A few quiet trends taking the forefront for 2010

In 2010, I anticipate that there will be a couple "quiet" trends dominating the business landscape. If you have been waiting for our economy to return to business as usual, you will suffocate while holding your breath. "Business as usual" is gone for this millennium and a few under-reported trends lead in terms of economic and social recovery. Here are some of the many changes you can expect to see in the next two to five years:

1. Creativity will lead performance. If you don't believe this, just take a look at how creative organizations must be to survive this economic downturn. Many have changed their focus, broadened their offerings, and updated their strategies to be more responsive to volatile market changes. Why? Many left-brained, task-oriented jobs are being consolidated, automated, or shipped overseas. The current economic changes require that we reposition our skills and industries to be more creative. As I wrote in an earlier blog post, people are the most important asset in any organization. The ones who can think creatively and bring results are the ones who will lead.
2. Job titles will be reduced to a tagline. It will be more important than ever to get the right talent into the right positions within organizations. If innovative, performance-driven organizations want to attract the right people, then traditional top-down title systems won't capture attention. Job titles will be crafted to connect with the role that the individual plays within the organization. Each job title will reflect that the organization appreciates the three key areas of expertise needed in all successful organizations: strategists, integrators, and implementers. With these three areas working together in an organization, the "level" of someone's title will mean nothing.
3. The veil of intimacy created by social media will disintegrate. It's already starting to happen. Just because you're connected on Facebook or Twitter does not mean that you know someone or that you have a relationship. Individuals will increase their efforts to connect in person. Networking events saw a huge spike in attendance in 2009, simply because people were starving for true intimacy. The resurgence of networking, along with face-to-face meetings and phone calls in lieu of text messages and email, will help people reconnect with the subtleties of true relationship building and proper etiquette.
4. Social media will finally get relevant. On the flip side of intimacy, people are getting busier every day. Social media and technology tools will finally become integrated tools instead of separate things to do in the success of individuals and organizations. There are no social media experts. No doubt that phrase will be taken out of context. The truth is that there are marketing, business, communications, relationship, sales, and other experts out there who know how to successfully integrate social media tools into reaching goals. They will help everyone make better use of the time to connect in more meaningful ways. Do we care that @tsuluwerks is eating split pea soup for lunch. I'm sure that at least 90% of you are saying 'Of course not!' But if that split pea soup is part of a special sales effort to help feed the homeless, you might just want to join @tsuluwerks and have a bowl, too. And unless that relevancy is made in 140 characters or less, the rest of the online community will tune out.
5. Everyone will have to get flexible. That means that mom will have to check her Facebook account to keep track of her children (tactfully please! No mushy wall posts!) And the twenty-something aiming for the board room will have to accept that it's rude to check emails during a strategy session. Even making "cold calls" for sales people will mean making a call, sending a tweet, drafting an email, and using text messaging until you know which methods your target prefers. Systems and processes will require updating to ensure that you're reaching who you want in the best way that works for them, not you. So even if you hate picking up the phone, your best customer or top vendor who prefers to hear your voice will know that you're focused on the relationship above all.

I hope that these five of just many trends will help you prepare for the new year and build great relationships with team members, customers, investors, and family.

Happy holidays to all!

Tie Strategy to Performance with The Strategy String

I am excited to announce that on January 10, 2010, my new book The Strategy String will be shipping. The book is available for pre-order now on our web site. Here's a summary:

Our economy is driven by small businesses and organizations. That has become increasingly evident in this last recession. Small organizations, those with fewer than 500 employees, accounted for 50.6% of the non-farm jobs in our economy at the last census count. Unlike past recessions, during which small businesses only accounted for 9-12% of job losses, that number escalated to 45%. It will take two to five years for existing organizations to recover from this economic blow and start hiring in numbers again. Without small business to absorb the job losses from larger organization layoffs, we can expect new for profit and nonprofit organizations will flood the market. It’s happening right now, and unemployment figures don’t account for these new starts and existing entrepreneurs.

As these organizations emerge and existing ones seek to strengthen their strategies, they don’t have the luxury of spending 12 to 18 months developing a strategy like most large organizations. And new leaders don’t have the time to learn the ins and outs of business jargon to translate their visions of a successful organization into results-driven plans of action. They need to shape and launch strategies quickly, yet that will endure and deliver results.

That’s where The Strategy String shines. The author, Tracy A. Corley, has tested this concept and can guarantee that a small organization can craft and launch a strategy string in under eight weeks. Quick action is needed to be competitive in today’s market. Action backed by direction ensures that no activity is wasted and that the results can be easily measured.

The Strategy String: An Organizational Primer for Tying Strategy to Performance makes it simple for organizations of any size to develop and execute a performance-driven strategy. The Strategy String translates the concepts created by business thought leaders like Jim Collins, Michael Gerber, and Kaplan and Norton into easy to understand, ready to use modules that businesses can immediately put into action within their organizations. This book takes the best of the best, simplifies it, and combines it with easy-to-implement activities that time-starved leaders can get.

Have you hugged a young professional today? Rebuilding the next generation of leaders

On Tuesday night, Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce leadership Phil Bussey, CEO, and Kirk Nelson, Board Chairman (also Washington President of Qwest) led a great discussion with the chamber's Young Professionals Network. The chamber, like so many other organizations, need the up and coming generation of Generation X (Gen X) and Millennials (also known as Gen Y) to fill the leadership gap that's afflicting many organizations.

Their words were inspirational, particularly at a time when this economic crisis is kicking so many Gen X and Millennial professionals in the pants. Unlike other recessions, this on is a doozie on many fronts, creating what John Talton has stated as an economic reset.

One point that John left out is that unlike other market corrections and cycles since World War II, this recession has decimated small businesses. Historically, small businesses have fueled up to a third of job growth and have represented roughly 9 percent of job losses, according to research economist Melinda Pitts. This recession, however, "these very small firms have made up 45 percent of the nation's job losses."

When you consider that Gen Xers and Millennials were the fastest growing initiators of new business starts since the turn of the millennium, our young professionals are taking on the lion's share of the economic hemorrhaging. And if you add in that business owners cannot claim unemployment, the hit to young professionals and business owners is much greater than what's getting reported.

Now, more than ever, all professionals need business and community leaders like Mr. Bussey and Mr. Nelson to help them navigate the economic reset and move into leadership roles. Mentorship and support of young professionals will help them make smart business decisions to prepare for long-term job growth and economic recovery.

More articles about young professionals (Generation X and Generation Y/Millennials)

• Gen Xers Feeling More Discontent at Work
• Generation X and The Millennials: What You Need to Know About Mentoring the New Generations
• Why Xers and Management Positions Don't Always Align
  

Relevancy: The Real Gap in Higher Education Funding

During a recent trip to Washington State University (WSU), I had the privilege to spend time with faculty of the College of Engineering and Architecture, including some distinguished thought leaders and researchers from private institutions. I learned quite a bit about what innovative work WSU was doing in the fields of clean energy, green building, and smart agriculture, just to name a few. As a math and science geek, it was like going to Disney World -- just without the long lines. But what most impressed me was WSU's commitment to not just creating great new building products, sustainable energy and fuel technologies, and innovative agriculture practices. Their teams were charged with ensuring that the innovations they rolled out had a clear advantage to society and could fit within the marketplace.

Yes, you're reading that correctly. WSU faculty were focused on creating cool stuff that we can actually use today, not decades from now. I was further blown away by the emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration within and outside the university. Architecture and engineering students work together to create new building materials and testing them in real-world projects. Such close collaboration was not encouraged when I attended architecture school just a 15 years ago. WSU undergraduate students participate in research projects and can see how their work impacts actual users. Their composite materials testing facility is available to innovators and businesses across the globe, not just WSU faculty and students.

Higher education is important to communities, as I discussed in my October 5, 2009 commentary. But bridging the funding gap is more than just finding more funds. It's about changing the perception about institutions of higher learning. A well-rounded college or university develops great students, creating contributing members to our society and workforce. But they do so much more when they work together with private enterprise, public institutions, government agencies, and global communities. Leadership within universities and colleges must be prepared to climb out of their elitist tower and walk among the masses to tell their stories. They will be charged to show how the next great innovation in exterior siding means better-quality building materials at lower prices that minimally impact natural resources. The solutions that they research for energy storage issues must clearly connect to how they will create new jobs for all workers in industries that are supported by integrated and thoughtful government policies.

When everyone understands that higher education about communities, not just students, better collaborations can be forged between private enterprise and higher education. Governments create inviolable policies that encourage that collaboration and look to integrated sources of revenue -- not just increasing tuition or taxpayer dollars. Private citizens see the direct results and benefits of institutional and private collaborations when the get their lower energy bills or on their next shopping trip to their local hardware and grocery store.

Washington State University has forged great alliances with regional businesses and institutions like Boeing and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories. I know that other institutions, including public universities, community colleges, and private institutes, are doing the same. It's time for these organizations to speak up and speak out about the resources and benefits that they offer all of our citizens, not just students. And for those who have not made collaboration among departments, disciplines, governments, and the business community, you're making it harder to get the resources you need to stay innovative. By clinging to your perch in the elitist tower, you're destroying relevancy.

Without relevancy, the funding gap for all institutions will grow deeper and wider. It is up to all of us to make the case and bridge the real gap -- the relevancy gap -- in supporting our institutions of higher learning. We need their innovations to serve as a catalyst for new industries, support businesses in developing industries, and prepare a competitive workforce that can excel in all industries. When institutions bridge the relevancy gap, everyone will work together to ensure that those institutions have the funds they need to continue to support our communities.

Why does higher education matter to business?

Higher education cuts are resounding throughout the country. Our universities, community colleges, and continuing education programs cannot handle the growing demand in a time when state budgets and private investment are shrinking. But why should the business community care?

Higher education does not exist solely to train people in a trade. Don't get me wrong: I don't want to be under the knife with a surgeon who does not have a degree! Higher education builds communities in which continuing education is valued. Those who know how to learn will always be able to navigate market upsets and shifts in available jobs.

If you will recall from my blog post "From Expense to Asset: How Layoffs Can Kill Your Organization", people are the most valuable asset in any organization that hopes to thrive in the information age. People need opportunities in growth and development in order to retain their competitive edge and make our businesses, in turn, more competitive. The business community's support of higher education means more resources and better talent in our communities and at our fingertips. And better educated citizens means better communities for the growth and development of all.

When higher education fails, communities fail. When communities fail, they cannot provide the types of citizens needed to work together to pull that community out of a decline. Failed higher education leads to unskilled citizens, which leads to atrophied communities, which leads to struggling small businesses, and the inability of a community to create viable, desirable jobs.

Business leaders and private citizens work together to create a job-growing economy by supporting our higher education institutions.

It's Time to Poke the Bear: Stop Crippling Your Organization with Inaction

Back in July 2009, I attended a Washington Technology Industry Association/MIT Enterprise Forum event in which talked about leveraging the economic downturn. One of the most valuable points I took away was that strategy isn't about what you're going to do: It's about what you are NOT going to do.

As I look around, I seen a lot of people not doing anything. Instead of leveraging the available opportunities, many are unwilling to take the necessary steps to move forward. These organizations hope to ride out this bear market and come out the other side doing business as usual.

Well, I hate to tell you the obvious, but business is going to look very different when we come out the other side of this downturn. Already, the economy is seeing a bit of an upswing. Those organizations will continue to fall behind and eventually cripple their ability to compete. They will not be ready when opportunities arise, for they won't have been proactive in reshaping their organizations for the new market. The three ways I have seen leaders use inaction to slowly cripple their organizations include:

1. Screaming Poverty. Access to capital is tougher than ever. It's unfortunate what's happening in the credit markets. But demanding something for next to nothing at every turn will get the organization that's always crying poverty nothing in the end. Bears don't care how much you scream. Organizations have to be proactive, creative, and resourceful in developing a strategy to deal with the bears that pop up along the path. Poverty-screaming organizations will slowly run out of cash as they waste their time wheeling and dealing instead of developing an effective strategy and leveraging currently available opportunities. Even with bears lurking, there is fruit on the trees.
   
2. Analysis Paralysis. Many decision makers either know this or someone like this. Organizations trapped in analysis paralysis get so bogged down in weighing the opportunities, that the window of opportunity opens and shut while they're huddled in indecision. Bears like huddles: more snacks in a smaller area.
   
3. Playing Dead. It's an old trick of camouflage that "if they don't see me, then they can't eat me." With Playing Dead, leaders cover their eyes, double over, and think that "If I can't see them, then they can't eat me." Bears have a great sense of smell. They will eat an organization whether it's being proactive or not. When leaders curl into a ball, they don't become more effective in riding out the storm. They just get eaten from behind and don't even realize it.

So how do you recognize when inaction cripples an organization? Three easy ways:

• Revenue has dropped sharply or crawled to a halt.
• Productivity is on a measurable decline.
• Morale is non-existent among your team members.
  

If you're noticing one or more of these three things happening in your organization, you need a strategist to help you identify the gaps and get together a plan of action to keep this bear market from devouring your organization. Tracy A. Corley & Associates can do just that.

It's time to poke the bear and keep moving forward. Let this aggressive market drive you to be proactive in developing and following a responsive strategy that works in the current and future market scenarios. It will guide your organization on the right path so that you focus and move forward instead of getting stalled by what you should NOT be doing. Most importantly, you should NOT scream poverty, get trapped in analysis paralysis, or play dead. Inaction will cripple your organization and eat you alive. Stay on the move with an effective strategy and don't be afraid of the bears you poke along the way.

Here's why fixing your weaknesses is a bad idea

On Friday 9/18/09, I led a half-day workshop entitled Perfect Your Pitch. As a part of developing the content for a successful pitch, I took the participants through a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. When we were evaluating Strengths and Weaknesses, I advised the group to explore their strengths and ignore their weaknesses to determine potential priorities and challenges. One participant asked: "Shouldn't we try to fix our weaknesses instead of ignoring them?"

Completely ignoring the things that your organization doesn't do well is not the whole truth. Every organization should know what they do really well. It takes an honest, objective analysis for them to know what they do poorly.

Unfortunately, many organizations waste precious resources on training, infrastructure development, and human resources to prop up an offering or line of business that is actually dragging the organization down. They do this for a number of reasons, including to look like a "full service" organization, to capture what looks like low hanging fruit, and/or to foster a culture of ownership and refuse to let go of lost causes. Inevitably, clinging to these resource drains will remove capacity from the areas in which the group is strong. This refusal to avoid weaknesses eventually appear in the form of dwindling net profits.

The way to address this is to first acknowledge the weakness. Know that it is something that you do rather poorly. It's okay if, for example, you're a law firm and do not handle criminal cases. There are plenty of capable attorneys out there who would appreciate the referrals so that you can stay focused on business law and estate planning.

Once you acknowledge the weakness, determine if it is absolutely critical to the survival of your organization. If the answer is yes, then you have a major issue. That weakness isn't really a weakness: it's a threat. Instead of throwing resources at it to enhance it, you should be doing everything possible to stamp it out. If the weakness is NOT vital to your survival, then just ignore it. Be aware of it, but find a solution that does not tie up your organization's resources.

To acknowledge what you don't do well and need to improve starts the conversation regarding whether each weak spot is a weakness or a threat. A weakness is a feature, offering, or characteristic which the organization can comfortably ignore or hire out to someone else. If your strategy integrates abilities on which you cannot profitably deliver, the entire strategy is flawed. The organization needs to take a harder look at strengths and reshape offerings to leverage only the strengths and opportunities.

Any strong organization stays focused at all times on exploring their strengths and exploiting opportunities. Threats must be confronted, and weaknesses should be avoided. If you find that you're confronting or exploring weaknesses, you're wasting your time. These fruitless activities are as tragic as avoiding opportunities. Stop fixing your weaknesses and expend those resources on exploring your strengths. Your bottom line will be so glad that you did.