FirstCuts30 - Action the Obama Way

The latest issue of FirstCuts, my bi-monthly newsletter is available at the following link:

http://fwconsulting.com/news.php?sub=13&newsid=153

It starts with the following introduction:

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Editorial

I don't know how Obama would do if he were an executive in our
region, and I don't know if he has ever worked in our part of the
world.

However, after writing this month's issue I now have an idea
of what he'd have to do to address the plantation slavery
work-ethic that has prevailed for over 500 years.

It's not that we ourselves don't have a clue, but I have found
that the clearer I understand the world in which I operate, the
better I am at succeeding within it. Some of the most exciting
moments I have ever had, have occurred when I learned something
new about something I had been doing for some time.

Perhaps that's not a bad way to describe what I have been trying
to do for my readers in each issue of FirstCuts, and especially
in this issue.

Francis

To subscribe, send email to firstcuts@aweber.com

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The Not-So-Diverse Caribbean Workplace

The Not-So-Diverse Caribbean Workplace by Francis Wade

This issue addresses the challenge we have in creating workplaces
that are truly diverse, and I go after a hot-button -- how we
treat gays in the Caribbean workplace.

FirstCuts
September 2008 Issue 27 colour: http://urlcut.com/FirstCuts27
Audio Podcast: http://fwconsulting.podomatic.com
===============================================
Contents
===============================================
Editorial
Feature Article
Subscriber Q&A and Feedback
Tips, Ads and Links
General & Unsubscribe Info

Approximate time to read: Just over 10 minutes
=============================================
Editorial
=============================================
This has perhaps been the most difficult issue of FirstCuts to
write.

The issue of gays in our workplaces is one that we would just
rather not talk about in public. This is THE topic that we
hope would just go away and leave us alone. Most of
us in the Caribbean experience deep feelings ranging from
hostility to sympathy on the topic.

It's something I should probably not be writing about.

For a moment, however, I set aside my fears to deal with the issue
from a business point of view, and I trust that you'll be able to
set aside some of your own strong feelings to do the same. If
not, I understand (or at least, I think I do.)

I can say with some confidence that this issue is not going away,
and that part of being a good manager or executive is to foresee
a future that is likely to happen. For those companies that
do business outside the region, that may be a current reality,
and I'd love to hear your feedback if that's indeed the case.

Francis

P.S. To discuss this issue, I am creating a link on my blog for
anyone to add in their comments.

P.P.S. This could be an interesting issue to pass along to a
colleague...

==============================================
The Not-So-Diverse Caribbean Workplace
==============================================
Global opinion is growing: the Caribbean is increasingly seen as
one of the least inclusive, intolerant and unsupportive regions of
the world as it relates to the matter of “differences.” The term
“difference” is a fairly new one to the Caribbean workplace and it
generally applies to obvious aspects such as race, gender, age,
religion, physical ability, etc. However, our international
reputation is largely being tainted by our strident relationship
to gays and homosexuality.

By extension, Caribbean companies and executives are not exactly
seen as world leaders in the context of business tolerance.

The fact is that many of our territories’ populations have
relatively little day-to-day exposure to people of other races,
nationalities and beliefs. The tendency is to speak single
languages as relatively few of our companies conduct business in
other countries, even within the region. A few weeks ago, I had
the opportunity to spend a few nights in a hotel in the vicinity
of Times Square and I was reminded of what it was like to be
surrounded by people of backgrounds different from mine and
languages from all corners of the globe. We simply don't have
the kind of diversity that is influencing the way the world's
most admired companies relate to people who are "different."

It might be no mistake that the CEO of Jamaica’s largest company,
the Government, recently announced to the international public
that he is unwilling to accept gays at the highest levels of his
organization.

When asked in a recent BBC interview if he would allow gays to
take up senior government positions, the Prime Minister of
Jamaica, the Hon. Bruce Golding, replied emphatically, "Not in my
cabinet!" I might be wrong in thinking that he is not the only
CEO/Prime Minister/Chairman to have these views in the region.
While he may be the only CEO with these views, the effect of his
words are far-reaching, as presumably they must have some impact
on the entire Government of Jamaica, which coincidentally is the
largest employer in Jamaica. (The link to the interview is given
in the next section.)

Clearly, his idea of an inclusive, diverse workplace has its
limits.

If he is seen as a typical representative of a “regional CEO,”
what are the pros and cons to companies when executives adopt this
approach either publicly or privately? What does it mean for
business and what is its impact on stock-holders, employees,
customers and other stakeholders? Even though the societal
impacts are many, here in FirstCuts I will only focus on the
impact his words and our attitudes, may have on the financial
success of our corporations.

==============================================
Enlightenment Under Pressure
==============================================
Recently, Diageo plc., the owners of the Red Stripe brand in
Jamaica, withdrew their sponsorship from local dance hall events
stating that they would no longer sponsor events that allowed or
encouraged violent lyrics directed against women and homosexuals.

In Jamaica, this withdrawal was met with derision and many felt
that little or nothing would be lost at the end of the day. The
general feeling was that there would be other sponsors.

Diageo, in its role as a progressive, global company, had no
choice but to disassociate itself from any lack of tolerance. In
their 2008 Corporate Citizenship Report, they reported that:
[start of quote]
Over the past four years, the proportion of women
in senior management – a key diversity indicator –
has risen from 20% in 2003 to 25% in 2008.

In the USA, Diageo scored 95% in the 2008 Corporate
Equality Index. The Human Rights Campaign
Foundation, part of the USA’s largest advocacy group
for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT)
Americans, produces the index annually and ranks
corporations based on their policies regarding their
gay and lesbian employees and the GLBT community.
[end of quote]

Diageo prides itself on being a company that lives by its values,
one of which clearly states, “WE VALUE EACH OTHER – we seek and
benefit from diverse people and perspectives.”

This might all be corporate propaganda but the fact remains that
they are taking actions to ensure that diversity is tolerated as
endorsed by their publicly stated commitments.

I imagine that their example has served as quiet encouragement for
other multinational companies conducting business in the region.
Can a local CEO of one of these companies “pull a Bruce Golding”
and decide to establish a local diversity policy that violates the
company’s international policies?

It is just not likely to happen.

I could, however, imagine that local executives may decide that
they know better than those folks in the overseas parent company
and will seek to follow the letter of the policy while neglecting
the spirit. They might determine that it is better for business
to do as little as possible to encourage diversity of that
particular kind.

I predict, however, that Caribbean branches of progressive
multinationals will not be allowed to be different for very long.
A CEO who insists that he is, “different from CEO’s in other
countries” might very well find himself on the receiving end of a
rigorous bout of diversity training along with a stiff warning.

In essence, he will be told to conform or else. Diageo and other
global companies that are successful and widely admired are well-
known for their best practices in this area. As a result, they are
unlikely to retreat from the strides they have already made in
order to accommodate a handful of executives in the Caribbean who
think differently.

Apart from the global companies in the region, there are many more
regional companies that conduct business with global companies.
While Caribbean companies might argue that their internal
practices are no-one’s business but their own, recent history
shows that large companies are imposing greater requirements on
firms that do business with them than ever before.

It is not too hard to imagine that a firm would be reluctant to
conduct business with a Caribbean company that has revealed itself
to be lead by bigots.

For example, I imagine that the Prime Minister’s emphatic words
instantly closed all sorts of doors to business opportunities
around the world. Owners of gay businesses probably took note of
his stance.

Two years ago, I had my first inkling that this may occur when
friends of mine living abroad started to decline invitations to
visit my wife and myself in Jamaica.

They were not declining because the timing was bad or because they
were short of money. Instead, they were declining because of our
prejudice.

As one friend put it, “I don’t like Jamaica… my brother and his
partner (who are gay) can’t even come… they are my family… they
can be killed down there… why should I come?” Another said “I
only came to your wedding because of you… I would never come there
again.” Yet another said “I’ll never come… you have to come visit
me... I know about the homophobia there.”

In other words, they were declining to do business with Jamaicans
because of our perceived prejudice. I sensed that for them, their
boycott was similar to avoiding a pleasure trip to South Africa
while apartheid was still in force. In their case, the thousands
of dollars they might have spent in Jamaica would instead go to
Hawaii, Mexico or Fiji.

From a business perspective, there might be an incentive for
executives to govern their companies in a way that encourages
compatibility with the global business-space. At the
moment, a company or country that declares itself to be openly
bigoted runs the risk of isolating itself from the much larger,
influential group of companies that espouse global best-practices.

Many in the Caribbean would say with a touch of defiance, “If ah
so, ah so” (transl. “If that is the way it needs to be, so let
it be.”) They would argue that the chips should fall where they
may and that they are able to live with the consequent loss in
business.

How their shareholders might feel about all this could be another
matter.

==============================================
Tolerance and Diversity as a Profit-growing Policy
==============================================
Although the external pressure is likely to increase, there are
also practical consequences to be incurred by local companies that
limit diversity by demonstrating prejudice against gays. These
include:

1. Limits on Creativity
Recent studies by Richard Florida (author of The Rise of the
Creative Class) have made a clear connection between a city’s
“tolerance level” and its economic growth. Apparently,
creativity in business requires an ability to allow differences of
opinion to flourish and turn into business opportunities.
Tolerance of homosexuals is one way of measuring the degree to
which differences are encouraged.

Florida’s heavily data-driven books are being used by cities and
even countries to guide their thinking about economic growth.

2. Clarity of Company Policy vs. Personal Feelings
The ramifications of the Prime Minister’s words are quite unclear
and the resulting confusion should give any CEO pause for thought
before making such “policy” statements in public.

One interpretation is that Mr. Golding was merely playing politics
and lining up voter support. If that is the case, then it hints to
a propensity for governments to attack small, weak and virtually
invisible groups for their own political gain.

Another interpretation would be that Permanent Secretaries and
other Government officials should take his stance as official
policy and not allow homosexuals to work too closely to the Prime
Minister or become a public figure that works in the Government.
Mr. Golding and his executives (the Cabinet) should be shielded
from gays that might be working in the government or conducting
business with the government.

Yet another interpretation would be that the Government is not a
welcome place for homosexuals and that they are being discouraged
from trying to begin a career in the public service. By this
logic, managers in the Government should seek to actively root out
homosexuals once they have been identified. Or, to put it more
mildly, homosexuals “should be encouraged to pursue other
careers.”

A fourth interpretation would be that anyone who declares him or
herself to be homosexual and happens to be a Cabinet member or
occupying a critical Government position, should immediately
resign to avoid being fired.

It is all very confusing, and the nature of his statement leads me
to think that his announcement was not pre-meditated (but of
course, I could be wrong.) If these statements were unplanned,
then it would mean that the Prime Minister announced a substantial
policy based on his personal feelings and opinions.

He would hardly be the first CEO to do so.

Yet, this is always a risky strategy and one that usually leads to
more harm than good. On this particular topic, his utterances on
tape and his subsequent letter to the press clarifying his
position are likely to have created a great deal of trouble for
gay, Jamaicans who work for the Government. All of a
sudden, they now find themselves with the wrong kind of diversity.
They are probably wondering to themselves, “Now what?”

Managers who suspect that an employee is gay might have the same
confusion – should they discourage the employee from continued
employment or not? Does the talent, performance or the commitment
of the employee have a role to play in all this? Is it just a
matter of time before all homosexuals are eliminated from the
civil service?

3. Fighting the Inevitable

Throughout the history of the Caribbean workplace, the exclusion
of a group has always been a tactic that management has used to
maintain power and to drive fear into the hearts of the workers.
Modern management best practices dictate that empowerment of
workers requires creating an environment that encourages
alternative thinking.

100 years ago, Blacks, women, Indians, Chinese, Rastafarians,
Amerindians and others were systematically discriminated against
in our societies. Over time, a greater tolerance of differences
has subsumed much of this prejudice and the society is
demonstrably better as a result.

In some ways, we have learned that to disagree or dislike someone
does not necessarily equate to an inability to work together in
order to create profits.

It is predictable that the same will occur with homosexuals,
despite what many of us might feel, and in spite of the laws are
currently on the books.

To argue that it will not happen here is to join company with
countries that simply do not share our democratic ideals
or enjoy the fruits of open markets. We are societies that are
built on the idea of giving all of our citizens an opportunity and
it is not likely that Mr. Golding’s sentiments will set off a new
discriminatory trend within the corporate Caribbean.

If anything, the Caribbean culture is prone to celebrate the small
farmer, small business-person, small trader, etc. We like to
support those we perceive to be defenseless against victimization.

Perhaps it is not too much to imagine that we will come to realize
that gay Caribbean people are at the moment a small, mostly
invisible, scared, victimized group that is frequently attacked
verbally (and sometimes physically) by our singers, preachers and
others. Maybe we might one day rally to the defense of their
rights following the trend of virtually all the democracies that
we admire around the world.

In my opinion, although the Jamaican society may never condone the
lifestyle, full acceptance of gays as members of the society is
inevitable. As good business-people, we need to plan for this
eventuality and prepare our companies for the global mainstream.

To avoid doing so is to exercise poor judgment and irresponsible
governance.

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Tips, Ads and Links
===============================================
If you'd like to discuss this issue of FirstCuts, you can add a
comment at my blog: Chronicles of a Caribbean Cubicle.
Simply look for the FirstCuts post dated Sep 30th, 2008.

Share this issue of FirstCuts with your colleagues and friends, on
a topic that is critical for Caribbean business-people to contend
with.

Here is a link to the portion of Bruce Golding's interview in
which he answers the questions I referenced regarding Jamaica's
treatment of gays: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cQx-zmHgg8

This month, I released the MyTimeDesign programme to the public.
This 12 week programme uses the multimedia lessons to help
create your own time management programme. See
http://MyTimeDesign.com for details. There is an early-bird
discount of 40% to be enjoyed by those who enroll before Oct 10th.

For Human Resource practitioners, the CaribHRForum 2008 survey is
now underway and already has responses from over 15 countries.
The 35 question survey focuses on the improvement of our regional
HR conferences. If you are an HR practitioner who has not
completed the online survey, or suspect that some are missing out,
simply send me email and I'll send you the link via email.

The New Networking e-book is still available for free download
at http://fwconsulting.com/newnetworking - get to work on
doubling the size of your regional network today.

Back Issues of FirstCuts can be found at http://tinyurl.com/pw7fa

To manage this ezine, we use an excellent programme called
AWeber that you can explore here:- http://www.aweber.com/?213577

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Subscriber Q&A and Feedback
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None this month... (but I suspect that that will change after this
issue!)

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General & Unsubscribe Info
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FirstCuts © Copyright 2008, Framework Consulting, except where
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No express or implied income claims made herein. Your business
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Thank you!

Framework Consulting Jamaica Ltd., Kingston 8, Jamaica

Read more!

FirstCuts Issue 19: The New Responsibility

Follow this link to read the latest issue of FirstCuts:
FirstCuts 19: The New Responsibility

Also, this month's publication is also available via audio podcast: http://fwconsulting.podomatic.com

After you have had a listen, or a read, do come back here to leave a comment or question.

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FirstCuts 17.0 -- Expats of the Caribbean

Don't expats have it easy? They get the best of everything: higher salaries, better benefits and special treatment all around. In our small island homes, we have no idea what it takes for an outsider to transition to live in our own culture, and our ignorance is costing us dearly.

Read or listen in to the latest issue of FirstCuts to see what your Caribbean company could be doing differently now.

Please leave your comments on this issue below.

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FirstCuts Issue 16: The Problem of Caribbean Time

Follow this link to read the latest issue of FirstCuts: The Problem of Caribbean Time.

Also, this month's publication is also available via audio podcast: http://fwconsulting.podomatic.com

After you have had a listen, or a read, do come back here to leave a comment or question.

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FirstCuts15.0 -- Having a Vision vs. Being a Visionary Leader

Follow this link to the latest issue of FirstCuts: http://urlcut.com/FirstCuts15

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FirstCuts ezine 14.0 - Strategic Planning

This month's issue of FirstCuts looks at how the annual strategic planning exercise can be rescued from the doldrums of same-old, same-old.

Any questions or comments related to the issue can be posted here.

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FirstCuts Issue 13.0 -- Caribbean Innovation

To access the most recent issue of FirstCuts in colour, click here.

Feel free to add a comment related to this issue on innovation in Caribbean companies, based in part on my experience as a researcher at AT&T Bell Labs.

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FirstCuts Issue 12.0

The newest issue of FirstCuts has been published and can be read at http://urlcut.com/FirstCuts12

This issue is entitled "A Manager's Job is NOT to Manage."

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FirstCuts ezine Issue 10.0

FirstCuts A Framework Consulting Online eZine High-Stake Interventions -- New Ideas Issue 10 April 15, 2007 A Caribbean Branded Experience by Francis Wade

Editorial For better or worse, the Cricket World Cup has put our region firmly on the world stage as a united entity, jointly accountable for the success of the event. It is the first time that we are coming together to host an event of this magnitude, and I felt proud of us as a region after the Opening Ceremony in March. Since then, I have only wished that we had taken a stand for making it more of OUR world cup in every dimension, rather than something that feels imported. This issue is devoted to one element that we could have made our won, but didn't -- the customer experience. I find that we as a region are sometimes too shy to promote ourselves and our strengths on the world stage, and don't appreciate the value and impact of our own brand in the world. Hopefully, after the matches are over we will have learned how to better harness our own strengths, especially outside of the realm of sun, sea and sand. Until next month, Francis

A Caribbean Branded Experience There is a quiet revolution underway in which leading companies are changing the way they’re thinking about customer service. Since the advent of the “total quality” movement in the 1980s, companies have been happy designing customer service to “meet or exceed customers’ needs or expectations” and to provide “excellent service.” Marketers are now saying that this approach is not sufficient and that they want customer service that fulfills an important role in brand building. In other words, they’re saying that service quality must do more than meet expectations. It must also create a “branded experience” that the company can use to clearly differentiate itself from competitors and deeply embed itself in the customer’s psyche. When companies fail to create a branded experience, they run the risk of either providing a bland experience that customers do not value or even creating a negative experience that customers actively avoid. Such is the case of the ICC Cricket World Cup currently underway across the West Indies. The promise seemed simple: create a world-class event and cricket lovers the world over would come. Unfortunately, the delivered experience has driven away local fans and turned off visitors, and there is universal recognition that something must be done to correct this. What could the ICC Cricket World Cup organisers have done to prevent the fallout that’s now occurring? What went wrong in their planning? What can regional companies do to prevent their own customers from abandoning them at key moments? In our most recent endeavor at Framework, we have been looking at this question for several clients—and we think that the ICC could have followed a simple process to craft a precise experience from inside the world of their customers, create channels to deliver the experience consistently, and ensure that interventions to restore the desired experience are timely and authentic. Customer's Experience vs. Customer's Expectations As companies change the way they think about the customer’s experience, savvy firms are focusing on creating specific “experiences” comprised of actual emotions they want their customers to retain after an encounter with the company. For example, customers of an excellent hotel may leave their weekend stint having had experiences of “care, opulence, and comfort.” In this context, the experience is a possible differentiating factor, built by the hotel, based on an understanding of what its target customers want—and what the hotel can actually deliver. Obviously, no set of experiences are universal and apply to all customers. Equally obvious is the fact that not all hotels are interested in delivering the same experience. A different hotel might be interested in creating an experience of “adventure, thrift, and practicality” for its customers. If both hotels were effective in creating these experiences, they would appeal to very different segments, with brands that overlap only rarely. In the case of the ICC Cricket World Cup, the “world-class” experience that’s associated with sporting events in developed countries has done much to turn away local lovers of the game. The truth is, although half of the world lives on less than US$2.00 per day, the idea of what is world-class probably wasn’t defined with the “lower half” in mind. Instead, it most likely came from feedback gained from the 20% of the world’s population in the developed nations who consume 86% of the world’s goods (and perhaps even more of the global, live sporting events.) Here in the Caribbean, with our developing economies, we are hardly a part of the influential 20%. A conversation with the average man in the street, or a visitor to the region, would reveal that our cricketing customers are very different from those envisioned by the typical customers of world-class events. The experiences we value are very different— more noisy, spontaneous, and reliant on people interacting with one another. The ICC seems to have realized that a mistake was made and that the experience they were intent on delivering is not the one that customers are interested in having—even if it is “world-class.” Unfortunately, companies in the region often assume that world-class is better. This is an excellent example where that thinking is just plain wrong. The problem was created when the term “world-class” was not translated into specific experiences. For example, a great deal has been made of the fact that local customers have not appreciated that tickets have been available online for several months. In a world-class event, an e-commerce channel is usually experienced as “helpful.” In the Caribbean, where less than 20% of our citizens have Internet access, the experience was one that was “exclusionary” and “difficult.” Furthermore, foreigners have been complaining that the cricket experience they are having is sterile, and "not Caribbean enough." One visitor quipped that if he wanted that kind of experience he would just have stayed home in England. Shifting from vague ideals such as “world-class” to specific experiences is more than just a cosmetic play of words. When experiences can be understood as a combination of critical emotional outcomes, practices can be customized to produce them. Take, as an example, interactions between the flight crew and customers in the airline industry. A company that intends to create the experience of “peace and quiet” would train the staff in very different practices from one that creates the experience of “spontaneity.” The practices would contrast in tone, length, volume, and warmth. To illustrate, Southwest Airlines is well known for the jokes, contests, and songs that its flight crew (including the captain) tell over the intercom at different points in the flight. As a customer of Southwest, which specializes in short-haul flights, I can report from the experience that it was fun. However, I also truly appreciate the peace and quiet provided by a British Airways business-class seat on a long trans-Atlantic flight. As another example, here in the Caribbean, a company that tries to deliver the same experience to its clients, regardless of the culture of each client’s home country, can run into serious trouble. A Trinidadian customer may respond very differently to an invitation to go out for drinks and a lime after work compared to a Barbadian in the same situation. A savvy company accounts for regional differences and customizes its practices to carefully produce the desired experience, while monitoring the actual experience its customers are having. Unfortunately, international research conducted by Bain & Co. shows that most companies are in the dark. Some 80% of companies believe that they are delivering “a superior customer experience,” while only 8% of their customers agree. The best companies go further than customizing their practices, however. They also define what happens for customers at each point at which the company interacts with the customer. Delivering the Experience Through Touch Points Critical to delivering the experience and customizing practices is understanding that customers build up their experience of companies through what are called “touch points.” Recently I made my first visit to a new bicycle shop here in Kingston, Jamaica. The outside looks rather ordinary, as the shop is tucked away between other stores behind a very shallow parking lot. However, when I entered it for the first time, I had only one thought: “This feels like America!” The layout was superb, the store was air-conditioned, and the merchandise was well lit and attractively displayed. It was a vivid touch point, and I have not visited another bicycle shop since then, as this one is a clear step above any others in terms of its environment. Perhaps the owner designed the store’s interior with a particular experience in mind: “inviting.” If so, he has succeeded—the layout invites the customer to linger, and, in my opinion, it’s the only bicycle shop in Kingston that comes close to accomplishing this feeling. The first entrance into the store is a powerful touch point. We at Framework have developed tools to help companies define the desired experience, inventory the touch points, and define standards of behaviour and process that deliver the experience. (See the footnote to this ezine about how to obtain more information on one of these tools.) When I first did this exercise for Framework Consulting, the insights I gained were stunning. When I stepped into our customer’s shoes, seemingly trivial details became critical. When I made the first list of touch points, I realized that the firm’s brand was being experienced through multiple channels, some of which were as follows: • A visit to the company website • How long it took to get a reply to an email • The length of the voice mail message I heard when I called • The fit between my proposals and the client’s budget • A casual encounter in the mall or on an airplane • A speech heard at a conference These are all valid touch points, and they all work together to create our company's particular brand and some overall experience for our customers. I found that I was managing a mere subset of all potential touch points. Unfortunately, in the case of the ICC Cricket World Cup, the touch points that I personally encountered were a mixed bag of positive and negative experiences: • The press was full of reports of things that we West Indians were not allowed to do on match day • When I called to order tickets, I was told quite unprofessionally that "they were sold out" • When I bought a ticket online the following day, the website was confusing and would not allow me to pick the row or seat, just the “section” • When I picked up the ticket, the agent appeared unconcerned that I was given incorrect information • It was amazingly easy to be transferred from the parking lot to the ground itself • The degree of security (in crime-ridden Jamaica) was wonderful to behold • I was told I could bring in no food or drinks, but I saw people do both • The ground's vendors ran out of decent meals, and my family ended up eating something awful for lunch • Sabina Park never looked more beautiful, or better prepared, as a physical facility • There was none of the noise that’s always a part of cricket in the Caribbean • The brand name of the toilets was neatly (and bizarrely) covered with duct tape . . . All of these touch points together—good and bad—helped to make the total experience. A note about the duct tape on the toilets: While covering the brand name on a toilet may have something to do with a world-class standard (i.e., ambush marketing), the feeling of outrage that I felt at that moment has stayed with me. (Apparently, the manufacturer declined to be a sponsor, hence the peculiar need to hide its name from the public.) I cannot imagine that too many West Indians would take this particular tactic lightly, and many sportswriters have written about the greed and selfishness that it exemplifies. Clearly, this touch point created an experience that was foreign to the majority of the ICC Cricket World Cup customers. Taken together, the mixed bag of experiences, via different touch points, has resulted in empty stadiums (to date) and a bitter taste in the mouths of many fans—a bad taste that the organisers are now desperately trying to correct. Unfortunately, some recent public pronouncements by the executives of the ICC Cricket World Cup have only added more negative experiences. Apparently, they deliberately decided to overlook the customer’s experience and instead tried something bolder—to “change Caribbean culture,” in the words of Stephen Price, the tournament’s commercial director. Needless to say, it’s much more difficult to “change” customers than it is to provide a particular experience that customers value, and more recent actions seem to indicate a course correction. This is not to say that there aren’t aspects of the Caribbean culture that work against us, but the customer is the wrong element to try to change. Instead, the tournament staff—those who deliver the bulk of the experiences to the customer—should be the real point of focus. Interventions to Deliver the Desired Experience Companies that decide to transform themselves to deliver a consistent customer experience must start with the people who deliver the experience. Coaching and training interventions are the best way to change the knowledge, skills, and motivation required. Unfortunately, the average employee in the Caribbean region is at a severe disadvantage. One benefit of being a service worker in a First World country is simply having consistent exposure to companies that deliver better service, or even world-class service. Contrasted with the average Caribbean employee, First World employees can more easily become savvy service providers as a result of having had a direct experience. Here in the Caribbean, however, the average service provider just hasn’t had that same experience. In fact, the average Caribbean national is hard-pressed to identify a single company with which they interact that provides excellent service. That doesn’t mean that Sandals, for example, isn’t providing excellent service. However, the income gap between our average service worker (earning perhaps US$200 per week) and the average Sandals customer (paying $US200 per night) means that the majority of workers will never spend a night at Sandals. Caribbean service workers are therefore in a bind—How do they meet customers’ expectations when theirs have never been met? How do they provide a service level that they’ve never personally witnessed? How do they effect behaviours that deliver an experience that they’ve never had? This question is not an easy one to answer, as we at Framework are finding, but we have had some success by taking the following two steps. 1. Use Specific, Familiar Language Managers must define the customer experience in terms that the service worker can appreciate and understand. This may mean using language that’s colloquial, based in patois or local jargon. The point here is to make it easy for the service worker to remember and focus on delivering the experience. The benefit derived from making the experience explicit is that the service worker is better able to judge whether or not the experience is being delivered. When general terms such as “world-class” are used, that actually communicates very little to the service workers—leaving them unable to correct their behaviour, even if they want to. This is quite different from a situation in which a manager asks his worker whether or not a particular customer was “delighted, inspired, and energized.” A manager who uses such terms is more likely to get an intelligent response than one who asks whether or not the customer was merely “satisfied.” Using specific language is the key to communicating what the goal of each interaction actually is. 2. Develop Emotional Intelligence Managers must train workers to develop aspects of their emotional intelligence that emphasize the ability to recognize, and respond to, the emotions of customers—especially when those emotions might be negative. At one extreme is the kind of worker who cannot recognize the emotions of others, even when those emotions are obvious. These workers probably should not be in the service industry at all. Further along the spectrum are those who recognize the feelings of others, but react in a way that’s inappropriate because they cannot control their reactions. The emotional intelligence needed to consistently deliver a customer experience can be learned. With consistent coaching, an employee with a basic level of empathetic skills can learn how to use touch points to accomplish the company’s goals. Most are not able to turn themselves into experts overnight, however. Managers must make time to not only train, but to serve as role models for the standards it takes to create a desired experience. The best managers believe this rule: service workers will not deliver an experience to a customer that exceeds the experience that they’ve had with their own management. The best managers give enough of the “right” experience to their front-line workers in order for those workers, in turn, to be able to give that experience to others. For this reason, the first-level, or front-line manager’s role is a critical one. Summary Long after the ICC Cricket World Cup has come and gone, companies in the region will be able to use the example of its citizens direct experience to see that delivering good service is not merely a matter of repeating what is done elsewhere. Instead, it takes the precise application of touch point standards and interventions in every case—and when the job is done well, the customer’s experience is assured. * P.S. We would like to offer you a paper with more details on Framework's Service Inventory -- a tool to capture critical information at company touch-points. To receive the paper, send email to fwc-serv-inv@aweber.com Useful Stuff Tips, Ads and Links I will be speaking at the upcoming Jamaica Employees Federation conference from May 3-6 in Ocho Rios on the topic: Building Bridges across the region: Networking Strategies and Techniques for the New Breed of Caribbean Managers. We are on the lookout for possible contributors to FirstCuts. If you are interested, send email to francis@fwconsulting.com to be included in a future mailing. Please send this request along to others. Back Issues of FirstCuts can be found at http://tinyurl.com/pw7fa To manage this newsletter, we use an excellent programme called AWeber that you can explore here:- http://www.aweber.com/?213577 Subscriber Q&A None this month General and Newsletter Subscription Info To contact us with feedback, questions or praise, email newsletter@fwconsulting.com To subscribe, please send email to firstcuts@aweber.com from the email address that you which to be subscribed from Please feel free to use excerpts from this newsletter as long as you give credit with a link to our page: www.fwconsulting.com FirstCuts © Copyright 2007, Framework Consulting, except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. Reprint only with permission from copyright holder(s). All trademarks are property of their respective owners. All contents provided as is. No express or implied income claims made herein. Your business success is dependent on many factors, including your own abilities. 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FirstCuts: An Online Newsletter From Framework Consulting Inc. 954-323-2552 876-880-8653 3389 Sheridan Street #434 Hollywood FL 33021, USA

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FirstCuts Issue 9.0

FirstCuts A Framework Consulting Online eZine High-Stake Interventions -- New Ideas Issue 9 March 15, 2007 Delegating in Caribbean Companies (part 2) by Francis Wade

Editorial A few weeks ago in Jamaica, there was a riot at the construction site of a hotel being built by a Spanish hotel conglomerate: the Fiesta Hotel Group. The bottom line was that a worker was shot, cars were burned, offices were looted and work was suspended for almost two weeks. Now and then I receive a reminder that our work in the region can have very dramatic results, and that when we discuss ideas such as those we tackle in FirstCuts it is not just a matter of intellectual interest, but also a matter of doing work that impacts the lives of workers, families and communities. Until next month, Francis

Delegating in Caribbean Companies (part 2) In last month’s issue of FirstCuts, I wrote about the need for regional executives to think deeply about the process they use to turn over accountabilities to new direct reports. I mentioned the need for executives to systematize the work they do so that it can be captured and passed on effectively. In that issue, I discussed the need for Caribbean executives to produce a “turnover document” for every new accountability. In addition to writing such a document, they must also create ways to progressively delegate the content of a new job. (To see the prior edition of FirstCuts, visit http://urlcut.com/FirstCuts8.) In this issue, we describe the way in which we have worked with executives to produce the critical content included in a turnover document. Once the document is produced, we advocate a phased turnover of tasks to ensure that learning takes place. More on Turnover Documents While turnover documents might include all kinds of important details about a job, at the heart of them is a list of key activities. These activities are discovered by breaking down the job into three tiers, as follows: = Tier 1 consists of a list of top-level Results to be produced = Tier 2 consists of the Targets to be reached to accomplish each result = Tier 3 consists of the individual Tasks that must be performed to hit each target An example of the breakdown of results, targets, and tasks (i.e., the elements that make up a job) for a sales manager might be as follows: = Result: $100 million revenue increase That result might be broken down into two targets: = Target 1: Motivate top salespeople to increase sales by 20% each = Target 2: Create new sales of $10 million for new product X Each of the two targets outlined above can be further broken down into tasks to produce the following: = Target 1: Motivate top salespeople to increase sales by 20% each - Task 1.1: Coach each salesperson to manage time better - Task 1.2: Look at top prospects and determine a way to enter their network of friends and colleagues = Target 2: Create new sales of $10 million for new product X - Task 2.1: Create a list of features and benefits for product X - Task 2.2: Test new product X with five customers in a focus group Ideally, this cascade of results, targets, and tasks should all be prepared in the turnover document for a new manager before he or she ever takes the job. However, once the information has been adequately developed, it would be a mistake to dump the turnover documents into the lap of the new manager. This is a trap into which many impatient executives fall, hoping that a well-written document telling a new manager what to do is all that the new manager needs to be successful. Our research shows that the best executives do things differently— they actually use the turnover documents in phases that coincide with the ability of the new manager to learn the job. A Phased Turnover The safest assumption for executives to make is that new managers know little or nothing about the new job and that they cannot be trusted to undertake it successfully. In the beginning, they should assume that on the new manager’s first day, the executive is responsible for getting 100% of the job done, and this number can only be decreased as the new manager’s capabilities increase. We recommend that executives start the reduction from 100% gradually—and that they first delegate tasks, then targets, and, finally, results. For example, Task 1.1 in the above sales manager turnover document involved the need for the manager to coach salespeople in managing their time. While new sales managers may have generic coaching skills, they probably would not yet know the intricacies of the salesperson-to-sales-manager relationship. They would not yet appreciate the time pressures that salespeople face or the successful coaching techniques that managers before them had used. This information, if passed on by a prior executive, can make all the difference in learning this new skill. Once a crucial set of tasks has been mastered, the executive can then decide that the next objective would be to delegate a particular target. Once the target is mastered by the new manager, it can be delegated. The same applies to the third tier of the job: results. In this way, the manager’s competency grows gradually but steadily, guided at different phases by the turnover document. However, something else is happening while a new manager is becoming more proficient. The executive’s confidence in the manager’s ability, so critical to the process of delegation, steadily grows. As it grows, the executive is increasingly able to supervise the manager through periodic written or verbal reports, and the executive can trust that he or she will be brought in by the manager when help is truly needed. Less of the executive’s precious time is therefore needed. It’s worth repeating that executives must resist the temptation to impatiently walk away from this phased process before the new managers are ready, or before their confidence level is where it should be. The results of doing so can be disastrous. What executives need to know is that this process is not designed to bury them in a world of micromanagement. Instead, they should understand that the time commitment involved is very different from what they might expect from their own past experience. A Different Time Commitment As the executive engages in this process of turning over tasks, targets, and results to the new manager, the time required by the process can vary greatly from day to day. When a new element or skill is being taught, the executive must be prepared to spend a great deal of time helping the manager to understand the details. This kind of hands-on coaching can only be done in person, although it can be facilitated by the existence of a good turnover document. In most cases, questions from the new manager require some thinking, and executives may decide to update the turnover document on the spot, as they remember what is truly needed to execute the job effectively. Over time, however, the time spent up front more than pays off in the manager’s increased capabilities, and when the job is properly delegated, the executive can effectively forget about it. When a new task, target, or result is chosen as the next item to be delegated, the intense time involvement starts again. This sawtooth pattern of time commitment is quite different from the everyday process that we’ve observed. Our experience tells us that busy executives who hire new managers typically hand them little more than a job description. They try to spend time with the manager in the beginning, squeezing in time between other existing commitments. In short order, a crisis hits and the executive becomes too busy to spend time to ask anything more than, “Is everything fine?” When the manager (who, at this point, is undertrained and ill prepared) experiences a significant failure, however, the executive is ready to swoop in to firefight and control the damage. The executive does what many executives do best—which is to save the day, using considerable time and energy. The new manager feels like a bit of a fool. The executive’s trust begins to waiver, and he or she watches the manager more closely. More failures occur, and the firefighting continues until either the manager learns through trial and error or the executive loses patience and fires or ostracizes the manager. In one regional company, an executive explained that he “could not be expected to keep the person on board because he was taking too much of my time … and, after all, no one spent that kind of time with me when I had that same job.” This executive didn’t realize that the manager’s shortfall was actually the executive’s failure—he had done little to prepare the new manager to be successful. Failures and Feedback Even in the best of circumstances, however, failures do occur. At this point, executives must be ready to step in to avert serious problems. Rather than coming in like a hurricane, blowing away the credibility and confidence of the new manager, the executive should instead go back to the drawing board with the manager and reexamine the turnover document. Frequently, the seeds of the failure can be found here—in poor turnover timing, inadequate definitions, and incomplete training. In the most extreme cases, the executive must be prepared to step in and re-assume responsibility for items that had previously been turned over. For example, in the case of the sales manager, if there is a sudden rise in complaints about salespeople being late or a surge in missed appointments, then the executive may decide to resume coaching the salespeople and subject the sales manager to further training. The difference here is that the feedback is used to surgically reverse the turnover, retrain the manager, and develop the manager to the point where the turnover can once again be undertaken. Summary The bottom line is simple: make turnover documents an integral part of your company’s culture, and you will empower your managers to be successful from the very beginning. * P.S. I had promised that I would address the question of why entrepreneurs and small business owners also need turnover documents in this issue. I found that the content would not fit this issue, so instead I have picked up the topic in my blog at this entry: http://urlcut.com/smallbiz Useful Stuff Tips, Ads and Links I referred to Michael Gerber's book in this Issue. His website is also filled with information: http://www.e-myth.com, most of it geared towards entrepreneurs. The ideas that I have extracted for this issue are at the heart of his approach. Back Issues of FirstCuts can be found at http://tinyurl.com/pw7fa We are on the lookout for possible contributors to FirstCuts. If you are interested, send email to francis@fwconsulting.com to be included in a future mailing. Please send this request along to others. To manage this newsletter, we use an excellent programme called AWeber that you can explore here:- http://www.aweber.com/?213577 Subscriber Q&A None this month General and Newsletter Subscription Info To contact us with feedback, questions or praise, email newsletter@fwconsulting.com To subscribe, please send email to firstcuts@aweber.com from the email address that you which to be subscribed from Please feel free to use excerpts from this newsletter as long as you give credit with a link to our page: www.fwconsulting.com FirstCuts © Copyright 2007, Framework Consulting, except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. Reprint only with permission from copyright holder(s). All trademarks are property of their respective owners. All contents provided as is. No express or implied income claims made herein. Your business success is dependent on many factors, including your own abilities. 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FirstCuts: An Online Newsletter From Framework Consulting Inc. 954-323-2552 876-880-8653 3389 Sheridan Street #434 Hollywood FL 33021, USA

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FirstCuts ezine 8.0

FirstCuts A Framework Consulting Online eZine High-Stake Interventions -- New Ideas Issue 8 February 15, 2007 Delegating in Caribbean Companies by Francis Wade

Editorial This week's issue is one that I had to break up into at least two parts, due to its length. This is the first time that I have had to do this, and I think that wherever it makes sense I will try to break up lengthy issues. I am aware of the studies that show that it is easier to read from paper than it is onscreen, and that the writing and spacing needs to be quite different. At the same time, I have a hunch that my average reader is more used to the British than American style of writing -- more heft and pomp, but also less of a quick read over breakfast at your desk. Next month at this time the Cricket World Cup will be underway across the region. It will be the single largest undertaking for our region, and the most important collaborative effort by our relatively small countries. I am hoping that it benefits all our people, as intended. Time to start to Rally Roun' the West Indies... now and forever! Until next month, Francis

Delegating in Caribbean Companies In Caribbean companies, and especially in growing start-ups, executives often complain that they cannot find good people to work for them. In our work at Framework, we have found that executives, in particular, have an acutely difficult time filling positions that they themselves once held. They look for professionals with the best credentials, thinking that the new hire's education should help them to do a job that others before them had to learn on their own. They bring them on board, give them all that they need, including a substantial salary. Success seems to be a "sure thing." That is, until the new hire shows a lack of "basic common sense." That is exactly how executives put it to me when they complain that they cannot fill key positions reporting to them in the corporate hierarchy. The star they hired appears not to be a star at all. According to the executive, in a series of critical moments, the new appointee demonstrates an appalling lack of judgement that leaves the executive distressed, and forces them to swoop in to save the day. When it occurs it is stressful, tiring and disheartening. It leaves them wondering why exactly they are paying such a tremendous salary, and how it is that they, themselves, could have learned the job armed with less training, help and pay. Unfortunately, the end-result is often disastrous. The new hire fails, and fails again, until they are fired. In some companies, the cycle continues, as a number of people are hired into the same position, only to fail within a matter of months. No-one seems able to succeed. At one Caribbean company, the key position of VP-HR remains unfilled for over ten years. The company has been through a series of incumbents, none of whom stayed for more than a few months. Interestingly, the President actually performed the job capably at one time, and continues to hold the position in his portfolio while the search for a new executive continues. What exactly is lacking? Is the educational background of the new hires inadequate? Or are the expectations too high? Are executives somehow being unfair when they hire replacements in our region's companies? Our work in the Caribbean has taught us a few lessons in this area: executives do not properly "systematize" their work, they don't delegate it systematically and they do not establish appropriate feedback loops to be successful. "Systematizing" Work The chaos of day-to-day Caribbean business life often seems to be enough to force a manager to operate in perpetual crisis mode. While moving from one problem to another, each and every day brings with it unique challenges that require significant energy and ingenuity just to stay above water. In one company we worked with, there is a policy that managers must answer the phone when it rings, and to reinforce the policy there is no provision for voicemail. The result? Highly trained managers with no control over their personal schedule, as the culture of the company is one in which everything stops when the phone rings. In another company that prided itself on being customer-centric, even the CEO would drop everything when a customer had a problem. It had to be solved immediately at all costs, disrupting meetings and any other activity that happened to be underway. Unfortunately, managers who work in these environments learn not to make plans, and instead surrender themselves to whatever might be happening in the moment. Many compensate by coming to work early, leaving late or working on weekends and holidays -- when everyone else in the office is hopefully away. Michael Gerber's book, The eMyth Revisited, offers a brilliant prescription in the form of an insight: the very best managers not only work IN their jobs, they work ON them. In other words, they set time aside to examine the way in which they do their work. They purposefully spend time thinking about their job, how they are executing it, how they are measuring their own success, and what techniques they should use to take it to another level. Better managers take the next step and "systematize" their job function. They have determined that it is not enough for them to be effective, but they also have decided to assure the success of their successor by documenting HOW the job is done when it is being done well. They look deeply into the heart of what they are doing, in an effort to develop processes that help them to automate key aspects of the job using the best methods possible. For example, when they find a piece of software that makes their job easier, they document it for future use. For example, before my first visit to DisneyWorld as an adult several years ago, I happened to buy a book with the title: "How to Enjoy DisneyWorld without Kids." The book gave a unique perspective on how to enjoy the different theme parks while avoiding lines, escaping the heat and skipping attractions that would have no interest for adults. I had a wonderful time, thanks to the work that someone else had done to document insider tips, practices and information that were unique to my needs. Gerber advocates writing a very similar document for each job, and argues that this is exactly what the very best managers do. They document their short-cuts, process descriptions and tips in a way that allows almost anyone with common-sense to do the job effectively. According to him, it is the single most powerful technique that Ray Kroc, the founder of the McDonald's chain, used to create the world's first mega-franchise. After buying a single hamburger restaurant from the McDonald brothers in California, he discovered and documented what made it successful, and built a chain on the contents of the unique manuals he was able to assemble. The result? Today, identical-tasting hamburger and fries are sold from thousands of restaurants worldwide to 54 million people daily. Systematization is a powerful method that is very rarely used in our region's companies. When it is not done, incoming managers are forced to learn job from scratch, based on little or no basic information, let alone the kind of detailed and nuanced insights that the executive needs to pass on to a new hire. It may seem that the new hire is failing to demonstrate common sense, but the real failure occurs when managers are not trained to systematize their work and to produce the turnover documents the new hire needs. Turnover Documents Turnover documents include all the information that new hires need to be successful. At the very least, they start with a generic kind of job description. At the very best, they are the end-result of a long, hard process that a manager has undertaken to work ON their job. They describe the innovations and improvements that a manager has implemented, and if a new hire is lucky it can span several years and managers. There is no set format to the documents that I have seen and written. They are informal, and meant for immediate application. They are filled with inside knowledge of how things _really_ work -- as opposed to how they are supposed to work. In Jamaica this informal knowledge that is critical to success is known as "the runnings". Here in the Caribbean, it often means the difference between profit and loss. For example, the turnover document written for a VP-HR position could describe how to obtain a work permit for an expatriate professional. It would detail who to contact within the Ministry of Justice and Immigration and who to avoid, which forms are really needed, what the true cost is and how the number of trips to various government offices could be reduced. A well-written document would save the new VP-HR many hours of time and effort. Yet, in the example cited above, it could only be written by the President of the company -- the last person to successfully perform the job. However, when the turnover document is missing a new hire could flounder, and make the kind of mistakes that the President might call "a lack of common-sense." Make no bones about it -- developing a turnover document takes tedious, quiet work with no immediate payoff. Most managers prefer to focus on the job at hand, and the results they have to produce in the next few days. Any improvements are incorporated into new practices on the fly, as the learning shifts to other competencies. As new competencies are mastered, over time the original, primary learning recedes into the subconscious. In most Caribbean companies that we have worked with, the idea of turnover documents is quite foreign. While it is possible to reverse-engineer them from a manager's experience and memory, the process is a difficult one. The best method we have used with our clients involves intense interviews that are essential for getting at the aspects of the job that are done without conscious effort. Sometimes, using this approach is the only alternative a company has, but the very best approach is to develop a culture in which turnover documents are the norm, rather than the exception. In the cases in which a manager leaves the company altogether, turnover documents are impossible to create, requiring an injection of new costs and time in order to bring a new manager up to speed. A Turnover Culture There is no single approach to developing a culture in which systematization is the norm, but the best companies start by engaging their managers in building a long-term future for the firm. These companies clearly describe the rationale behind systematization, and the need for turnover documents. They ask managers to start writing them once they change jobs, and create the expectation that their ability to turn the function over to another person is a requirement of the job. Managers also learn that they will not be deemed ready for promotion until their turnover documents are in order, and fully updated. There is a natural resistance to writing these documents that we have found in Caribbean companies, however, and it must be dealt with it at some point. The first source of resistance comes from a bureaucratic unwillingness to make self-replacement easy. Managers often try to protect their positions by keeping key information close to their chests, and thereby ensure some job security. Developing a turnover document can look to them like career suicide. The second source of resistance comes from the fact that the time spent to develop a turnover document has little immediate and practical benefit to the incumbent. The benefit to having them comes in the long term in most companies, in the form of the firm's success. Many managers are just unwilling to wait that long. Companies that are able to create cultures whose values surpass this resistance are able to tap into something very powerful: a technique that builds the company from the inside, with all the employees working ON their jobs as well as IN them. Summary Presidents and CEO's, systematization assures the success of the company in the future, and helps to build a true Learning Organization along the way. Gone is the expectation of instant success, as it becomes apparent to the executive that mastering the job is largely a function of how well it was systematized when it was the incumbent's responsibility. When the executive turns over a position they once held to a new hire, they have a much better appreciation for what the job entails. From the turnover documents, common sense appears to be not so common after all, and executives can clearly see how their subordinate's success is up to them, and their ability to systematize their jobs. In next month's Issue: Learn why accountabilities in turnover documents must be gradually delegated to prevent failure, and also why solo entrepreneurs also need to systematize their work. The FirstCuts Bottom Line: Begin to systematize your work now. * What are some of the things you are doing to systematize your work? Let us know at the Framework blog by following this link and leaving us a comment: http://tinyurl.com/26m3u9 Useful Stuff Tips, Ads and Links I referred to Michael Gerber's book in this Issue. His website is also filled with information: http://www.e-myth.com, most of it geared towards entrepreneurs. The ideas that I have extracted for this issue are at the heart of his approach. Back Issues of FirstCuts can be found at http://tinyurl.com/pw7fa We are on the lookout for possible contributors to FirstCuts. If you are interested, send email to francis@fwconsulting.com to be included in a future mailing. Please send this request along to others. To manage this newsletter, we use an excellent programme called AWeber that you can explore here:- http://www.aweber.com/?213577 Subscriber Q&A None this month General and Newsletter Subscription Info To contact us with feedback, questions or praise, email newsletter@fwconsulting.com To subscribe, please send email to firstcuts@aweber.com from the email address that you which to be subscribed from Please feel free to use excerpts from this newsletter as long as you give credit with a link to our page: www.fwconsulting.com FirstCuts © Copyright 2007, Framework Consulting, except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. Reprint only with permission from copyright holder(s). All trademarks are property of their respective owners. All contents provided as is. No express or implied income claims made herein. Your business success is dependent on many factors, including your own abilities. Advertisers are solely responsible for ad content.

FirstCuts: An Online Newsletter From Framework Consulting Inc. 954-323-2552 876-880-8653 3389 Sheridan Street #434 Hollywood FL 33021, USA

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FirstCuts ezine Issue 7.0

FirstCuts A Framework Consulting Online eZine High-Stake Interventions -- Issue 7 January 15, 2007 Developing a "Caribbean Manager" by Francis Wade

Editorial While I was in Johannesburg, South Africa over the holidays, I was able to take tours of 2 townships: Soweto and Alexandria. While visiting I was struck by the wickedness that was the Apartheid system, and how long it will take that country to integrate all of its citizens into a seamless whole -- something that has never existed. Here in the Caribbean we have a similar challenge: to create an economic force that has never before existed. This issue is devoted to the idea that a truly "Caribbean Manager" is the basic building block, because if the mindset is not there at an individual level, then all the CSME activity will be wasted. Francis

Developing a "Caribbean Manager" ==================================================== Developing a "Caribbean Manager" ==================================================== The upcoming Cricket World Cup arrives in the Caribbean in March 2007 and brings with it several interesting possibilities. One possibility that it brings to mind is that we, as a region can find a way to emulate the success of the West Indies cricket team in the 1980's and 1990's -- off the field. One lesson that we might learn from our Test cricketers and their collective success, is that they each had to undergo a personal transition from being merely a representative of their country, to being a member of The West Indies cricket team. I am certain that the transition involved more than just a change in team name, particularly when we were world beaters in the 1980's and early 1990's. The players of that time were able to set aside their local preferences, biases and idiosyncrasies, in order to build the kind of unified force that politicians and business-people have, to date, failed to create. While our politicians are making little headway with the implementation of CSME, it is our business-people that are more closely following the example of our Test cricket team. Assisted by the liberalisation of the region's economies, they have been able to export capital, and use it to build regional conglomerates in manufacturing, distribution and banking. In our work, Framework has defined a term that we have been sharing with our clients that we hope to make synonymous with the power that "West Indian cricketer" has around the world: "Caribbean Manager." Why should we care about becoming Caribbean Managers? Who or what are they anyway? A Caribbean Manager is a manager who has undergone a mental shift or transition from being a local professional to one who sees themselves as part of a wider regional fabric. It is a change that one makes for oneself, and with it comes a broader context within which to make decisions to invest time, energy and capital. For example, a Caribbean Manager cares about the latest business happenings in other countries in the region, and seeks out sources of news and information that may give her a competitive edge. How does a manager make the transition? In our work, my colleagues and I have identified three characteristics that can be learned by regional professionals: learning to collect different and varied first-hand experiences, using heartfelt interests as a tool for natural networking and being willing to identify and surrender mind-sets that are obstacles to becoming Caribbean Managers. ================================================== A Collector of Different Experiences ================================================== Perhaps the first part of the transition that a manager must make is to become committed to having a variety of different experiences across the region. While there is a great deal that can be learned from reading books and using the Internet, nothing does more for a manager than direct experience of other countries in the region. I can vividly recall my first trip to the Point Lisas Industrial Estate in Trinidad. When I surveyed the number of heavy industrial companies in the area, I immediately understood that Trinidad had a very different economy than Jamaica's, and that seeing the estate was very different from reading about it. The Caribbean Manager yearns for experiences such as this one, because they help him to understand the deep underpinnings of business in a particular country. He is never satisfied with an understanding of his own society, and in fact finds that travelling to other English-speaking countries in the region help him to understand his own country. These experiences cannot be scripted, as trips to different territories become opportunities to combine markets, suppliers and products in ways that cannot be determined from merely doing market research. These unique combinations can only be created by business-people who understand the region and its needs from direct experience. Some examples of unfilled opportunities include the lack of a real jerk restaurant or patty shop in Port of Spain, and the fact that authentic Trini roti is impossible to find in Kingston. These are both waiting to be filled but can only been seen by those managers who can see the need based on their experience. Also, travelling across the region in search of these experiences help to teach a budding Caribbean manager how to manage the people in each country. In a recent study conducted by Framework, Trinidadian executives admitted to being surprised by the degree to which Jamaican business culture differed from that of Trinidad. They may have been better prepared if they had simply spent more time working in Jamaica , managing Jamaicans, before accepting their assignments. Travelling and working across the region gives the Caribbean Manager valuable insights into another culture, but they can also learn a great deal about their home culture. Furthermore, they can also learn to adapt themselves to the strengths and weaknesses of the Caribbean management style. There are too many managers across the region who are, at best, local managers with very narrow interests. They have not visited another Caribbean country, do not read regional newspapers, and are more acquainted with Miami than any of the region's capitals. They do both themselves and their companies a disservice. ================================================ A Networker Who Builds on Natural Interests ================================================ The idea of regional networking fills most professionals with a feeling of dread. The idea of hob-nobbing with a power-elite over golf or tennis at the country club seems foreign to everyone other than the few who are already members. We have found that the savvy Caribbean Manager builds networks around areas of authentic interest. They start with what they are already interested in, and broaden the scope of their interest to include the entire region, way past the limits of their country's borders. For example, a collector of exotic orchids who happens to work in a bank, could decide to build their network around this particular hobby. Using this pastime as a starting point, and the Internet as a tool, they could engage in the following activities: - find contact information for orchid growers across the Caribbean region - join paper and electronic newsletters and mail-lists - join or start electronic discussion lists - travel to attend orchid shows, and pass send around trip reports - become knowledgeable about the laws regarding the import and export of orchids Taking these simple steps (based on my absolute dearth of knowledge in this area,)could enable someone to become a regional expert on orchids, simply by pursuing their interest in a wider geographic sphere. How does this apply to the Caribbean Manager? It turns out turns out that developing an expertise in a single area can be just as effective a networking tool as any other. As one's expertise grows and deepens, the likelihood increases that relationships will be created with other experts in the field across the region. These other experts will themselves have connections with professionals in each field, including banking. All without learning how to serve, and without trying to perfect a back-swing. Caribbean Managers have found that the relatively small size of our societies lends itself to authentic networking, and that business- people are as likely to be found on the golf-course, as they are to be found at a local pan-yard, race track or orchid show. The savvy Caribbean Manager sticks to their areas of interest, and trusts that their passion for the area will be attractive to others. Their only duty is to stay true to their heartfelt interests, honouring their passions while avoiding the dark thoughts that they should buy a set of clubs in order to meet this quarter’s sales goals. The practical side benefit of following an interest are easy to see. While the banker described in the example above is visiting Georgetown at the annual Orchid Festival, it might be quite easy to stay an extra day or two in order to meet the President of the Guyana Association of Bankers (who just happens to be an old school-mate of the Vice President of the Orchid Society.) I benefited tremendously from an extra three days in Trinidad after recovering from Carnival 1996. After meeting with a few businessmen, I realized that not only could I do business in Trinidad, but also that the talk in Jamaica about Tricky-dadians was overblown -- "old talk." =============================================== Willing to Surrender Mind-Sets =============================================== A mindset is simply a way of being, or a lens, that colours the way we see other people, countries or situations. We, more often than not, don't realize they are there, and come to believe that the way we see life is the way that life is. The problem comes when we are wrong, and fail to see what is in front of us, or in other words, what is in our blind-spots. The talk among business-men in Jamaica about “Tricky-dadians” and the inability to trust them is still widespread. Today, it stops some Jamaicans from even attempting to do business in the twin-island republic. Caribbean Managers are able to transcend such limiting mind-sets. They realize they exist, but they are willing to question them, and to compare them to actual, first-hand experience. This process of constant checking is more than just some parlour trick — it is the key to seeing possibilities and opportunities where others cannot see them. In business terms, it is the key to finding new sources of profit. How does a manager improve her ability to shed mindsets? There are a variety of commercial approaches that are available for the individual who is interested in being trained, and the one I most recommend is based on the work of Byron Katie, which can be found at www.thework.org. =============================================== Summary =============================================== Companies that are the first to develop a cadre of Caribbean Managers will gain an undeniable competitive edge. Unfortunately, I am unaware of any company that has put in place a systematic programme of training, exposure and awareness to bridge the gap. While it is clear that not having Caribbean Managers is costly to regional firms, there is no easy prescription on how to put these programmes in place. A Caribbean solution is needed. Perhaps the Cricket World Cup might provide the impetus we need to develop more than just regional cricketing talent. The FirstCuts Bottom Line: Start developing yourself as a Caribbean Manager TODAY. * What are some of the things you are doing to develop yourself as a Caribbean Manager? Let us know at the Framework blog by following this link: http://tinyurl.com/y2z9qs Useful Stuff Tips, Ads and Links Framework's One-Page Digest has been launched and can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/y9b6ev. It includes a list of links to information that I think is invaluable to Caribbean executives. Subscription details can also be found at the link above. Update: I plan to release a new issue every 2 weeks Back Issues of FirstCuts can be found at http://tinyurl.com/pw7fa We are on the lookout for possible contributors to FirstCuts. If interested, send email to francis@fwconsulting.com to be included in a future mailing. To manage this newsletter, we use an excellent programme called AWeber that you can explore here:- http://www.aweber.com/?213577 Subscriber Q&A None this month General and Newsletter Subscription Info To contact us with feedback, questions or praise, email newsletter@fwconsulting.com To subscribe, please email firstcuts@aweber.com from the email address that you which to be subscribed from Please feel free to use excerpts from this newsletter as long as you give credit with a link to our page: www.fwconsulting.com FirstCuts © Copyright 2007, Framework Consulting, except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. Reprint only with permission from copyright holder(s). All trademarks are property of their respective owners. All contents provided as is. No express or implied income claims made herein. Your business success is dependent on many factors, including your own abilities. Advertisers are solely responsible for ad content.

FirstCuts: An Online Newsletter From Framework Consulting Inc. 954-323-2552 876-880-8653 3389 Sheridan Street #434 Hollywood FL 33021, USA

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How Much, When and How to Charge

One of the dilemmas I have not sorted through for myself is whether or not to charge the subscribers of FirstCuts, my online ezine, and other publications issued from my firm.

The decision is not a simple one, as I find myself caught between conflicting commitments as a manager of a business, and an investor of my own time and energies.

The first question I think I have to deal with is “What is the purpose of my ezine?”

The ezine started as a way to stay in touch with those who have an interest in the work that we do here at Framework Consulting. That remains the primary purpose. I want a reader to read each issue, and then immediately want to pass it on to other Caribbean managers at all levels.

The second purpose is to give people superior value for the time they invest in reading each issue, and the price they pay to receive it.

The third is to provide a source of leads for potential projects. I hope that a subscriber will think about some topic I have discussed in the ezine and call me to see if I have an interest in getting involved.

So far so good.

Lately, however, I have become increasingly aware that people value what they pay for. Or, at least I know that I do. I pay more attention, my standards rise and I expect more simply because I pay a nominal amount.

Therefore, I have been wondering if I should charge for the newsletter to help establish the fact that it is not being produced for free.

But before getting much further, I should put to bed the idea that I ever think that the newsletter will earn a great deal of money. I cannot imagine that, given the narrow range of topics, that the total number of subscribers will ever exceed a few hundred. Also, the purpose is not for it to generate a profit by itself. Instead, its main business purpose is to generate leads.

The cost to produce the newsletter includes the cost of the subscriber service I use (Aweber.com) which sets me back about US$30 per month or so. I plan to engage the services of an editor in the future, which I estimate will cost around $50-100 per issue.

The time it takes to craft the content, and to manage the delivery is considerable, however.
My estimates are as follow:
Writing and editing – 10 hours
Delivery Management – 3 hours

That is quite a bit of time to spend each month, out of an already very busy schedule.

Another complicating factor is that Caribbean people are not as comfortable with the idea of using a credit card on the internet as their counterparts in North America. I am yet to see a single Caribbean company even offer the alternative of internet payments.

By requiring an internet charge, I could well be erecting a barrier that most would have a hard time overcoming, not because they perceive that the price is too high, but because they are unwilling to go through the hassle of using, say, PayPal.

I believe that the answer for me right now is not to charge, but to remind subscribers that there is a cost that is being incurred, and a fee that is being waived. I will revisit this when either

1. paying over the internet becomes more of an acceptable method for Caribbean managers
2. one of the costs of producing the ezine rises dramatically
3. it fails to meet the business objective of producing leads

Therefore, for at least another year, I will waive the price of subscription.

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