The Danger of Good Ideas

Every once in a while, I'm brought up short and reminded of key strategy execution and change management "basics."  Yesterday was such a day. I led a large meeting with much presentation and some discussion.  In general, the mood was good and post-meeting comments were positive.

Then I got "the email."  This is the note (not addressed directly to me but sent to a senior associate) that questioned much of what we were doing. The note was respectful, thoughtful, and included many positive comments and sincere suggestions.  In short, it was the most dangerous kind of message.

Thoughtful messages with good suggestions are hard to simply reject. They require a response. In fact, many of the ideas require careful consideration.   That's where the danger creeps in.

It is most difficult to differentiate between a good suggestion in support of the vision of an initiative and a good suggestion that leads the effort astray. The differences are subtle.  In these cases, one must revert to the vision clarity documents created at the beginning of the initiative (you did create them, didn't you?) and "draw the straight line" from where you are today to the end goals.  If the suggestion is fully aligned with the goal, it may well be worth pursuing. If it is not - it must be rejected.

You must also decide what to do with the person who presented the good idea. Is this someone who truly believes and agrees with the direction and goals of the initiative and just looking for a different way to get there?  That person is a "keeper."  Or is this a person who, at core, really thinks that the direction is "okay," but could be better if it were tweaked just a little bit? That person is a danger and must be addressed very directly. 

This is very, very typical in strategy execution. There are several common metaphors. The reason the metaphors are so common is because the situation they describe happen so frequently:  "It's like herding cats" or "If this person isn't on the bus, she needs to be off (or under) it."  These metaphors describe the challenges of keeping people aligned and focused on the stated goals.  

There's another concept that Steve Jobs wrote about and I believe completely: You need the strength of conviction to say "no" over and over again.  It's not the bad ideas that hurt you – they're easy to reject.  It's the good ideas that can kill you – modify your scope, change your focus, get you off course.  It's also called "death by a thousand cuts."  No one small adjustment kills – but a thousand little ones do.

Our job in strategy execution and change management is to say "thanks, but no" - and keep moving in the direction we've defined.

2 Bad Experiences and a Question

Quick hits as we get to the end of a busy and eventful year.

Gogo and Delta: Two terrible customer service experiences in one day

Terrible experience #1:  Gogo is a (potentially) great new service, if you haven't had the chance to try it.  Wifi in flight, allowing access to everything Internet: email, web, company portals.  But this week's experiences really have me wondering.  (Hmm, how do I do share this quickly?).

Try this:  Gogo sells its service.  People who need it, buy it.  Like me.  This month, in conjunction with Google to promote Chrome, Google's browser, Gogo is giving away the service free.  All month.  

Guess what.  That means customers who have paid for the service can't use it.  Limited bandwidth; shortened sessions.  Even worse - so overloaded, you can't even get on line.  Imagine how that makes a paying customer feel.  So, time that I expected to use productively got wasted.  Risked deadlines, delayed communications with important customers.  Great execution, guys (please, don't miss the sarcasm).

Terrible experience #2:  This one borders on unethical and perhaps even illegal.  Late last evening, I got on Delta.com to book a flight New Year's weekend.  I searched on the site and found a $169 r/t fare.  Great!  I enter in my daughter's information (I was already logged in), hit enter, put in payment information (it was quick, as my credit card is stored on the site), hit enter and - Presto! - No, not booked tickets.  A message from Delta that, in the three minutes since I searched and selected the flights, the fare had changed from $169 to $285 per ticket (what!?!?!).  Yep, over $100 increase while I was in the middle of booking and after Delta had shown me that the fare was available.  Of course, I discarded those tickets and started again.  Guess what?  THE SAME THING HAPPENED TWO MORE TIMES!  Found a fare (they kept inching higher and higher), went to book it, and - Whammo!  What a scam.  What terrible customer service!

No, I don't cut them any slack for "limited capacity."  Ticketmaster has figured it out.  Ticketmaster has a clock in the lower corner of the page.  Finish this page in x minutes or lose the seat.  It goes, different times on  each page as the transaction progresses, until the tickets are bought.  Don't tell me Delta couldn't do the same thing and protect the integrity of its searches, its ticket prices, and its reputation.  

No, I'm afraid we are seeing more and more of the companies who think they are too (pick one:) big/smart/innovative/exciting/important to fail.  I wonder what history will say about that.

The Observation...

...has nothing to do with bad customer service, but the recent deal to extend unemployment benefits.  I'm all for protecting and taking care of each other - really.  I'm pretty darn liberal that way.  But, can't we ask people to do something for the money?  So, there aren't jobs in private industry right now.  Aren't there things that people could do to help?  Can't there be programs established so the money doesn't just go for nothing?  Who knows, maybe some people would look a little harder for work if even unemployment benefits came with working hours requirements.  Isn't that what created the WPA?

Blogger's Block

It happens to the best of us - and it certainly has happened to me. Blogger's Block - that state when it is impossible to find something to write. Interestingly, Blogger's Block is like a lot of other blocks - if you attack it when it first appears, it's pretty easy to knock down and get past. But if you delay, put it off, avoid - guess what happens? That block gets bigger and more intimidating. Next thing you know, it's overwhelming. Weeks go by. No blog gets written. And there's a chance that the block will become permanent.

Yes, this story has parallels in the world of Strategy Execution. (Now, there's a surprise). When working to accomplish your goals, it is inevitable that hurdles will emerge - unexpected, real, significant and challenging. And, just like with Blogger's Block, those hurdles need to be attacked and overcome. They won't go away on their own and, if you don't knock them down, they will keep you from reaching your true goals.

Blogger's Block - attacked and conquered. At least for today... Stay tuned.