Archive for May, 2011

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

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.

**** END ****

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

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