ValuExecBlog

In praise of the Gate Keeper

In the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" King Arthur and his knights come face to face with the Keeper of the 'Bridge of Death'. In order to cross the Bridge, the Keeper asks each knight 3 questions. If answered correctly, they are free to cross, but should they answer incorrectly or refuse to answer, they are cast into the gorge of eternal peril.'

And so, like Arthur's knights before us, many of us, who have something to sell, find ourselves standing before the Keepers of the 'Bridge of Death' every day. And like Arthur and his knights, we have to answer 3 simple questions:
1. What is your name?
2. What is your quest?
3. What is the air velocity of a sparrow?

Now, question 3 may well differ but the framework is always the same. Having lured you into a sense of false security with the first 2 questions, it is the third that will catch you off guard; that will make you gasp in shock and which may well lead to your being cast into the gorge of eternal peril. So be warned. Choose your words wisely and answer the third and final question carefully.

You either love or hate personal assistants. There is no in-between. They can either make things happen for you or they can make life hell. Make a friend of them and miracles will happen - but get them off-side and life becomes nothing more than a cruel joke.    

Personally, I love them. As an MD, I have seen how they protected my time from outsiders. Only a select few got to cross the bridge. Those that didn't were either dispatched quickly to other managers in the organization or were cast into the gorge of peril never to resurface. Now, as a consultant, I am seeing how on some days, I get to cross the bridge and yet on other days my fate lies with other managers or in the gorge. The fault lies not with the Keepers, but with my answers to their 3 simple questions:
1. What is my name?
2. What is my quest?
3. What is the .........

In praise of Gate Keeper.

ian

Selling the Strategy

Before you can expect people to execute strategy effectively, you need them to buy in to it. In other words you need to sell it to them. Experience has shown me that executives spend very little time selling strategy to employees and by selling- I don't mean having 'town-hall' meetings. Let me explain.

Chet Holmes in his book 'The Ultimate Sales Machine' (The Penguin Group; 2007) suggests that at any point in time, 3% of people are 'buying now'; 6-7% of people are 'open to what you have to sell'; 30% are not 'thinking about it'; 30% don't 'think they're interested'; and 30% 'know they're not interested'. Let's assume, and I am not so sure it is a big assumption - the same percentages are true when it comes to employees and corporate strategy. The 3% would be the senior managers. They are buying now mainly because they had a hand in developing the strategy. Also, their careers are dependent on it as are their large bonuses. The 6-7% are the middle managers. They're one step removed from the core executive team but they see themselves filling their bosses shoes in the not too distant future. So they are open to strategy because they see its favourable execution as a stepping stone to getting to their next position. That leaves the 90% of employees who aren't thinking about the strategy or aren't even interested and who in the main - are the one's who have to execute the strategy.

Now I know I am being somewhat simplistic, overgeneralizing, and dare I say it, crass in suggesting that managers are only thinking of themselves or their bonuses - but the point I am trying to make is that too often, executives think they have done a good job selling to the 10% rather than doing the hard job of selling their strategy to the 90%. I believe that one of the reasons that strategy execution fails so often is because executives don't do enough to sell the strategy to the 90% of employees who aren't interested. 

Holmes argues that the way to bring the 90% into the fold is through 'education-based' marketing and I quote: 'The hardest thing we need to do today is to .....keep their attention long enough to help them buy your product. This approach of offering some education of value to them gives you a significant opportunity to attract more buyers and build more credibility. I call this "education-based marketing," and you will attract way more buyers if you are offering to teach them something of value to them than you will ever attract by trying to sell them your product or service.' (The Ultimate Sales Machine; Holmes C; Penguin Group; 2007; Page 65).

Next time you are discussing strategy with those who are responsible for executing it - try and approach the discussion from an education-based point-of-view and you will be surprised as to how quickly people will buy-in and support the strategy.

Here's in execution,

ian