Steve Neiderhauser

The New 90% Rule

The experts say that project management is 90% communication. This statement is too simplistic and needs to be revised — Management is 90% facilitation. And by facilitation I mean the manager makes it easier to accomplish tasks by getting rid of speed bumps and road blocks.

At copyblogger, Yuwanda Black has written a post titled: How to Make an Extra $61,880 This Year.

This article educates the customer about search engine optimization and makes it easier for the customer to make a decision. This is a form of consultative selling and does more than just toss information at a customer.

Inside a corporation, when a manager is delivering a project she may have to take several actions to remove obstacles and make it easy for her team to succeed. This includes teaching through the written word, selecting technology that makes the team agile or providing a demonstration. Unless your communication is making it easier for your team to move forward, you're really not communicating.

Tip: Notice how Yuwanda used an exact number in her title. If you want to increase your credibility and pull of your ad or analysis, skip round numbers like 500, instead use a number that shows you put a pencil to it — 563.49

Leading with Agility

Kevin Cashman has written the Leading with Agility Manifesto.

I believe a company receives out-of-this-world benefits when a leader is able to create adaptive products, products that provide options and the ability to respond to the speed-of-light change that we now are so often tossed and turned by. And this leader will typically have adaptive patterns wired in his brain before manifesting agile products.

Kevin points out in his ChangeThis article that as leaders advance in their career, they need to be able to deal with more and more ambiguity. Fact is, the world is going to become evermore vague and unclear. So it's a paradox that the most important competency in shortest supply today is "Dealing with Ambiguity."

As Terry Neil so eloquently wrote, "Change is a door that can only be opened from the inside." Therefore, to change our external world, we must first alter our internal world — "We must master our adaptability mentally, emotionally, and strategically."

Kevin also writes, "The most effective people sustain a sharp, localized focus in the present moment, while at the same time maintaining a broad, visionary context."

How does one develop these seemingly contradictory skills? In my experience, this talent can be acquired by not focusing on a highly specialized skill set. Instead, seek a broad education that includes the arts.

Brand Story

Steve Yastrow writes about a company's Brand Story and tell us his fundamental belief about branding:

"You don't brand your customers, they brand you."

As I've written in other posts, it's the customer experience and implied experiences from which the customer will draw his conclusions and craft a story.

Dialogue techniques

When writing dialogue, you should avoid "on the nose" dialogue, dialogue that expresses directly the thoughts of a character. Instead, writers are encouraged to use implied dialogue. Why? Because it creates curiosity and involves the reader. There's subtext.

In Writing for Emotional Impact, author Karl Iglesias expresses it this way:

When you write 2 + 3 = 5, its boring. Writing 2 + x = 5 creates curiosity and engages your reader because she fills in what's left unsaid.

Karl identifies a number of design patterns to create implied dialogue. Here are three:

Answer a question with a question.

Reveal emotion through tempo.

Metaphoric Dialogue.

I looked at a the implied dialogue techniques and realized these could be used to enhance customer experiences.

An example of implied dialogue from the movie, The Apartment follows:

BUD: You know, I used to live like Robinson Crusoe — Shipwrecked among 8 million people. Then one day I saw a footprint in the sand — and there you were.

What is Leadership

I recently heard someone talk about a leadership class. That sparked me to think about the fundamental talents required of a leader, and the qualities of the quintessential leader — Winston Churchill.

Winston possessed two skills that made him relevant during World War II and England’s test of fire.

The ability to communicate.

The ability to create the adaptive enterprise.

In short, Churchill had form and substance.

For those of you who have watched President-elect Obama give a stirring speech there’s not a wisp of doubt that he has great form. Truth is, his skills of rhetoric are resting at a base camp, waiting to ascend to the Everest of oratory. For his rhyme, his rhythm, his reason will multiply with each passing season.

Barack Obama’s real challenge will be creating an adaptive organization that can respond to the current economic crisis at the same speed that it is moving. If he’s unable to achieve change, the critics may start to say, “He’s all form, no substance.”