Tips and Articles

Karen,

I enjoyed your newsletter on being a control freak*.  Would you consider doing one on perfectionists (of which I am one) and needing to let go of things at a certain point?

Barb, PA

Do you also like to listen to business information? Karen Jett, RedKnight’s Internal Brand Specialist, was interviewed by Kirsten Balzer-Miniscalco of Rubin, Glickman, Steinberg & Gifford on  the Legally Speaking show.

During the radio show, Kirsten and Karen chat about the importance of a company developing and using a brand definition. The brand is made up of 4 elements: the vision, mission, values, and company belief systems (referred to as operating guidelines during the interview).

Consultants, myself included, tend to ask potential clients “What’s not going well? Where are you feeling the pain?” We do this to help the potential client see their need for our services because we understand that a person is more likely to spend money to fix something that is broken and causing pain.

Today, I challenge you to answer a different question.

Many years ago I worked for a not-for-profit organization that had many inefficient processes. One of my responsibilities was to improve those processes and procedures so I spent a great deal of my time shadowing employees. As they performed their jobs, I kept asking: “Why do you do it that way?” and the answer I consistently received was: “Because we’ve always done it that way.”

Jane (not her real name), Executive Director of a small family therapy center, needed to hire psychiatrists in order for the center to become licensed. But, the psychiatrists kept quitting – sometimes faster than she could hire them.

In her words: “This is hopeless. We’ll never be able to keep psychiatrists on staff!”

Sometimes my best insights come from hearing something I already know stated slightly differently by someone new. I had one of those moments this morning.

While reading Peak by Chip Conley I came across a simple innocuous sentence:

Can you remember a time that you were extraordinarily productive and moved quickly towards your goals? How about a time when you had trouble accomplishing even daily tasks and long-term goals lay stagnant awaiting your attention?

What was it that differentiated these two times?

According to Edgar H. Schein in his book Humble Inquiry culture has two levels: espoused values and tacit assumptions. Before we talk about them, let’s define what he means. The espoused values are the values that we list in our corporate values. These are things like trust and team building.

Tacit assumptions, however, are deeper; so deep, in fact, that we rarely talk about them or even think about them. At one time, tacit assumptions may have been values. Then, over time, they became so taken for granted, that we stopped talking about them. This doesn’t mean that they went away, merely that they became semi-invisible. By this I mean that we live by them and believe in them at a deep level. However, we are not consciously aware that we are doing so.

Unfortunately, because they are at an unconscious level, our tacit assumptions frequently cause problems for us. These issues frequently manifest as difficulties following our espoused core values.

According to Malcolm Gladwell, there are two different types of risk: Operational and Social.

The 2007 sub-prime mortgage debacle is a good example of operational risk-taking. Banks strayed from their core competencies – an operational risk. And they went for the big return without respecting the possible consequences – another operational risk. According to Malcolm Gladwell, large companies are more likely to experience operational risk-taking.

Karen,

Someone recently told me that I’m a control-freak. I don’t want to be one. Please help!

Maryann,PA