Why even bother to think about strategy?

Tags

Goals, Seth Godin, Strategy, Tactic

I am a big fan of planning and the approach Seth God advocates. This is an concise overview of an effective approach.

“There’s confusion between tactics and strategy. It’s easy to get tied up in semantic knots as you work to figure out the distinction. It’s worth it, though, because strategy can save you when tactics fail.

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Donor Experience Scoreboard and Dashboards

Tags

Dashboard, Goal, KPI, Scoreboard, Strategy

Donor experience scoreboards help you establish if you are winning or not. When you have clear goals (lagging indicators) and strategies (leading indicators), scoreboards and dashboards let the players (not the coaches) easily know where they are. Winning or losing. What down is it? Where on the field are we? How much time is left? The data isn’t complicated. It is easily read and easily interpreted.

Start with your donor experience leading indicators as the KPI’s for scoreboards. It is easy to get distracted with dashboards. They are easy to create and we have plenty of data. We actually have too much data. Much of it is interesting but useless. It may tell us the score but it won’t tell us what yard the ball is on. Great dashboards focus on leading indicators. They are easy to read and predict great outcomes. If they don’t, get some new ones.

Begin measuring what you can today. It is way too easy to develop very complicated dashboards. We may think we don’t have the right data and need to wait until we can measure it at some distant point in the future. By beginning to measure what we can today, we will start down the road to knowing if we are on track or not.

Encourage speed and agility in measuring sooner rather than later. Speed is important. Simplicity rules the day. Complexity in dashboarding kills the spirit. Let’s build it now should be the mantra. The digital executive who is focused on the donor experience will be impatient in this area. We need to move now and we need to move fast. That is all there is to it.

The important thing is that without a true sense of urgency, true change is nigh impossible. Performance measurement shouldn’t be seen as bureaucratic administrivia, nor as a bandwagon fad. It needs to be appreciated in the broader context of continual improvement, capability growth and problem solving. And that’s one of the reasons why a sense of urgency is a critical ingredient.

 Source: KPI Library

Scoreboards and dashboards help you know if you are on track or not. We all know that simply knowing the score is not a predictor of who will win the game. How many times have we seen a game where one team is ahead but loses? Way too often. In addition to great scoreboards, we need dashboards that tell the players are we on tract to win or lose regardless of the current score.

The employees who are accountable for the leading indicator should develop and report with their scoreboard. When I report my own results, I tend to own them. When someone else does it for me (or to me), it is easy to quibble about the data. That leads to a lot of wasted time and effort. If I play baseball and a key indicator is how many times I get on base (compared to home runs hit), I can easily measure and report how I am doing. 4 at bats and no times on base tells me I need to improve. From this point of view, scoreboards and dashboards should be closest to the point of action as possible.

Scoreboards and dashboards should not cost a lot to implement. The data should be easily available and not difficult to analyze. Costly, time consuming systems will spell the death of any initiative. Digital executives know they need to start simple and improve over time through a continuous improvement process.

Here are the key ideas:

1. Scoreboards help you establish if you are winning or not.
2. Start with your leading indicators as the KPI’s for scoreboards.
3. Begin measuring what you can today.
4. Encourage speed and agility in measuring sooner rather than later.
5. Scoreboards and dashboards help you know if you are on track or not.
6. The employees who are accountable for the leading indicator should develop and report with their scoreboard.
7. Scoreboards and dashboards should be closest to the point of action as possible.
8. Scoreboards and dashboards should not cost a lot to implement. The data should be easily available and not difficult to analyze.

Digital journey and hyper-connectedness: focus on the edges

Tags

Ecosystem, Edges, Leadership, Strategy

There are a number of variables as we take our journey to becoming a digital business. There are some edges that define the journey very well. The customer and the customer experience, purpose, end goals, partners, internal stakeholders, the last mile of standard business process and disruption are often at the edges of the digital business journey. It is tempting to just narrow things down to the customer experience as the sole driver. That leaves out some very important end goals.

It is clear that the end goals of the customer do drive our daily agenda. The inertia involved in breaking down silos and connecting the dots is real. Interconnected challenges are not to be ignored for the benefit of the customer. Internal silo’s often impede the digital business goals we have in mind.

The shift to the edges might have us focus moving faster. They could require we think about integrating data better and seeing our business as an ecosystem. Are we leveraging an ‘as-a-service’ approach? Do we spend enough time on our culture? Do we have the right digital leaders on the bus?

Another edge to look at is the decentralization of work and our inherent business models. Just think about how data analysis is moving to the edge and giving more and more tools to front line managers and employees. Just think about how digital technologies can be implemented (perhaps not effectively) without the traditional IT department.

While there are a number of challenges at the edges, strategic digital business leadership is at the core. The holistic nature of the culture is at risk if we leave at the edges. While many experiments can occur in an isolated, ad hoc and silo oriented approach, there is a real risk to the long term success of the digital business if they remain at the edges.

 

What is the planning framework that a digital business should look at?

Tags

Framework, Planning, Strategy

The buzz is all around “digital transformation”. Is transformation what your business needs right now. Maybe but probably not. You are already on the path to being digital. What is the framework you should look at from a planning point of view?

Below is a model of the stages a company may go through in being a digital business. It may help to see a “digital business” as a framework or ecosystem that is valuable for strategic planning. Some companies may choose to stop at stage 3. Others may push toward 4 and eventually 5. Stage 5 will clearly require a massive transformation if you at stage 1 right now. If you are at stage 1, it makes sense to move as rapidly as possible to stage 2. That is doable. That will give you traction to keep going.

1. Digital Resister (Ad Hoc) – Business and IT digital initiatives are disconnected and poorly aligned with an enterprise strategy, and not focused on customer experiences. Business Outcome – Business is a laggard, providing weak customer experiences and using digital technology only to counter threats.
2. Digital Explorer (Opportunistic) – Business has identified a need to develop a digitally enhanced, customer-driven business strategy, but execution is on a project basis. Progress is not predictable or repeatable. Business Outcome – Digitally enabled customer experiences and products are inconsistent and poorly integrated.
3. Digital Player (Repeatable) – Business IT goals are aligned at the enterprise level around the creation of digital products and customer experiences, but not yet focused on the disruptive potential of digital initiatives. Business Outcome – Business provides consistent but not truly innovative products, services and customer experiences.
4. Digital Leader (Managed) – Integrated, synergistic business IT management disciplines deliver digitally enabled product/service experiences on a continuous basis. Business Outcome – Business is a leader in its markets, providing world-class digital products, services, and experiences.
5. Digital Disrupter (Optimized) – The disrupter is aggressive, at the enterprise level, to be disruptive in the use of new digital technologies and business models to affect markets. Ecosystem awareness and feedback is a constant input to business innovation. Customer expectations are significantly affected by the disrupters in the market place. Business Outcome – The business remakes existing markets and creates new ones to its own advantage and is a fast moving target for the competition.

Business Transformation

Why does the holistic picture matter in becoming a digital business?

Tags

Agility, Digital Business, Goal, Holistic, Leadership, Strategy

We read a lot about digital transformation. Transformation is really only part of the picture. The end game is to be a digital business. That may require what some see as transformation but that sounds way too hard to a lot of people so they get stuck. The digital business journey may be more like “crawl, walk then run”.

In that light, it is important to always think through what the holistic picture looks like. Some of it may always be fuzzy, but thinking it through will help. As a company begins to explore digital opportunities, it will help to know as you grow, do you to provide consistent but not truly innovative products, services and customer experiences. Or, do you want to be a market leader and eventually a market disrupter.

Being a digital business is a whole lot about culture. Is being interconnected more important than department silos? Is being fast more important than being steady? Is innovation and market disruption desirable? Is the customer experience the top of mind and top of performance expectations?

It is a C-Suite and leadership responsibility to see the digital business holistically. Customer service can’t make up for finance department systems that are riddled with errors. These digital systems have to connect to a common vision. They also have to have the right leadership. “Old World” leaders may need to find something else to do. New roles may need to be created with very talented leaders.

The six steps to build a successful digital business (chart below) are a good framework to the holistic approach needed.

So what are some of the characteristics of a holistic digital business?

Are our digital donor experience goals relevant?

Tags

Digital, Donor, Donor Experience, Goal, Nonprofit, SMART Goal, Strategy

The fourth criterion for SMART goals stresses the importance of choosing goals that really make a difference in improving the donor experience. A digital executive’s goal to “Make 50 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by 2:00pm” may be specific, measurable, attainable, and time-bound, but lacks relevance to the donor. Many times you will need support to accomplish a goal: resources, a champion voice, someone to knock down obstacles. Goals that are relevant to your boss, your team, your organization and but most importantly, your donor, will receive that needed support. Being able to frame up simply how it will benefit the donor is very powerful.

Relevant goals (when met) drive the team, department, and organization forward in creating stunning experiences for the donor. A goal that supports or is in alignment with other donor goals would be considered a relevant goal.

A relevant goal can answer yes to these questions:

1. Does this seem worthwhile to the donor?
2. Is this the right time in the donor experience lifecycle?
3. Does this match our other donor journey efforts/needs?
4. Are you the right person/team to focus on this?
5. Is it applicable in current socio- economic- technical environment? Will it move digital change (transformation) ahead to the next phase?

How many times have we been “handed” a goal and we all have said, this isn’t going to move the needle. It’s just not relevant. Having employees and donors engaged is a “big deal”. Relevance is the key.

Without relevance, it is hard to know what we want to accomplish. When a goal is irrelevant, we all see the air go out of the balloon. There is nothing more demoralizing.

The digital executive is responsible for accessing “does it pass” the relevance test. This cannot be delegated. Having a pulse of donor goals helps a lot. Even if it is not relevant to an employee, a case should be made that it is relevant to the donor. How relevant it is becomes the driver.

Relevance can be given a score so that ideas that produce the best results are funded. We may need to do a series of quick tests to determine the winners. With limited funds and budget, the digital executive must focus resources.

Here are the key ideas:

1. Start focusing employees on the issue of donor relevance.
2. Begin testing and scoring the results of ideas.
3. Encourage listening to donors to know what is relevant to them.
4. Have clear goals for testing programs.
5. Know why this is important to the donor.
6. Involve donors and employees in generating ideas.
7. Be clear about resource constraints.

How do you measure results for cyber security investment?

Tags

Cyber Security, KPI, Measurements, Strategy, Technology

With over 400 global business and security executives participating in a benchmark survey called The 2017 State Of Cybersecurity Metrics Annual Report, more than half of respondents scored an “F” or “D” grade when evaluating their efforts to measure their cybersecurity investments and performance against best practices.

Based on internationally accepted standards for security embodied in ISO 27001, as well as best practices from industry experts and professional associations, the Security Measurement Index benchmark survey provides a comprehensive way to define how well an organization is measuring the effectiveness of its IT security.

Findings from this Cyber Security Metrics survey include:

Failures in planning

• 1 in 3 companies invests in cybersecurity technologies without any way to measure their value or effectiveness.
• 4 out of 5 fail to include business stakeholders in cybersecurity investment decisions.
• 4 out 5 companies don’t know where their sensitive data is located, and how to secure it.

Failures in performance

• 2 out of 3 companies don’t fully measure whether their disaster recovery will work as planned.
• 4 out of 5 never measure the success of security training investments.
• While 80% of breaches involve stolen or weak credentials 60% of companies still do not adequately protect privileged accounts—their keys to the kingdom.

In general:

• 58 percent of companies are failing in their efforts to measure the effectiveness of their cybersecurity investments and performance against best practices.
• 4 out of 5 companies worldwide are not fully satisfied with their cybersecurity metrics.

Most survey respondents do not feel confident about how they are measuring the value of their cybersecurity investments, and 80% stated that they are not fully satisfied with the metrics available.

You may think your business doesn’t need a formal, documented IT security policy based on cogent cybersecurity metrics. After all, documentation and worrying about information security is just for big unwieldy mega-corporations, right?

Cyber Security

“Make sure your core technology platform offers the agility to continually test, modify, and improve processes to stay tuned to the new business environment.” ~ Katherine Kostereva

Tags

Agile, Bold, Digital Transformation, Maturity, Strategy

Digital transformation is about several things.

Digital transformation is about being bold. Companies don’t have to be high-tech to use the best technologies to drive better productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction but it is imperative to keep in mind that digital transformation is not a one-time event or project. It’s a bold commitment to a perpetual transformation. It is about becoming more mature in our approach. Incremental improvement is better than going for the “big bang” and then loosing momentum.

Digital transformation is about being agile. Don’t be fooled by some of the digital transformation buzz out there, digital transformation is a business discipline or company philosophy, not a project. And companies that want long-term success need to maintain focus on becoming more agile so you are ready to take on anything that the future can throw at you.

Make sure your core technology platform offers the agility to continually test, modify, and improve processes to stay tuned to the new business environment.  ~ Katherine Kostereva

Source: The Real Meaning Of Digital Transformation: Increased Agility

A Donor Experience Approach to Strategy, People, Process and Technology

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Donor Experience, People, Process, Strategy, Technology

Having an approach or a framework for the work of the nonprofit digital executive is very important. Being passionate about our donors is great but a scattered approach will not get the kind of traction we need long term.

I am suggesting a framework that I have seen, over the years, that works for many of us. If this isn’t the approach that works for you and your donors, I do suggest finding one that does.

The approach is to organize and execute around the following:

1. Goals, strategies and execution
2. People
3. Process
4. Technology

It is natural to want to leap to one or another of these and focus there to the exclusion of some other important issues in improving the donor experience. Some people want to focus on the technology. But technology may be the wrong issue if the goals and strategies aren’t clear.

You might have a great donor strategy. Does the strategy require change? Have you addressed the change management issues that people are having with the strategy? If not, no strategy alone will overcome change management issues that people have with what you want to do.

There is a sequence to all of this. The best results come from starting with clear goals and strategies. People come next. Processes come after that. Technology, while very important, comes after we have planned for the preceding three focus areas for our donors.

I am advocating for a holistic and unified approach. Moving from the flavor of the day to the next creates a level of frustration that is hard for donors to overcome.  It is impossible to organize and execute around priorities if at least these four focus areas aren’t somehow in alignment. In our gut, we know that alignment is important. Alignment creates momentum that is impossible to stop or overcome.

Here are the key ideas:

1. Use a framework like strategy, people, process and technology.
2. Create alignment through a holistic approach.
3. Start with clear goals and strategies.

Business Strategy

Tech industry on how to use AI responsibly

Tags

Artificial Intelligence, Axios, Ethics, Strategy

Axios  has put together some great info on artificial intelligence. It’s use will continue to expand. Consideration of the ethics of it’s use is important.

“The Information Technology Industry Council — a D.C.-based group representing the likes of IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple — is releasing a set of ethical principles today on how artificial intelligence systems should be developed.

“The tech industry is trying to get ahead of growing anxieties about the societal impact of AI technologies and this is an acknowledgement on companies’ part that their data-hungry products are causing sweeping changes in the way we work and live.

“Why it matters: The companies hope by pledging to handle their power responsibly they can stave off government regulation.

“Why now: ITI president Dean Garfield told Kim that the industry has learned painful lessons by staying on the sidelines of past debates about technology-driven societal shifts. “Sometimes our instinct is to just put our heads down and do our work, to develop, design and innovate,” he said. “But there’s a recognition that our ability to innovate is going to be affected by how society perceives it.”

The principles include:

• Ensure the responsible design and deployment of AI systems, including taking “steps to avoid the reasonably predictable misuse of this technology by committing to ethics by design.”
• Promote the responsible use of data and test for potentially harmful bias in the deployment of AI systems.
• Commit to mitigating bias, inequity and other potential harms in automated decision-making systems.
• Agree to develop a “reasonable accountability framework” to address concerns about liability issues created when autonomous decision-making replaces decisions made by humans.

“Other efforts: Last week, Intel laid out its own public policy principles for AI, including setting aside R&D funds for testing the technologies and creating new human employment opportunities as AI changes the way people work. The biggest tech companies (as well as smaller AI firms) started the Partnership on AI, a non-profit aimed at developing industry best practices.”

Source: Login – Axios

Is it really “location, location, location” anymore?

Tags

Digital, Internet, Location, Strategy

We all have the “location, location, location” mantra emblazoned in our minds. While specific to the real estate market, we have tended to believe it applies to products and services as well. For a long time, it did.

But not so much anymore. And less and less every day. We know it is true. Are we ready to pick up the pace? Are we evolving fast enough?

Slowly location isn’t so important. Of course, the internet is one of the main culprits. Federal Express can take some credit. Television has an impact. Credit cards enable transactions at a distance. Call phones un-hooked us and cut the cord. And my favorite, air conditioning, transformed the south and manufacturing.

What percent of your business today has nothing to do with location? Is that true of the competition? How fast is it accelerating in your industry?

“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” ~Steve Jobs

Tags

Leadership, Listening, People, Steve Jobs, Strategy

Getting our people strategy right is a huge challenge. All leaders know it and struggle. If only we were better at this.

The first challenge is the hiring challenge. Steve Jobs rightly narrowed this down to hiring smart people.

The second is learning, as leaders, to not micro-manage. That can be a tough one for the smart managers we have hired. How do we create more autonomy with abdicating commitment to a shared vision?

The third challenge is to listen strategically. Smart employees always have really great ideas. How do we harness that? How will we sort out, from all the right ideas, the ones that will move us ahead? How do we create focus?

“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” Steve Jobs

Source: This Classic Quote From Steve Jobs About Hiring Employees Describes What Great Leadership Looks Like | Inc.com

Not all data is of equal value and not every customer is either.

Tags

Action, Customer Value Framework, Data, Insight, Strategy

Not all data is of equal value and not every customer is either. Part of the framework that leads from insight to action is understanding which customers are of more value and those that will lead to greater levels of renewal. We need a customer value framework to drive our strategy.

Basic value segmentation looks at low actual value and low potential value. The focus is to mine the data and watch for changes from other data.

A second cohort to segment is high current value but low potential value. The focus is to maintain the relationship to renew commitments.

Third, segment those who are low actual value and high potential value. The focus is cultivate the relationship and upgrade the commitment.

The final segment are the customers with high actual and high potential value. The focus here is to invest in the relationship.

It is critical to recognize that not all customers have the same value long term and to invest in the ones that have a high potential. This type of segmentation requires high levels of insight. Standard business processes can be enabled in lots of systems via workflow.

The digital executive has a specific responsibility to insist that this is core to your marketing, sales and digital strategies. An unfocused approach to engaging with customers can be disastrous. If you are a marketing or sales executive, organize a group to help formulate the strategy and become ambassadors for its execution.

One requirement could be to enhance your data with external sources to assist in process of segmenting. Tools like Dunn and Bradstreet data for corporations and wealth screening for individuals may be useful. In some cases it may be as simple as enhancing data based on zip codes and census tracts to get started.

Here are the key ideas:

1. Start now to create a framework to segment your customers.
2. Begin to formulate a strategy of how gain enough insights to move customers through the framework.
3. Encourage investments in building relationships with high potential value customers.
4. Consider enhancing your data to assist in this type of segmentation.
5. This may not be easy, insist on finding a way to make it happen.
6. Don’t let a lack of resources hold you back.

What data should we collect to create amazing customer experiences?

Tags

Customer, Data, Strategy, Technology, Value Framework

360 Customer View

We probably shouldn’t try to collect everything. We also should be collecting the “right” data. We should consider enhancing the data we collect to make it more valuable. Several suggested priorities are all online transaction detail and insight, most offline transaction detail and insight, social media data and insights and finally, call center transactions and insights.

There has been a lot said and written about the 360 degree view of the customer. A quick Google search will bring up 13.7 million results. Many in favor and some questioning the strategy.

I believe customer data is important. One thing to think about, however, is how much data do you need to know to make actionable decisions? Perhaps more than you have and perhaps less than you plan to gather which could be holding you back from acting today.

Most of us have a ton of online data. It is easy to gather and relatively inexpensive to integrate. That said, many of us have no to very little offline data. Another gap can also be unstructured data.

A core question is how important is a 360 degree view anyway? No human can see 360 degrees. Here is something interesting to think about.

“To draw an analogy from the physical realm, out of 360 potential degrees, what’s our actual field of vision? Approximately a 120-degree arc. But even most of that is peripheral. In fact, when it comes to seeing in high resolution — say for reading purposes — our actual field of view is only about 6 degrees.

“What happens if something important happens in our peripheral vision? We move our eyes to look at it. In other words, we’re not primed to look at everything at once. Rather, we focus on the essentials and filter out the rest so we don’t experience information overload.”

Source: The Cloud Sherpa

In thinking about data integration, it will be helpful to suspend any discussion of what data can we integrate. Any data can be integrated. The real issue is what results you want for your business and what data do you need to improve the customer experience. From a planning point of view it is helpful to start with the end in mind and not the details of how we integrate everything. It is critical to know what data will give you actionable insight.

Customers are using many channels to engage with your company. They expect a seamless experience across those channels. At a core level, that will involve collecting and integrating the data that customers expect to see across those channels. The important issue to think through is what does the customer expect you to know about what they have told on the mobile app and what you know about them when they make a purchase. It is all about the customer expectation.

If you ask for information from a customer and they are willing to give it to you, then they probably expect that you will use it across channels to create a seamless experience. Customers also expect that you remember them. They get very upset when you don’t. They love you when you do. Know and remember is key to service.

Alert!! Do you have a privacy policy? Is it up to date? How good is your data security? Has someone independent from your technical team assessed risks in your customer data security? Not having a budget to look at this is a high risk. The damage to your credibility is at stake.

Ask yourself:

1. Do you need a deeper understanding of customer sentiment from both internal and external sources?
2. Do you want to increase customer loyalty and satisfaction by understanding what meaningful actions are needed?
3. Are you challenged to get the right information to the right people to provide customers what they need to solve problems, cross-sell, and up-sell?

Here are the key ideas:

1. Start simple and don’t get carried away with all the possibilities.
2. Begin creating a strategy now.
3. Encourage collaboration and create a team to “oversee” your efforts.
4. Decide, up front, what data is worth
5. Commit to not collecting everything and be ok with that.
6. Focus on key channels like online, offline checks / credit card transactions, and direct response.
7. Create a data value framework to help set priorities.
8. Pay attention to privacy and security. Your reputation is at stake.

“We have a strategic plan. It’s called ‘doing things.’ ” ~~Herb Kelleher

Tags

Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines, Strategic Plan, Strategy

I don’t think I would advocate not having a strategic plan but they probably could be simpler than we make most of them. Regardless of what you call it, the focus should be on getting something done, on doing things. The focus should be execution.

In the world of business technology, speed is huge. Executing is huge. Results reign supreme. Experiments are the norm.

I ought to obsess about the customer and sweat the details about executing what helps them. We should keep moving and never stop thinking of what the customer experience is like. No stone should be left unturned in my  pursuit of amazing customer service. It is in fact the small courtesies that create an emotional connection to our products and services.

• Is every contact with us memorable?
• Did we add value?
• Are we doing it?
• Are we getting it done today?

We have a strategic plan. It’s called ‘doing things.” —Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines CEO and Founder

Brian Solis on Innovation and Perspective

Tags

Brian Solis, Innovation, Strategy

Brian Solis takes a break from his X book tour to share his thoughts on innovation and why we need to shift our perspective to see and do things differently. In this video, he shares some of his favorite, recent innovations to show us that there are no limits to our imagination and capabilities. http://www.briansolis.com/speaking/SHOW MORE

Is your Sales Process Still Out of Step with the Buyer’s Journey?

Tags

Personalization, Sales, Strategy, Trust

With this wealth of online information at their disposal, buyers have the opportunity to research vendors and solutions long before ever talking to sales.

“Today’s modern and tech-savvy customers are likely to have conducted major research on specific products and services before even once speaking with a sales rep,” says Jamie Anderson, senior vice president, marketing, customer engagement, and commerce solutions at SAP.

“In order to deliver the ‘tell me, don’t sell me’ approach buyers prefer, sales professionals must create unique and personalized interactions that keep customers focused and engaged throughout the entire sales process.”

Therefore, despite the suppliers’ potential unwillingness to change, salespeople must evolve into trusted advisors if they wish to remain relevant and valuable to prospects and customers.

Personalization allows vendors to demonstrate their understanding of customer needs, transparency facilitates strong partnerships, and seamless service enhances experience, ultimately laying the foundation for long-term trust.

And, trust is the key if you really want me to buy from you.

via Market Pulse | Sales Still Out of Step with the Buyer’s Journey.

"The common question that gets asked in business is, ‘why?’ That’s a good question, but an equally valid question is, ‘why not?’" ~~Jeffrey Bezos

Tags

Amazon, Jeff Bezos, Strategy

Golden Circle – Why, How and What

It is all about the question most days. As leaders, we get to ask the questions and help everyone focus.

Why not should be a big one we ask a lot.

The common question that gets asked in business is, ‘why?’ That’s a good question, but an equally valid question is, ‘why not?’ ~Jeffrey Bezos

Do you have a content curation strategy? Do you have an eye for the awesome?

Tags

Content, Content Curation, Digital Strategy, Strategy

Do you have a content curation strategy?

Do you have a content curation strategy? If not, now is the time to think about it. Original content is great.

But … knowing what others are saying and amplifying it is very helpful. That is the importance of a librarian at the library. It is not so much knowing everything as knowing where to find it.

One of the keys, however, is organization. That leads to a tagging and categorization approach. Is there a logical way you organize what you produce?

Of course, the ability to spot the awesome helps.

Content curation – the process of finding, organizing, and  sharing topical, relevant content for your audience that supports your nonprofit’s engagement or campaign goals (or your professional learning) begins with “Spotting the Awesome.”   I love that phrase coined by my friends at Upwell.   Do you or your organization have formal guidelines for “spotting the awesome”  like Upwell (see below) or is it more of  ”we know it when we see it?”

via Content Curation: The Art and Science of Spotting Awesome | Beth’s Blog.

 

Am I booking enough time to think?

Tags

Goals, Strategy, Think, Time

Time

Am I booking enough time to think? Answer. Probably not.

Does my calendar reflect that I need to reflect? Answer. Probably not.

I need to clear some hours and days to think things through. What is my goal? Is my strategy clear?

Unifying donor data and creating actionable insight

Tags

Donor Data, Insight, Integration, Strategy

Smart Data

Even 2 pieces of unified data is more powerful than one. Having a plan for the most valuable sources and at least integrating some of the data will move insight ahead.

Let’s be honest. This is just plain difficult. I’m a small business. I believe in the value of integrated data. But it is painful and difficult. I use one tool a lot. It is call email. I have another tool for managing Customer Relationships. If I send an email, I can also get it in the CRM tool just by sending it as a bcc. So far so good. But then I use a different tool for eMarketing. I then have to export it from CRM and import it to the eMarketing tool. And on and on it goes from there.

Imagine the challenge for a mid-size nonprofit. It gets worse for large corporations. It just isn’t easy.

That said, it is worth doing as best you can. So that is what I do. And you should consider the same.

First, we need a strategy. Pick at least two systems that will give you a better level of insight. Integrate the core data needed for that insight. Don’t get carried away. If it doesn’t give you insight and you can’t act on it to move the relationship ahead then it isn’t useful.

Second, we need to execute the strategy and evaluate its effectiveness. If it isn’t effective consider stopping. Why waste the energy and resources.

Third, while data integration is generally very complex and difficult, the focus needs to be on simplicity. If a business unit cannot make a case for the insight that the data will bring and the action / results that it will accomplish, I say “move on”. That takes courage and great support from the executive level.

Knowing more than one thing generally leads to greater insight. Our everyday experience teaches us that. The insight I gain by knowing a decision maker at a target nonprofit is opening my emails leads me to see if I can schedule a call to discover more about their challenges. Simply integrating CRM and eMarketing tools can lead to that insight.

As more data is integrated about donors, the biggest issue is data quality and duplicates. If left unchecked, the insights and action will be suspect. It is important to keep the data integrated as simple as possible and pay attention to “master data” and the “golden record” early on. Investing in some level of Master Data Management (MDM) will make sense. Better to make this decision early and enforce integrity to the data.

There are several ways to approach analytics. Simple and easy to use Excel spreadsheets is one level. Data warehouses and data marts takes it to another level. Within systems themselves (think CRM), dashboards are very powerful at providing insight and action (via workflow).

All of this leads to an issue of executive oversight. Someone needs to make the tough decisions in the best interest of the donor. The CEO needs to empower someone to make those decisions. Otherwise your technology team will be chasing its tail on a regular basis with unclear direction and expensive solutions to meet the great demand for integration.

There is clearly a role for oversight for this function. It should be led by a high level business executive who focuses on insight.

Many of the advanced solutions and systems can be very expensive. Senior executives will clearly experience sticker shock when looking at investment decisions. Out of many technology investments to be made, this is one that cries out for clear ROI and a total economic benefit to spell out.

Here are the key ideas:

1. Start with simple integrations that focus early on data quality.
2. Begin with integrations that lead to clear insight and action.
3. Encourage oversight and accountability for results.
4. Early on, default to system dashboards and workflow rather than other complicated systems.
5. Insights that lead to next steps along the donor journey will have high payoffs for renewal, cross-selling and up-selling.
6. Senior business executives must be engaged early and often.
7. Enforce clear budget boundaries with clear ROI.

Manager of Business Results – Position available

Tags

Chief Digital Officer, Leadership, People, Strategy

This is too good to ignore. I’m guessing we could replace the Chief Digital Officer title up top with others and get the same laugh. What about Chief Marketing Officer? How about Chief Information Officer? How about CEO?

Chief Digital Officer

Will your company be customer experience driven?

Tags

Customer, Customer Experience, Strategy

Growth in Customer Experience (Forrester Research)

There is no denying that companies are embracing the whole “customer experience” phenomena. This year even more companies will adopt approaches to transform their business. The trend will only continue to accelerate.

What does this mean to you? Why should you not ignore what is going on with your competitors?

Disruption is around the corner. Others may be about to overtake you. Now is not the time to to ignore what is vital to your digital transformation efforts.

Some key areas for focus are:

1. Understand your customers
2. Measure the experience they are having with you
3. Set up a governance or oversight team
4. Create and execute a clear strategy
5. Build better design into your processes
6. Accurately assess where you are from a “culture” point of view

Is this the year of purpose?

Tags

Bruce Temkin, Emotion, Purpose, Strategy

It is a great question to think about. Will I be purposeful?

It’s once again the time of year when I publish Temkin Group’s CX trends. In my post last year, we named 2016 “The Year of Emotion.” With my previous post, we declared 2017 “The Year of Purpose.” During this year, companies will be: Elevating Purpose. Over the past year, we’ve seen more articles discussing purpose, and leaders are beginning to […]

via 2017 Customer Experience Trends, “The Year of Purpose” — Customer Experience Matters®

Business Strategy

SMART goals are attainable in transformation initiatives

Tags

Goal, SMART, Strategy

Attainable Goal

Goals should be both realistic and attainable for the digital business. While an attainable goal may stretch a team in order to achieve it, the goal is not extreme in nature. We all should have some expectation that it can be achieved.  Goals are neither out of reach nor below standard performance, as these may be considered meaningless.

When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You and your team develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. An attainable goal may cause goal-setters to identify previously overlooked opportunities to bring themselves closer to the achievement of their goals. Attainable goals help focus everyone’s efforts.

Goals should be motivating. They should galvanize the whole team to accomplish something great. They certainly can be aspirational. The work of transforming a company is not easy. Everyone knows that. Everyone wants to be motivated and your transformation goals are important in the work.

If they are not attainable, they become demotivating. We all must have a sense that we can reach the goal.

The purpose of a goal is to actually accomplish the result we have in mind. There is never a purpose that is useful to suggest something that we know can’t be done be a goal. It does happen, however, where a result is suggested and then nothing else is “taken off the plate” or resources aren’t devoted to making it happen. In those cases, it is common that everyone involved knows they are being set up for failure. That is, of course, devastating.

Senior management has a special responsibility to make sure that goals can, in fact, be reached. Employees may suggest goals that are beyond stretch and not attainable. Or employees may suggest goals that are a “cake walk”. In either case, realistic conversations need to occur to level set and make sure everyone is comfortable that strategies and tactics are in place to get us to the destination. If may be very difficult, if senior management sets a goal that is clearly unattainable, for employees to push back and talk about why that is true.

In setting an attainable goal, great consideration needs to be given to what resources need to be devoted to making it happen. Return on investment is real. To expect a return, with no investment, is a fool’s errand. Want something great to happen? What cost are you willing to bear to realize it?

Do you need more staff? Do you need a different kind of staff with different skills? Do priorities need to be set so it is clear this goal is important? Do other initiatives need to be eliminated or delayed to focus on this goal? Making a goal attainable may be about the resources and focus to make it attainable.

Here are the key ideas:

1. Goals should stretch our performance but be realistic and attainable.
2. Goals should not be easily attained.
3. Goals should not be added, one on top of another, so that it becomes impossible to achieve any of them.
4. Resources need to be devoted to achieve the goals.

Sometime is now and somebody is you!!

Tags

Now, Strategy, Time

Now is the time

When is the right time? Now is the time. You know it is true.

Can’t someone else do this?This is not for someone else to do.

The time is now.

The somebody is you.

If it isn’t you, who will it be?

If it isn’t now, when will it be?

What is this moment about?

Tags

Focus, Strategy

Focus

It is so easy to be unfocused. The things to compete for our time are endless and getting more so every day.

Here are three questions to help get focused.

· What is this year about?

· What is this day about?

· What is this moment about?

Knowing the answer to the first leads to great focus on the second. And know the answer to the second leads to great focus all the time.

Simple but not easy.

How will you know when you’ve arrived?

Tags

Goal, Strategy, Transformation

Measurable Goal

How will you know “when you have arrived”? How will you measure progress? What does success look like? When will we know that we have transformed our business?

We all want concrete criteria for what success looks like in our transformation efforts. To be effective as digital executives, our teams need to how progress will be measured. SMART goals are always measurable. Measuring progress will help a team stay on track, reach its target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs it on to continued effort required to reach the ultimate goal.

A measurable transformation goal will usually answer questions such as:

1. How much transformation should we achieve?
2. How many initiatives should we tackle?
3. How will I know when it is accomplished?

Indicators should be quantifiable. Measurable goals are important for several reasons.

1. Motivation is increased.
2. Weaknesses will be uncovered.
3. Problems will be reduced.
4. Stronger teams will be created.
5. Value for teams and individuals is demonstrated.

It is the leader’s responsibility to make sure that goals are specific and measurable. Anyone, however, can ask the right questions to gain clarification if they are not. If the requirements aren’t clear or constraints identified, it is our responsibility to make sure the goal is restated to make if very measurable.

Here are the key ideas:

1. Make sure the goal is very specific and can be measured.
2. Once you think you have it measurable, rework it again to take it to the next level.
3. Recognize that the measurable goal is probably a “lagging indicator” and begin to think about the 2 or 3 strategic levers that will produce the right outcome.

Can relationships be managed?

Tags

CRM, Culture, Goals, Strategy

We have had “customer relationship initiatives” for a long time. Some have paid off. Many have not.

Is it just about the technology (most of which has failed)? No. Absolutely not.

It is all about our goals and strategies, our people and great processes? Is it about our culture? Is it about our leadership? 

Customer service interactions are becoming your primary means of creating true customer relationships. To be a successful business today, you must understand how relationships actually work, and how to build them. While the ways in which you do this may be specific to your business, here are some fundamentals about relationship-building that are universal:

via Beyond Customer Loyalty Programs: 7 Ways To Build Lasting Relationships | Fast Company | Business + Innovation.

And so, can relationships be “managed”? Should they “be managed”?

Relationships are not easy. Some will say that relationships can and should be managed. They will give you acronyms that promise to solve all your relationship troubles. But unfortunately, in business, as in life, relationships cannot be managed. ~~Mikkel Svane is the founder and CEO of Zendesk

Transformation requires being focused

Tags

Customer, Focus, Strategy

Focus

In addition to be obsessed, the other essential ingredient to success in transformation efforts is focus. It must be recognized, when you are obsessed with your customer, that you can’t do everything. If you think you can, disaster is looming around the corner. You can do a few things very well.

Strategy is about deciding which ideas should be implemented. Focus is doing them. Focus is not about swinging at every pitch. Focus is about swinging at the pitches that are most likely to get you on base or to advance another player so they can score.

It’s not a big surprise that big league baseball players can hit a pitch far better than the rest of us. Research on the game’s best hitters has shown that they have excellent hand-eye coordination and can respond quickly to visual cues. Indeed, one of the keys to a superior ball player’s performance is excellent vision and focus that allow him to see a baseball perfectly as it travels at high velocity toward home plate.

Baseball players who have achieved greatness at the plate have done so by persistently keeping their eyes on the goal at hand: connecting with the ball.

Entrepreneurs must likewise keep their eyes and focus on their companies.  They achieve greatness by avoiding any situations that might distract them. As such, they must constantly and tightly fix their vision on the most important components of the enterprise.

Via http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanhall/2012/11/03/the-big-league-secret-to-business-focus-focus-focus/

Wanting to accomplish everything you think needs to be fixed isn’t useful. Strategy is about tradeoffs. What will make a difference in the next 6 months for your customers? If you could only focus on 3 things, what would they be? 3 may be too many still but it is better than 5 or 10 or 20 or 100.

Everything can’t be done. A few critical things can be done. What are the right ones right now?

As an aside, a culture of meetings can suck the life out of focus. People need to be given permission to say no to meetings that are of marginal value to their real focus areas.

Not making a decision about priorities is the enemy of focus. When meetings do occur, one outcome should always be about how important, relative to other priorities, the initiative being discussed is relative to other ideas. Forcing a delay of something else to do the new thing should be question that is always asked. If you live in a world of focus, the question should be, of the 3 things I am focused on right now, which of them should I stop doing so I can take this on? People should be given permission and encouraged to ask. Management should be clear in requiring it be done.

What if you had an accountability culture that said that your year end evaluation would be determined by one result that would be worth 80 percent of your evaluation? What would that one thing be? What if that allowed you to veto other things without formally changing your evaluation criteria to take the new thing on?

Greg McKeowan has written an amazing book, “Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”, that lays out the necessity of focus. As he so aptly has discovered, focus is about getting the right things done. In this world, the essential question is: What is the right thing to do right now?

The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s not about getting less done. It’s about getting only the right things done. It’s about challenging the core assumption of ‘we can have it all’ and ‘I have to do everything’ and replacing it with the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time’. It’s about regaining control of our own choices about where to spend our time and energies instead of giving others implicit permission to choose for us.

See more at: http://gregmckeown.com/essentialism-the-disciplined-pursuit-of-less/#sthash.rewbtAq0.dpuf

Focus allows you to see things clearly. It also allows you to see what is working and what isn’t. If you are doing a lot of things, which ones are working? If something is working, what if you did more of it and not less.

The only way to do more is to do less. It will require going counter to what others want to do. Everyone, including your boss, wants you to do more. Let’s add one more thing to the plate. It is rare that leaders want to stop doing something or think before asking you to do more. Focus will require results that justify doing less. That is the rub.

Focus is your responsibility and yours alone. No one can do it to you. No one can do it for you. Accountability for focus is all yours. If you are a manager, you should help others understand why they need to focus. They will be relieved and give you their all because of your leadership.

Focus is needed at every level of the organization. Everyone needs to spend time to stop trying to do everything. Management, in particular, needs to support this approach.

What if management doesn’t support this approach? You can proceed anyway. The question is will you have the courage to do it. It will take courage. Are you confident?

There is a need to understand constraints. Constraints are real. Everyone knows it but we all like to pretend when we start a project that if we make the case, resources aren’t going to be an issue. Resources are an issue. Resources will always be an issue.

We need to be clear about what can be invested and how much time is available to get the job done. It is easy to live in a world where we “pretend” the amount of hours available to work on something isn’t an issue and that constraints don’t exist. They do exist and they are real.

We believe that if we demand that requirements be added to the work, the money and time to get it done will magically appear. The reality is that they won’t magically appear but failure will.

Focus is amazing. Doing the few “right things” can bring about real transformation in becoming a digital business.

Here are the key ideas:

1. Be clear about constraints of money and time to get things done.
2. Narrow the list of things to get done to no more than 3 over the next 6 months.
3. Be strategic and make choices.
4. Give people permission to say no.
5. Give people permission, when there is a new idea, to ask which of the current priorities will be placed on hold to take this on.
6. Recognize the constraints of time and money up front.

Is hope a strategy?

Tags

Goal, Hope, Strategy, Tactic

Is hope a good strategy? Generally hope is a a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

Having hope doesn’t mean anything will happen.

It may not.

Hope is a good tactic however. If there is a good vision and goal, then the desire to see it through and make it happen is a good thing.

We want people of hope working with us. My attitude is important.

Despair isn’t good in any world.

Transformation change is more about culture than strategy

Tags

Change, Culture, Leadership, Strategy, Transformation

We have a lot to do. Our plate is full. Who needs one more thing on the list?

My guess is, I need one more thing on the list.

Change isn’t easy. Culture is in many cases undefined but well understood. Spending time understanding how employees and customers actually see it is instructive. Doing the tough things to make it what I want is worth it.

Why isn’t collaborating in the Cloud easier?

Tags

Cloud, Collaboration, Culture, Strategy

We want to collaborate. It just sounds good to say it. Why wouldn’t we? Of course we do. Everyone believes it is a good thing.

Collaboration has become so much easier with the tools we have readily available to us. The cloud tools are amazing and so helpful.

Collaboration tools are free or very cost effective. They just plain work. The ROI can be huge.

Collaboration tools, in the cloud, can be deployed quickly. Measured in minutes, hours or a few days of effort.

So …

Why aren’t we collaborating more?

But regardless of who ultimately controls the budget for cloud applications, the technology is simply the means to an end, Vellmure notes. “The key to this is recognizing that cloud technology is simply a more easily deployable enabler of collaboration and communication,” he comments. “It’s more agile. However, the fundamentals of corporate culture, strategy, incentives, innovation are the true drivers of success.

via Collaborating in the Cloud.

Did we pay attention to our culture? If the tool won’t enable collaboration easily, it is probably a culture and strategy issue.

Is where you are going strategically clear enough for everyone?

Tags

Goal, SMART Goal, Strategy

SMART goals are specific. Does your goal sound too general? It is probably not a SMART goal yet.

The aim is for something very clear and absolutely unambiguous. SMART goals are stripped of vagaries, platitudes and jargon.

They must tell a team exactly what is expected, why is it important to your customers, who’s involved, where is it going to happen and what experiences are important to the customer.

What are SMART goals?

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable

R = Relevant

T = Time Bound

A specific goal will usually answer the five “W” questions:

1. What: What do I want to accomplish?
2. Why: What are the specific reasons, purpose or benefits to the customer of accomplishing the goal?
3. Who: What customers will be involved?
4. Where: Where is the location? Digital? Physical? Both?
5. Which: What are requirements and constraints?

It is important to be specific. For example, your goal may be to grow your business. That is pretty general. It would be more specific to say you want to acquire 3 new clients for your business. Or you might say you want to increase revenue from X to Y. A digital approach might to increase revenue from online sales from X to Y.

Being specific brings greater clarity in know what is to be accomplished. Clarity is the key. When you are building a digital business, as a leader, the more specific you can be about your goal, the better. It isn’t a goal to say we need to have a great presence on Facebook. What is the outcome you want on Facebook? Likes? Driving people to your content? Do you want customers to take some kind of action? What are the outcomes that your customers want? What does that experience look like?

In any kind of business, we can’t do everything. Resources are very limited and constrained. Getting specific with our goals creates great focus and great experiences for our customers.

Here are the key ideas:

1. Create goals that are very, very specific
2. Think through the digital outcome that will amaze your customers
3. Focus the outcome on your customers goals

 

Why SMART goals come before strategy

Tags

Measurable, Relevant, SMART Goal, Strategy

Goals are very important to the digital executive. They provide the direction on where to go and it is not just anywhere. It is to somewhere specific. It is measurable. It is fixed in time. If you want something that isn’t measureable, create a mission statement or think up your vision. Goals should be concrete.

Goals come before strategy. Strategy focuses on how to reach the goal. On their own, strategy absent a goal, is useless. We love to be “strategic” but forget to think out where we are really going. It makes a difference.

The best example of great goals is the SMART goal concept. SMART is an acronym, which over the years, has stood for different words. The most common now are:

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable

R = Relevant

T = Time Bound

Creating SMART goals gives the digital executive a level of credibility that those who do not use this type of process never achieve. There is nothing fun about floundering around. Creating goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound has a huge payoff for everyone. It creates a sense that we know what is expected of us.

Most of us want to know where we are going and why are we going there. SMART goals create that sense of direction that is so important for our daily work. SMART goals give us “the why” of our daily work. Without SMART goals, we will wander around aimlessly with no sense of purpose.

We all need to be involved in coming up with SMART goals. The digital executive focuses time and energy in managing the process. That is true leadership to give direction. Beyond the executive thought, there are times any of us can lead if our direction isn’t clear. In those cases, this framework becomes pivotal.

SMART goals can be created at any level of the organization. They may start at a corporate level or not. Even in the absence of clear corporate goals, we all can create them and use them as a way to gain commitment of the next level up or down. When the SMART goal is written down, it creates agreement or disagreement. Either of these is helpful. Always, visually, keeping at the top of what we do, helps create that type of commitment.

Here are the key ideas:

1. Write the goal down and make sure it is clear.
2. Use the goal to gain agreement and commitment.
3. In addition to being specific, make sure they measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound.

Waiting for the right time? Don’t wait. The time will never be just right. Finish it up today!

Tags

Action, Strategy, To Do, Today

To Do List

Waiting …

Waiting some more ….

Will the time be right today?

Who knows for sure. Let’s get it done today. Let’s finish it up and hand it in. Waiting for the time to be right is a perverse form of procrastination. It’s not that we haven’t done anything. We are just waiting for the right time to “be perfect”.

Give it up and get it done. Today!

Waiting for the right time? Don’t wait. The time will never be just right. Finish it up today!

7 strategies CIOs are using to drive digital transformation

Tags

CIO, CMO, Digital Transformation, HBR, Leadership, Strategy, Trust

Companies that embrace new digital skills and technologies are more likely to experience higher profits and revenue growth, according to new research by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services. They are also likely to have a CIO taking a leadership stance in digital transformation.

The research revealed the top seven strategies of CIOs within companies that HBR called “Digital Leaders,” organizations strong in both digital leadership and management.

Source: Infographic: 7 strategies CIOs are using to drive digital transformation | The Enterprisers Project

How great Nonprofit leaders inspire action for donor engagement

Tags

Donor, Goal, How, Nonprofit, Strategy, What, Why

Golden Circle – Why, How and What

Why is important. It is in fact the starting point. Without it, our nonprofit, is just another commodity. Plenty of nonprofits do what we do. Some do it how we do it. It will be rare that any can beat us at the why.

Nonprofits typically do have a mission and a mission statement. Is that really why you do what you do? Is it clear in human terms and not focused on “nonprofit speak”? Is expressed in personal terms that inspire action?

In looking at many nonprofit mission statements many of them are really more focused on what we do as opposed to why we do it. Donors will see it for what it is. Donors connect with real human stories about why we do what we do.

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question “Why?” His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers … (Filmed at TEDxPugetSound.)

How do you explain when things don’t go as we assume? Or better, how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the assumptions? For example: Why is Apple so innovative? Year after year, after year, after year, they’re more innovative than all their competition. And yet, they’re just a computer company. They’re just like everyone else. They have the same access to the same talent, the same agencies, the same consultants, the same media. Then why is it that they seem to have something different? Why is it that Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement? He wasn’t the only man who suffered in a pre-civil rights America, and he certainly wasn’t the only great orator of the day. Why him? And why is it that the Wright brothers were able to figure out controlled, powered man flight when there were certainly other teams who were better qualified, better funded … and they didn’t achieve powered man flight, and the Wright brothers beat them to it. There’s something else at play here.

Why? How? What? This little idea explains why some organizations and some leaders are able to inspire where others aren’t. Let me define the terms really quickly. Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do, 100 percent. Some know how they do it, whether you call it your differentiated value proposition or your proprietary process or your USP.

But very, very few people or organizations know why they do what they do. And by “why” I don’t mean “to make a profit.” That’s a result. It’s always a result. By “why,” I mean: What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?

Well, as a result, the way we think, the way we act, the way we communicate is from the outside in. It’s obvious. We go from the clearest thing to the fuzziest thing. But the inspired leaders and the inspired organizations –regardless of their size, regardless of their industry – all think, act and communicate from the inside out.

What is the right planning approach for the digital executive?

Tags

Execution, Goal, Plan, Strategy

Having an approach or a framework for the work of the digital executive is very important. Being passionate about our customers is great but a scattered approach will not get the kind of traction we need long term.  I am suggesting a framework that I have seen, over the years, that works for many of us. If this isn’t the approach that works for you, I do suggest finding one that does. The approach is to organize and execute around the following:

1. Goals, strategies and execution
2. People
3. Process
4. Technology

It is natural to want to leap to one or another of these and focus there to the exclusion of some other important issues. Some people want to focus on the technology. But technology may be the wrong issue if the goals and strategies aren’t clear. You might have a great strategy. Does the strategy require change? Have you addressed the change management issues that people are having with the strategy? If not, no strategy alone will overcome change management issues that people have with what you want to do.

There is a sequence to all of this. The best results come from starting with clear goals and strategies. People come next. Processes come after that. Technology, while very important, comes after we have planned for the preceding three focus areas.

I am advocating for a holistic and unified approach. Moving from the flavor of the day to the next creates a level of frustration that is hard to overcome.  It is impossible to organize and execute around priorities if at least these four focus areas aren’t somehow in alignment. In our gut, we know that alignment is important. Alignment creates momentum that is impossible to stop or overcome.

Here are the key ideas:

1. Use a framework like strategy, people, process and technology.
2. Create alignment through a holistic approach.
3. Start with clear goals and strategies.

 

 

What is the CIO Strategy for the “Age of the Customer”

Tags

CIO, Customer Experience, Strategy

Customer Obsession

If you are a technology leader, you need a strategy for digital transformation. As more executives obsess over the customer experience, you need to lead and have a seat at the table. Without it, the handwriting is on the wall in terms of long term success.

“The digital heat wave isn’t a mirage. Companies and their IT organizations must begin to meet with external customers and adapt agile processes as we talked about in part one of this series. In concert with external customer engagement and agile processes, IT organizations must implement IT Business Partner or BRM programs to ensure investment roadmaps drive digital customer solutions and company strategy. And finally, IT leaders must help the c-suite by teaching them to treat the IT function just like every other business function. Collaboration between the C-suite and IT, especially linking strategy and IT, are absolute requirements in the Age of the Customer. There is much to be done and great opportunities to drive revenue. Good luck on adapting to the digital heat wave. Your company is counting on you as a leader to make the transitions happen.”

Source: CIO Strategy for the “Age of the Customer,” Part Two

What is our strategy for customer experience continuous improvement? – Customer experience excellence requires an approach that focuses on continuous improvement. This starts with a strategy that supports a goal to improve the customer experience from X to Y. All great strategy focuses on measurable goals. Knowing the goal is the key. Having established a goal with supporting strategies, helps us ensure several questions can […]

Why do you need a marketing technology strategy? – There is a whole lot of marketing technology in the market place. It would not be surprising to find that you are overwhelmed and over extended by it all. What are your marketing technology goals? Do you have strategies that support the goals? Are your people capable of implementing the strategy or are they overwhelmed […]

Fortium Partners – Customer Experience Assessment, Strategy and Roadmap – Fortium Partners, in response to and in anticipation of our clients’ needs in a world where the customer experience has become a critical business function, has developed a comprehensive Customer Experience Assessment and Roadmap program available immediately to Fortium clients.   The changing nature of relationship management Traditionally, the fundamental focus of the Enterprise has been to […]

Why goals, strategies, planning and execution are important to digital transformation

Tags

Digital Transformation, Execution, Goal, Planning, Strategy

Knowing where you are going, how you’re going to get there and being focused on execution is a key driver for the digital executive who is focused on customers. It is not enough to be obsessed and passionate if you don’t get anything done. Ideas are great. Results are impressive. Customers don’t care that you are well intentioned if you don’t actually improve the experience for them. They want their goals met not just understood. This is the approach we will suggest to you and follow as well. The approach to use is to organize and execute around strategy, people, process and technology.

To set the overall framework, strategy should not be in isolation of a goal that is measurable. The goal is the destination. The strategy is how you will get there. Too many times we get enamored with the strategy not realizing it is taking us in the wrong direction. The goal should be framed as a “lagging indicator”, measured by a time frame and a specific result. The key question is always about business impact and how we will measure it. While this exercise isn’t always easy, it is essential.

The strategy is the “how we will” reach the goal. The best strategies are leading indicators for how the goal will be achieved. They are not voluminous in nature but focused on a few critical items.

Once we have the goal (lagging indicator) and strategies (leading indicators), scoreboards and dashboards keep us all on track. The visual nature of dashboards and scoreboards is very powerful.

The final key for the digital executive is accountability. Without accountability, the whirlwind of everyday emails and meetings will sap the energy of producing results. Most great plans languish for lack of accountability.

In addition to the approach of strategy, people, process and technology, we need to execute our strategy. This should be done through a detailed program planning approach. If you have enough programs, it moves to portfolio management.

Here are the key ideas:

1. Use an approach that includes strategy, people, process and technology.
2. Create goals (lagging indicators) that are measurable and time limited.
3. Create strategies (leading indicators) that produce the results you want.
4. Create scoreboards and dashboards to track your leading and lagging indicators.
5. Create accountability for achieving goals and strategies.
6. Utilize a detailed planning and execution system for all of this.

Have we reached a digital tipping point?

Tags

Accountablility, Budget, Digital Business, People, Process, Strategy

Business Strategy

Is it about our digital budget or is it about having the right strategy, people and processes in place. It may not be “either/or” but it is clear that budget alone won’t get us there.

We need excellent strategies executive by outstanding people. That will with the way.

This year’s survey asked respondents how their companies spend on digital and organize their digital work, as well as the goals, challenges, and best practices they see across these initiatives. Many respondents agree that their companies’ digital programs are growth oriented, that future spending on digital will increase, and that a large portion of future company growth will be driven by digital efforts. But organizational challenges and a dearth of talent are common, significant hurdles that prevent companies from scaling up their digital efforts or seeing clear returns on their investments. So are limited accountability and a poor understanding of potential value. Less than 40 percent of executives say their companies have accountability measures in place, either through targets, incentives, or “owners” of digital programs, while only 7 percent say their organizations understand the exact value at stake from digital.

via The digital tipping point: McKinsey Global Survey results | McKinsey & Company.

What is the return on the investment in the stunning for the donor experience?

Tags

Donor Experience, Innovation, Passion, Strategy, Stunning

Online Donor Experience

There comes a time where we have to make a decision. What will we invest in to make the donor experience stunning? It is a serious question and not a budget exercise. If we are going to be intentional and proactive, we need to make an investment. At first that may be just our time as a nonprofit executive. Eventually it will be about people, our processes, our strategies and our technology. If we don’t become intentional in our approach to our digital donor experiences we will continue to be haphazard in our approach; reacting, responding, solving toxic experiences in real time. This intention however must be about heartfelt experiences. It must create a passion from our donors for our mission as a digital nonprofit.

There is of course, a very real cost to reacting. Scrutinize your budget and you will see that most of our fixed expenses are reactionary. What if we invested in proactive and intentional experiences for our donors, from the heart, up front? Could we radically reduce our reactionary and bloated fixed expenses? In fact, my guess is the reactionary expenses vastly exceed proactive expenses. I know nonprofits that are ramping up their expenses in reactionary engagement and relationships. The good news is that they are succeeding in shifting the negative to neutral or even the positive.

So what is the outcome of taking a negative and balancing it with a positive donor experience? Is it donor engagement or damage control?

So what is the cost and value of neutralizing the negative donor experience? Shouldn’t we start with the amazing?

What is the return on that investment in the stunning?

What is probably most concerning is that most of us are not measuring much of this in terms of the donor experience. And why are we struggling to generate more donations? Now think about that question. Why is our revenue flat? Why are donors not engaged and not renewing their gifts?

Is the experience we are creating wonderfully sharable? If not, what is our investment over the next 3 months going to be in changing that? We must invest in not only a positive experience but an experience that screams out for our donor and clients to share it with everyone they know. That encourages others to join in. It also offsets any negative experiences anyone else has shared. Think about it. We all read the ratings and comments. If there are 100 over the top ones we can ignore the one that is virally negative writing it off to a weirdo.

What is the biggest deal for our donors? Trying to offset the negative experiences or proactively creating amazing ones? Creating amazing ones is everything. That is not an exaggeration. You know, from your own experiences as a donor, that it is true. The cost of reacting is always eclipsed by the upside of the stunning.

Think of what you want. You are a donor. You are the donor who wants something from your nonprofit you are investing in. Are you looking for the ordinary? No, you are looking for an experience, no, the experience.

Any nonprofit that recognizes you, remembers you, and gives you an amazing service experience will win your heart. And it is all about your heart. You will be loyal to them no matter what. That is what we know as relevance. A passion of our heart that transcends anything else. What would the answer be if you asked you donors the following question: Can you imagine the world without (XYZ Nonprofit)? On a scale of 1 to 10, what would your average rating be?

And so, that heartfelt experience is not just a so-so something. That heartfelt, amazing donor experience, is everything. That kind of vision is the father of innovation. Who needs the mother of invention in that kind of world?

You have a number of alternatives before you as a nonprofit executive. Which will you choose? One filter should be which of the experiences will create an emotional connection to your mission. Have you factored that into your decision analysis? You can actually measure the difference in terms of engagement. Does one alternative improve engagement or not? Some level of rigor in measuring the results will help.

There are constraints in terms of investments. Consider small tests with some level of “A-B” spilt analysis. “A-B’ tests are not just for the marketing department.

Here are the key ideas:

1. There is a difference in the mediocre / ho hum donor experience and the stunning. Begin to believe in the amazing. If inspires you it will inspire your donors.
2. Decide you are going to decide. Not seeing you have alternatives can create inertia that can undermine progress.
3. Reacting to donor pain points is a “net zero” game. It stops the bleeding but doesn’t improve your health. You do need to stop the bleeding however. It can’t be ignored.
4. Having stopped the bleeding if you need to, start investing in the stunning. It is one thing to prevent a problem, it is another to improve your wellbeing.
5. In considering your investment in the amazing donor experience, test your alternatives to help make the decision.

5 strategies to consider on what to do about the “shiny, new toy”

Tags

Innovation, Strategy, Trends

Shiny New Toy

There is a shiny, new toy available. It isn’t your toy. What do you do?

You need your own strategy framework for product innovation. It is probably a losers game to always be reacting to someone else. It is imperative that you and your leadership know where you are going, how you are going to get there and have a rigorous continuous improvement process in place.

And whilst we use these to identify specific trends, there’s also one overriding meta-trend that we’re continually struck by: on an absolutely global scale, the quality and quantity of innovation is relentless, fuelled by – and at the same time fuelling – consumers’ insatiable NEWISM.

via trendwatching.com | INNOVATION CELEBRATION.

The “shiny, new toy” isn’t going away. Here are 5 strategies to consider.

1. Focus on and Invest in the Traditional Business
2. Ignore the Innovation — It’s Not Your Business
3. Attack Back — Disrupt the Disruption
4. Adopt the Innovation by Playing Both Games at Once
5. Embrace the Innovation Completely and Scale It Up

Which one is right for you? Consider MIT’s suggested approach based on your motivation to respond and your ability to respond.

 

4 key steps to improve your nonprofit Digital Community Building?

Tags

Digital, Educate, Leadership, Online Communities, Policy, Social Media, Strategy

Social Media

As a digital nonprofit executive, you’ve decided that communities and social media are an important strategy. With so much to do, where do you begin?

Here are four key steps.

1. Create your strategy
2. Engage your leadership
3. Establish a social media policy
4. Educate all staff and volunteers

This is a case where many hands make light work.

When it comes to building community and increasing brand awareness, some organizations hire communications, marketing, and engagement staff to handle these activities. And that makes sense — someone needs to be charged with keeping a close eye on the organization’s community growth.

Jamie Millard and Lori L. Jacobwith also suggest that building awareness for your important work in an increasingly cluttered space can’t be the responsibility of just one person or even a department. When an organization embraces the culture of creating and empowering all staff to become “brand ambassadors,” authentic and exponential growth starts to happen.

More here: Ctrl+Alt+Delete: Rebooting Your Digital Community Building | NTEN.

Why do you need a marketing technology strategy?

Tags

Goals, Marketing, Road Map, Strategy, Technology

There is a whole lot of marketing technology in the market place. It would not be surprising to find that you are overwhelmed and over extended by it all.

What are your marketing technology goals? Do you have strategies that support the goals? Are your people capable of implementing the strategy or are they overwhelmed by it all as well?

It is time to be holistic and to stop chasing the holy grail of shiny new objects.

So … what should we do?

1. Start with clear business goals and then agree on the strategies to reach the goals.
2. Audit and assess your existing technology.
3. Create a road map and plan out your marketing technology strategy.
4. Define the metrics for real results and implement your plan.
5. Remain agile and make course corrections regularly.

During a recent onsite visit in San Francisco, I asked the CMO for a major tech company how many separate marketing technologies her company was using to generate results.

The executive’s response: “I’m not sure.” She checked with some of her staffers, who began ticking off one random solution after another. The end result: no one knew for sure.

The CMO and her team are likely not alone, given the tidal wave of new marketing technology over the last decade. Depending on whom you ask, there are anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 digital solutions currently on the market — everything from marketing automation and retargeting to analytics and testing and personalization.

The executive’s honest answer — and the reaction of her team — raises an interesting question: have we become so inundated with technology, and applied it in such haphazard fashion, that we can no longer keep track of it?

via Why You Need A Marketing Technology Strategy.

Is your nonprofit CRM fund raising system broke or are you lacking a strategy that can be executed?

Tags

CRM, Nonprofit, Strategy

This is definitely worth the read. Tough questions need to asked. Is technology the failure or is it a failure of a ill defined strategy coupled with bad processes that can’t be executed by staff and volunteers?

It is my position it is not about the technology. The technology will do what you want it to do. The question is do you know what you want it to do?

What if your donors have decided not to give anymore? What if you don’t know that and keep spending money hand over fist to renew their gift? Two very bad things come from that. First, you’ve wasted a ton of money. Second, you have irritated a former donor even more than they were before. If you do this enough, you will be swimming in a sea of red ink with lots of detractors in the market place.

The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Start with a great strategy. Invest in your people to execute it. Create stunning business processes that wows you constituents. At the end of the day, it may not matter much about the technology if it can support these other 3 items.

Unfortunately, the Constituent Relationship Management promise has not been nearly as effective as promised. According to some estimates 50% to 70% of CRM initiatives fail to achieve their goals. Correspondingly, fundraising – which relies so heavily on a CRM and historical donor data – is stubbornly stalled. One could argue the weaknesses cited with CRM – namely very little “R” and not a lot of “C” either – apply equally to much of the fundraising done today.

Consider these other parallels:

CRM Fundraising is very good at receiving, but not very good at giving. Look no further than dreadful retention rates as proof. After all, if donors were getting what they came for when they walked in the front door, why do they leave so quickly out the back?

CRM Fundraising asks donors to provide access and information without adequately telling them what they will get in return. How often is gift impact and donor benefit talked about, but clearly (based on industry trends) not consistently or widely delivered?

CRM Fundraising pigeonhole donors based on past actions without informing them how to build a more advantageous profile. CRM and fundraising prompt donors to become more valuable to the charity without promising greater value from the organization.

CRM Fundraising is fairly effective at measuring its successes but provide little information about its failures. We faithfully record when donors respond positively to automated prompting and prodding but have no insight when donors do not respond in the predicted way.

CRM Fundraising is therefore, unable to determine whether failures are the result of faulty assumptions, incorrect information or poor execution.

CRM Fundraising is unable to tell how these “failed” interactions affect the donor relationship. It treats all failures as the same and all failures as neutral, when in fact the equity in the relationship may have been weakened or undermined by a poorly executed communications, “engagement” or service encounter.

The worst case scenario is the last interaction results in the donor’s decision, unbeknownst to the charity, to stop giving. This critical failure – that the charity is oblivious too – will be met with 2 to 3 years of organizational spend against this donor (and all others like them) and a sea of red-ink on the balance sheet.

via Why CRM Fundraising is broken and how to fix it. | Kevin Schulman | LinkedIn.

What is the strategic impact of mobile transformation on business value?

Tags

Business Value, Constellation Research, Mobile, Strategy, Transformation

Mobile Devices

We know how our customers are interacting with is changing and changing fast. We may, however, be underestimating how fast it is really occurring. Constellation Research has some great information to consider. Now is the time to transform our interactions and the customer experience.

It all starts with a strategy that we can begin to execute with speed. Waiting will only make it worse. A lot is at stake here.

The rise of mobile and cloud computing is driving a cultural and technological transformation in which people expect anytime, anywhere access to colleagues, products and services. To react to this transformation, companies have to rethink the tools and business processes they provide to their employees, customers and partners.

Constellation surveyed more than 500 organizations in education, healthcare, high tech, and retail about the state of their mobile computing efforts. The analysis highlighted three major themes that are critical for success in mobile transformation:

• Mobile transformation is top of mind for most organizations. More than 80 percent of organizations recognize the impact of mobile transformation on internal and external stakeholders and have created dedicated teams to work on solutions. Education had the lowest percentage, with 68 percent having dedicated mobile teams in place while high tech organizations led the way with 91 percent.
• Mobile is not a device but an effective way of working. The term “mobile” is not limited just to devices such as phones and tablets. Rather, mobile describes how people work in motion and in short bursts of time. More than 50 percent of respondents reported switching between devices more than six times per day, and traditional desktop computers are only used one-third of the time.
• Mobile provides a starting point for digital transformation. Mobile transformation requires re-thinking and updating existing business processes or introducing new ones. While more than 80 percent of organizations polled have performed basic updates to their Internet and Intranet sites, less than 50 percent have changed an actual business process.

via The Strategic Impact of Mobile Transformation on Business Value | Constellation Research Inc..

It’s Like Facebook For Work. Wait It Is Facebook For Work

Tags

Collaboration, Facebook, People, Strategy

Facebook Logo

Is there anything Facebook won’t get into? Well, here they go into the business market. I remember when Yammer upgraded their experience to give it a “Facebook like” interface. It really took off and Microsoft bought them.

Collaboration is huge. Business needs to focus more on the power it can create when used strategically to enable our people. Always good to see another tool to help.

Overall, I support Facebook entering the business market. They have a product already used by a billion plus people at home, certainly some percentage of those people will be happy also using it for work. I think they chose the right name, “At Work” versus something like “Facebook for the Enterprise”, as I don’t predict any large organizations will adopt this. There are just too many other choices for them that are better suited to meet the needs or large companies.  However, the millions of small businesses that don’t have IT departments and may already be using Facebook as part of their marketing efforts may be quite happy using Facebook for secure employee collaboration.

My advice to Facebook, spend 2015 partnering with large enterprise software vendors so that you can announce integrations that prove the validity of Facebook at Work as a platform people can really use to get their jobs done.

via It’s Like Facebook For Work. Wait It Is Facebook For Work | Constellation Research Inc..

Would you make a billion dollar investment in mobile technology?

Tags

Analytics, Encryption, IBM, Mobile, Strategy

Put your money where your mouth is!

Mobile technology is exploding. If you were CEO of IBM, would you believe in it so much that you would invest $1,000,000,000 in the underlying technology to drive it’s future?

It is one thing to say “think mobile first”. It is quite another to invest one billion dollars. Now that is putting your money where your mouth is.

IBM is introducing a new mainframe in a bet that clients will need its souped-up speed and security to handle a surge in consumers using smartphones for everything from banking to checking health-care records.

The z13 system can encrypt and analyze data in real time and process 30,000 transactions a second, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM:US) announced today. That means faster and safer transactions for consumers on mobile phones. The system is the result of five years of development and a more than $1 billion investment, said Donna Dillenberger, an IBM distinguished engineer who helped develop the machine.

via IBM Debuts New Mainframe in a $1 Billion Bet on Mobile – Businessweek.