Leading cause of divorce…

You’re wondering whether I am sharing this information on the correct media channel? This is no mistake and no April fool's joke. I’ve mentioned the term divorce because this not only relates to personal relationships, but also business relationships such as partnerships, employee, and client relationships.

Many may be thinking that the answers to this question is infidelity, financial pressures, irreconcilable differences (popular term in Hollywood) but these are triggers which lead to the split. The trigger list is extensive! In some way, shape or form we could repackage these triggers in any relationship with the underlying reason remaining the same.

I’m going to share a bit of a background story before I share my thoughts. My wife and I were aiding a couple whose relationship had broken down to the point of no return. In trying to get to the bottom of the issue, as the saying goes “The straw that broke the camels back” the husband mentioned something that left us absolutely gob smacked!

“We can’t agree on what colour to paint the wall in the lounge, and I’ve had enough of all of it!” I wasn’t sure if he was joking until we saw the seriousness in both their eyes. After numerous attempts to get them back on track, they subsequently split up and moved on.

I guess the fixer/optimist in me, had this experience playing in the back of my mind trying to figure out how things could have been different. I remembered the wise words of one of my dance instructors when a piece of choreography wasn’t fluid. “Always go a few steps back, the problem isn’t that piece of choreo, it is the lead up to it that puts you out of sync with your partner”

I applied some thinking to my personal and business relationships which went out of sync and came to the following conclusion as to why this happens. If someone has been brought up their whole life believing that they will be treated as royalty and neither king or queen can articulate and agree what that means upfront, you end up with my answer to the question.

Unmet expectations which lead to the destructive triggers!

In most instances we go through the courting, marriage, honeymoon stages without going into the deep discussions around values. We believe we have the same values because we are smitten with the counterparty. Most people don’t know how to have these discussions or want to have them due to fear of loss.

The reality check is this… In any relationship, there will come a time where a challenge will occur. No if, it will! The dominant party thinks everything is fine, while the passive party typically feels bullied in their decision making and unfulfilled in the relationship. When the dominant party realizes they need help, the passive one doesn’t know how to help or does not want to help because they never had a voice in the first place. Now the dominant party has an unfulfilled relationship!

Back to the unmet expectations…

Build your needs analysis and interviewing questions for partners in such a way that when they answer questions, you can identify what their needs, aspirations and fears are. If you progress from there, ensure that OKR’s align in the respective agreements which proceed from this point.

The next important part, check in and stay connected with your partners. Life happens and there is no stronger culture than when each party feels safe in their environment. They know what is expected of them and receive the praise when it is due. When things are not in sync, be in a position as the dominant party to humble yourself and identify the next steps towards the best solution. OKR’s may need to change again, which is a good thing. Relationships are supposed to evolve and mature as time goes by. This is a sign of growth

I constantly read articles around the great resignation and the war on talent. Throwing money at a problem is only a short-term fix and it never ends well. The world is coming out of a pandemic where we have been isolated from family, friends, and work colleagues. We need to take a few steps back to identify root cause issues and work through them. These underlying issues were likely inherent before the pandemic hit, so be patient and listen to the constructive feedback.

Let’s get back to our authentic selves where we can have pure discussions without judgement and condemnation. Let us realign our expectations. For everything else, a good pruning always leads to a greater yield of fruit.

Now when I say pruning, it does not necessarily mean people, I’m referring to our emotions which shape our view of the world.

Comparison is the thief of joy, so begin with your own values and expectations and progress from there.

No allowance for failure

HTC head Peter Chou resigned from his position as CEO in 2015, and it wasn’t long before stories about his harsh management style started to appear. Former executives shared how Chou berated them and overruled their decisions and kept teams that typically worked together apart, such as sales and marketing, then created parallel teams for the same task. Managers never knew how Chou would pivot, and company morale plummeted, right along with HTC’s market value. With a lot of these high-level guys, when they started off and they were lean and agile, they went out and broke the rules, but in being so intolerant of mediocrity, they also don’t allow the staff to fail when they get bigger. So it creates a struggle. Super successful entrepreneurs with a “nothing is going to stop me attitude” have a courage that is needed in the workplace, where they are asking for forgiveness instead of permission. However when it is to the detriment of your people, and creates reputational damage to the company, it is counterproductive.

BPO for scaling and cost efficiencies

BPO (Business process optimization) will be a strategy which almost every business will consider at some point in their lifetime. Whether it be for scaling purposes, cost or operational efficiencies, several considerations need to be debated with decision makers to ensure that the business maintains its vision through this pathway!

Questions which need to be addressed before commencing with a Business Process Optimization strategy…

What problem are we trying to solve for?

What criteria and metrics would our Org require to ensure we setup an external partner for success?

If I am the lead on this engagement, what would exco like to see in terms of an output?

What do I do with existing staff which will duly have a concern that their positions are being replaced?

How will my customers react to these new changes if implemented?

If we go ahead with this initiative, how would we best transition to minimize risk?

Is there a rollback option if it all fails? (Keeping in mind that the intention of marriage is not to get divorced! Commit to the transition and understand your objective)

Are there any showstoppers based on the feedback received?

As with anything in life, preparation is key! Having stumbled numerous times on various projects in my career, my one key take-away I would like to share is that if you fail to prepare, be prepared to fail!

Each of the above questions have a solution. A solution which not only benefits your organization through cost efficiencies and ability to scale, but also ensuring that your decisions line up with your company culture, morals and ethics.

The above approach has been repackaged over the years through marketing speak and I’m all for whatever makes sense to you to get you to your end goal! Everyone at some point has watched video clips preaching about starting with your “WHY” but this goes back all the way to the days of Aristotle!

First principles thinking (or reasoning from first principles) is a problem-solving technique that requires you to break down a complex problem into its most basic, foundational elements. The idea is to ground yourself in the foundational truths and build yourself up from there.

Having an approach like this will help answer the question- Is BPO the right model for my business strategy? I have experienced many a time whereby someone is put off by a product or solution due to bad experience and most of these bad experiences could easily have been mitigated by having a framework in place! (A framework around your WHY) A framework which allows you to exercise control in your business while having an external party augment your processes. Breakdowns in relationships are often caused by lack of communication! If something doesn’t work, revert to the first principles thinking approach and decide whether your BPO partner is the correct one for you, or whether your measurement criteria need to be adjusted.

Consistency and customer satisfaction

An ecommerce client in the U.S. had two challenges: access to talent and high turnover of staff. Their contact centre roles were most commonly filled by university students, who were great at the job but would move on to roles more suited to their qualifications as soon as they graduated. 

The ecommerce company wanted to make sure they continued to have the high level of customer satisfaction that was provided by the university students, but they wanted to ensure the people they employed in that role stayed with the company for more than two or three years. 

We worked with them to find an offshoring company that not only provided their entry level staff with the training that ensured a high level of customer service but also had a great system for addressing any internal issues before they developed into problems that would impact on the ecommerce company’s customers. This meant that once the ecommerce company had gone through their requirements for training and onboarding, they could relax and hand over to their offshoring partner. There was a great outcome for everyone because we took the time to ensure they had got the setup right. 

With metrics in place so that each party could be held accountable, it was easy to distinguish between issues that were around competence, which required making adjustments to training and processes, and issues that needed additional steps or changing certain systems. As a result, the experience was rewarding for the offshoring company, the offshoring staff members, the ecommerce customers, and the ecommerce company. 

A way to lose business - 2nd

A company in a similar situation took a different approach. This was a large company with a monopoly in the market that placed all their focus on being the least expensive solution. This was an easy strategy for them to adopt, as the volume of their sales meant that they could undercut their smaller competitors. However, somewhere along the way, they forgot to focus on what made their customers happy. A smaller player in the market needed to find a way to get their foot in the door around the same time, and they did just that by pushing out a new product which was in high demand. The sales department of the big company were keen to start selling this new product as well, but because the company had such a large existing footprint, the IT department made the decision that they would take their time over testing schedules and deployment schedules. They kept pushing out the deadline for releasing the new product, as it just didn’t seem to be a priority. Not to mention it was going to create more work for them which would interfere with them achieving their current KPIs. 

As the smaller company began to grow their customer base, they were able to lower their prices on all their products while growing their business, until they were in direct competition with the big company on their original playing field. In the end, arrogance and ignorance meant that the big company lost the monopoly and their firm grip on the market 

A way to lose business - 1st

A company had a complete monopoly of the market. The COO and the finance department were very aligned with what the shareholders wanted, to the extent that they had stopped focusing on what had brought them their success in the first place—their customers. 

When the company had started out, they were fully focused on meeting their customers’ needs. However, as they grew, the COO became more and more eager to please the shareholders, so when the shareholders wanted to increase the profits by raising the prices, the COO fell into line without challenging whether or not this was going to be in the customers’ best interests. At first, the marketing department objected, as they were aware that there would be an increase in customer complaints. However, when the finance department pushed back, and it became apparent that they had the support of the board, nobody in marketing was prepared to rock the boat and take accountability for making an unpopular decision. Because the company had a monopoly in the marketplace, the marketing department used their customers’ reliance on the company as a way to focus on the desires of the shareholders, rather than the needs of their customers. At first, their customers had no option but to accept the price increase. However, over time, new companies began to spring up around them, and these companies kept their prices low in order to attract customers. The big company’s customers were quick to switch to these new companies, which offered exactly the same solutions to their problems at a fraction of the cost. 

In the end, the big company was swallowed up by the market. They had been so focused on pleasing the board that they forgot what it is that keeps you in business—you need customers who want to keep coming back to you. 

Staying ahead of the curve

A business owner built a loyal customer base using a great system. After a number of years, the system became outdated. His staff tried to talk to him about the importance of staying ahead of the curve by adopting the latest technology; however, he didn’t want to listen because he’d built his business using this system—it had always worked for him, he understood how it functioned, and there was no competition in the arena where he operated, so why change? Even if his customers weren’t happy, there was no alternative available to them. One day, a competitor moved into the area with a brand-new system that was significantly more user-friendly. Overnight, nobody wanted his system anymore. It was game over for this business owner, all because he couldn’t let go of being the person who made all the decisions.