How To Turn Risk Taking Into A Marketing Asset Again

Forbes

CMO Network #GettingBuzz

1/21/2017 @ 11:45AM

Avi Dan , CONTRIBUTOR

The collapse of Lehman Bros. in 2008 and the ensuing financial crisis is seared into the psyche of companies. It is known as the “Lehman Effect,” and it wrecked self-confidence and tolerance for risk-taking. It has manifested itself in the rise of Finance and Procurement and greater emphasis on efficiencies and cost cutting, often­­ at the expense of marketing investment. Add to this the fact that CMOs are first on the firing line when companies miss their growth goals, and it becomes clear why taking a risk is, well, risky.

Agencies too are risk averse. In some respects, the holding companies that now dominate the communication ecosystem shifted the emphasis on Madison Avenue from inspired virtuosity to financial predictability. Their entire approach is to mitigate risk, even at the cost of blunting creativity.

However, it’s time to consider renewed tolerance for unpredictability. Avoiding risk is not a sustainable strategy because it’s impossible to deliver top-line growth with cuts alone. It’s time to change the risk/reward ratio in a meaningful way by applying a responsible, disciplined risk strategy at the center of the enterprise:

1. Establish a 70/20/10 approach: 70% of the budget is the bread-and-butter marketing activities – undertakings that don’t not require excessive risk-taking. This is the stuff that pays the bills. The next 20% should be applied to quasi-radical innovations, essentially gradual, evolutionary ideas, improving on the 70% bucket, ideas new to the brand or service.The last 10% of the budget should go to experiment with high-risk, high-reward undertakings. It’s the extreme ideas totally new to the marketplace – new ways to inspire the audience that could become tomorrow’s 20% or 70% bucket. It’s the portion of the budget that’s meant to see into the future and, when done right, can pay big dividends by setting you up as a thought leader in your market.

2. Hire the right people: Risk and innovation depend on people almost more than any other activity of the enterprise. Companies should rededicate themselves to hiring people who intuitively understand the discipline of innovation and risk taking. Innovators are inquisitive, passionate, and self-starting. They multi-task and often experiment with multiple approaches. If innovation is the ability to recognize opportunity, then the essence of being an innovator is being able to mobilize talent and resources quickly enough to seize that opportunity and turn it into a business idea.

3. Create a culture of risk: Don’t create an elaborate centralized bureaucracy that would stifle creative energy. A flat, open organization designed around fast decision-making, is more suitable to risk taking and innovation regardless of the reporting hierarchy. Proposals should move quickly through the approval process. Most risk takers are worried that the window of opportunity is closing while their sponsors are still making up their minds, and that sort of thinking will dissipate their creativity. Particularly for big companies, the challenge is to find ways to nourish the activities that give rise to innovation, while at the same time cultivating the ability to move decisively once an opportunity presents itself.

4. Compensation: A critical aspect of being innovative is the ability to negotiate the tension between risk taking and discipline. Innovation is a risky business, and failure is commonplace. Rewarding success is easy, rewarding intelligent failure is more important. People should not be evaluated strictly by results but rather by the quality of their efforts. You’d want people to feel secure enough taking intelligent risks without also jeopardizing their compensation or their careers.

5. Data: Risk and data are not the opposite of each other, they are the two sides of the same coin. This is where many companies falter with marketing, and it’s because they don’t rely on data to perform the necessary analysis and analytical work to measure past ideas. Setting goals with specific benchmarks and iterating based on results from the past is the best way to mitigate risk and differentiate yourself from the competition.

Avi Dan is CEO of Avidan Strategies.

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How to do sales or business meetings in Asia

Business etiquette is hardly something that should stand in the way of a deal. Most deals just close on logical moves, countered by logical responses, offers and a handshake. But that’s not how things work in Asia.
Unlike the Western countries, Asian countries emphasize on etiquette and culture alongside the deal details. One can simply not expect walking in, exchanging smiles, signing the contract and going home. If you want to establish an essential business relationship here, you just need to spend time in a country to understand its people and how they really work.

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How to Manage an Employee with a Bad Attitude

Jeff Toister, CPLP, PHR

Author. Consultant. Trainer. Passionate about customer service.

How to Manage an Employee with a Bad Attitude

February 8, 2017 • 6,577 Likes • 310 Comments
A Customer Service Tip of the Week subscriber recently emailed to ask for my advice on managing an employee with a bad attitude.
She explained that the customer service team she managed had an employee with a bad attitude who was starting to affect the rest of her team. This is a common challenge for customer service leaders, so I’m sharing some tips here.
But first, a short story…

I don’t have a bad attitude!
Years ago, when I was an inexperienced supervisor, I had an employee who had a bad attitude. I called a meeting with her one day to discuss the problem. “I want to discuss your bad attitude,” I said.
She was a veteran employee who was certainly much wiser than I, so she countered, “I don’t have a bad attitude.”
My plan to quickly tackle the issue was foiled! How could I argue with her without solid evidence?

I sought out the counsel of an experienced leader who explained it was important to separate inferences, such as the employee has a bad attitude, from the observable behaviors that led me to that conclusion.

I gave it some thought and realized one solid fact was that no less than five people from other departments had complained about working with this employee! Not only that, but I had a list of observable behaviors that the five people had told me were the cause of their complaints.

I sat down with her again, but this second meeting was very different.
I opened by explaining that I had received complaints from five people that she had a bad attitude and was difficult to work with. I then explained that I didn’t expect her to agree with her colleagues, but that we had to come up with a plan together to ensure that I didn’t receive any additional complaints.

She wasn’t happy, but she also couldn’t dispute the facts. So we put our heads together and came up with some ideas which she then put into action.
Thirty days later, her colleagues had warmed to her considerably. This person would never be the best employee, but she had talent and made solid contributions.

Lesson learned: focus on observable behaviors
A bad attitude is really an inference or judgement we make based on behaviors.
The way to manage an employee with a bad attitude is to skip the judgement entirely and manage the behaviors themselves.

Start by listing some behaviors that you don’t want to see.
I asked the people who complained about the employee I managed to give me some reasons for their complaints. Here are a few examples they shared:
She often skipped daily staff meetings.

When she did attend staff meetings, she usually kept silent or made negative comments.

She rarely smiled and was usually seen scowling.

She didn’t offer to help people from other departments.

She frequently got defensive when people asked her about her work.

Once you have your list, meet with your employee to discuss the behaviors and their impact. Make no mention of inferences such as “bad attitude.” Focus on the facts.

During the meeting, ask for your employee’s cooperation in making a change.

There’s a subtle but important way to approach the last part. As much as you can, convince the employee that you’re on their side. I like to borrow something that works well with customers called The Partner Technique.

You don’t want them to feel as though you are an adversarial boss who is simply nit-picking their work. You want the employee to feel that you are there to help them succeed. Be patient as this can take some time. (Nobody likes to hear they’ve being doing a bad job.)

Got a customer service question I can answer? Contact me. I’m here to help!

Update: February 9, 2017
I heard back from the customer service manager who originally asked me for advice. She tried using the tips outlined in this post and they worked!
A number of people asked, “What about a manager who bullies or has a bad attitude?” That’s a very difficult and very different situation. My recommendation is to check out Catherine Mattice’s excellent book on the subject, Back Off! Your Kick-Ass Guide to Ending Bullying @ Work.

Thanks for all the likes, comments, and shares!

Written by
Jeff Toister, CPLP, PHR

Jeff Toister, CPLP, PHR

Author. Consultant. Trainer. Passionate about customer service.

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Hope is seeing the future; a future we can attain if we keep moving forward and, as needed, adjusting and adapting. A leader’s hopeful outlook enables people to see beyond today’s challenges to tomorrow’s answers.

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Each day that you are delaying an important decision, you are letting go of an opportunity to do things in a different and better way.

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