Comparison – a great tool for business and life!

© Roger La Salle
There may be more to luck than mere Chance!

In a book entitled “The Luck Factor” published just a few years ago the author documented the outcome of his research thesis into what makes some people lucky and others seemingly unlucky.

I’m sure we all know some people who seem to sail through life with hardly a problem, no ill health, a good marriage, good kids, generally life is smooth sailing. In other cases some people seem to have all the bad luck, health problems, marital and work issues and maybe children who are more trouble that perhaps one would expect.

One of the interesting things the author observed was that the so called “lucky people” were the ones who had a more open mind than the others. They held no firmly entrenched views and were always willing to listen and learn and see an opportunity when it presented itself, curtesy of their open-mindedness.

Leave your baggage at the Door

In business open minded people are by far the best performers especially where important decisions are being. Good performers bring no baggage to an issue in the form of firmly held views that simply will not allow them to be swayed. Instead they are always willing to listen and learn and explore new initiatives. Indeed the entire art of “change management”, a big business these days, is about trying to reach these people who find it so difficult to move their thinking to a new place.

Comparison is a great way of learning

There is a lesson here for all of us and one that can be discovered and learned with a systematic process using the “Opportunity Search Matrix”, an extension of the innovation matrix that was developed several years ago.

In an opportunity search matrix there are five “Seeds” or fundamentals that are the search criteria for an opportunity and eight “Catalysts” that are ways of thinking about the seeds. The development and use of this matrix greatly systematizes the search for an opportunity in both business and for life in general.
Opportunity Search Matrix

Catalyst

Seed

Tracking

Comparison X

One of the important Seeds is “Comparison”, that is to compare your performance in any endeavour with others doing the same task.

Tracking literally means to follow or observe how any person skilled in some area works or operates and see what you can learn. The lessons to be learned by this simple process can have life changing effects, providing you are prepared to look, listen and learn.

In using the process it soon becomes clear that in many cases it is our software, our mental approach and knowledge, rather than our hardware that differentiates us from each other.

Some examples

Golf is a great example. Some of the best golfers are by no means large people, they simply have some special gift, we perhaps can call software.

So too with footballers and cricketers, Sir Donald Bradman was by no means a big man, he just had exceptional software.

I once used the comparison tool and learned to swim efficiently in literally a few seconds, simply by observation.

Some years ago when watching my nine year old daughter swimming I noted that she and all of her friend could swim 5 km or more, where I, with a lot more hardware, could barely swim 50 meters. With that observation I decided to see what the difference was. The answer was soon obvious. Good swimmers, those unlike me who had not been taught to swim, use the big muscles of their back to roll their shoulders and swim, whereas the no knowledge swimmers use the small muscles of their arms. With that simple observation I was able to jump into the water and replicate this correct swimming action within seconds.

You too can do this in all fields of endeavour.

It works in Business as well

Do not discount this as mere theoretical nonsense. There are many examples where the above approach can be used to good effect.

Have you ever wondered how some workers can use a shovel all day long but when you get into the garden you can barely work for an hour before exhaustion takes the better of you? Is the difference strength or fitness?

Yes, perhaps to a some extent physical attributes may play a role, but may I suggest if you use the comparison and tracking tools to observe you will soon notice that those skilled in the art of using a shovel do most of the heavy work with their legs, not the small muscles of their arms. Observe and embrace this simple change in technique and you will be amazed at the difference it makes.

In business the same can be applied.

For example, if you take group of sales people and plot sales made per person over a period and compare performance you will generally find one exceptional performer.

$ Sales/month Top performer

Sales people

Is it Hardware of Software?

Think about it, what’s the difference, software or hardware?

The difference will almost always be software or the approach to the task used by the best performers. The secret is to recognise this and use the comparison seed and tracking catalyst to see what the best performers do differently. Learn from them and then up skill the lesser performers. Perhaps you may not bring these people to the same level as the champions, but you can be sure, if they are open to learning you will lift their performance markedly with a little training.

Apply this to your own efforts, mindset and approach and see the results.

This method is both rigorous and systematic, and most of all, it works.

A simple lesson learned from my dog

Finally, let me leave you with the dedication to a book I recently wrote, an example where I have learned something from my dog. Yes, I compared myself with my dog!

This is a life lesson well worth learning and one that I have passed on to my adult children and one we can all embrace as a way to a better life, health an happiness.

The dedication in my book reads:

“This book is dedicated to our recently departed dog “Wally” – perhaps a strange dedication, but this dog taught our family so much. To be loved, just show great joy and figuratively “wag your tail” whenever you see a loved one.

One of life’s great secrets I suggest.

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Roger La Salle, is the creator of the “Matrix Thinking”™ technique and is widely sought after as an international speaker on Innovation, Opportunity and business development. He is the author of four books, Director and former CEO of the Innovation Centre of Victoria (INNOVIC) as well as a number of companies both in Australian and overseas. He has been responsible for a number of successful technology start-ups and in 2004 was a regular panellist on the ABC New Inventors TV program. In 2005 he was appointed to the “Chair of Innovation” at “The Queens University” in Belfast. Matrix Thinking is now used in more than 26 countries and licensed to Deloitte, one of the world’s largest consulting firms. www.matrixthinking.com

Harnessing the Power of People!
© Roger La Salle
www.matrixthinking.com

The power of many is greater than the sum of the individuals.

It is common knowledge that a linked worldwide network of computers is in use to provide a virtual super computer, the power of many being much greater than that the individual.

So too social networks have been formed and open innovation models developed where problems are presented to the wider community in the hope that somewhere somebody may be able to proffer a solution. Again the power of many being much greater than the individual.

It may be possible for many businesses to exploit some of these open innovation and wide area models but for many this is giving away too much of the “farm”. Perhaps it’s best to keep opportunities in house and use the power of your people to find the solutions. This is without doubt the model preferred and embraced by most businesses, and for every good reason – confidentiality.

Why past attempts have failed

Attempts to tap into the power of a company’s own people have often foundered because they failed to embrace some simple rules and models.

The old fashioned “Staff Suggestion Scheme” is an example of a model that in theory sounds good but unfortunately these have not really delivered what they promised and the reason is simple. This model is fundamentally flawed.

For a person to lodge a staff suggestion requires these following three activities:

Problem Identification Proposed Solution Idea Submission

The simple issue here is that a proposed solution seems to be a necessary pre-cursor to a submission, whereas the person who has identified the problem may not be in the best position to propose a solution. Consequently, the identified problem may languish for want of a solution and subsequent submission.

A Better Model

The real secret to tapping into the latent talents of your people should not require them to solve the problem but perhaps better still, simply highlight or identify issues in need of exploration and solution.

Thus the staff suggestion scheme should in fact be a “Issue identification Forum”

The model then simply becomes:

Problem Identification Issue Submission

Once a problem has been identified it is far easier to have one of the “Innovation Circles”© (that one would assume many businesses have now embraced – refer previous article) investigate and resolve the issue at hand.

A Simple Example

The following may be an overly simplistic example but the reader will no doubt get the message, it is the highlighting of the issue where the real value lies.

Suppose a production worker notices that the tamper tape on packets of pills they manufacture and sell is not really providing adequate tamper protection. The worker notices this but in putting forward a staff suggestion the worker should not be required to suggest a solution that may include alternative tamper tapes or attachment gluing material. The worker need only highlight the problem and be rewarded for that. Leave the solution to the experts, perhaps those forming an “Innovation Circle”© these are the people charged with resolving issues and developing innovative solutions to problems.

In Short

Simplify your staff suggestion scheme, make it easy for all staff to submit issues in need of resolution, reward them for that and leave the solution to the experts.

Understand that the real opportunity lies in identifying the problem, more so than the solution.

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Roger La Salle, is the creator of the “Matrix Thinking”™ technique and is widely sought after as an international speaker on Innovation, Opportunity and business development. He is the author of four books, Director and former CEO of the Innovation Centre of Victoria (INNOVIC) as well as a number of companies both in Australian and overseas. He has been responsible for a number of successful technology start-ups and in 2004 was a regular panellist on the ABC New Inventors TV program. In 2005 he was appointed to the “Chair of Innovation” at “The Queens University” in Belfast. Matrix Thinking is now used in more than 26 countries. www.matrixthinking.com

Innovation – Opportunity Capture – Is this just for the big boys?
© Roger La Salle 2010

The statistics make it clear

In a recent book by an MIT Professor the startling statistic was revealed that in the 1920’s the life expectancy of a US company was 65 years, today it is less than 10!

Companies that do not embrace change, Innovation and Opportunity Capture are destined for the scrap heap; or to be immersed in the mire of competitive bidding where the ultimate winner is always the customer as businesses compete in a downward competitive price spiral.

These are the facts.

But do not despair the solution is at hand. It is real, practical, tried and proven and it’s all about understanding what innovation and opportunity capture means, and moreover how you do them.

Further, this is not “rocket science” and the smaller the business the easier it is since the political impediments present in large corporation are virtually non existent.

Where to start?

The starting point is to first accept that there is no product, process or service in the world that cannot in some way be innovated. By that I mean, changed in some way to add value. If you wish to disagree with that, what you are really saying is that what you do today will be the same in 100 or more years, this is clearly ridiculous.

So accept that change is essential, and that change is possible and let innovations abound. Further this can be done in a structured way that is virtually guaranteed to yield results and perhaps surprisingly, the risks are almost non existent.

Some Small Business Examples

Some examples where small companies have embraced change and scored massive wins.

• A company in Scotland that had just a single product in a competitive market, canoe paddles. In a singe workshop we “innovated” that product to add a “New Function”. The new paddle won international acclaim and propelled the business into the multi-million dollar elite.

• A company in Melbourne that sold just one product in competition with Chinese imports. Tent poles!

Yes believe it or not this was their one an only product sold through some 239 retail outlets. One workshop later the company commenced what we refer to as Channel Enhancement. They now have some five products, all new and all sold into the same channel. Before we started talking innovation and opportunity they had no idea of the value of their channel.

• Another company, a Milk Bar (Convenience store). The owner implemented the innovation of “Complementary Products”. Believe it or not within three years the owner tuned his business into a gold mine and later sold it for five times what he had paid for it just a few years earlier.

• A session in Colombia with a company that sold small diameter, 100mm long drinking straws commonly used in that country to stir take away coffee. (A ridiculous stirrer if ever I have seen one). Using the innovation tool of “Frustration” the new stirrer had several enhancements that left competitors in its wake.

Examples of innovation and opportunity capture like this abound and can be applied to every product, process and service in the universe – now there’s a big statement!

Just accept it and move on with the task.

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Roger La Salle, is the creator of the “Matrix Thinking”™ technique and is widely sought after as an international speaker on Innovation, Opportunity and business development. He is the author of four books, Director and former CEO of the Innovation Centre of Victoria (INNOVIC) as well as a number of companies both in Australian and overseas. He has been responsible for a number of successful technology start-ups and in 2004 was a regular panellist on the ABC New Inventors TV program. In 2005 he was appointed to the “Chair of Innovation” at “The Queens University” in Belfast. Matrix Thinking is now used in more than 26 countries. www.matrixthinking.com