New Business Ideas 4 U

Archive for the ‘Book of the Month’ Category

Immunity to Change

Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey, Harvard Business Press, 2009

After more than 40 years in the HR business, I thought I knew most of it. This was my ‘big assumption’. Kegan and Lahey know a great deal more than me, I found out, and I thank them for sharing a generation of experience with me – and I hope, you too.

The authors seem to have found the answer to why people find it difficult to change – as you have doubtless found it difficult to change some of your staff. Their discovery is startlingly simple. Most people have an immunity to change. Their research over many years and thousands of people has drawn them to this conclusion, and in this gem of a book, they share their findings with us.

They show how this immunity comes about, how to identify what the immunity – or blockage – to change actually is, and most importantly, how to use their research findings in developmental  activity with your staff and even staff teams.

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So what is a Differentiated Workforce?

A differentiated workforce is one where those jobs, and the staff members in them, who contribute most significantly to the successful achievement of company strategy get special treatment.

There’s a lot in that simple statement, so let’s explore it in a bit more depth.

Firstly, how about the idea that not all staff members contributes equally to the achievement of company strategy? The authors argue that there are “A” jobs, which they describe as ‘contributing disproportionately to one or more of the company’s strategic capabilities’. For example, in a pharmaceutical firm focused on new products, a strategic capability is likely to be R&D, with senior research scientist positions likely to be “A” jobs. In a sales oriented organization, key account sales positions are likely to be “A” jobs.

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The material for this posting is from Chapter 3 in the book of the month Convergence Marketing. It explains the convergence formula developed by the author, Richard Rosen.

The Best of Brand + the Best of Direct + Sales Powered by Finance = Success

Introduction

‘Today, it is all about respecting the individual. Convergence retains the powerful imagery and messaging of brand advertising while leveraging the motivational techniques of direct marketing and focusing all of it on the goals set by sales. It is powered by a financial model, using the contribution margin of what a customer is expected to be worth in a set period of time. It is about making money fast: it happens in real time with statistics to guide the way; and has the advantage of being a process we can repeat over and over again, as well as proving critical path accountability to the CFO’

Let me ask a silly question. Does your approach to advertising and selling meet these criteria?? If not, you’d better read on.

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The Differentiated Workforce

Becker, Huselid and Beatty, Harvard Business School Press, 2009

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all Chinese readers of this blog. May the Year of the Tiger be good to you and bring you health, wealth and happiness.

On the off-chance that you, as a senior manager or company owner have made a new year resolution to pay more attention to your staff this year, let me offer this book for your consideration. If you are inspired to read it – and implement what you read – your next year may be one of significant improvement in your company performance. If you  choose not to – your choice of course – you are passing up a real opportunity! That’s a pretty strong statement. Let me explain why I made it.

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