What’s so hard about getting people excited - Working on vision

I just finished a short book by Bob Rotella, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect, which may be the best business book I read in the last three years.  Dr. Rotella is a sports psychologist who has worked with some of the top professional golfers and some of the top sports figures too.  Every important point made in this short book is applicable to running a business and, I might add, improving your life. 

Today, let’s just take one of those points... working on vision.  Many of the Executives I work with have a hard time with vision.  It is too soft for them and I often hear them complain about working on vision as something that business professors think is important and its just not what real business is about. 

Rotella presents vision in a simple direct and accessible way.  Essentially, he is saying, you need to be specific about what you want to create (in business, vision is about creating something that does not yet exist).  The more specific you can get, the more likely you will hit your target.  His second point is that you must find a way to viscerally feel the steps that will accomplish the vision. 

Rotella urges golfers to see exactly where the ball is going to end up, be able to watch (in your head) the flight path of the ball.  He then provides a couple of anecdotes about how to bring in other senses to add to the concreteness of what you feel. 

He mentions a renowned player who tells Rotella about the player’s method for staying loose and focused: First, choose the club you want, shrug your shoulders to loosen your muscles and then imagine/feel the time when you hit that club the best you ever hit it (all of us who golf know that time when we hit an effortless, smooth and magical shot with a certain club). 

So, working on your business vision, can you see, feel, taste and hear the vision you want to create?  Are you able to make it specific, the more specific the better? 

Now here is something that Rotella does not address (after all, golf is a one person game, rather than a team effort):  Are you able to communicate that vision to a variety of people in a way that communicates the feelings and magic about your vision? Are others around you excited by what you want to create?  If not, why not? How do you create this kind of excitement?

The earlier you are in your company’s development, the more likely you have people around you who believe in you and/or your vision.  Ask them to answer a few questions:  First, is it you or your vision that creates excitement?  If its not your vision, ask them how big the vision is?  What would make it bigger?  What would make it more specific?  How would their life be different if the vision came to pass?  What would they need to see/feel/hear/taste/smell for the vision to be really visceral/specific?  Now you can begin to work on your vision and get further feedback as you go. Have fun.  

You’re a CEO... what is your job?

 Like many men, when I am taken shopping, my desire wanes quickly and I soon find my attention wandering.  So, in December, I had an unusual amount of time to kill.  At one particular chain store, I found myself feeling fortunate.  There was a seat to sit in and it was off to the side of the long lines of shoppers ready to complete their purchases. 

At first, I noticed the cueing was moving with halting slowness, pretty normal. Then the store greeter said he was going on break and a man of about thirty to thirty five took the greeter’s place.  At first, nothing seemed to be different, then I began to notice the shoppers in line were moving with less of stop and more go.  I became interested.  I watched. 

The first thing I noticed was the overwhelmed cashiers, about ten of them, were no longer shouting for shoppers to step up to the next open cash register.  Why? Because the young man had moved from the front door (still greeting customers as they entered) and was standing toward the front of the line and engaging the shoppers.  What I learned, as I listened, was that he was doing triage.  By asking a few questions he was able to address the unusual situations and with information, direct the available cashier to the core of the issue (a return, exchange, a special request for the item in a particular color) at hand and prepare (as the customer walked over to that cashier) the cashier for what to focus on. 

I thought to myself, “Now this is smart!  Line standing is one of the places that dramatically reduce positive customer experience and this guy is speeding up the line.”  As I watched and listened it got better.  The young man was (without shouting) preparing each cashier for their next customer AND as he was talking, he was directing his remarks to more than one cashier at a time. 

After three or four customers (Oh yes, I was there for quite a while) it became clear to me that he was using each unusual event/issue as a training opportunity.  This was no “greeter”, no equivalent of the under paid receptionist in professional services firms.  This was in fact the store manager and he was doing employee training, in real time and with customers listening and appreciating that he was making their stay in line faster and more positive. 

Their language was respectful of the customers and clearly showed that they wanted to solve problems and make the customer happy. 

This young man was not critical of any employee.  In fact, without the customers feeling ignored, he was engaging his staff and cashiers were commenting to each other about some of the issues and how they might handle the issue. 

So, I ask you... as CEO of your firm, do you see one of your jobs as coaching employees?  How and when do you coach/teach your employees?  Is it done away from the view of your customers/clients, or in front of them?