Louis Ross

It used to mean Software as a Service.  Nowadays, everything is software; it’s a given.  While some on prem structures may still be warranted in unique situations, the subscription model via the cloud is the present and the future.  Once we acknowledge this fact, we can look at what the business needs.

Businesses need solutions.  Every business has problems – issues that need to be fixed.  No one, no company is great at everything.  So smart companies seek help in the areas where they are not great.  But they maybe don’t articulate their needs perfectly.  And, of course regardless of what the company is doing, vendors are hammering away, relentless in trying to sell their products, their service, their software.

Smart vendors figure out the best way they can help their clients is to solve problems.  To provide solutions.  To not assume you know the clients’ problems.  To ask questions. And most importantly: to listen.  And here’s the amazing nugget in today’s world:  an incredible amount of listening can be done by just researching the client’s company.  Walking through their front door, using their service/product, etc.  Finding what their issues are.

It’s an amazing time to run a business.  You have an issue?  There’s an app for that.  I mean, a solution.

Two little words, yet so powerful: I’m curious.  I don’t remember when I learned this tool, but it has been so helpful.  We all hear that we should listen more than we speak, that we have two ears and one mouth and we should use them in that ratio.  That great conversations and relationship are built by listening.  To listen, we need to ask questions.  But if we ask questions straight away, we leave an unanswered question in the recipient’s mind.  They hear our question, but they might be thinking, “Why is this guy asking me this?”  “What does he want from me?”  “What is he trying to sell me?” For example, “How do you keep track of knowledge within your company?” vs simply adding “I’m curious…” to the front of that same question.    I’ve found this simple tool can quickly fill in the blanks, disarm doubt, and help someone move straight to providing information.  Which is what you want – what you’re curious about anyways!

Hopefully your organization invests in a great culture (there are lots and lots of ways to do this, just search a little…), but you, as a leader, have the ability to make or break that culture within your own team.  Make it a fun place to work.  Be the leader you would like to work for.  Smile.  Celebrate what’s working, start meetings with victories and focus on what you want to see more of.  Surprise your team with treats (listen, so you know what they like) and have informal subgroups that celebrate holidays and milestones.  Know your work volume so you can make things fun during the down times.  Work hard, play hard.  It’s up to you.  Get all in or get all out.

We’ve all had poor user or customer service experiences.  When you provide feedback, via a survey, a post, a tweet, etc, do you just rip the company and the experience, or do you share why it was poor and your idea(s) on how to improve it?  Often times those who receive the feedback are aware of the issue and without ideas, your complaint makes you just another complainer.  But complain and throw in a few ideas, from the simple to the elaborate, and you’ve just become an improver.  You might be surprised at how many companies haven’t thought of a way to fix the issue that you’re complaining about and your idea is just what they need.  Finally, when you complain, be sure to include specific details such as an order number, or specific product that failed, or time/date of service failure.  “Your service sucks” is not actionable by the company.  “You sucked on order #123456 because it didn’t include everything I ordered” is not only actionable, it also has a high chance of being corrected quickly because the company knows clearly what to do to fix it.

A typical career path is to join a team that is already in place.  When we do, we have an opportunity to be an agent of change.  We have been hired because we bring skill and experience and the expectation is we will add value.  Rarely do the methods/processes of the new team match our experiences, the lessons we’ve learned, or the vision we have to make improvements.

Great leaders spend some time in the beginning of this chapter of their career asking questions.  They have an idea of what success looks like, but they are wise to not assume all solutions will fit every situation.  By asking questions, including the critical, “What’s working?”, a leader can determine priority and ultimately help the team the fastest.

For example, with the critical topic of knowledge, there is probably someone, somewhere in the org that has correct information.  By learning who are the subject matter experts, defining and documenting the roster of who knows what, and then finally empowering them to share their knowledge, a great leader just completed a critical early step: tapping into the fount of knowledge – at the source.

But if you, the new person to the group, assume you know the best way to accomplish a task, because it’s what worked well at my last job and it’s the reason they hired me here anyways, you’ll miss your opportunity to assess, prioritize, partner, and ultimately deliver.

Bonus: we’re all leaders, regardless of level.  Any person, at any level in an organization can lead and effect change.