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FranklinCovey Blog | Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times
Do more of what matters.
Last week in our webcast, The 4 Key Principles for Getting Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times, we had several questions submitted that we didn’t have time to answer. We thought we would take the next few posts and answer some of them here. One of our participants, a hospital administrator, asked, “How do you keep employee morale up when you’re asking them to do more with less?”
The answer: Don’t ask them to do more with less.
Instead, ask them to do less of what doesn’t matter and more of what does matter.
Morale has little to do with how hard people work or how tough the job is. People will do extraordinary things and work incredibly hard if they feel their contribution matters. › Continue reading
Simplification Reduces Uncertainty
On July 11, Apple celebrated the first anniversary of the App Store. One year and more than 1 billion downloads later, the App Store has revolutionized the software market and chalked up a wildly successful year in the middle of one of the deepest downturns in business history.
They did this by applying a key principle from Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times: focusing simply on the job real customers want done. Clearly, the App Store is successful because it allows customers to get exactly what they want immediately and in a simple and inexpensive way. As we said in the book, “Simplification reduces uncertainty. You can get more predictable results if you focus on simple, high-value offerings for the customer.”
Is the App Store simple? Absolutely. Search the catalog for what you want, and buy with one click.
Is the App Store “high-value”? Absolutely. You get low-cost applications that solve such pesky everyday problems as remembering your schedule, counting calories, and checking the weather, as well as giving you instant access to your favorite music.
We agree with the comment from Domonic on our previous post, who contributed this insight: “One of the biggest challenges I see is that people are focused more on what they have to offer than really identifying the needs of the market. They are telling the market what it needs instead of listening to clients and letting them identify what the true need is.” So true.
So many organizations just don’t get it. They are, as Domonic says, focused inwardly on what they have to offer while deluding themselves that they are customer focused. In crazy, unpredictable times, customers are very careful, but they do know a good deal when they see it.
If the App Store can solve one of my problems right now and for 99 cents, I’ll buy. And, it so happens, so will a billion other people.
So what are you doing to focus more on your customers in these wild times? Is it paying off for you? We’d love to hear.
Check out videos and tools from the book Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times