In research, marketing, and leadership, the quality of your outcomes is often a direct reflection of the quality of your questions. This might sound simple. But we’ve found it’s one of the most overlooked and transformational ideas in how organizations …
The Curiosity Effect: Why Better Questions Build Better Work Read more →
According to Livingston (2003), high expectations translate into superior performance. Again, the expectations have to be realistic. We should note that our team has a reputation for being innovative and game-changing. Our expectations for our work are higher and more …
Mistakes happen every day in organizational life. The question is what to do with mistakes and those who make them. Classic business theory suggests corrective disciplinary action, retraining or dismissal, and a formal write-up in the personnel file are tools …
What gets measured gets managed. If you are looking at your goals, your KPI‘s, and your micro measures, then you will be able to manage when those numbers aren’t aligned with what you were expecting. If you are not looking …
We are staunch proponents of the *Customer Delight Principle* (Vavra and Keniningham, 2001) and preach empowering team members to delight their clients in terms of both high-quality products and services. The *Customer Delight Principle* (CDP) means exceeding, not merely meeting, …
How to treat clients exceptionally and delight them Read more →
All customers care about impact over activities. Activities are all the little things that you do all day that help a customer’s business grow, or your own business grow. (And remember: everyone in the organization has a customer who only …
Does your customer care more about impact rather than activities? Read more →
“Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” This is a motto of the Navy SEALs, it is one of our philosophies for making processes more efficient, and it is a personal mantra for how we are trying to build our …
Be Smooth, as the Navy SEALS (and Patti & Jack) say Read more →
Everyone in an organization should have a customer. The direct recipient of each person’s products or services across the whole organization to the final customer becomes that customer. The final customer may be obscured by organizational roles, as many will …