Grab Your Crayons and be Creative! Now!!!

We have a lot of creative people at HRmarketer. Just this month HRmarketer writer and media relations specialist Heath Havlick, who moonlights as a screenplay writer, learned that she won the Spirit of Moondance Award for her feature screenplay at the 11th Annual Moondance International Film Festival in Boulder CO - known as the "American Cannes".

Congratulations Heath and sorry if I embarrassed you by calling you out in the company blog :-) But I can't resist being the spirited cheerleader for the HRmarketer team - a remarkable group of talented people.

So I had no worries when a multi-billion dollar European company chose the HRmarketer Services Group to pick a name for a new "product" they will introduce to the USA employee benefit marketplace. Because we are creative.

No worries, that is, until we failed to wow the client with any of the 25 names we presented in round one.

It wasn't for lack of effort. A few members of the team put in 10+ hour days on the project and as a group we probably spent over 60 hours of brainstorming time.

But nothing resonated with the client.

After our presentation our client's CEO who was a tad frustrated told us he wanted five good names and he wanted them on his desk in less than three days.

Oh C&@P! Now what?

It took Michael Jackson only 3 minutes to write ‘Billie Jean’ and Paul McCartney wrote the theme song, Live and Let Die, for the 8th James Bond movie in just 10 minutes. So we can certainly come up with a product name in 2.5 days. Right?

I was really scared.

So I did what any company leader would do under tremendous stress.

I went home after work, ate dinner and went to bed.

Then I woke up at midnight unable to stop thinking about the project. And around 1:48am while sitting alone in a dark room a name came to me. A really interesting, creative and darn good name. The project was over. I knew it. Forget trying to come up with four more names for their CEO - this was all we needed.

After a 15-minute presentation to their team the following day we were done. They unanimously loved it. (Now we just need to make sure it gets approved by legal.)

We were all mentally exhausted. And it got me thinking about the creative process.

Can you force creativity? Or was Edison right when he said creativity is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.

This is what Chuck Frey, founder of InnovationTools.com says about creativity:

"The lore of business, science, industry and entrepreneurship are filled with references to the "a-ha!" experience of creative inspiration. In reality, however, these legendary "bolts from the blue" usually come only after many hours of research..and sometimes from lessons learned after past failures. By conducting thorough and well-rounded research - and learning from our mistakes - we're filling our minds with the raw material of the creative process. This is the "perspiration" part of the creative process. Our subconscious mind churns through all of this material and forges new connections between seemingly unrelated pieces of information. This is the "incubation" stage of the creative process. The subconscious then sends ideas to the conscious mind, usually as vague feelings or intuitions. While the average person may ignore or overlook these hunches, the creative person knows that he or she must record all ideas, no matter how wild or impractical - and evaluate them later.

Mitchell Ditkoff, in his article A-ha! Great moments in creativity says:

"What is it that enables some people to get big creative breakthroughs while others only get big not-so-creative breakdowns? Research has shown that anyone can increase their chances of coming up with new and original ideas if they would only immerse themselves in the little understood process of creation. Great creative breakthroughs usually happen only after intense periods of struggle – even madness."

And here is a little advice from Hugh MacLeod (this guy is great and so is his book), author of the book Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity on how to be creative:

• Ignore everybody. The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you.
• Don’t try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether. There’s no point trying to do the same thing as 250,000 others.
• Avoid the Watercooler Gang. They're a well-meaning bunch, but they get in the way eventually.
• Put the hours in. Doing anything worthwhile takes forever. 90% of what separates successful people and failed people is time, effort and stamina.

The more research I did on the creative process the more two themes resonated. One is that everyone is creative. As Hugh MacLeod says, "Everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away."

The other is that in order to get those A-Ha! moments you need to put the hours in. And while it might seem like you are spinning your wheels it is all part of the process.

Woody Allen famously quipped that eighty percent of success is showing up.

He's right.

Too many of us in business don't "stay in the game" long enough to realize the benefits.

Regardless of the size or scope of the task at hand we sometimes just need to put the time in - as lousy of a predicament that may be.

Post by HRmarketer CEO Mark Willaman. Join Mark on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Are You Relevant?

In a blog post I wrote last year titled We're Not a Bookstore. We're a Venue That Happens to Sell Books I discussed one of the the most important questions a CEO can ask him/herself (Peter Drucker's seed question):

What business am I in?

Excerpts from that post include:

• Had railroad executives in the early 1900s realized that they were in the transportation business, rather than the railroad business, they could have moved into trucking and air transport, rather than letting other companies dominate.
• Had newspapers understood they were in the information business, rather than the print business, they would have adapted more successfully to the Internet.

History is littered with failed businesses who never quite figured out what business they were in.

An equally important - and related - question I challenge myself and other executives I speak with to think about each month is:

How can we maintain our company's relevance?

(I can pretty much guarantee that doing exactly what you are doing today will not be good enough five years from now).

These are probably the most important questions a CEO can ponder.

Because your answers to these questions shape your entire strategy and give you insights to the investments you need to make TODAY to ensure your company is still relevant 5-10 years out - which by the way, may be how long it takes for your investments to pan out (think Oracle's HRMS Fusion). By the way, read Bill Kutik's excellent article on Oracle's Fusion product in his recent column "Reading Oracle's Tea Leaves".

What's the cost of not addressing these questions or answering them too late?

Ask companies like Polaroid or Smith Corona. Or the too-many-to-list-here HR technology and services vendors who failed to adapt to changing market forces.

Adding to the difficulty - and importance - of answering these questions is that in the rapidly evolving marketplace of technology each innovation (e.g., multi-tenant applications, social networking, cloud computing, etc.) poses threats of substitution to established companies. And guess what? We are ALL in the marketplace of technology.

Getting SUCCESSFUL companies to give serious thought to these questions and then actually doing something about it is particularly difficult because success is the enemy of innovation. Or, in the lyrics of Ray Davies:

And those who are successful,
Be always on your guard,
Success walks hand in hand with failure

There is less incentive to take risks when you own a cash cow.

So set aside some time each month to give serious thought to these questions - and ask your teams to do the same. You'll be surprised at what you discover.

What business am I in?
How can we maintain our company's relevance?

My seven-year span at HRmarketer. Giving a stray a home to stay.

No, it's not the seven-year itch. Or the 7th-inning stretch.

But in well-cared-for dog years? It's been an amazing career complete with a lifetime of learning I couldn't have gotten anywhere else.

Seven years ago in May of 2003, I had been working as a marketing consultant on behalf of a friend of mine who at the time was an HR strategist and consultant.

I had reached out to Mark Willaman, founder and CEO of HRmarketer.com, inquiring about his marketing software.

After a brief e-mail exchange, which he and I both saved, my friend and client didn't buy, and unfortunately his work and mine dried up.

I felt like a stray who had gone astray. The economy was only just coming back from the dot.com bust and I worried I wouldn't find work.

In July of 2003, Mark hired me as a marketing research specialist.

The rest is history.

Out of everything I've come to know in the greater HR marketplace, I've always had a personal affinity for leadership development, organizational development, employee engagement, executive and business coaching and all related things in between.

In fact, I’ve been a student of leadership development and coaching practices my entire professional life, helping to create employee development and training programs at each of the organizations I worked at previously, including HRmarketer.

But it was when I took part in the The Glowan Consulting Group's (in full disclosure, a client of HRmarketer's) L3 Leadership Learning program in early 2009 that the experience was so profound that I knew without a doubt this was my calling. I felt an immediate and extraordinary connection to Glowan’s leadership development philosophy, its coaching models and its learning programs.

I fell in love. Yes, you can do that with work. Love. Just as I've loved my time with HRmarketer.com and each one of our employees.

So here's the deal -- I’ve joined Glowan as a principal and senior business consultant and will work closely with the Glowan team delivering leadership development, executive and business coaching programs, as well as drive business development activities. We help make leaders of all shapes, sizes and stages better and brighter. Glowan means "to glow" in Old English. I really dig that.

And who knows where else this road will take me...

Although I’ve left my role as president at HRmarketer.com after seven wonderful years, I will continue to serve as a board member/director at HRmarketer. You're hear from me from time to time on this blog, as well as other social media channels.

Plus, I'll continue to be a marketing client and a user of the HRmarketer software -- the features that are coming are amazing. Hey, the Kool Aid tastes pretty good from where I sit. I recommend you take a sip.

I love this space and all the people in it. I thank Mark Willaman for giving a stray a home to stay.

In everything you do, kids, take the lead and make it personal. Know no other way.

(By the way, my second daughter will be born any day now. Is that enough change for you, Kevin?)

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

Take note: social media pays dividends if you're paying attention.

When I wrote the recent post on self-service customer service, I didn't think I'd run into a wall of shame and failure so soon.

But I did.

I had an online subscription to Adobe PDF Creator that I wanted to cancel. So first I went into my account thinking that I could cancel right there.

Nope.

Then I scoured the self-service sections to see if I could figure it out.

Nope.

Then I called customer service. On a Saturday. And got nowhere. They said to call back Monday.

I was so friggin' frustrated that I sent out this tweet:

Then I forgot about it, knowing that come Monday morning I'd be calling them again to raise heck.

Then I got this response early Monday morning:

Shortly thereafter thanks to Ed and the others at @Adobe_Care, my subscription was canceled.

Via Twitter.

Not on the phone. Not online in a self-service portal. I may even be back someday because of this customer service recovery.

Call centers and online self-service portals take note: social media pays dividends if you're paying attention.

Call centers and online self-service portals take note: please pay attention. And make it easier on your customers the first time.

Seriously, we've heard the success stories of Best Buy, Comcast, Ford, and others using social media for customer service. Closer to home Monster has done a great job as well.

At HRmarketer.com, we're hearing from more and more of our own customers and influencers via social media networks, for better or worse, and are working to respond just as quickly as we've done for years via the phone and email.

Like marketing, customer service is hard work, so work hard and get it right the first time across all touch points.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

Cows with Names Produce More Milk. Udder Nonsense?

I'm on my way back to California after spending a week in NY and CT (OMG was is HOT - can't wait to be cold in Santa Cruz). Flying my favorite airline, Southwest, I came across a quite amusing story in the Spirit Airlines Magazine titled Cows with Names Produce 68 More Gallons of Milk.

OK - had to read that story - work could wait (especially at 5:45am).

"Udder nonsense?" begins the article.

Apparently, over a 10-month period a cow produces an average of 1,981 gallons of milk. But by referring to their cattle by name, farmers in this study saw a spike in milk production.

Why?

"Scientists believe that personal attention improves cows’ comfort levels while lessening their fear of human contact. This just goes to show that even cattle don’t like being herded."

The story reminded me of the famous Hawthorne studies we studied in B School whereby subjects improve or modify an aspect of their behavior being experimentally measured simply in response to the fact that they are being studied - not in response to any particular experimental manipulation.

We (and cows) like the attention.

But the Hawthorne studies also showed how productivity levels due to the increased attention was short-lived (less milk next year?). Over time, workers get use to the constant supervision and their work eventually slows until production returns to normal levels.

The Hawthorne "effect" continues to be a controversial management theory today with many experts opposing the theory (maybe the Cows have Names study will settle the debate).

But one thing is for sure - management, employee engagement, morale, etc. continue to be hot HR topics as employers look to boost productivity. But maybe it is as simple as having a genuine interest (and respect) for employees, their development and their lives.

Go Slow for Speed

Go slow for speed. No, this blog post is not a Zen paradox. This was the advice given to me from ultra-endurance athlete (and motivational speaker/writer/coach) Terri Schneider at an open water swim clinic years ago as I prepared for a triathlon in Santa Cruz, CA.

The advice was intended to remind novice ocean swimmers like myself not to panic as hundreds of other swimmers elbow, kick and and fight for position at the start of the race. And not to panic if a little fear sets in when you are a half mile or more from the shoreline in a choppy, windy ocean.

Because panic and fear can lead to swimming harder which can lead to more panic and fear and even harder swimming. And that's not good.

Go slow for speed means stay calm and be steady - rhythmic and coordinated strokes and consistent deep breaths. no matter what. Ahhhh. In a long triathlon swim, this strategy can be quite effective and you'll be surprised at how many swimmers you pass (the ones who swam over top of you at the start) along your journey.

I was fearfully reminded of this advice while Kayaking with my seven year old off the coast of Connecticut this summer. About a mile from the coast the wind picked up and we were faced with 15+ knot headwinds. The occasional white cap crashing over our bow and soaking us was the least of our concerns - getting back to shore was as it seemed we were making no headway against the wind. So I paddled harder.

And I started to get tired.

Then the bad stuff started creeping into my mind (what if I can't make it?).

Go Slow for Speed.

I quickly regained my composure and just focused on the task at hand - steady paddling and tuning out the other junk. A little under an hour later, we arrive shore. Tired but safe.

So how does all of this relate to marketing?

It's been a tough few years for most companies as they battle the recession and the related uncertainty and volatility. A lesson I have learned is to stay focused and plow forward. Don't stop.

Intel chairman Craig Barrett said you can't save your way out of a recession. A former boss of mine would tell me not to be complacent and to just do something even if it was wrong :-)

True, businesses must be prudent and shouldn't recklessly spend money in uncertain times. But nor should they panic and overreact and stop doing much of anything - like innovate, invest, develop people, and market.

Stay the course.

Go Slow for Speed. Right Aesop?

Maintain your relationships. Get out there and look your clients in the eye.

It's been slow, dog-days-of-summer week so far.

Don't you think? Yes? No? Maybe?

Like us, it's highly probable that many of your customers are on family vacations or personal hiatuses this time of year.

We had the fortune of meeting with a client yesterday, in person, for a planning/strategy session.

Quality productive time well spent.

Working in B2B virtuality is a 21st-century business mainstay -- cost-effective and necessary. Plus, with video conferencing it's almost like you're in the same room, right?

Not exactly.

Change sweeps over us constantly like solar flares, melting us down and reconfiguring our highly integrated business and personal worlds into new ones.

Over and over and over again.

In the HR marketplace and beyond one thing is clear to me:

Maintain your relationships. Get out there and look your clients in the eye.

That's just good business.

Now, let's go get some ice cream.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

Self-service in customer service is cool. If it works. And that's a big if.

Recently there have been some Web services I use for work and for play that have been bumming me out to no end.

Here's why: because their online help is self-service and it sucks.

Plain vanilla simple.

Folks, if you're going to drive your customers to self-service, make sure it's been tested and approved by your key customers.

Because if you make me call you, and you boff the phone call as well automated trees and crappy music, and I'm already unhappy, then you're really in a pickle and could lose my business.

And no magical feat of making good will make a difference if it happens more than once.

This is exactly the sentiment conveyed in the HBR Ideacast I just listened to titled Why Delighting Your Customers Is Overrated.

What's interesting is that based on customer service surveys the Corporate Executive Board's Sales and Service Practice did, what they discovered is that most respondents:

• Were indifferent when it came to using self-service or calling customer service.
• Didn't care about companies going above and beyond when they really shouldn't have had to in the first place.
• Just wanted companies to deliver consistent customer service -- online and on the phone -- on the most basic of product/service delivery issues.

That last one is the clincher and one we work hard on at HRmarketer.com.

Self-service in customer service is cool. If it works. And that's a big if.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn!)