Lead change with impact
As the founder of Peoplelyzer and a consultant specializing in change management, i have the opportunity to observe numerous groups of People, from small teams of a few individuals to large networks of dozens of thousands of People.
Because i observe these groups of People from the outside i see things that the People who created or led these groups do not perceive. And this is not a surprise. As your time is focused on activities related to your group it is often impossible for you to step back and adopt this 35,000 feet view of what you are doing.
And as it is very difficult for you to step back, to identify what you should be doing and putting in place, this is where i can provide value. This page is available for you to help yourself.
The context of this page is that you have a leading role in a group of People, from dozens of People to dozens of thousands. These People are part of the group you (co-)created / led.
The challenges
As i interact with many of you, i hear and observe common issues:
“We have many People in our group(s) but the engagement rate is really low”
“The context has changed and our users don’t need us anymore. What can we do?”
Very complex solutions with a lot of information and complex terms
The questions you usually cannot reply to
Who are your users? [silence] -> lack of understanding of who the user is. Not being able to talk about your users.
Do you know what value do you create for your users? [silence] -> lack of understanding of where you create value for the user which often reveal a lack of understanding of the value you offer.
Fundamentals
I need to cover this with you: fundamentals of value creation.
You, your group, create value for People. As simple as an ice cream truck creating value for kids.
People engage with you, with your group, and with other People in the group because they perceive value. A kid drags his mum to the ice cream truck because he or she perceives value.
From the moment, you, your group, do not create value anymore, then People disengage. No more coconut ice cream. That was the kid’s favorite flavor. He doesn’t want ice cream anymore. He or she is disengaging with the ice cream truck.
People will also disengage when they don’t need value anymore from you.
You don’t need to provide value all the time. It’s fine that People find you when they have a need, a want, or a desire.
What you provide People with, be it information, interactions, products, or services they need, want or desire is simply a tool for these People to reach the outcome they are after. Once you understand this you will totally shift your perspective on what you do for People and you will also multiply your impact by 2X, 3X, 4X+. Ice creams are simply a tool for the kid to reach this awesome brain freeze sensation and this feeling you get when you taste the flavor.
The only way for you to understand what outcome your users are after when they interact with your information, product, service, is to ask them or observe them. Ask the kid, why do you eat ice cream? The kids replies: “It makes me feel good”. Alright, what do you mean “it makes you feel good”? The kid adds: “I love the taste of the coconut ice cream and i feel that my head gets frozen”.
Once you have identified the outcome(s) that your users are after, you may want to measure it. can you find a way to quantify it? Why should I quantify it? Because it tells you if a new user is reaching the outcome he seeks or not. And consequently, it tells you if you, your group, are able to create value. If your users are not reaching the outcome they are after and if you don’t know this, you cannot improve what you do. Worst, you may continue to do the same activity (same value creation) while not realizing that you are not allowing your users to reach the outcome they are after.
Your value creation happens in a context. A change in the context may change how your user perceives your value creation. Winter is here, it’s cold and the kid doesn’t perceive value in eating ice cream anymore.
Measuring success
The lack of a measure of success is a very common reason for groups not to succeed in bringing change.
You may lead a group of People or an organization but you are not measuring success. It means that you have members or People as part of your group but you actually don’t know what success means for these People. It’s a very common issue among People leading organizations. They think they know when they don’t really know. Or, sometimes, leaders of the organization know but the strategy of the organization is not aligned with what they know.
It’s where i can help you. Let me introduce you to some simple questions that will help you to realize what you can improve:
From the perspective of your users, what does success mean? In other words, what is the outcome that the men or the women who are users of your information, service, product, are seeking?
Classic example, you don’t buy an Audi for just buying an Audi. You buy it for the social recognition you get from it. You buy it for the adrenaline rush you get when the 300-horse power start kicking in. The car itself is just a tool to reach something. This something is the outcome/success the user is after.
Can you find a way to simply measure success?
Let’s use a simple example. You and i run an ice cream truck. 5 kids come to our ice cream truck and we serve them all with super yummy ice creams. How you and i could measure the success of our product (ice cream)? Well, you could observe whether or not the kids seem to enjoy the ice cream. You could ask them after they finished it: Did you like the ice cream a bit, quite a lot, a lot or not at all? You could ask them whether or not they would bring their friend to our ice cream truck. It is for you to find out the best way to measure whether your users/customers reach the outcome they are after. You can only do this by talking or observing your users/customers.