| The
Little BIG Things
Preview--Our Gift to You
As part of introducing Tom's new book The
Little BIG Things, we want to give the readers
of the TP Times a gift to say thank you for being loyal
fans. So, here is something that's not otherwise available:
Section 1, titled
"Little" (the last section in the book
is "BIG") free for downloading.
You may have read on tompeters.com that The Little BIG
Things originated with the Success Tips that ran on
our blog from September 2004 through June 2009. However,
as Tom worked on the book it became much more, and now
its resemblance to the Success Tips is mainly that it
is a collection of ideas, 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence
(which is the subtitle of the book). The ideas are bundled
into sections consisting of a handful of related actions
that you might implement in your day-to-day routine.
Read only one item or a few, and sample another section
later. By taking advantage of this preview, you can
get started right away.
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Coffee
Nation--Culture Change Starts at the Top
[Many of Tom's success tips are are exemplified in this
tale of transforming a company's culture. For example,
"Master
the Art of Listening!", "Rigidity
Watch! Start Today!", and "Hail
the Decentralization 'Warfighters'".]
The CEO of Coffee
Nation started with the company at the very beginning.
He's one of the founders--a strong entrepreneur. The
organisation has grown dramatically, and the whole operation,
new managers, new investors, and new staff all look
to him for leadership as the Chief Executive. He realised
that the whole organisation (including himself) had
to undergo wide change in their way of working. He made
the decision to implement change despite the economy
being in the middle of a recession, because it was clear
to him that a "micro-managed" management team
was not going to see the business through the tough
times and set it up for future performance.
The changes have meant that the business has seen an
increase in bottom-line profit during this economic
downturn and has provided a structure to capitalise
on growth opportunities.
To me, the most significant change is not the tangible
process of what they do; but the change to how they
actually do what they do!
Important facets of the changes:
1. The change started from the leaders of the business.
There was a recognition of the need to change from "leader
as hero" making all the decisions; to wise decisions
being made at the right level. Just by paying attention
to being curious and asking questions rather than giving
an answer (which has been difficult for a CEO who has
always been in control) has given people the opportunity
to take personal responsibility for their decisions.
2. To support the change to a "way of working"
where people take responsibility and are accountable
for the decisions they make, the management team have
involved everyone across the organisation, in creating
clarity of a shared purpose, the organisation's strategic
intentions, and Coffee Nation values (way of working),
giving a clear direction to all. All employees are able
to confidently refer to this operational framework to
make wise local decisions.
3. What has been apparent is the importance of the management
team in "role modeling" the desired change
of behaviours. There have been many occasions where
it would have been really easy for the CEO to revert
back into "making the decisions" for people.
But he hasn't--and that has had a significant impact
on the change in the organisation.
4. The behavioural changes have rippled through the
whole organisation--being gradually integrated into
every process--for example generating an inclusive budgeting
process and ensuring the communication process is fit
for purpose. The CEO uses examples of what he sees happening
in the day-to-day running of the business to demonstrate
the behaviour change we're looking for--and those we're
not. The stories form part of the newly introduced communication
process--ensuring everyone has the information they
require to effectively deliver their job role.
These small (often hard) changes of behaviour often
have the biggest impact. Do you have what it takes to
loosen control in the face of an economic downturn?
Could your company commit to decentralized decision
making? Could your management team maintain a culture
change like this one?
Ruth
Smith
UK Consultant & Facilitator
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Leadership
Lunches
[See Tom's "XF-50:
50 Ways to Enhance Cross-Functional Effectiveness"
and "Success
Tip #98: Relentlessly Focus On Pragmatic Actions"
that follows it. Then read how this group implemented
efficient cross-functional communication.]
Here is a fabulous series of events--created by an excited
and determined group of managers working in Texas Instruments
Europe.
This group of four originally set up a regular monthly
lunchtime meeting--LEADERSHIP LUNCH--with the goal of
turning a set of newly learned leadership behaviours
from KNOWLEDGE into ACTION. They wanted to sustain and
develop the leadership lessons they had learned in a
recently completed development programme. They wanted
to maintain their momentum and spread it across the
widest possible group of employees in the business,
because they knew the positive impact it could have
on improving business performance.
Seven (7!) years on ... the lunch survives! ... and
it has evolved--from quite a LITTLE thing into a GREAT
big thing.
Leadership Lunch is open to all and attracts a consistent
core group, along with a dynamic flow of new people
in and out. Now the reach is cross-functional: cross
management level, cross organisational division. Discussion
goes beyond leadership theory--the subject matter varies
widely. A democratically chosen annual agenda covers:
cross-organisation awareness & knowledge; interdepartmental
familiarization & collaboration, etc. Agendas are
even draw from outside the organisation--including input
from customers, ex-employees, and a University professor
with his own business challenge!
The organisational impact is substantial--as the organisation
operates on a silo-based structure these meetings are
the only regular forum where leaders from all the different
divisions meet informally with the opportunity to network,
discuss common topics, and simply learn from each other.
Congratulations to Hans Martin Hilbig and Team for this
amazing achievement!
Helen
Green
UK Consultant
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Re-Set
Business Conference
Tom's publisher HarperStudio
and Vanity Fair
are hosting a breakfast April 20th in New York that
we think might interest you. It's called Re-Set: The
Business Models of Tomorrow. Seth
Godin will moderate, and the panelists are Tom,
Anna Bernasek,
Michael Eisner,
and Gary Vaynerchuk.
(Sounds like something you don't want to miss, doesn't
it?)
You can download
the invitation from our website to get more information.
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