Tag Archives: entrepreneur

What Is Lean CX?

June 19, 2018Lean CXcustomer experience, David McLachlan, disruption, ease of use, entrepreneur, Lean, Lean CX, start up, strategic disruption, what is lean cxDavid McLachlan

You can recognise disruptors before they become a reality.

Lean CX is a step by step framework for Operational Excellence and how it relates to disruptive companies and technologies – especially as they grow and are ready to scale.

Disruptive companies are those that can deliver something a customer wants faster, cheaper, with better quality and sufficient brand recognition. Think McDonald’s in the 1950s, the model T Ford in the early 1900s, the Apple iPod in the early 2000s or the iPhone in 2007, Uber disrupting the cab industry, Netflix disrupting DVD hire and Amazon disrupting retail.

All of them have at least three of these four in common:

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Leadership Card 16 – What Workers Want

June 7, 2018Ease of Use, Leadership Cards, Lean CXcustomer experience, David McLachlan, design your work, ease of use, entrepreneur, leadership card deck, leadership cards, Lean CXDavid McLachlan

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Design For Ease of Use with Lean CX – Leadership Card 16

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It’s Not About The Money (Money, Money)

Apart from being the lyrics to a catchy tune in 2011 by Jessie J, it turns out it really isn’t all about the money when it comes to your team and the people within your business.

When Richard Florida took the responses to an information week survey and filtered them for the things that made people want to do a good job, even he was surprised. Having “Challenge and Responsibility” came in at number one, where a person is given autonomy in completing a task that isn’t too boring for them. Flexibility came in number two, and job stability at number three – and these two things match up with other studies and research you will see in these Leadership Cards, such as Anthony Robbins’ six human needs where Variety and Comfort are both necessary to our happiness, even though they can be conflicting.

After all of those things, came money at number four. Yes, we need money to eat, pay the mortgage, put the kids through school and go on date nights with our partner, but it turns out people put a lot of things ahead of it when it comes to their happiness at work.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivators

You see, there is a very large difference in motivating factors within your team. Sure, there are the obvious ones, like them getting up in the morning and going to work because you’re paying them. Money and other physical benefits – something external to that person – are known as extrinsic motivators.

But have you ever done something for someone else just because? Without the need for money and without the need for something in return? Chances are you’ve experienced an intrinsic motivating force, where you are compelled to do something because it gives you an internal payoff. Things like working back extra time because you like your leader, or the things you do for your kids or your family or your friends, or perhaps creating something like a drawing or piece of music.

Daniel Pink found three main intrinsic motivators in his book “Drive”. they occurred when a person had:

Autonomy: Where they are given free reign in solving a problem
Mastery: Where they can work continuously towards mastering a worthy skill
Purpose: Where they are contributing to something greater than themselves

Can you find a way to engineer these into your own work and process? If you can, the results just might surprise you.

Chat soon – David McLachlan

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Leadership Card 9 – Setting Clear Outcomes

May 31, 2018Ease of Use, Leadership Cards, Lean CXcustomer experience, design your work, ease of use, entrepreneur, leadership, leadership card deck, leadership cards, Lean CXDavid McLachlan

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Design For Ease of Use with Lean CX – Leadership Card 9

Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card - Engagement Model 1

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A Simple Way To Improve Engagement

In the research Leadership Cards previously we’ve seen that a big part of getting where you’re going is having a destination in the first place. It’s that old cliche, worn out but it’s true, of setting goals to have success in your business and your life.

But setting goals can sound boring, can’t it? Instead, we could look at it this way – it’s not so much about setting goals as it is about getting stuff done. And further to that, getting the right things done. Setting a clear outcome, a clear destination for your team, puts them on the right path, gives them clarity in their work and life direction.

If you were a pilot taking off from an airport, you would want to have somewhere to go. If you just flew round in circles for a few hours, you would run out of fuel and crash. That’s what’s happening with your teams.

The research also showed that setting outcomes collaboratively, where you sit down with your team, choose tasks that suit their strengths, improved results by up to 35%, and in some cases more.

So make it clear! As part of the Ease of Use framework, outlined in the book “The Lean CX Score”, you find your customers (the people you serve), find what they want, and outline the steps to get there. That’s clarity.

Chat soon – David McLachlan

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Leadership Card 8 – 50% of Employees Don’t Know What is Expected

May 30, 2018Ease of Use, Leadership Cards, Lean CXcustomer experience, David McLachlan, design your work, ease of use, entrepreneur, leadership card deck, leadership cards, Lean CX, startup, team buildingDavid McLachlan

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Design For Ease of Use with Lean CX – Leadership Card 8

Lean CX Leadership Card- Employees dont know what is expected

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If You Don’t Know What’s Expected, What Are You To Do?

Imagine this: in a high performing company there are two teams. One team is given a clear objective and is clear on their path to get there. The other team is given no direction at all – in fact some of them are not even sure why they turn up each day.

Which one do you think will do a better job? And if you’re a business owner, which team do you think will be worth the wage you’re paying them?

When we put it like this, it seems obvious, doesn’t it? The team with the clear direction, objective and path will certainly outperform. Yet recent research shows that around 50% of employees in work today are not clear on what is expected of them at work.

And when they’re not clear, as we found above, they’re probably not going to be doing a great job for you or your customers. Here’s the thing about people who aren’t clear on what their objective is – they perform 35% worse and are 34% more likely to be disengaged in their work.

So set clear outcomes. Better yet, do it collaboratively with your team. You will be pleasantly surprised by the results and the improvement to your revenue and profit.

Chat soon – David McLachlan

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Leadership Card 7 – The Benefits Of Clear Outcomes

May 29, 2018Ease of Use, Leadership Cards, Lean CXbusiness improvement, David McLachlan, design your work, ease of use, entrepreneur, leadership card deck, Lean CX, small business, startupDavid McLachlan

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Design Your Work For Ease of Use with Lean CX – Leadership Card 7

Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card - 35pc gap in what was achieved

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Having Something To Aim For Makes A Difference

Have you ever tried crumpling up a piece of paper, taking aim at the nearest waste basket, doing your favorite basketballer impression and shooting a three pointer while an imaginary crown goes wild?

Well, maybe your version wasn’t that elaborate (or maybe it was), but being able to see the waste paper basket – knowing it is there and having something to aim for makes a big difference in whether you get it in or have to take another try.

Can you imagine walking, blindfolded, into a room while holding the same crumpled up piece of paper, and throwing it in any random direction with the hope that it somehow makes it into a waste paper basket?

Well that’s exactly what the majority of businesses, startups, and teams within those businesses are doing today. They’re going into business without a clear idea of what to aim for. They’re delving into their work without clear outcomes.

Clear outcomes mean you have a clear objective – a goal, an aim, a target – and have taken the time to outline clear steps to get there. Are the steps going to be right every time? Of course not. Despite what some people will tell you, no one can see the future. But having something to start with and get you on your way certainly helps.

Now a few business disciplines have been misinterpreted and been taken completely the other way. Agile, iterative planning, continuous development, the Lean Startup and Minimum Viable Products can (and have) been used as an excuse by lazy managers not to do any planning or set any clear outcomes at all. Those managers say they will test and learn, and they don’t know what they don’t know. And those managers are missing the point. “Iterating” towards something still means you have to have a clear objective to iterate towards in the first place. And having clear steps to start with is like having a flight plan that you can take off with, and adjust it as you go.

Apart from all that, the research actually backs up the approach of setting clear outcomes in a big way. Teams and companies who set clear outcomes outperformed those who didn’t by 35% in their results, according to this Stanford University study, and found no less by the man who invented SWOT analysis (an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, well known by your typical MBA graduate).

So set clear outcomes with your team, do it collaboratively, and you will see a big improvement in your results.

Chat soon – David McLachlan

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The Leadership Card Deck

May 20, 2018Ease of Use, Leadership CardsDavid McLachlan, design your work, ease of use, employee engagement, entrepreneur, infographic, leadership, leadership card deck, leadership cards, Lean CX, productivity, profit, small business, startupDavid McLachlan

Click on the cards below for their full information

Update: You can now buy the full Leadership Card Deck of 48 cards, printed on super-strong, beautiful linen paper from anywhere in the world. You can also watch us playing the Leadership Affinity card game for the first time. It will raise your leadership level, and the engagement, motivation and leadership level of your teams. Have the Leadership Cards delivered for your next meeting!

Leadership Card 032 Checking In - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 033 Problem Solve - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 034 Rework - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 35 Excessive Hand offs - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 36 Waiting - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 037 Excessive Steps - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 038 Not getting what they want - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 039 Meaningful Work - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 040 Two Times Revenue - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 041 Million Dollar Checklist - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 042 Assertive Enquiry - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 043 Intrinsic motivation - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 044 Autonomy - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 045 Mastery - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 046 Purpose - Lean CX Ease of Use Leadership Card 047 Revealing Problems - Lean CX Ease of Use Lean CX 040 Leading Collaboration - Lean CX Ease of Use

#5 Lean CX Comic – Make It Simple (Or They Will Leave You)

October 21, 2017Lean CX Comicbusiness improvement, create a disruptor, customer experience, disruptor, entrepreneur, lean comic, lean customer experience, Lean CX, Lean CX ScoreDavid McLachlan

#5 Lean CX Comic – Make It Simple (Or They Will Leave You)

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News Flash: People Aren’t Buying Your Complicated Products

It’s official. People prefer doing things that are easy. You’ve been in that situation, haven’t you? Something has been too hard, taken too long, been passed along too may times, so you left.

If it’s hard to use, fewer people will use it. Sure, there might be a small percentage who put in the time and work through it – maybe they really like you or your company, or maybe there is another benefit like status or money involved. But keep it complicated for too long, and they won’t stick around forever.

What Does “A Complicated Product” mean?

Saying something is complicated is all very well, but what does it actually mean?

In the book “The Lean CX Score“, David McLachlan outlines five scenarios for complicated products, called the Lean CX Wastes.

Lean Customer Experience means exactly that – the customer experience is streamlined and not full of wasteful things or experiences. Things such as having to redo something over and over, having to perform too many steps to get what a customer wanted, or being handed off between too many people or departments. If you’ve ever had to do any of those you will know what I mean – the experience can be frustrating and every wasteful step you are forced to perform grates on your patience just a little bit more, until finally you leave.

It Works Everywhere

Recent research into online shopping carts by the Baymard Institute found that the average online shopping cart experience had 14 fields, when they really only needed 7 for an ideal checkout flow. They also found that 35% of abandoned online orders were recoverable solely through a better checkout flow and design. The research is there, and it happens everywhere. Online checkouts are one thing we can simplify, but what about the work your teammates or employees do when delivering a product or service?

All the way through the value chain your business is making things more complicated than they have to be, which increases cost, increases the likelihood a customer will leave and reduces your profit as a result.

After all, in chasing the latest gimmick or management fad it is tempting to forget about the lifeblood of any business – your customers – and the money they bring by buying your product or service.

Reducing complexity in your product prompts more people to buy, and reducing complexity in the value chain that delivers your product lowers the cost of delivering it.

The Lean CX Score Is The Step-By-Step Framework For Making Things Simple

If complex products or services are the enemy of good customer experience, then it makes sense to use the Lean CX Score framework as a step-by-step guide to making things simple.

One of the Lean CX steps is called “One Step Flow”, where a customer can get what they want in one step, instead of many different steps over many different people.

You will absolutely love the Lean CX book, because it gives many different real-life examples of One Step Flow – from signing up to watch Game of Thrones in one step, getting the best Energy deal in one step, a hospital getting cancer scans and diagnoses in one step, posting a job ad in one step, and much, much more.

That is just one part of the Lean CX Score – imagine what you could do with the rest of it too?

If you want to improve your business, team, or job prospects, I highly recommend you read it today.

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Get "The Lean CX Score" now, and start creating disruptors in your industry that completely annihilate your competition.

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