Last Tuesday I attended a meeting of SWOCC (the Dutch Foundation for Scientific Research in Commercial Communication). During the lectures this afternoon I realized something. We, the people who are running the business, are over-occupied with ourselves. Even when we are conducting consumer research the questions we ask are mostly about ourselves.
·How can WE help you?
·How do you want US to act?
·What should WE tell you?
And although there is a “you” in every question, the questions are only about ourselves. Mary Jo Hatch pointed it out very nicely in her speech. The question to ask is “What’s an issue in your world at the moment?” That should be the starting point from where we should start looking for the ideal solution.
Listen selflessly
Asking real questions and listening selflessly is one of the hardest things in business. Most of the time consumer research is used to find the answers we want to hear. We are looking for evidence that will prove that my idea, product of service is not going to fail. Instead of looking for insights that are going to help create the perfect solution.
It is the legacy of a company that makes it hard to think fresh everytime. We have built all these systems, organizational structures and hired personel. So it is not an option to start over again all the time. Is it?
Re-inventing ourselves continuously
The present time gives us so much more possibilities to re-invent ourselves every day. New companies have the luxury of starting from scratch and make sure they are designed for change. Old companies should make sure they become more flexible in the future. But most of all… Everyone should learn how to really listen selfishly and make our communication and business about what it really should be: fullfilling a customer’s desire or need.
Nice article that points out very clearly that the culture of your organization is a crucial element to the success of your strategy.
Best thing of the article is list of advantages that an effective culture brings to you company:
- Focus on the result of our work
- Reason why you do what you do
- Connecting people multiplying their results instead of just adding them up
- Cohesion between actions over time
- Directions on how to achieve results
I think he is so right about what the problem is: it’s all about focus. If you reward people for shareholder value it is logical that that’s what they are going after. It is the rational thing to do. Only great leaders see beyond the short term results and realize that shareholder value will be even bigger if the focus is totally on the value for the customer.
A friend shared this TED Talk on Facebook today. Halfway watching this video I realized it would be the best TED Talks I had seen in quite some time.
Brene Brown is a great storyteller. Her main message is that the source of a meaningful and happy life lays in the capacity to be vulnerable. This does not only apply to people but also for organisations.
We don’t expect a company to be perfect. We expect them to act responsible! So why hide mistakes or the inability to fullfill certain requests? It makes company more authentic and even more lovable.
What do you think? Can Brene Brown’s theory help organisations develop better strategies?
Senior Marketer @ Telfort | LIKE: movies, D66, running, skiing | QUEST: finding ways to inspire business leaders to build a cause instead of a business
