Posts

Showing posts from September, 2009

LISTENING: THE FORGOTTEN BUSINESS SKILL

More and more we are busy, very busy. As a consequence we read and write quickly and superficially, because it seems that we are always in a hurry. When we have meetings with other people, we are also in a rush. We have difficulty in concentrating and paying attention to what the other person in trying to say. Our minds are thinking about the past (what happened before this meeting) and thinking about the future (what do we want the outcome to be of this meeting or even preparing for the next meeting). We are rarely in the now with our attention. Proper listening is an art. When we really master this art we can establish lasting relationships and faster achieve results. Why is this the case? The consequence of inappropriate listening is a lot of miscommunication, which consumes (a lot) more time and energy. So, what are some rules for proper listening? ·       Be open and receptive Questions prepared mentally before they are asked will disrupt the flow and not follow the intere

HOW TO ORGANIZE AN INTERNAL INNOVATION TEAM?

More and more organizations are becoming convinced that innovation is no longer a nuisance, but that it is the only way out of the misery. Once you have taken the decision the next step is to think about how you are going to organize that activity (if you haven’t done that already). There are four keys to organizing innovation: the driver This person is acting as an intrapreneur (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrapreneurship ). In addition to this (s)he should have quite a broad experience and background. And he should be able to act as a detached observer. This is necessary to make sure that his perspective is open and not biased. the sponsor This is the decision maker, who is a member of the Board. He should be the man who can assign budgets and resources. He is an active evangelist of the innovation itself. He should make sure that no operational priorities impact the progress of the project(s). the space Innovation can only become a success when there is no oper

(UN)PROFESSIONAL SERVICE IMPACTS YOUR BRAND

Last week my Internet connection was not working, so I called the helpdesk of my ISP (internet service provider).  This ISP has a brand image of providing high quality services and they are #1 in customer satisfaction survey for many years. When I called they already had a message recorded which said that due to maintenance problems some of the servers were not working. It also said that the waiting time in the queue is 12 minutes. So, I was happy that it was at least a known problem. After 25 minutes I finally got through and the person checked my zip code and could see that I was also impacted. Well, it is always nice that they confirm what you already experienced… Then he said that he would send a request to the telecoms department to put me on another server. My problem should be fixed within 1,5 hours, al least that was his guess. After 1,5 hours I tried again, but no Internet connection. I waited and tried again and again, but no results. This experience did no good for my custo

INNOVATION AND CONTINUOUS LEARNING ARE INSEPARABLE

The enormous amount of change requires an almost equal speed in learning. Changes are in so many areas like new technologies, new government guidelines, global markets or social media/networking. Also it is crucial to not only check your competition and your customers, but also noncustomers (if you are interested in creating blue oceans…). Fortunately there is so much knowledge available on or via the internet. However you need time as well as a willingness to learn! Most executives are so busy that they don't plan any 'learning time'. Firefighting keeps them away from working on the business. Somewhere there is an inner voice which says “you should learn ..” but that voice rarely wins. To silence that voice some buy books.  I have been in many rooms of senior manager and they all have a bookcase in it. But most of these books are not read........ Maybe they might even think that they don’t need to learn, as they are already up to date. Well that might be true f