Meetings that work !

I was lucky to be able to deliver the first public workshop on Action Learning in Vietnam last week. At the end of the session, all participants confirmed they really saw the value of the approach and they would apply it in their organizations. As a facilitator, it feels good to get this kind of feedback but I am also aware that very often, reality (with deadlines, emails, presentations to do ...) sucks us up very quickly.

So I was really excited to receive an email from one of the participants of the Vietnam branch of a global FMCG company sharing his very first - and innovative - application of the principles of Action Learning !

His sales team had scheduled the annual Joint Business Meeting with a key customer the day after the workshop. In the past, this Business Meeting was a full day of Powerpoints where each team shared their views, their objectives, results and challenges. And the hours were spent in discussing, explaining, debating, resulting in some agreements and some disagreements. Pretty much a long day for everybody involved, with hours of time spent up front to create the Powerpoint slides.

So my participant, in charge of the sales team for the global FMCG in Vietnam, decided to try and apply the principles of Action Learning in this annual Joint Business Meeting. Out with the laptops, and out with the Powerpoints. The sales manager adapted the standard WIAL Action Learning script to fit his need for this meeting, maintaining the core ground rule of "Statements are only made in response to questions". Participants asked questions to one another to dive into the challenges their respective businesses were facing. Quite a difference from stating your point and trying to convince the other side yours is the right view. Both teams followed the Action Learning approach and achieved a high level of consensus on the key challenges they faced. At the end of the meeting, next steps were jointly identified to work towards and solve the challenges. Participants rated the session 8.5 out of 10 !

Next step: do the same with 2 other major customer teams.

Now that's what I call Action Learning ... in action !

What's your focus ?

Jae Jong (auntie Jong) has been making fried pork for many years. From 6 AM until closing at 4 PM, there is a line in front of the shop. Around noon time, the line is 3 times as long as in the picture taken at 8 AM. 

The food shop next to that of Jae Jong makes "anything you want" (made-to-order). There are plenty of empty seats available at all times.

Jae Jong only does fried pork. Not fried chicken, beef or fish. She sells tens of kilos of it every day. She has a single shop and never opened any branch, although her reputation would undoubtedly make other branches successful. Her shop has no air-conditioning and hasn't changed for ages. She never innovated on her fried pork. There is only one kind of fried pork; no sugar-coated friend pork, no chill-dipped fried pork and no 'design-your-own' fried pork.  There's only Jae Jong's fried pork.

Jae Jong has remained focused on making the best fried pork, believing that people would come and come back for it. And they do, standing in line in the sun and heat every day (the shop does not have a day off). 

I see many entrepreneurs struggling with focus. It is very tempting to add something interesting onto your portfolio, if it brings an immediate opportunity (a new client !). It is hard to say no when you are in need of business. So one client asks something, and they think "Why not, I could do this and I can always refocus later on." And then another client comes up with something else again. Or they see or read something and think that this could be cool as a new product or service. Quickly, they become average at doing many things, rather than excellent in doing one thing. Very hard to get your focus back once you've given it up.

Staying focused works. Yes, it takes time. But people will come back for your product or service if they know yours is the best around.

 

Getting feedback ... 2 tales ...

There is no doubt that feedback helps organizations progress. But your approach to how you obtain feedback can in itself send a powerful message. In the same day in Singapore, I had 2 very different experiences, on the subject of getting feedback.

In Changi airport, I walked through check-in, immigration and got to the gate in 6 minutes. But that's kind of standard there. In these 6 minutes, I got 2 times the chance to give feedback: on the service of the immigration officer, and on the guy who keeps the restrooms clean (see one of the touch-screen images). One tap of the finger, each time. While I was sitting at the gate using the free WIFI that is everywhere available, an elderly lady approached me and asked if she could ask a few things about my satisfaction with the airport. In about 8 minutes, we cruised through probably 60 questions. Using her iPad, sweeping through different screens, she very deftly noted my answers with her iPad notetaker. I discovered questions about things I didn't know existed at the airport. When we were all done, she gave me a free pen.

A global organization I worked with that same day told me about the mega-employee-satisfaction-project that was going on. It looked like this was the single and only priority for the HR folks I met. It also seemed to be seen as a pain for everyone else. The previous satisfaction survey had been done 4 years ago. There seemed a lot of stress, hour-long phone calls with global teams, tight schedules and deadlines. Each country seemed to say that they needed something different than the global team was imposing. Strangely, nobody expressed interest or anticipation for the actual result, either from 4 years ago, or for the same for this survey. In fact, the focus and energy all turned towards the only KPI the management has fixed to the project team: a 100% employee participation. There was a sense of dread for those country managers who would not be able to get feedback from each employee, and therefore not show a 100% score !

When I finished with the old lady at Changi airport, I jokingly told her: "Don't change anything, everything is perfect already !" She replied: "That's why keep on asking you ...". Changi airport is ranked #1 in the world. I have a suspicion that their approach to getting feedback ... constant, simple, friendly, smooth ... is part of the reason.

Measuring citizen satisfaction

Satisfaction surveys are regularly used by companies to evaluate satisfaction of customers or potential customers with their products or services. Sometimes a government agency (especially in the tourism sector) does the same to collect data for their promotional development.

But I had never seen a country measuring the overall satisfaction of its citizens (and tourists) with the whole set of services that exist within the country. I came across the report about the 2011 Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore CSISG study, organized by the Singapore Management University SMU. The result is based on 40,000 questionnaires including 7,000 tourists.

The survey measures customer expectations, perceived quality and perceived value for businesses and services in 9 core economies for Singapore: finance and insurance, info-communications, transportation and logistics, retail, food and beverages, healthcare, public education, private education and tourism. Questions are asked about the private companies in the different sectors, but also about public services: universities, national mail or  public transportation like bus or subway systems.

The overal "national" score for 2011 was 69.1. The color codes in the chart indicate the companies or aggregate categories with a statistically significant improvement (green) or deterioration (red) in satisfaction compared to 2010.

The initiative was started in 2007 so after 5 years it is possible to see trends.

see the full report at www.smu.edu.sg/centres/ises/downloads/csisg2011_resultsoverview.pdf

It is impossible to compare these results for Singapore with any other country because no other country bothers to take the time and effort to establish this kind of data and maintain it over a period of time. As Lord Kelvin said "To measure is to know." But it is for sure easier to opinionate or come up with flashy headlines than to develope clear measurements about citizen or customer satisfaction. An example of why Singapore is way ahead in Asean as far as general development is concerned.