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Watch out for the pendulum swing
http://www.customerthink.com/blog/watch_out_for_the_pendulum_swing

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Bob Thompson
Founder/CEO
www.customerthink.com

The posting cited is right below this one, but I encourage you to check out Bob’s site.

• The swing from centralized to decentralized
• The swing from insourceing to outsourcing and more recently to crowdsourcing
• The swing from regulation to de-regulation
• The swing from heirachial structures to flat organizational design
• The swing from an industrial focus to knowledge or information focus and more recently the beginning of a swing to what is called the conceptual age (which is a focus on people, their skills, motivations, emotions, etc.)

Such shifts or swings are motivated by a complexity of factors and are meant, I believe, to offer a new emphasis on concepts and actions as opposed to totally replace the old with the new. The challenge is to find and maintain the balance by honouring and preserving the “old” while creating or building the “new.”

It seems that all too often our embrace of the new idea or way of doing business creates a bandwagon effect that results in an “over-trust” in a new direction. I have seen this when teaching students about leadership, for example. The excitement of a model that is new to the student frequently supplants his or her current view of leadership with the new model when the intent should be to reflect on the model and integrate it, where appropriate, with one’s current mindset.

Think about the swing from centralized services to decentralized. On the far left of the diagram above, I represent the centralized concept: decentralized is on the far right. These two extreme perspectives by nature exclude what may be relevant and appropriate from their opposites. In fact, often the two far poles on a pendulum swing exist in opposition to each other and can lead to rigid positions like ”This way is the right way; the other way is wrong.”   Extreme perspectives tend to be closed to opposition or even critical inquiry. Instead of the model becoming a frame to consider, appreciate, and challenge, they become marching orders, intolerant of criticism, and often punitive to those who don’t simply align and obey.

The middle ground, the balanced perspective, represents a mindset that flexes back and forth within the context of the organization or group. For a service delivery approach, in some cases centralized services make sense; in others decentralized. This does not mean extreme perspectives are never valid; I am suggesting that more often than not we should value both in balance in order to craft our way of doing business or acting. Life is too complex and its pace too fast and eratic to value alignment so highly we ignore what is true about every model: they are flawed and incomplete and by nature products of bias.

We can see what happened in the United States with the deregulation of banks and how the full pendulum swing from regulation to de-regulation contributed to the financial miasma that still impacts that nation today.  Clearly more regulations are needed but to swing the pendulum from one pole to the other) is likely not the answer either.

In the non profit sector, we have seen the pendulum swing from process to outcomes, from operational boards to Carver boards and now the risk of swinging over to generative governance models as the answer to how non profits should be governed. In reality most of us know or at least sense that an effective board must balance its work to give due attention to operations, to strategy and policy, as well as make time to have generative discussions about issues or trends that should preface strategy building.

When faced with the realization that a current model is not working or when exposed to an attractive alternative approach, there must be some discipline about reviewing “what is” as well as “exploring what might be.”  Such discipline for an individual is hard enough; for an organization it is much more difficult. In fact, the level of difficulty is, I offer, a major reason why either groups spend forever admiring their problems or jump on a bandwagon and ride the wave of the latest theory or popular model.

In the United States, United Ways swung the pendulum from being a fundraising organizastion to that of being a community builder, so much so, United Way leaders stopped talking about fundraising in public speeches; I heard one leader say that United Way is no longer a fundraiser. No more public fundraising goals were shared like they once were in his city. Somehow that US-based United Way and others like it forgot that one fundamental requirement for community building is money. We can use community building efforts to leverage fundraising of course, but the pendulum swang too far for many of those United Ways.

We see the pendulum swing phenomenon taking place in terms of social media, social enterprise, shared space, social return on investment, and so on. Organizations launch Facebook pages but don’t really know why. Some are gravitating to social enterprise as the promised land for significant new resources when there is little evidence such efforts will produce a profit much less significant new resources. Shared space and services do make sense. They can create efficiencies and lead to better services, but we go too far if we believe all organizations should engage in activities. Sometimes they just don’t make sense, just like mergers are not a one size fits all solution. Social Return on Investment (SROI) is another potential pendulum swing. Is it a bad idea? No, not at all. But in the business of helping people, let’s be careful we don’t assume help in all its complexity can be captured in a set of financial numbers.

So, how might we foster the development of a balanced perspective?

There is no set formula for that either, but drawing on my experience with a good number of stellar organizations, I have observed the following cultural elements that seem to result in moving forward in a balanced way. These include in no particular order:

• A visible commitment to dialogue at all levels in the organization during which ideas can be explored, even wild ones, and solution building is based on the convergence of experience, knowledge, and imagination.  Simple applications of models and focused energy on getting everyone to see things the same way can be risky business. We need boat rockers and resistance as part of our culture and our strategy development.
• We need critical thinking in our organizations, which of course, helps ensure excellent dialogue. Critical thinkers can have passion but they tend to use reason moreso than emotion to guide their decision-making. Yes, they look for evidence but they are careful not to exclude knowledge and evidence because of personal or professional biases. They are concerned with finding the best explanation or solution, regardless of its fit within a model or “our way of doing things.”
• Effective and innovative organizations are driven by principles that reflect who they are and wish to be and how they will work within and with others to continually improve and change to achieve mission and vision. They do so by remaining open to ideas and emerging issues and opportunities, especially those that challenge their current mindset. This calls upon everyone in the organization to ward off  black and white thinking or seeing the organization’s facts as the only facts.
• Organizations with balanced perspectives make time for thinking, discussion, exploring, and pro-typing new ways of doing business. They are disciplined about reflection and seeking innovations, without falling into the trap of believing what they create or innovate is now the final answer.

Balanced perspectives are not passive. They do not represent a kind of stasis where nothing much happens or where risk is averted. People and organizations with a balanced perspective risk falling or failing. They do so because they know there is no one right model or answer for their organization and for the people they serve.

More later.

I am honoured to play a role in advancing the new mission and work of the Bissell Centre, and I am looking forward to working with the board and staff to make a lasting difference in the lives of the people served by the organization.  In addition to collaborating with staff and board on the implementation of  Bissell’s new strategic direction, I will assist the board in its search for a permanent executive director.

As many of you know, I have a strong affection for the inner city and a history of working in the area– as an outreach worker for Boyle Street Community Services when I first moved to Canada and then later as the executive director of Operation Friendship.  Also, as a consultant, I have been fortunate to provide services over the years to numerous organizations that serve inner city residents, such as E4C, Inner City Youth Housing Project, Edmonton Food Bank, as well as Operation Friendship and Bissell Centre.

If you have any questions about my appointment or about my availability over the next seven months, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 780 244 8686 or mark@markholmgren.com

I encourage you to read Brent’s posting on the Cynefin Framework. His context is social media, but his narrative shares his thinking processes as he tries to apply the Cynefin Framework concepts to his consultancy. Worth a look I think.

We talk about what’s really important to us.
Sometimes we jump around in discussions, allow ourselves to meander to tangents that keep us from what the group really needs to discuss and figure out. It is important to find the balance between staying on topic and allowing flexibility in the exchange. What a group talks about should be determined by the group, not just one or two individuals.

We really listen to each other. We see how thoroughly we can understand each other’s views and experience.
Active listening means asking questions and helping others get their ideas out. Too often we are formulating our response to what someone is saying while they are saying it. Bohm would argue our attention on the speaker should include actively seeking the meaning she or he is trying to convey before we speak on the topic we wish to speak on.

We say what’s true for us without making each other wrong.
Diversity is good. We need varying opinions. In fact, learning depends on differing perspectives and constructive criticism and exchange. Positional arguments however tend to focus on who is right and who is wrong. In dialogue we seek to speak out truth while accepting and encouraging the truth of others. My position or belief is what it is. I do not have to convey it AND also make others feel that their truth is wrong.

We see what we can learn together by exploring things together.
Often in discussions we do not stop to ask what the group has learned or gleaned so far. Where are we in the discussion? What, if anything, has changed in our collective thinking so far? Also, the concept of “exploring together” implies an understanding that we are not all starting with answers or the right answers but are open, through inquiry and discussion, to find a better way, a better idea, and a common aspiration of action.

We avoid monopolizing the conversation. We make sure everyone has a chance to speak or contribute.
Some people talk more than others, and sometimes people use their voice to silence others. If diversity of perspective is valued, then hearing the voices of all involved should be encouraged by the group. This requires discipline. The easy talker needs to become more facilitative of the voices of others. The one less inclined to speak has to become more vocal if being heard is valued. As well, finding other ways to exchange ideas can be helpful – through workshopping an idea (using group exercises, sticky notes, etc.) or answering some questions on line.

Imagine if the group could master these five guidelines. The quality, range, and depth of the exchange would increase, more would get done, and it would get done at a good pace.

Culture is not usually identified as something we explicitly craft strategy about. We do that indirectly because any strategy that is about change will challenge the beliefs, norms, and relationships in an organization.  Cultural change in those instances is more a byproduct of strategy than an intentional effort to change who we are, what we believe, or what we stand for.

There are at least two types of cultural strategies to consider. One is all about undertaking deliberate actions to achieve a new or enhanced norm in the organization. The other type is about digging deep to understand the key cultural enablers of the organization and taking explicit actions to preserve, enhance or expand on them.

What are cultural enablers? They are a blend of values, beliefs, and actions so fundamental to the identify of the organization they manifest naturally. They make up the atmosphere the organization breathes.  

One of my clients identified its multi-disciplinary approach as one of its key cultural enablers. Its emergence as a “way of being” was actually tracked through the histogram approach mentioned in the posting below.

Through conversation we could see when and where and how the organizations’s multi-disciplinary approach surfaced first as a challenge, then a proto-typed approach, and then over time became engrained in the organization’s DNA. 

Strategies often change because of environmental shifts, a funder’s change of mind, or a change in government. An organization’s culture is less vulnerable to such shifts; however, in turbulent times understanding our cultural enablers will help to hold us steadfast to who we are and what we stand for, despite strategies that come and go.

Originally Published in our May 2011 e-newsletter.

Histograms are exploratory tools typically used for the graphical display of data or in other words pictures of data. Some of the work I have done lately has involved creating variations of the typical hisotgram that highlight key historical turning points or milestones in an organization’s life.

These histograms will vary from client to client but they tend to unfold in a number of streams:

• The changing mindset of the organization
• Key elements of a changing environment
• Service or programmatic milestones
• Major resource changes

The histogram reveals connections between what the organization was thinking about and struggling with conceptually and the evolution of services,  the emergence of partnerships where none existed before, and the appearance of new funders or increases from current ones. 

We see mindset changes that go on around the organization – for example, a change in government policy which a year or two later results in either increased or decreased funding: depends upon the context. 

Histograms are excellent tools to help foster conversations across all levels of the organization. They work well to help newer staff truly understand that the significance of their organization’s history is not to be found through a series of dates and associated blurbs that we typically find in a PowerPoint presentation.

Rather the meaning of history is gleaned through the conversations that ensue because of the histogram’s display of key milestones and elements of the past. In doing so, not only do people develop a true understanding of their organization over time, but they are provided with the opportunity to celebrate the past while anticipating the future.

Originally published in our May 2011 issue of our e-newsletter.

Business writing is no less a challenge than writing a piece of fiction or an article for a newspaper. In all cases, the writer aspires to write clearly, enhance understanding, inspire action, and lead the reader to a desired conclusion or reaction.

For example, writers of training materials want readers to learn how to do something the right way or the best way or the quickest way. The goal (i.e. the conclusion) is that the trainee will be able to perform the function or tasks that the training materials were created for in the first place.  The wrong words, bad organization, or incomplete messaging will result in poor training.

Writing marketing and communications copy for a website involves a similar process. The writer wants to inform people about the business, articulate the benefits of a product or service, aptly describe the problem that a product can remedy, and lead the reader to a desired conclusion, which in this example is to purchase the product or service or at least inquire about things further.

If you are trying to move people along a sales process, your writing should focus on what it will take to move a prospect from one stage to another in the process. For instance, if the way you close a sale is through face to face contact with a consumer, your writing on your website would best focus on getting your prospect to call and request such contact.

The goal at this stage is not to sell as much as it is to move the prospect into a situation where closing can take place. Does that sound a tad like manipulation? Perhaps. But that would be a negative spin on what I believe is a sound and responsible communications process.

People need a reason to act. In this case, that action is to call and ask to meet with a sales person or account executive. They need to know enough about the product and service to motivate them to want such a meeting. Giving them the information they require to make that decision (i.e. to call or not to call) is responsible writing – as long as what you communicating is truthful and real.

You can be promotional. You can write with a bias that favors your product or service. Everyone expects that. In fact, most people won’t buy things based on dry facts and figures alone. If you are not enthusiastic about what you are pitching, why should they be? Remember, people buy more than the product. They buy image and identity. They purchase recognition and esteem. They want products that work well but that also make them feel good or satisfied.

In the long run misrepresenting a product, over promising benefits, or just plain being deceitful will harm your sales efforts. You don’t just want a customer. You want a happy, content customer, not someone who goes home with a product or a promise that just doesn’t live up to their expectations

Over the years, I have written copy for brochures, reports, radio, television, training films, websites, and a host of other marketing collateral. Here is what I have learned – my ten principles of writing to inspire action.

1. Understand the target audience
   Can you describe them by age range, gender, income status, political persuasion, areas of interest, or a combination thereof? If you are writing to a young adult audience you should focus on messaging and words that would likely not work well for a target population of senior citizens.
2. Understand what you are writing about
   Don’t write anything until you fully understand the product or service you are writing about. Figure out what the benefits are. Determine what makes the product or service unique or at least different from others. Is it quality? Is it price? Is it the customer service behind the product or service? Is it status? Is it distinct features? Understanding what you are writing about and then identifying how to differentiate it from the products or services of competitors is key.
3. Identify key messages
   Once you accomplish number two, take the time to identify your key messages.  If the product has a slogan, work with it to build complementary messages in your narrative. For example, when I headed up the educational programs at DevStudios International, our main slogan was real world education. A secondary slogan was Learn. Grow. Succeed. Each slogan could stand alone, but together they worked even better and provided a great touchstone for writing our promotional materials.
4. Organize yourself
   You need an opening paragraph that introduces your product and its key benefits or features, but you need to do so in a manner that conveys confidence, excitement, and the desire to read on. What follows is the body of your copy. Here you can spend time elaborating further on benefits, describing the guarantee, and pitching a promotion or a free offer. At some point it is important that you link the product to the image and identity of your business and the quality of service you provide post sale. The order of all of this is more of an art than a science.
5. Create momentum
   All of the above should create momentum towards the desired action. If writing for the web, do you want the reader to download something, sign up for a newsletter, request a product demo, phone you, or actually place an on line order.  Create a sense of urgency using words and phrases like “Call now”; “Sign up now”; “Pick up the phone and call us.” You can set up urgency by offering time-limited offers or discounts.
6. Create a powerful headline
   I usually wait to pen a headline for my article or promotional piece until after I am done with the writing. Others identify the headline first as a guide for what they write. There is no one way. Do what works for you. However you do it, the headline has to grab the reader.
7. Use paragraph headlines
   Consider using paragraph headlines throughout your piece or in key sections like I have done with this list. Doing so identifies themes for the reader that are easy to spot. It is unlikely people will read everything. Make it easy for them to see your various topics so they can hone in on what might twig their interest. Notice that the headlines used here are calls to action. “Create momentum” is better than “Momentum.”
8. Use the right graphics or photographs
   Include a photograph of the product – preferably being used by someone – or a graphic of your logo. If a diagram makes sense, have one professionally produced. Don’t harm your great writing by including amateurish looking images.
9. Review, review, review
   Spelling errors, convoluted sentence structure, confusing jargon, wrong punctuation, misused words, and incomplete expressions are among the common mistakes made by writers. To check your writing, read it out loud. Does it flow well when you hear it?  Is everything easy to understand? Do you stumble over long sentences or words? The best writing involves rewriting. If you are a bad speller, have someone who is a good editor check your work. Don’t rely on your spell checker. I once produced a draft report for a client that provides services to the deaf. In the draft, I referred to the agency’s services to the dead. Thank goodness the document was aptly proofed before going to press!
10. Include your contact information
    Don’t bury it somewhere. Make it noticeable, and give people many contact options, such as local phone number, your 1-800 number, email addresses, or even your MSN address. To make it easy, provide them with a form they can fill out and write their message in.

There you have it – my ten principles. Is this all it takes? No, of course not. Writing well involves more than adhering to this guide. It takes practice and patience. If you don’t have the time for that or if you just know that writing is not one of your strengths, then you might be better offer hiring a writer. But even if you do, these ten principles will help you articulate what you want from him or her.