All we hear is that the economy is in park, that companies are bleeding and things are bad. But for leaders that know how to hold themselves accountable, things are so bad. What is business performance and why is it so important?
Business Performance is a set of management and analytic processes that enable the performance of an organization to be managed with a view to achieving one or more pre-selected goals. What do leaders need to do to achieve their business performance?
1. Select the right goals. We call these ‘realistic stretch’ goals
2. Manage a consolidated scorecard of metrics against these goals
3. Have leaders coach, intervene and help the team improve future performance against these goals or take action
So who were some of the winners in the first quarter of 2010?
Apple
Amid an ongoing recession that has dimmed prospects for consumer companies, Apple said that it saw record revenue and profit during its fiscal first quarter for the first time in its history. Apple reporting sales of $10.17 billion in Q1, up 6% from the revenue of $9.6 billion Apple recorded during the year-ago quarter. For the quarter, Apple sold 22.7 million iPods, up three percent from year ago. Doesn’t everyone want a product from inventor Steven Jobs? Talk about innovation and relevance!
Coca-Cola
The big red is changing to meet the ever growing needs of their customers with nonalcoholic ready-to-drink beverages and here is the proof. CEO Muhktar Kent said, “Coca-Cola’s worldwide unit case volume growth of 3% in the first quarter, in line with their long-term volume target, and driven by international volume growth of 5%.”The continued power of the global "Open Happiness" campaign combined with the initial roll-out of our FIFA World Cup program and an increased focus on Coke with Meals drove growth in brand Coca-Cola, with unit case volume up 3% in the quarter. Leaders lead. Stay tuned for more innovation from Coca-Cola.
Intel
The company recorded net income of US $2.4 billion for the quarter, an increase of 288 percent compared to the first quarter a year ago. The net income beat estimates of $2.13 billion from analysts. "The investments we're making in leading edge technology are delivering the most compelling product line-up in our history," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO, in a statement. "We're optimistic about our business as Intel products are designed into a variety of new and exciting segments,"
Even the US government got things done in the first quarter with health care bills, nuclear arms treaties and aiding in the Gulf oil spill crisis. If they can do it, you can too.
How are you doing on your business performance? Contact Airlift to talk about how you can achieve your business performance and growth goals.
Please subscribe to our blog or contact Airlift at Shelley Rosen at srosen@airliftideas.com
(01) 312. 492.7772
Monday, May 3, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
What Returning E-mails and Calls have to do with your Corporate Reputation?
As the CEO of your business, you know how important reputation is to your current and future success. Some CEOs go so far as to claim that their brand is EVERYTHING and everything is the BRAND. They spend millions of dollars on advertising and create public relations campaigns to enhance corporate reputation and strengthen connections with customers.
And yet, the investment gets inadvertently undermined when your employees don’t promptly respond to calls or e-mails from customers, suppliers, shareholders and peers.
We all talk about how pervasive this bad behavior has become. As consumers, we question whether or not these organizations have cultures with a bias towards service versus a mentality of “customer as nuisance.” We believe every employee move is in essence a public relations move.
As leaders, there is no excuse for not leading by example and returning calls and replying to e-mails within 24 hours. We need to train and inspire employees to have positive and meaningful customer encounters. You want those calling your organization to tell everyone, “This is a great company that I enjoy doing business with now and in the future.”
Ask yourself a few simple questions to prevent complacency from creeping into your firm:
•When was the last time you called into your own number as a customer?
•How long are customers kept on hold? Do you know? Has it gotten longer or shorter, and why?
•What have you learned from the customer responses? Are you taking action on this?
•Have you reminded employees of company values and how they translate into prompt replies to customers and peers?
The answers to these questions can help your organization design a more user-friendly customer experience that will engender greater brand loyalty and translate into better sales.
At Airlift Ideas, we know how critical culture and service are to a positive customer relationship and strong bottom line. We help leaders remove barriers and implement processes to help employees create and sustain strong relationships with customers and other key stakeholders. We have experience, tools and methodology to enable your employees to become heroes, and profitably differentiate your brand from the competition. For more information on corporate reputation, contact Anna Rozenich, Leadership Communications at arozenich@airliftideas.com.
And yet, the investment gets inadvertently undermined when your employees don’t promptly respond to calls or e-mails from customers, suppliers, shareholders and peers.
We all talk about how pervasive this bad behavior has become. As consumers, we question whether or not these organizations have cultures with a bias towards service versus a mentality of “customer as nuisance.” We believe every employee move is in essence a public relations move.
As leaders, there is no excuse for not leading by example and returning calls and replying to e-mails within 24 hours. We need to train and inspire employees to have positive and meaningful customer encounters. You want those calling your organization to tell everyone, “This is a great company that I enjoy doing business with now and in the future.”
Ask yourself a few simple questions to prevent complacency from creeping into your firm:
•When was the last time you called into your own number as a customer?
•How long are customers kept on hold? Do you know? Has it gotten longer or shorter, and why?
•What have you learned from the customer responses? Are you taking action on this?
•Have you reminded employees of company values and how they translate into prompt replies to customers and peers?
The answers to these questions can help your organization design a more user-friendly customer experience that will engender greater brand loyalty and translate into better sales.
At Airlift Ideas, we know how critical culture and service are to a positive customer relationship and strong bottom line. We help leaders remove barriers and implement processes to help employees create and sustain strong relationships with customers and other key stakeholders. We have experience, tools and methodology to enable your employees to become heroes, and profitably differentiate your brand from the competition. For more information on corporate reputation, contact Anna Rozenich, Leadership Communications at arozenich@airliftideas.com.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Why Change? Why Bother?
Let’s face it. Flat was the new growth in 2009. Leaders sought to hold the line on spending, innovation and growth in the most uncertain economy in our modern times. But it can’t last. Wall Street will demand returns and shareholders will want their value.
One of the greatest challenges of achieving growth is realizing you may need to change. Companies don’t change. People do. Employees know the leadership sets the tone for change. They can tell if you are serious about change or not. We believe articulating an inspiring vision is a key element of any successful culture. So is having a culture where trying to news ideas is accepted.
Is your company set up to allow employees to bring forward new ideas without fear? Probably not.
On one end of the spectrum, leaders may be cautious optimists about growth--where slow and steady wins the day. This mindset can be good for a slow to no growth market segment. However, in market segments with mid to rapid growth, leaders must instill a culture of growth by instilling a culture that is willing to try new ideas.
Here is what can happen when leaders do not dedicate resources to exploring change. We all loved the United States Postal service. Our moms talked to the mail man as though he were our family members. We used to buy and collect stamps, write love letters, send greeting cards and pay our bills once or twice a month, almost in a ritualistic fashion. With the onset of email, on line bill pay, the cost and overhead of the postal worker and the speed of life, Americans have reduced spending on the US Postal Service $7B this year. The projections by year 2010 are to reach $238B. The mere fact the United States Postal Service was not looking at the changing consumer; their behavior and needs, was a sure fire was to become obsolete in 5 years.
Why change? Well, if we don’t we die.
The Core Opportunity: People
The most widespread problem in change management is winning hearts and minds throughout the organization on the importance of change. In a survey conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit, they sited three top three barriers to change:
• Igniting the culture ranked (54% of respondents).
• Lack of buy-in from local management (31% of respondents)
• Active, visible sponsorship from the leadership ( 31% of respondents)
In other words, companies are struggling with a very basic people issues; motivating them to abandon old ways of working for something new. Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter states, “In a typical large change program, it is not a matter of sending out the new organization chart or the new budget or the new strategy with a few projects. It is about changing people’s behavior, often a lot of people, and this is not trivial.”
Look, even we are changing. In the years passed we may have mailed a brochure, taken an airplane to give speech or clipped an article from the newspaper on our clients .Today we are sending e-blasts, using web-ex to present documents to large groups of people and going to social media blogs to find out what consumers are really saying.
The world is changing. Are you ready?
We help create a winning culture of sustainable growth through strategic, inspiring stories. Let’s get growing.
Call Airlift at (01) 312.492.7772 to talk about your growth plans.
One of the greatest challenges of achieving growth is realizing you may need to change. Companies don’t change. People do. Employees know the leadership sets the tone for change. They can tell if you are serious about change or not. We believe articulating an inspiring vision is a key element of any successful culture. So is having a culture where trying to news ideas is accepted.
Is your company set up to allow employees to bring forward new ideas without fear? Probably not.
On one end of the spectrum, leaders may be cautious optimists about growth--where slow and steady wins the day. This mindset can be good for a slow to no growth market segment. However, in market segments with mid to rapid growth, leaders must instill a culture of growth by instilling a culture that is willing to try new ideas.
Here is what can happen when leaders do not dedicate resources to exploring change. We all loved the United States Postal service. Our moms talked to the mail man as though he were our family members. We used to buy and collect stamps, write love letters, send greeting cards and pay our bills once or twice a month, almost in a ritualistic fashion. With the onset of email, on line bill pay, the cost and overhead of the postal worker and the speed of life, Americans have reduced spending on the US Postal Service $7B this year. The projections by year 2010 are to reach $238B. The mere fact the United States Postal Service was not looking at the changing consumer; their behavior and needs, was a sure fire was to become obsolete in 5 years.
Why change? Well, if we don’t we die.
The Core Opportunity: People
The most widespread problem in change management is winning hearts and minds throughout the organization on the importance of change. In a survey conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit, they sited three top three barriers to change:
• Igniting the culture ranked (54% of respondents).
• Lack of buy-in from local management (31% of respondents)
• Active, visible sponsorship from the leadership ( 31% of respondents)
In other words, companies are struggling with a very basic people issues; motivating them to abandon old ways of working for something new. Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter states, “In a typical large change program, it is not a matter of sending out the new organization chart or the new budget or the new strategy with a few projects. It is about changing people’s behavior, often a lot of people, and this is not trivial.”
Look, even we are changing. In the years passed we may have mailed a brochure, taken an airplane to give speech or clipped an article from the newspaper on our clients .Today we are sending e-blasts, using web-ex to present documents to large groups of people and going to social media blogs to find out what consumers are really saying.
The world is changing. Are you ready?
We help create a winning culture of sustainable growth through strategic, inspiring stories. Let’s get growing.
Call Airlift at (01) 312.492.7772 to talk about your growth plans.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Why Change? Why Bother?
Let’s face it. Flat was the new growth in 2009. Leaders sought to hold the line on spending, innovation and growth in the most uncertain economy in our modern times. But it can’t last. Wall Street will demand returns and shareholders will want their value.
One of the greatest challenges of achieving growth is realizing you may need to change. Companies don’t change. People do. Employees know the leadership sets the tone for change. They can tell if you are serious about change or not. We believe articulating an inspiring vision is a key element of any successful culture. So is having a culture where trying to news ideas is accepted.
Is your company set up to allow employees to bring forward new ideas without fear? Probably not.
On one end of the spectrum, leaders may be cautious optimists about growth where slow and steady wins the day. This mindset can be good for a slow to no growth market segment. However, in market segments with mid to rapid growth, leaders must instill a culture of growth by instilling a culture that is willing to try new ideas.
Here is what happens can happen when leaders do not dedicate resources to exploring change. We all loved the United States Postal service. Our moms talked to the mail man as though he were our family members. We used to buy and collect stamps, write love letters, send greeting cards and pay our bills once or twice a month, almost in a ritualistic fashion. With the onset of email, on line bill pay, the cost and overhead of the postal worker and the speed of life, Americas have reduced spending on US Postal Service $7B this year. The projections by year 2010 are to reach $238B. The mere fact the United States Postal Service was not looking at the changing consumer; their behavior and needs, was a sure fire was to become obsolete in 5 years.
Why change? Well, if we don’t we die.
The Core Opportunity: People
The most widespread problem in change management is winning hearts and minds throughout the organization on the importance of change. In a survey conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit, they sited three top three barriers to change:
• Igniting the culture ranked (54% of respondents).
• Lack of buy-in from local management (31% of respondents)
• Active, visible sponsorship from the leadership ( 31% of respondents)
In other words, companies are struggling with a very basic people issues; motivating them to abandon old ways of working for something new. Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter states, “In a typical large change program, it is not a matter of sending out the new organization chart or the new budget or the new strategy with a few projects. It is about changing people’s behavior, often a lot of people, and this is not trivial.”
Look, even we are changing. In the years passed we may have mailed a brochure, taken an airplane to give speech or clipped an article from the newspaper on our clients .Today we are sending e-blasts, using web-ex to present documents to large groups of people and going to social media blogs to find out what consumers are really saying.
The world is changing. Are you ready?
We help create a winning culture of sustainable growth through strategic, inspiring stories. Let’s get growing.
Call Airlift at (01) 312.492.7772 to talk about your growth plans.
One of the greatest challenges of achieving growth is realizing you may need to change. Companies don’t change. People do. Employees know the leadership sets the tone for change. They can tell if you are serious about change or not. We believe articulating an inspiring vision is a key element of any successful culture. So is having a culture where trying to news ideas is accepted.
Is your company set up to allow employees to bring forward new ideas without fear? Probably not.
On one end of the spectrum, leaders may be cautious optimists about growth where slow and steady wins the day. This mindset can be good for a slow to no growth market segment. However, in market segments with mid to rapid growth, leaders must instill a culture of growth by instilling a culture that is willing to try new ideas.
Here is what happens can happen when leaders do not dedicate resources to exploring change. We all loved the United States Postal service. Our moms talked to the mail man as though he were our family members. We used to buy and collect stamps, write love letters, send greeting cards and pay our bills once or twice a month, almost in a ritualistic fashion. With the onset of email, on line bill pay, the cost and overhead of the postal worker and the speed of life, Americas have reduced spending on US Postal Service $7B this year. The projections by year 2010 are to reach $238B. The mere fact the United States Postal Service was not looking at the changing consumer; their behavior and needs, was a sure fire was to become obsolete in 5 years.
Why change? Well, if we don’t we die.
The Core Opportunity: People
The most widespread problem in change management is winning hearts and minds throughout the organization on the importance of change. In a survey conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit, they sited three top three barriers to change:
• Igniting the culture ranked (54% of respondents).
• Lack of buy-in from local management (31% of respondents)
• Active, visible sponsorship from the leadership ( 31% of respondents)
In other words, companies are struggling with a very basic people issues; motivating them to abandon old ways of working for something new. Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter states, “In a typical large change program, it is not a matter of sending out the new organization chart or the new budget or the new strategy with a few projects. It is about changing people’s behavior, often a lot of people, and this is not trivial.”
Look, even we are changing. In the years passed we may have mailed a brochure, taken an airplane to give speech or clipped an article from the newspaper on our clients .Today we are sending e-blasts, using web-ex to present documents to large groups of people and going to social media blogs to find out what consumers are really saying.
The world is changing. Are you ready?
We help create a winning culture of sustainable growth through strategic, inspiring stories. Let’s get growing.
Call Airlift at (01) 312.492.7772 to talk about your growth plans.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Lessons from Tiger & Toyota: When defending corporate reputation and brand, speed is critical to success
Businesses and brands build trust with every action they take and or don’t take. This is especially true when they are beneath the microscope of public scrutiny.
Two events have come together this week that give us reason to reconsider conventional methods of public response to reputational crises – the long-awaited apology by golfer Tiger Woods and the begrudging agreement of Toyota Motor’s President Akio Toyoda to come to the U.S. to testify before Congress.
About 90 days ago, the carefully crafted public image of the world’s greatest golfer began to unravel and spiral downward when revelations of marital infidelity began to surface and were confirmed.
We saw thousands of photos of his wife, children, homes, fellow golfers, countless women claiming to have been involved with him, but we never saw or heard from Tiger himself in a timely manner. The world was clamoring to hear directly from him, a trusted and deeply admired world-class athlete. Because we didn’t hear from him immediately, the story kept getting bigger, wilder and with others jumping in to fill in (fabricate) the missing information in the continuing story. All of this resulted in huge public disappointment in their sports hero and the subsequent loss of major sponsorships. More importantly, his reputation lay in tatters.
As it relates to Toyota CEO, Akio Toyoda, until the recent disclosures of deaths caused by accelerating gas pedals and numerous recalls, Toyota was viewed as the global automotive leader whose cars were reliable, dependable and trusted. And yet, in the unfolding global news story, we have learned that months and months went by before Toyota took action. Their lack of urgency in getting the facts or grasping the severity of the situation resulted in fatalities and a reputational fall from grace. Their silence resulted in an epic public relations disaster…one for the case history books. Was the silence worth it? At last count, Toyota’s has a $3B loss on their balance sheets.
Yes, building or maintaining trust is about transparency. However, in today’s 24/7 world, speed of disclosure is as important, if not more important, as transparency. Embattled leaders and companies must not underestimate the power of moving quickly to communicate and have their voice heard. If you don’t start to tell your story, others will speculate and fill in the blanks.
So what should leaders do if an unfortunate event happens to erode your trust bank?
1. Gather the facts quickly and try to buy time by putting a stake in the ground on what you know or don’t know.
2. Tell the media and other stakeholders how long it will take to get the facts, the process and why
3. Admit guilt and give an authentic apology. People are human and we can and do forgive leaders and businesses when sincerity is expressed with a promise of action
4. Talk about impact and repercussions publicly. CBS let David Letterman offer an apology on-air for infidelity with a co-worker. His brand may be bruised, but he is still on- the- air. What does that say to your employees?
5. Reiterate your moral compass and ethical code in an internally as well as externally. Your employees want to know where you stand.
Rebuilding trust is not difficult to do when you do right by your customer, people and shareholders. It takes years to restore reputations. Don’t forget that speed in disclosure and a timely and genuine apology go a long way to help stem the negative impact to your business.
Contact Airlift today about your reputation. We help leaders craft sustainable growth through inspiring stories. arozenich@airliftideas.com or (01) 312.492.7772
Two events have come together this week that give us reason to reconsider conventional methods of public response to reputational crises – the long-awaited apology by golfer Tiger Woods and the begrudging agreement of Toyota Motor’s President Akio Toyoda to come to the U.S. to testify before Congress.
About 90 days ago, the carefully crafted public image of the world’s greatest golfer began to unravel and spiral downward when revelations of marital infidelity began to surface and were confirmed.
We saw thousands of photos of his wife, children, homes, fellow golfers, countless women claiming to have been involved with him, but we never saw or heard from Tiger himself in a timely manner. The world was clamoring to hear directly from him, a trusted and deeply admired world-class athlete. Because we didn’t hear from him immediately, the story kept getting bigger, wilder and with others jumping in to fill in (fabricate) the missing information in the continuing story. All of this resulted in huge public disappointment in their sports hero and the subsequent loss of major sponsorships. More importantly, his reputation lay in tatters.
As it relates to Toyota CEO, Akio Toyoda, until the recent disclosures of deaths caused by accelerating gas pedals and numerous recalls, Toyota was viewed as the global automotive leader whose cars were reliable, dependable and trusted. And yet, in the unfolding global news story, we have learned that months and months went by before Toyota took action. Their lack of urgency in getting the facts or grasping the severity of the situation resulted in fatalities and a reputational fall from grace. Their silence resulted in an epic public relations disaster…one for the case history books. Was the silence worth it? At last count, Toyota’s has a $3B loss on their balance sheets.
Yes, building or maintaining trust is about transparency. However, in today’s 24/7 world, speed of disclosure is as important, if not more important, as transparency. Embattled leaders and companies must not underestimate the power of moving quickly to communicate and have their voice heard. If you don’t start to tell your story, others will speculate and fill in the blanks.
So what should leaders do if an unfortunate event happens to erode your trust bank?
1. Gather the facts quickly and try to buy time by putting a stake in the ground on what you know or don’t know.
2. Tell the media and other stakeholders how long it will take to get the facts, the process and why
3. Admit guilt and give an authentic apology. People are human and we can and do forgive leaders and businesses when sincerity is expressed with a promise of action
4. Talk about impact and repercussions publicly. CBS let David Letterman offer an apology on-air for infidelity with a co-worker. His brand may be bruised, but he is still on- the- air. What does that say to your employees?
5. Reiterate your moral compass and ethical code in an internally as well as externally. Your employees want to know where you stand.
Rebuilding trust is not difficult to do when you do right by your customer, people and shareholders. It takes years to restore reputations. Don’t forget that speed in disclosure and a timely and genuine apology go a long way to help stem the negative impact to your business.
Contact Airlift today about your reputation. We help leaders craft sustainable growth through inspiring stories. arozenich@airliftideas.com or (01) 312.492.7772
Monday, February 15, 2010
Getting Results From Processes, Systems, Procedures. It used to be so simple!
The New Moment Of Truth. This is not the usual definition of where your Brand intersects with the Customer. This is where your company’s activities intersect with your results. You look at your sales, profit, market-share and customer satisfaction scores. Are you looking at how those numbers are achieved?
Each system and process is designed to a particular result depending on how well it is used. In times of high change it is much easier to work on the systems you have rather than create and educate your system on new ones. It’s time for some diagnostic work.
1. Make a simple list of your key metrics. Call out the systems or processes that feed into each metric.
2. Look at your most critical metric first and detail the people who drive the processes. Pull them together and ask a simple question. “What do we have to do differently for this process to generate different results?”
3. Engage your people to find the gap, the missing piece, the wasted effort and they will own the results. And you will get the returns the process is designed to deliver.
4. Take work-out of your processes so you don't pile on more work while you have the right business-driving process.
Larry Bossidy, former CEO of Allied Signal, learned about productivity. “So it was a shock when I got to Allied Signal. I wasn't prepared for the malaise I found. The company had lots bright people, but they weren't effective, and they didn't place a premium on getting things done.” When a company’s systems and processes are working well, stellar business results can be achieved.
At Airlift Ideas, we are experts at diagnosing systems, processes, the results they produce, and the people involved. We help teams achieve greatness through their brand story and improved process efforts.
Contact us to help you today. mbiggins@airliftideas.com
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
CEO’s: Is there Gender Parity in Your Firm?
The topic of women in leading roles in business has resurfaced in a major way in 2010. This year on of the key topics at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland was gender parity. Women and their role in corporate America are on the minds of global leaders. Today in the UK, pay for women is -22% below their male counterparts. Women in the US are -13% below men for similar jobs and account for only 2% of board posts in the us. If over 50% of today's college graduates are women, why aren't they staying in the work force at the executive levels?
While we are making progress, we need to do more. So what's the problem?
The Insead Global Leadership Center conducted a robust research project to drill down on the issues. Here are some headlines:
While we are making progress, we need to do more. So what's the problem?
The Insead Global Leadership Center conducted a robust research project to drill down on the issues. Here are some headlines:
- Women have had to make trade -offs of family over jobs
- For this trade off, they loose speed and power on the fast track
- Women hesitate to go out on a limb alone as their prefer to network
- Women are visionary but in a different way
- Women are reluctant to be assertive due to stereotyping
- Women don't put much stock in vision as they do getting things done
All in all, 22,244 observers contributed and evaluated the 10 dimensions of leadership: emotional intelligence, empowering,,, energizing, envisioning, global mindset, organizational design, outside orientation, rewarding and feedback, team building and tenacity.
So what are leaders doing?
Google, Coca-Cola, WPP, Bain Consulting, Nissan responded with the insights that question conventional wisdom and have been successful in their firms.
- Make Women and women leaders s a strategic imperative
- Develop a women's leadership council that has a voice to the CEO
- Listen for understanding
- Break the rigidity of your rules
- Set metrics and hold people accountable
While it will be challenging to change the mindset of today's work force, leaders must lay a foundation for the next generation of women to success in your business.
What ideas do you have to begin to make the changes needed to create more gender parity?
Let us know or call 312.492.7772
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