The Atmosphere in which Knowledge is Best Shared

At this time of year, mid April, my students are about to graduate and I am about to be sad.  The learning atmosphere that I create will cease until September, at which time I will start again. In the last year I made a concerted effort to create an atmosphere that facilitated a deeper learning and the constant sharing of knowledge.  This resulted in more learning time -- not 'class time'. 

I have to thank Heather for she reminded me about the importance of "atmosphere"; yes for another topic all together but it came from her nonetheless. 

That thought leads to me write about how leaders create an atmosphere that facilitates knowledge transfer, fun and a sense of reciprocity - - internal value creation.  Organizations are about to hire these grads who think differently and who are far more engaged then we think.  Organizations today are scrambling to create such environments that create internal and external value. 

My principle of 3:  Relationships, Knowledge-transfer, and Empowered People.  If an organization wants to enhance their positioning they need to have these three fundamental things going on every day.  So lets talk about the importance of an atmosphere that enables 'Knowledge Transfer' .

I learn from my students, my clients and colleagues every day and so do they learn from each other.  I knew of a leader who removed all the office doors in an effort to open up communication and the process of knowledge-transfer began.  I was rarely in my office, I wanted to be where ideas were created, where customers were located and where value was being delivered.  Today, on college campus, I am rarely at my desk....  I like to be in my classroom, sometimes "hanging out", class is never over for me because I love to learn and share knowledge. Organizations need to do the same, they need to allow for 'hang time' - idea generation happens all the time but if the organization is task-focused when do we innovate and learn from each other?  Please tell me it is not at the "company retreat".   Think first about your atmosphere, is it right or what needs to change?

The atmosphere must accommodate for how people are to share and learn from each other.  A competitive advantage often lies within, and the organization's collective capacity increases when the atmosphere is right. 

Rhonda

Operational Excellence, Customer Intimacy, Product/Service Leadership

Pick TWO

Draw these into a triangle and circle two:  Product leadership and Operational Excellence, let’s take these 2; what company looks like this?  It is an organization that is looking for the big infrastructure (communications) buyer and then to capture as many individuals within that organization, for example Microsoft.  The individual is not the main focus in the transaction.  Annoyed at times? Yes, Oh well!  And yet our organization buys the product each time there is a version change, and hence they are strong product leaders.

Take Customer Intimacy and Product/Service Leadership; Well, this is not Microsoft!  Here, this organization is seeking to gain us one-by-one, focusing not on the internal workings of the company (process, process, process) but on the customer and that customers' needs.  By the way, Leaders of a company like this are highly experienced business people.  How about National Car Rental, they let the busy business traveler walk past the counter, pick a car of their choosing and drive out, with the check-out taking less than one minute.  I love National because their service is focused on "busy business traveler"!   Customer Intimacy is all about getting to know what it is your customer wants and then delivering.  I can tell you that when 2 or 3 flights arrived around the same time, most travelers are waiting for the bag and thinking .... "get my bag, and hot-foot-it to the rental counter", believing they may out-pace 3 slow walkers for sure.

I hated standing at a long counter, waiting to be given a car....   Gee, "Thanks, my Grandpa's car will be just fine!"  But I love the National way and how they put the customer in charge.

An organization cannot be all things to all people, so ask your customer, or potential customer, what they want, pick a strategy and stay on the road.


 

Defend and Extend the Offering

Most business graduates, leaders and marketing gurus have long understood Henderson's BCG Matrix (Dogs & Star Chart).  We also know that products have a life cycle and hence companies continually innovate and change so as to keep the product and current technologies at the forefront.  But what is company's attitude like internally?

It has been my experience that an organization with "Cash Cows" (low growth, high market share) tend to "defend" their position against competitors and it is the defensive behaviour, that is enabling your competitors to understand your business, in both the upstream and downstream activities.  Staying defensive, you are focused are margins... and each year, quarter-by-quarter you start to see pricing pressure.  So you dig in to defend your position by changing and innovating in very safe, low investment environment as you try to maintain your margin and market share. 

Margins are a "result".... NOT the focus.  Your customers are the focus.   Get out there and listen to your customers and be a little aggressive and begin to "extend"....not defensive.

Rhonda