-
Website link of the Week
- www.onlinenewspapers.com if
you want to know what’s happening anywhere on the planet, then this is the
site for you. This site not only lists virtually every country, but also
nearly every major newspaper within those countries along with many regional
and local papers. If you’re overseas for any reason, this site is a great
way to keep in touch with what’s happening at home. Thank you to Brian
Morris for recommending this site.
This week’s customer service "Touchstone"
- Regular brainstorming sessions.
An unrecognised myth that exists in many organisations is that senior
management hold a ‘mortgage’ on knowledge and on new ideas. Maybe it’s
because we all assume that experience is the precursor to wisdom.
Yet how often do we hear of situations where complete outsiders or children
come up with a simple solution that solves the problem at hand. An example is
the story of a young child who was watching a group of adults trying to
dislodge a truck that had become wedged under a road over-bridge. No matter
how hard they tried to pull the truck out, it remained firmly stuck. But the
little girl could see an alternative solution that those engaged in the
operation could not. "Why not let the air out of the truck’s
tyres", she quietly suggested. Mission accomplished.
This story begs the question as to how many simple solutions to your
business challenges are just waiting to be discovered.
One of the most powerful and effective ways of ensuring that your business
stays at the forefront of your industry is to hold regular ‘brainstorming’
sessions with your team. And when I say team, I don’t just mean your senior
management team.
When I facilitate visioning sessions with clients, I strongly recommend
that different people from throughout the organisation be invited to
participate. This includes the receptionist, who in my experience knows more
about the daily workings of a company than the CEO, and people who have only
been with the company for a short while. These people in particular are often
able to see old problems through fresh eyes and their thinking has not become
clouded with baggage of the past.
The number one rule for facilitating these brainstorming sessions is that
‘there is no such thing as a dumb idea’. As Aristotle said, "if
you ask dumb questions, you’ll get smart answers". Allow all
suggestions to be recorded. Some of them may turn out to be of little or no
value, but if you restrict the flow, many great ideas will fail to surface.
I recommend that these sessions be held at least every six months. If you
can manage one every three months, so much the better. This frequency keeps
all members of staff in ‘creative’ mode whereby they are constantly
thinking of ways to improve systems, procedures, product design and generally
how they can help grow the business.
Until next week, many happy customer returns!
Graham Harvey APS
Next week: Customer focus groups.
