to make sure that problems don’t occur in the first place. Once prospects are convinced they can rely on the responsiveness of the staff, there’s a good possibility they will become repeat customers.
If you make a mistake, admit it right away. Don’t try to place blame or cover it up with excuses. The customer knows what’s going on and will be looking for your reaction. Once you admit the mistake, start talking about solutions.
Be trustworthy
Never make impossible promises. Often, in an effort to appease a customer, an employee or company leader will make promises that are not only impractical but which he or she is simply not able to honor.
Instead, offer a realistic, workable solution that will allow you to rebuild your customer relationship and provide some satisfaction. It’s not necessary to “give away the store.” Just meet the situation realistically and your customer will appreciate the effort.
Be reliable
The ability to provide what’s promised dependably and accurately is listed as the No. 1 requirement for first-time buyers. They have no patience for employees who over-promise, don’t meet expectations or fail to inform them of possible problems.
Don’t spend months pursuing a new customer but fail to ensure that initial orders are fulfilled in a satisfactory manner.
Be the expert
They expect salespeople to have the knowledge and the expertise to meet all of their requirements. Prospects want to be convinced that you and your company have the knowledge to solve their current and future problems.
Their first order is a trial. How you handle it will go a long way in determining whether they will become repeat customers.
Take nothing for granted
Don’t take any customer’s loyalty for granted. It is a fragile trust. The key to customer loyalty is not just by providing a quality service or product, but how you service and support it. Meeting customer expectations in a first sale may not be enough. First-time buyers want to know you care. For loyalty to endure, it must be noticed and acknowledged over the long term.
The bottom line
Creating repeat customers is not rocket science. It is no more complicated than giving your customers what they want. Follow these tips well and you will have them lined up. You will have made you and your business indispensable.
Think and rethink.
Do you have experience with creating repeat customers to share with this community?
Read more from Digital Spark Marketing’s blog library:
8 Popular Social Media Initiatives for
Customer Engagement
Social Commerce Business … What Ben and
Jerry’s Knows That You Should Know
12 Ways to Build Social Commerce
Business through Great Customer Service
The secret to problem-solving, creativity, and idea generation is curiosity. You generate lots of ideas to find the best of the best. Using convergent thinking idea generation techniques you start by asking lots of questions. By being curious. By thinking widely and not discarding ideas too soon. By convergent thinking.
Idea generation.
It’s not that they can’t find the solution. They can’t find the problem.
We often forget to encourage our employees to be curious. An employee who has no perceived customer skills, or ability to communicate well or the inability to be a good team player gets immediate and escalating attention.
The employee with no curiosity, on the other hand, is no problem at all. Lumps are easily managed.
The same thing is true for following instructions. We usually like employees who don’t ask a lot of questions, and not question the status quo.
Yet, without the question “why?” there can be no here’s how to make it better.
Idea generation techniques.
So we want to share a story to illustrate the value of why you need to ask why.
We are always on the lookout for good stories. Stories to illustrate points we are emphasizing. So we read a lot. Today’s story is about generating ideas. Ideas from convergent thinking.
The story is about why you should ask why. It comes from Ideas Champions. A consulting company like us (but bigger and more well-known), who specialize in creativity, innovation, team building, and leadership. All favorite topics of ours. So we keep up with this team.
The story is about a big problem with one of our favorite monuments – the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC.
Simply put, birds — in huge numbers — were pooping all over it, which made visiting the place a very unpleasant experience.
Attempts to remedy the situation caused even bigger problems since the harsh cleaning detergents being used were damaging the memorial.
Fortunately, some of the National Parks managers assigned to the case began asking WHY — as in “Why was the Jefferson Memorial so much more of a target for birds than any of the other memorials?”
A little bit of investigation revealed the following:
The birds were attracted to the Jefferson Memorial because of the abundance of spiders — a gourmet treat for birds.
The spiders were attracted to the Memorial because of the abundance of midges (insects) that were nesting there.
And the midges were attracted to the Memorial because of the light.
Midges, it turns out, like to procreate in places where the light is just so — and because the lights were turned on, at the Jefferson Memorial, one hour before dark, it created the kind of mood lighting that midges went crazy for.
So there you have it: The midges were attracted to the light. The spiders were attracted to the midges. The birds were attracted to the spiders. And the National Parks workers, though not necessarily attracted to the bird poop, were attracted to getting paid — so they spent a lot of their time (and taxpayer money) cleaning the Memorial.
How did the situation resolve? Very simply.
After reviewing the curious chain of events that led up to the problem, the decision was made to wait until dark before turning the lights on at the Jefferson Memorial. About as simple a solution as you could get. Right?
That one-hour delay was enough to ruin the mood lighting for the midges, who then decided to have midge sex somewhere else.
No midges, no spiders. No spiders, no birds. No birds, no poop. No poop, no need to clean the Jefferson Memorial so often. Case closed.
Now, consider what “solutions” might have been forthcoming if those curious National Parks managers did not stop and ask WHY:
Hire more workers to clean the Memorial
Ask existing workers to work overtime
Experiment with different kinds of cleaning materials
Put bird poison all around the memorial
Hire hunters to shoot the birds
Encase the entire Jefferson Memorial in Plexiglas
Move the Memorial to another part of Washington
Close the site to the general public
Technically speaking, each of the above “solutions” was a possible approach — but at great cost, inconvenience, and with questionable results. Not great solutions.
Idea generation techniques … key takeaways
Now, think about YOUR business… YOUR life.
What problems are you facing that could be approached differently simply by asking WHY…. and then WHY again… and then WHY again … until you get to the real definition of the problem?
If you don’t, you may just end up not correctly defining the problem. Not good. Nothing worse than solving the wrong problem. So put in enough time in understanding and defining your problem. Don’t leap to problem-solving before you do. Lots of whys help us explore and thoroughly define the problem.
If you are looking for additional resources for innovation, one of my favorite experts is Tim Kastelle. You’ll find lots of good stories and examples tolearn from his blog.
Remember to practice these problem-solving skills as well as asking lots of why questions to form new ideas.
Do you have problem-solving, creative learning experiences that are good at generating ideas? A story you would like to share?
Need some help in capturing more improvements for your staff ’s teamwork, collaboration, and learning? Creative ideas in running or facilitating a teamwork or continuous learning workshop?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy continually improving your continuous learning?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on customer service from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Stunning Customer Service Lessons and Their Examples
10 Guarantees of Poor Customer Service
How to Build Trust to Keep Customers Returning
Best Buy Lessons in Customer Service
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
