Author Archives: Larry Janis

Unlock the Full Value of Your Business Relationships

 

 

 

 

by Christoph Senn is an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at INSEAD and Co-Director of the INSEAD Marketing & Sales Excellence Initiative.

 

 

A fruitful relationship starts with asking the right – and sometimes difficult – questions.

When was the last time you took stock of your business relationships? Are they stuck in a one-sided, transactional mode? Or are they continuously exceeding both parties’ expectations?

A typical business setting, where a company provides “value” by peddling its existing products and services to its customers, is essentially a one-sided affair. Without critical customer input in creating value, this business-as-usual approach seldom delivers a comprehensive, mutual strategy.

Similarly, in developing account plans for corporate customers, businesses are prone to focus mainly on sales history, the competitive landscape, and a future sales pipeline. But these narrow discussions on tactics and pricing tend to miss the larger issues of strategy, and more importantly, collaboration.

From selling to co-creating

In the traditional “value selling” approach, suppliers start by identifying customers whose needs best fit their products and develop a value proposition targeted at these customers. The tactic is focused on what a company’s products can do for the customer. However, the two parties should in fact be focused on creating value together. A good starting point is to ask the question: “What would we do differently, if we were one company?”

Studies of over 3,000 relationship cases show that only 15 percent of frontline sellers work with their clients based on this one-company mindset. By co-creating value, they could have doubled their account value in three years on average. Similarly, senior managers who adopt a customer-centric, value-creating perspective could have increased sales and profitability at twice the rate of their peers. Unfortunately, at 14 percent, they are but a minority of senior managers.

So, what are the building blocks of successful business relationships? How can companies create future-proof relationships that will survive times of uncertainty?

In research conducted from 1997 to 2020, I identified theoretical and empirical answers to those questions: Good business relationships have nine critical building blocks. And enduring relationships depend on strong collaboration between suppliers and customers. On the basis of that research, I developed the triple fit canvas, a framework designed to facilitate collaborative value creation between sellers and buyers. (more…)

From CIO to COO at DXC Technology

 

 

By Martha Heller, Columnist, CIO

Because everything DXC was doing operationally involved technology, DXC’s CEO saw then-CIO Chris Drumgoole as the perfect candidate for the COO position.

After serving as global CIO for GE, Chris Drumgoole became CIO of DXC Technology in March 2020. DXC is an $18 billion business formed in 2017 from the merger of CSC and HP Enterprise Services.

As a customer to DXC while at GE, Drumgoole was impressed by the vision of Mike Salvino, who had been named CEO of DXC the previous September. “In many companies, there is the technology path and the business path. Both are highly valued, but they are separate,” says Drumgoole. “Mike’s vision was that a technology services company should run like a technology company. When he told me that he was putting a team together ‘to transform DXC into what we are helping our customers to be,’ I came on board.”

Just as Drumgoole was joining DXC in early 2020, COVID was becoming a reality, which intensified the already critical role of IT. “Even without COVID, I would have participated in every leadership meeting, because that is the way the CIO position is viewed here,” he says. “But COVID really accelerated our virtual-first agenda.” During leadership meetings, Drumgoole certainly weighed in on how to get laptops and phones to employees, but the focus of the conversations was ultimately about how to work differently as a company.

Stepping into the COO role (more…)

Why the ‘4 + 1’ workweek is inevitable

 

 

by Brandon Busteed

There’s been a lot of buzz about a 4-day workweek. But it will be the ‘4 + 1’ workweek that ultimately wins out: 4 days of “work” and 1 day of “learning.” Several forces are converging in a way that point toward the inevitability of this workplace future. Demand for flexible work, an appetite for learning, growth and development as a top priority among employees, and a fast-growing need for constant upskilling and reskilling will lead most employers to a 4 +1 workweek.

More than 9-out-of-10 employees desire a 4-day workweek but only 6% of senior leaders say they are currently offering or planning to offer it. And the single biggest reason leaders are struggling with the idea is fear about lost productivity. Early case studies suggest employers can be successful with shorter and more productive workweeks. But we may be missing the larger point here. U.S. employers are currently struggling with a talent shortage – most especially in roles that require new economy skills. Our gap in productivity is less about workers slacking off or not working enough and more about simply not having people who are trained or qualified for a particular role.

A 2019 IBM study estimated the time it takes to close the skills gap between open jobs and skilled workers capable of filling them has increased 10-fold. In 2014, the average time it took to close a skill gap was three days; by 2018 that had increased to a whopping 36 days. With stagnated population growth in the U.S. and a slowing of immigration, employers are faced with turning toward the existing workforce to find solutions for faster growth. In simple terms, it’s about employers growing their own talent. Suddenly, the tension about lost productivity due to a shorter workweek comes into direct conflict with the hard reality that nearly all employers will need to dedicate more time to training and learning for employees.

Add to this the meteoric rise in employees’ desires for learning, growth and development as a key criterion for selecting a job. A Gallup-Amazon study indicates 65% of employees say employer-provided upskilling is very important to evaluating a job. Further, there’s a considerable jump in employees’ interest in skilling if it’s done during work hours; 46% indicated interest in skilling outside of work hours while 65% indicated interest doing so during work hours. And to put a fine point on retention benefits, 71% of workers who participated in upskilling agree it enhanced their satisfaction with work while roughly two-thirds say it has raised their standard of living and quality of life. Enter the 4 +1 workweek.

A 4 +1 workweek will take various forms. It can be structured in so many different ways. For some employers it may literally be 4 days of work and 1 day of learning/training per week. For many, it will follow the flow of work demands where for some roles it may be blocks of learning and training time sprinkled throughout each day. For others, it could mean entire weeks or months dedicated to learning and training. However it takes shape, though, it’s inevitable.

Employers’ embrace of a 4-day workweek will improve dramatically as more recognize this moment as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redesign work and America’s talent development pipeline. If productivity is currently the biggest fear of a 4-day workweek, productivity will soon be the biggest rallying cry for the 4 +1 workweek. And given all the data indicating employee support for skilling on the job, there’s little doubt the American workforce will embrace this move. The future is 4 +1.

Source: forbes.com

8 words you should never use to describe yourself in an interview (and what to say instead)

 

 

BY AMANDA AUGUSTINE

 

Stuffing your résumé and LinkedIn profile with generic buzzwords can be off-putting to potential employers, but it’s far worse when you recite them during an interview.

It’s fair to say that most people aren’t typically asked to describe themselves to others on a regular basis. However, when it comes to landing the right job, interviewers expect you to confidently talk about your abilities and the value you could bring to their team.

Whether your interviewer directly asks you to “tell me about yourself” or chooses a different line of questioning such as, “How would your colleagues describe you?” or, “What are your greatest strengths?” the end goal is the same: to get a better sense of who you are and determine if you’ll be a good fit for the position.

While it can be uncomfortable to share your best qualities to relative strangers during the interview process, it’s important that you’re prepared to speak about yourself with confidence. After all, if you’re not confident in your abilities, why should a prospective employer be confident in hiring you?

However, there’s a very fine line between confidence and arrogance during the interview process. The difference comes down to how you communicate—and the words you choose to describe yourself. The last thing you want to do is come across as conceited or inauthentic because you resorted to describing yourself with the same overused buzzwords experts warn you to remove when writing your résumé.

Below are some of the most commonly overused words candidates use to describe themselves during the interview process—and what you can say instead to communicate your value and win over your interviewers.

HARDWORKING

Let’s be honest: Is anyone ever going to say they’re unmotivated during a job interview? Of course not. While possessing this quality is certainly appealing to employers, simply making this statement won’t prove that it’s true. Instead of telling your interviewers that you’re a hard worker, convince them of your work ethic by showing them your capabilities. (more…)

Burnout Won’t Prevent Itself

 

 

by Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

While people make sure to charge their phones, they don’t always take the time to recharge themselves.

Everyone in the office wondered what had happened to Caroline. Word was going around that she had been hospitalised due to work-related stress. But how could this be? Caroline had always shown so much pleasure in her work.

True enough, Caroline had always put an enormous amount of energy in her professional life. She never failed to volunteer whenever extra tasks needed to be done. She was the ultimate, cheerful team player.

While Caroline heroically catered to the needs of others, it wasn’t so clear whether she was good at taking care of herself. Self-care didn’t seem to be her thing. But what is this self-care all about? It isn’t just about finding ways to relax. Rather, it is about making a conscious decision to prioritise your physical, social and emotional welfare.

Self-care can make you resilient against the life stressors that you can’t eliminate. It has important health benefits, such as improving energy and reducing anxiety and depression. Furthermore, it can strengthen your interpersonal relationships and increase your happiness levels.

Unfortunately, too many people view self-care as a luxury rather than a priority. They’re left feeling overwhelmed and too tired to handle life’s challenges. And then, like in Caroline’s story, the elastic band just snaps.

Self-care is far from selfish

When you take steps to care for your mind and body, you’re better equipped to live your best life. Self-care doesn’t mean ‘me first’; it means ‘me too’. It is a form of self-preservation, not a free pass to go into narcissistic overdrive. (more…)