How to speed up business decisions in Mexico

When doing business in Mexico, one of the fundamental complaints I hear from non-Mexican business people is the speed at which business in transacted.

They say there are 5 speeds to the Mexican economy, I believe they also apply to negotiations in Mexico.

1. Slow.

2. Slower.

3. Stalled.

4. Going in reverse.

5. Dead.

It can be quite frustrating, but it is part of Mexican business culture.

There are several options available that may help speed up the decision-making process in Mexico.

• Make certain you are both working for the same goal. Write it down, discuss it, and determine that everyone is seeking the same thing. There should not be any hidden agendas.
• Set fixed and specific dates when the data or information must be available or the decision will be made. Get personal commitments from the other participants. Don’t settle for vague answers, get them to agree in public to bring the specific data or make the decision on a specific date. Personal, not institutional responsibility.
• Does everyone have all the information required to make the decision? Write down what is missing and assign responsible parties and dates for completion.
• Follow-up with phone calls and written communication and verify that everything is running on schedule. You will have to dedicate more time to “motivating” or “prodding” than you are used to in your own country.
• Don’t get angry. If there is no decision it is because of a reason you don’t understand or hasn’t been verbalized. Anger is seen as threatening, and not part of a good relationship, it will hurt you more than help you.
• Be patient. It always takes longer than you think it will.
• Keep up the communications, in fact increase them. Contact all the team members involved, try and discuss the project or decision informally (outside of the office or work environment).
• It might be the money. When everything looks perfect, and still no decision, it might be due to money (or lack of it). Try and discuss this privately with the head decision-maker.
• It might be the risk or control involved. Bring the subject out in the open and discuss the risks and control issues involved for both sides. This is best done informally with the team members, one on one.
• It might be NO. Mexicans do not like to say no or give bad news in certain situations. They believe it is impolite, and many times will not respond or will allow the situation to continue until it fades away without a “yes or no” decision being made.

Related Links

Patience Chaos and doing business in Mexico

Doing Business in Mexico – cultural tips

How to negotiate with Mexican business people

How to do business in Mexico

Doing Business in Mexico – cultural tips

When doing business in Mexico you are very likely to see some, or all, of the following during a business trip. It’s part of the Mexican business and social culture.

• Late arrival for meetings by participants. This might be up to 30 to 45 minutes late.

• Cancellations at the last minute.

• Changes in agreed upon plans and agendas.

• Long lunches or dinners, where business talk is not the major theme.

• Meetings that seem to go on for a long time before coming to the business issue.

• People will gesture and use their hands a great deal while speaking.

• There will be a degree of emotion in business discussions and presentations.

• People will be very formal and polite.

• People will sit very close to you when speaking, and often touch your arm or shoulder while talking.

• Your Mexican partners will not be forth coming and explicit regarding bad news.

• You will not hear the word NO a lot.

• Deadlines may not be met for reasons that you don’t understand or don’t believe.

• Until you establish a social relationship with your Mexican business partners, your business discussions will seem very vague, cold and unsatisfying.

• Decision-making may be extremely swift or excruciatingly slow. You never will know why.

• Dinners, parties, weddings and social gatherings last for hours. There is no such thing as a 2 hour cocktail party.

• You will be encouraged to eat everything, drink plenty and enjoy yourself while in Mexico. Failure to do this is seen as a refusal of hospitality or a sign that you are not comfortable in Mexico or with your hosts.

• In a social gathering the men will tend to congregate in one part of the room or table and the women in the other.

 

Related Links

 

Patience, Chaos and Doing Business in Mexico

How to do business in Mexico

Criticism – how to do business in Mexico

Meeting people in Mexico

How to negotiate with Mexican business people

How to call Mexico from the USA

Great International Business Trip Results

16 Essential questions – the international business traveller’s quiz

Lessons in international business – negotiations

Observations on how to create trust, effective meetings and excellent negotiations with overseas customers, suppliers and partners.

• Whenever you are involved in international negotiations or global meetings keep in mind that you might be working with the same person for the next 10 – 20 years.

• Negotiations should be open and straightforward.  Hidden agendas will eventually be discovered and make the next meeting very difficult.

• Negotiations should involve creating value for both parties.

• Meetings are important moments where trust is being built and confirmed.  Be honest and clear about your desires.

• Never agree to something you cannot deliver or perform.

• Listen, understand and evaluate what your partner is requesting.   What are they saying, and what does it mean.

• Be certain of what you are negotiating and agreeing to.  If not 100% sure, stop and request clarification.

• Prepare for the meeting several weeks before it happens.  Refresh and add information weekly.  When you reach the meeting, you will be in control of the information and feel comfortable during the talks.

• At the end of the meeting, write down the most important points or agreements, with names and dates, and have it signed by those present.  This little tip will save lots of time and trouble for everyone involved.

• Any agreement must have 100% follow-through.  If for any reason problems arise in the follow-through, immediately contact and communicate the situation to your partner.

Related Links

How to negotiate with Mexican business people

Great international business trip results

Great International Business Trip Results

In any international relationship communication and understanding are critical for success.

Problems created by; language, stereotypes, misinformation, lack of information, and cultural misunderstandings combine with normal business problems to create a complicated scenario for anyone involved in international relationships and global business.

Prepare your international meetings and business presentations using the following questions as a guide to organize your ideas and focus on actions that will produce positive results for everyone involved.

6 Questions – Create Great International Business Trip Results

1. What does this organization know about me, my company and my country?
2. What do they think they know about me?
3. What can I tell them that they do not know?
4. What do I know about my international partner, culture and country?
5. What do I think I know about this business, culture and country?
6. What can they tell me that I do not know?

1. What does this organization know about me and my company. When you walk in the room an opinion has already been formed about you, your organization, and your ability to perform in the future. These ideas are based upon facts, information and past experience.

• What has been the history of our relationship in their country?
• Who has been involved in our mutual business, and why?
• What promises have been made and kept by both?
• What promises have been made and not delivered upon?
• What have the major problems and success been in the past?
• Press and media, our organizations promotional material.

2. What do they think they know about me. Clarifying the unknowns or presumed realities in a relationship is crucial to success. These ideas may be very damaging and limit your ability to trust one another. What stereotypical behaviour can you avoid or prevent? What can you clarify or refute through information or actions?

• Behaviour and reacts based upon past experience with your organization.
• Rumour and innuendo, press and media reports.
• Negotiation styles.
• Business objectives.
• Behaviour, goals and methods of doing business based upon country and cultural stereotypes.

3. What can I tell them that they do not know. Today’s business world requires trust, information and solutions. Reinforcing your need to work with your international partner, providing important information or solutions, and clarifying misunderstandings can only help the relationship.

• Clarify or destroy cultural stereotypes.
• Clarify business objectives and why they are important in order to reach these objectives.
• Provide solutions and alternatives to existing situations and challenges.
• Provide information of value for their business and strategy.
• Clearly identify current or potential business problems.
• Predict and have answers ready for their questions.

4. What do I know about my International partner, culture and country? What do I know is true and not innuendo or interpretation? The numbers, facts, information, agreements and past performance history of the business. Information about the country and the business culture.

5. What do I think I know about this business, culture and country? What preconceived ideas and stereotypes are you working with? What are you assuming and what has been proven?

6. What can they tell me that I do not know? What questions do you need to ask in order to verify information or create plans. What pieces of your information puzzle are missing? This is the time to get your questions answered, what are they?

Related Links

Cultural misunderstanding it can happen to you

Stereotypes and global business

Create great international business relationships

16 Essential questions – the international business traveller’s quiz

Lessons in international business

Individuality and chaos in the workspace

Is your workspace unique? Should it be?

Does your company project the image of sameness, order and uniformity by having cubicles and work-spaces coordinated and equal to one another? Why? Because it looks good, gives the impression of order, control and discipline?

Is this sameness and order a good thing for sparking employee creativity, innovation, happiness and positive results ?

Alexander Kjerulf offers up ideas about workspace, sameness and creativity and roadwitching at The Chief Happiness Officer.

If we want to have a creative, enthusiastic workforce why do we want them to work in ordinary, uninspired surroundings?

Does it just look better when the office layout is coordinated and everything has a mathematical formality about it? Is it a fashion statement or is it about control, and the desire to reduce chaos and “environmental noise”?

Is there a study that shows that working in neutral sameness and coordinated surroundings makes us more productive or efficient?

The industrial world used assembly lines and standardization to increase time efficiency and mass production. Are we applying the assembly line system to today’s information workers without questioning the efficiency and effect on innovation and happiness?

Alex writes “…..so many workplaces have lost their human touch to a desire for sameness, efficiency and professionalism. It’s a shame, because it makes people less efficient.”

The same goes for meetings. Why are they always in the same conference or meeting room? You know the drill, everyone files, in, sits in the chair they always sit in, and the meeting drones on. How much innovation, creativity and enthusiasm will people bring to the meeting if you change the location?

Distracting, perhaps. Maybe, just maybe, people will focus on the task at hand and not the structure, hierarchy and safety of a routine. Perhaps being outside what is “comfortable” is what is needed to provoke new ideas or new ways of analyzing the same situation.

Move a meeting to the cafeteria, to the sales floor, under a tree, to the park, to the library, to another unfamiliar location and see what happens.

Ted Dewan (Link): “One thing that might be fun is renegade meeting rooms. I once heard of a group that set a meeting table up in a parking spot (they were meeting to plan Roadwitch-like activities) and they found the experience envigorating and it helped their thinking as a result. It might be a bit distracting, but depending on the sort of meeting, it’s worth a try I suppose. I’d test it first before offering it as paid-for advice, of course.”

You choose:

Choice # 1 – Chaos – Energy – Random Opportunities – Innovation

Choice # 2 – Order and Control – Suppression of Energy – Routine – Lack of Innovation

Related Links

5 ways to stimulate creative thinking and idea generation

Weird ideas that work

Successful managers should be breaking the rules

With nothing, anything is possible

Questioning the wisdom of crowds

Businesspundit has commented (Link) on a piece from Inc.com entitled The Idiocy of Crowds.

Both authors are questioning the interpretation and application of the ideas presented in the book, The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki. Surowiecki proposes that many times the group will make better decisions and assumptions as compared to any given individual of that same group.

There are very different and distinct situations and opportunities where groups may outperform individuals and vice versa. There are also fundamental differences in focus, attention and willingness to accept risk, that will significantly affect the outcome of the decision or prediction.

Predictions and Opinions. The use of groups in opinion polls and prediction markets is indisputably more accurate than an individual prediction.

Evolution vs. Revolution. A group or crowd will more often choose evolution (safe, slow, predictable change) over revolution (rapid, drastic, unknown consequences). This favors group stability and leads to incremental changes of the status quo. Decisions of this type are much more easily accepted, embraced and implemented.

New ideas and concepts. Creativity is not favored or accelerated in groups as compared to individuals. Paradigm changing concepts and ideas, leaps in technology, philosophy and science are usually created by individuals.

Human Nature and Teams. Teamwork and working in groups is part of human nature. We are social creatures and business requires the majority of us to work with others. The group interaction and final outcome may be limited or significantly reduced when compared to individual results. The decisions will be accepted and the entire group will support it.

Current business trends are focusing on innovation, and developing processes that allow us to implement innovation systems and to create the methodologies that will assist us in the creation of innovative solutions. It’s natural that we should begin to examine how decisions are made, their innovative or creative component, who makes them, and who makes the correct decisions.

The questions and discussions created by the ideas presented in The Wisdom of Crowds are what is important. Which situations are better served by individual ideas and opinions to find solutions? When should we be using “crowd-think” and groups to assist us in decision making or with our predictions?

Related Links

Businesspundit: The Idiocy of Crowds

Inc. What’s Next: The Idiocy of Crowds

There are no new management and leadership ideas

Decision-making, how they used to do it 400 BC

Creating a great presentation

“The best way to sound like you know what you’re talking about is to know what you’re talking about” – Author Unknown

Some people are show-people. They love to get up in front a group and give a presentation. It’s easy for them, you can see that they enjoy it. They inspire, give us ideas, and present themselves as knowledgeable and informed about the subject.

Then there are the rest of us. Public speaking for many is a tortuous experience filled with fears, sweating hands and knocking knees. It’s easy for those with fear of presentations to sit down with PowerPoint and fill slide after slide with graphs, charts, numbers and text, which will then be read slide-by-slide in a monotonous drone. Sound familiar?

The fear of speaking in public may never go away. But you can create, design and execute a much better, more interesting and more professional presentation if you ask yourself the following questions before you begin the process of creating your presentation.

Questions you should ask before starting work on the presentation

• Do I understand the subject, am I an expert? If you are not, why are you giving the presentation?
• Am I excited about the subject and passing this excitement and understanding on to others? Without your enthusiasm it will be a boring disaster.
• Who will be in the audience? Who are you speaking too, what level of education and what “rung” of the corporate ladder? Are they competitors, industry experts, clients or co-workers?
• What is the audience’s level of knowledge and understanding of the topic? Do you need to give them an introduction to the subject, or can you jump right in?
• What information is relevant and important for my audience? Are they interested in details, or only in your summaries and conclusions?
• Where will I be when I give the presentation? A huge auditorium or a classroom with 10 people? The boardroom or the company picnic?
• How can I present the material so that is reflects my expertise, and at the same time educates or inspires the audience?

What are the goals of the presentation

• Am I presenting facts so that the audience can analyze them and come to their own conclusions?
• Am I analyzing and presenting my interpretation of factual information?
• Am I teaching concepts that should be learned by the audience?
• Am I motivating and inspiring the audience with ideas?
• Why are these people coming to see me?

Creating the Presentation

• Do I have the technical skills required to put this presentation together?
• Who can I go to for help and assistance to make it look and feel professional?
• Do I have a budget?
• What would I present if I only had 60 seconds to do it? What information is absolutely necessary?

“The audience only pays attention as long as you know where you are going.”
– Philip Crosby

How to negotiate with Mexican business people

Mexico has a culture that embraces and enjoys negotiations. From the schoolyard to the local markets to the executive boardrooms, negotiations are an important part of everyday life for Mexican citizens.

Mexican business people are good negotiators and enjoy the process.

You can expect tough negotiations if you are doing business in Mexico. Tough negotiations in the sense that they will question everything, and spend a great deal of time trying to get you to accept their point of view or conditions. The arguments may be based on emotions or facts, or both.

You should always come into the negotiation very well prepared. Know what you want, and have the evidence to support your claim. Your arguments, supported by facts, will be heard and processed by your Mexican counterparts. If facts are presented that are new, take the time to verify the information and sources before you reach a conclusion.

Negotiations in Mexico can be compared to the first round of a sporting event, both sides desire to “win”, but rarely do they burst onto the field with all their energy in the first 5 minutes. The process of “feeling out” the opponent, observing their strengths and weaknesses, are critical to understanding how to develop a winning strategy and understanding what you are up against.

Mexicans are often seeking a long term, stable relationship with suppliers and clients. Focus your negotiations and decisions on creating a long term business relationship and strategy with your Mexican counterpart.

Your ability to negotiate will be a reflection of your company, your character, and your abilities as a business person. Take your time, don’t get emotional, support your arguments with facts, and be consistent with your demands or desires over time. The negotiation process is helping to build trust and credibility, it’s important to build solid foundations for your future relationship.

Don’t be in a hurry to end the negotiations. The Mexican culture is more permissive about time and deadlines than you find in USA or Europe. If you are in a rush, you will lose important negotiating power.

Always start your negotiation with some margin and leeway. It will always to be to your advantage to “give” a little before the negotiations are over. It may take 4 hours for you to “give in”, but the gesture will be seen as your willingness to do business and enough for the negotiator to claim a little victory. Everyone wins.

Write down your final agreement, and the results of your negotiations and have both sides sign and retain a copy. This simple step will avoid any language, communication or interpretation problems that may develop in the future.

Related Links

Meeting People in Mexico – kiss, shake hands or hug

Before you go on a business trip to Mexico

How to do business in Mexico, parts 1 – 28

16 Essential Questions – International Business Traveller’s Quiz

How impersonal is your life and your world?

We live in an impersonal world. I hear this constantly and wonder exactly what people mean when they say it. Is this a warning, an observation, a criticism, a declaration of failure in their ability to create and maintain relationships?

The world has always been impersonal, it’s just not possible that millions of human beings will relate to one another with familiarity. It’s an impossible scenario.

So why all the focus on how impersonal our lives are lately?

Is it a cry for help, a diagnosis and awareness that something is wrong or could be better?
It’s because we have isolated ourselves, by ourselves.

Impersonal is what YOU make it, it has to do with your interaction and participation with others. You are in control, you are not a victim.

Our access to wealth, communications and easy travel have allowed us to travel and move our residence often and meet thousands of people throughout the world during our lifetime. This was not possible 100 years ago.

We no longer live in Norman Rockwell’s Main street America, in a small town, where we know the neighbors, the teachers, the firemen, clerks and shop owners. We didn’t invest enough time in a safe stable environment in order to learn about others and become secure with ourselves and diversity.

In today’s world it’s so easy to walk away from ideas, behaviours and people who are not like us. We can now live by ourselves, in our own little world, designed by us and just for us. The only problem is, we are social creatures and we do want others in our lives. We have created a dilemma by isolating ourselves.

It’s just common sense that this exposure to so many people we don’t know, and who don’t know us, is bound to create a bit of tension or coldness in our initial contacts. Depending on how you respond and interact with others, these interactions can remain cold and impersonal, or might warm up and become pleasant and more personalized.

Simple acts that allow others to let their guard down are all that’s necessary. A smile, a hello or thank-you, a question or comment that initiates a conversation is sometimes all it takes to break the ice.

Relationships are made and created through trust and time. It’s about giving your time, showing interest, and learning. You cannot expect to become best friends with anyone in a week or month, be realistic. You cannot create a meaningful relationship by watching co-workers or neighbors through your window.

Proof of how easy it is to begin a relationship can be found with the Internet, social networks, chat-rooms, etc. All you have to do is throw out a comment or question and in a matter of minutes be involved in communication with a perfect stranger. Why then the complaints about an impersonal world? What’s different when you are not on-line, and are face to face with another human being?

If you think the world is cold and impersonal, take a look at your actions and behavior and determine if you are actively participating to open the door in your communications and relationships. Does your world revolve around you, your problems and your little internal universe? I’ll bet you think the world is impersonal.

Are you interested in giving, sharing, listening, learning and accepting others and their diversity? I’ll bet you think the world is a pretty fine place to be.

Related Links

Lonely and have no friends

What happens when we have no friends

Social networks, are they a part of your life?

International business travel, the end of an era?

Once again the airline industry is about to have their security guidelines changed in order to accomodate new perceived threats by terrorists. The arrest of 24+ people in London involved in plotting terror attacks aboard airplanes is being heralded in the press and blog world as the end of business travel, the end of an era.

It’s true that business travellers will be the most affected group if new security regulations are put in place to limit carry-on luggage, liquids and electronic equipment. International business travellers will surely suffer most, 8 to 14 hour flights beg for a carry on bag crammed with items that may now be eliminated by new regulations.

The thought of making the trip from LA to Hong Kong, without my water bottle, my contact lens solution, saline spray, Ipod and reading material would make me seek an alternative. Perhaps I would pass the opportunity to meet face to face, and try to do the business via telephone, VOIP, or fax, accepting that fact that the outcome wouldn’t be the same. How many others would do the same?

I believe face to face meetings are an essential part of doing business, and more so for international relationships. But there comes a time when the trip itself is so painful and uncomfortable that we do seek alternatives that are easier and more pleasant, or we charge more in order to suffer the inconvenience.

Two thoughts come to mind:

1. How will global business be affected? How many of us will seek an supplier or customer that is closer to home? How will business change if international travel is severely affected? Will business travellers embrace communication technology in order to make things happen as they used to? Will international business travellers request more compensation, raising the cost of doing business?

2. What will the airlines do to adapt and make it safe and comfortable for their business travel customers? Will they provide, contact lens solution, creams, and bottled water for their customers as part of the standard service? How can they turn this gigantic lemon into lemonade?

13 Tactics Guaranteed to Kill any Project

How many of these tactics can you identify and how many are at work right now in your organization?

13 tactics guaranteed to kill any project

1. Assemble and invite a huge group of people to participate, most of whom have no stake in the outcome.

2. Do not assign or elect a leader, or better yet, assign leadership to several members.

3. Never make the goals and objectives of the project clear. Leave them as vague as possible.

4. Never assign responsibilities to specific members and never set firm dates for the completion of tasks.

5. Stifle and block all new and alternative ideas, never allow questioning of procedures or goals, eliminate all creativity and any dissension.

6. Plan lots of long, unplanned meetings without an agenda, where nothing is achieved, goals are not reviewed, and no new compromises are agree upon. Especially good are meetings very late in the day, on Fridays.

7. When asked for information and interaction with other members, take a long time to answer and do not give them what they are asking for. Never respond to emails from other members.

8. Never participate during a meeting, but outside the room complain to everyone that the project is doomed and that everything is wrong.

9. Allow meetings to be interrupted by phone calls and visitors, let everyone answer emails and do work on their laptops during the event.

10. Make sure there are no resources assigned to the project or members, this includes time and money.

11. Give all the decision-making power to one individual, and make sure they never make a decision. Good lines to use to delay decision-making include “this is an important decision, I think it should be reviewed and studied further”, “we don’t have all the facts yet”, “I’ll take it under advisement”. This person should also travel often and be difficult to contact.

12. Big decisions that affect the project should be shared with only a few of the participants.

13. Always blame other members for anything that might be wrong. Attack aggressively, loudly and in public if possible.

Related

Effective Business Meetings

Create a debate – find out who really wants the project to work

Step by step beginner’s guide to project management

When leadership fails – an example – the Mexican shoe manufacturing industry

It’s quite interesting to watch certain businesses and industries succeed and fail, and try to identify the factors that lead to these very different outcomes.

For example in Leon, Guanajuato, the shoe-making capital of Mexico, the industry is under severe pressure from imported product, and lower costs from China, Vietnam, Brazil, and other countries.

It’s quite clear to everyone in the industry that there are several solutions to the problem.

1. Ask the government to create trade barriers and import tariffs. This will only support the inefficiencies in the national industry, postponing the inevitable.
2. Invest in design and create a brand. Shoes are purchased for two reasons, fashion and protecting your feet. The fashion market has much higher profit margins, but requires constant investment in research and development and marketing.
3. Invest in technology. If your product is focused on low prices in the market, you must have low costs, and lower costs than your competitors. This might be achieved with new technologies.
4. Create alliances within the industry. If China production costs are cheaper, but it takes 60 days for the product to reach the US, doesn’t it make perfect sense to create an alliance where the initial production comes from Mexico (5 days to market), followed by the mass production from China?
5. Purchase the shoes from the overseas competition and close your production facilities.
6. Create new markets, export to new markets.

Those are the choices, and what do you think is happening?

The majority of companies are pointing out the danger and requesting government intervention, but not implementing any other strategies to avoid the “doomsday” scenario.

The few companies (industry leaders) that have invested in branding, design, technology and purchasing from competitors are thriving, earning money and making profits.

Why is avoiding the obvious or inevitable, such common behaviour in most organizations and groups?

I believe it has to do with the failure of the leaders to move out of the Thinking-Identifying stage and into the Planning and Implementation stages.

The cycle of business leadership and management consists of:

• Thinking-Identifying. Thinking and identifying important internal and external factors and understanding how they interact.

• Planning. Using the data and information to formulate a plan and strategy

• Implementing the strategy. Putting the resources and motivation behind the plan and “making it work”.

• Reaction-Modification. Reacting and modifying the plan as the conditions change.

Many leaders are uncomfortable or unable to identify the major factors that are and will affect their companies. They are unable to create strategies and delay important and critical decisions because they lack data, or have too much of it, or don’t know how to properly analyze it and find conclusions. Without a strategy there is obviously no implementation, and the organization begins to react to situations created by others (crisis management).

This inability to read the market, identify market forces, create strategies and adapt to changing conditions will eliminate those organizations from the market. Creating strategy is not easy, and creating successful strategies is even more difficult. It requires excellent leadership and management decisions.

What are the known problems in your organization and industry?

What strategies are waiting to be created and implemented in order to prepare your business for the future?

Why isn’t it happening now?

9 steps to better decisions

Trying to pin the blame for a bad decision on an individual or group is fairly common corporate activity.  We believe that errors are not to be tolerated, and that anyone who commits an error should be identified and punished.  Too often this search limits and inhibits people from speaking up and making good, creative and bold choices in their organizations.  The fear of failure prevents action. 

We have to “blame” the process more and the people less. 

But who doesn’t make bad choices, mistakes, and accidents due to omission or over confidence? 

It’s part of life and learning.  The more I learn about chaos theory, and the butterfly effect, the more difficult it is to identify an individual who can be singled out as the responsible party for a “decision gone wrong”.  The trial and error decision-making process is still prevalent in the natural world, and will continue to be part of the corporate world.

What would happen in your organization if you stop seeking someone to blame, and focus on the decision-making process itself and the evaluation of results, independent of individuals? 

Where there is a failure, first take a look at the following list, answer the questions to determine if the decision-making system was at fault, or if it was an individual failure within the process. 

Run de-briefings and analysis of outcomes, good and bad, and find elements that were responsible.  Let your people know that mistakes can happen, and can be tolerated, but that a systemic process should be used in order to eliminate or reduce errors. 

9 steps to better decisions 

1. What are our objectives and expected outcomes?
2. What information should we accumulate in order to make a decision?
3. What information is not important for this decision?
4. Who is evaluating and processing the information?
5. What criteria are being used to evaluate and process the information?
6. What are the possible scenarios based upon the present information?
7. What is the most likely scenario or best decision for the company at this time?
8. Who are the decision-makers for this issue and why?
9. What elements are critical and essential for success?

Shift your focus from the person to the process itself, what is or was missing?  Why? 

Related Links

More access to information – more mistakes

How to set up a beginner’s “Business Intelligence” system 

Another factor to consider before a meeting is called

An interesting idea to assist in evaluating the cost/benefit of having a meeting can be found at the Signal vs. Noise weblog.

There’s no such thing as the one-hour meeting (Link)

There is no such thing as a one hour meeting, unless you are alone for that hour (and then it’s not a meeting…is it?).  The moment there are 2,4, 6 people assembled, that hour is multiplied by the number of attendees…..making it a substantial investment in terms of total “participant-hours”.

What you have to ask yourself before calling a meeting is….will it be beneficial to assemble all these people? How can we maximize results and minimize wasted time while we are together?  Is the total time dedicated to this issue worth it?

Related Links

Effective Business Meetings (Link)

Leaders, weekly meetings, responsibility (Link)

Create a Debate (Link)

Create a debate – find out who really wants the project to work

I’ve always been the “Devil’s Advocate”, and a contrary voice throughout my career/life. Not because I’m a negative person, but to question and create a discussion about a project or idea. Too often ideas are not questioned due to “group think”, peer pressure or fear, resulting in projects and plans that have not been embraced by the members, and will slowly fizzle away and fail.

Who really wants the idea to work? Without a bit of an argument or debate, I find it difficult to determine who is committed to the idea, and ultimately this is what matters. Commitment by group members does not insure success, but it facilitates communication and guarantees that everyone is shooting at the same target.
This is why I loved Cuculuains blog entry “Don’t fear the Devil’s Advocate” at Businesspundit

I believe his observations are important in that they ask you to create an attitude and environment in your company that actively seeks to promote debate and question the merits of an idea WITHOUT fear of losing their job or offending members of the group. Create the position of Devil’s Advocate at each meeting or presentation, and let the company know you are creating an environment that promotes and can reward ideas and debate.

The idea of implementing constructive criticism and encouraging your people to play the “devil’s advocate”can only result in more communication, better project presentations and more unity in final decision-making.

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Corporate Leadership and Managers still aren’t listening.

For years business management books, consultants, media articles, conferences and seminars have told us that clear communication between leaders, management and front-line workers are critical to business success.

So why don’t we get it?

Nic Paton has an interesting piece on this topic entitled “Leaders don’t listen, don’t manage and don’t have a clear vision” in the June 19, 2006 Management-issues newsletter.

Is this a human communication problem that can’t ever be solved?

Is it somehow related to the lack of transmitting clear corporate objectives to the organization?

Does it involve the lack of trust and honesty between the executive suite and the front line troops?

Is it an attitude of arrogance that comes with the position of leadership?

Is it specific to business in the USA, or shared on an international level?

Why can’t we listen, learn and share in business when everyone understands it is fundamental and critical to business success and survival?

Leaders, weekly meetings, responsibility

In the June 19, 2006 issue of the  HBS Working Knowledge For Business Leaders newsletter, Marty Linsky has advice about how and why highly functioning leadership teams should have focused meetings every week. 

The Morning Meeting Ritual

Good common sense advice that creates the need for participants to arrive fully prepared and take responsibility for their actions, ideas and corporate performance. 

Isn't that what it's all about?

More about meetings:  Effective Business Meetings

Effective Business Meetings

Making Meetings Effective

It is universally recognized that most participants consider the majority of meetings to be a waste of time. I have attended 4 or 5 outstanding meetings, out of thousands, during my career. Most meetings are; without leadership, unfocused, rambling, without clear objectives, participants are not prepared or interested and 99% of meetings last too long.

Meetings have specific objectives; Information Sharing, Information Seeking, and Decision-making.

Information Sharing Meetings are designed in order to inform others of project results, economic results, corporate decisions, projects and policies.

Information Sharing Meetings are generally brief, as limited member interaction is required. This is not a meeting that seeks or promotes discussion, but often will include time for questions. An agenda is required and should include time estimates for each item on the agenda, including questions. The presentation(s) should be delivered clearly, in an orderly fashion, and if possible a copy of the presentation and key ideas given or sent to each participant after the event (not during, as it will distract their attention).

Information Seeking Meetings are designed to share and receive information from the participants, to discuss and interact, allowing members to share specific information or analysis, in order to make informed decisions.

Information Seeking Meetings, require a strong leader to maintain control of the objectives and discussions. An agenda should be shared, including time estimates for each item on the agenda. All relevant information should be shared via email or hard copy prior to the meeting, in order to reduce presentation time. It is critical that each member arrives at the meeting prepared with information, comments, analysis and questions that will be shared.

Decision-Making Meetings are for making decisions based upon information gathered independently or through a prior Information Seeking Meeting.

Decision-Making Meetings require a strong leader and all participants must be prepared to make decisions at this meeting. An agenda is required, with approximate times for each item. If the participants are not prepared or informed, or important information is incomplete or missing. Stop the meeting and re-schedule, get firm compromises and dates when the information will be available from the responsible individuals, so that the decisions can me made at the next meeting.

I believe it is an error to try and combine these three objectives in one meeting, although many times due to time and logistics constraints it is required. Information and agendas can be shared prior to any meeting, and will significantly reduce the time required to bring the participants “up to speed” on the topic(s).

The keys to any successful meeting are; the leadership, the agenda, and the preparation of each participant.

Leadership and the Agenda

• A great meeting will always have a great leader or facilitator who plans, directs and efficiently moves the meeting in a specific direction.

• All meetings should be announced, and all participants invited, as far in advance as possible.

• Provide a specific agenda for the meeting, and let each participant know what is expected from him or her during the meeting.

• Follow-up with each participant and determine if they understand what is required, and confirm their participation.

• A great meeting leader or facilitator will not allow the event to get bogged down or deviate from the agenda.

• When faced with a situation that cannot be resolved during the meeting, seek specific compromises with the members about who, when, and what is required in order to move proceed.

• When the agenda has been completed, the meeting is over. There nothing wrong with a 5 or 10 minute meeting, if that is what the agenda calls for.

Every participant in the meeting should be prepared before they walk in the room.

• Every meeting participant should understand the objective of the meeting, understand why their participation is requested, and should be prepared to participate.

• Invite only those individuals that are required to reach the objective of the meeting, if others need to be informed of the meeting results, send them a summary of the meeting. By limiting the participation to essential participants, this will guarantee higher attention levels and higher levels of compromise.

• If it is apparent that the participants are not prepared for the meeting, cancel it and re-schedule it. Continuing a meeting under these circumstances is a waste of time.

• Meetings that last longer than 60 minutes will not hold the participants attention, and the information presented is not relevant, or could have been shared prior to the meeting. If there is no reason for every member to be present during certain presentations or discussions, let them leave the meeting.

Business meetings are NOT the place to:

• Discuss the weather, politics, sports, fashion, cars, television shows or movie stars lives. (Unless you are involved in government or the media, fashion, or automotive industries.)

• Criticize and discipline participants or presenters

• Take cellular phone calls

• Work or send emails on your laptop

• Clean your nails, teeth, apply make-up, or indulge in any other personal hygiene activity

• Sleep

When it shouldn’t be a meeting

Many time meetings are called with the intention of forming teams, for developing or strengthening inter-personal relationships, and to discuss a business idea (seek group consensus). These are conversations, and not meetings. These “social gatherings” (albeit a business social gathering) should take place outside of the meeting room and meeting process. These “conversations” are best for the cafeteria, the water cooler or better yet in a neutral or off-site location. Want to kick around an idea? Take everyone out to lunch or for a drink after work. Don’t schedule a meeting for this type of activity, it wastes everyone’s time, and contaminates the real meeting process.