The message below is one that was sent out to the WW Client Engagement team where I am employed. It references a couple of things that may not make sense unless you are on the inside, and the “poster” mentioned is not attached here….don’t fret, it won’t make a difference to the message for you…
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To the WW Client Engagement Team;
A bit of writing this weekend vs our new video format. We’ll come back to that next week. With all of the challenges of the world for us to consider it felt like the right time to clearly communicate just what we as a team are focused on and how we are aiming to accomplish it all. A bit of a reframe for some and reiteration for others. Both work.
This is the summary of many elements so you may find me getting a bit wordy here, please indulge me, this is vital.
What we are about to look at, is called…..
…The Microchip Client Engagement Team Success Framework!
So, let’s start high, with the why, and work my way down into the details of the what and the how along the way.
Let’s start simply however with a pragmatic view of what our team’s outcome objective is… This team’s prime objective is to drive highly profitable revenue GROWTH! Now there are a lot of fine points to that and a ton of nested specifics, but let’s get this one clear. WE own creating highly profitable revenue GROWTH. In a flat industry and tough times, this is not easy. Fully understood! Still got to do it!
Challenge understood, now let’s take a look at how we drive that. Not LET it happen… DRIVE it, MAKE it happen.
Coming back up to a high level and looking at the “system”. It looks like this. The elements of our system are the following.
Attached is a document that our team created more than a decade ago.
A few of the elements have morphed a bit and some of the numbers need to be updated, some up, some down. We have morphed our understanding of what a good PURPOSE statement looks like and we will dig into that here shortly. A very key part of the work shown attached is the nature of what matters and its consistency. Our values, our styles, our simple view of life, and our vision remain incredibly well-aimed and show that this guidance has served us quite well.
Let’s dive into some thinking on some of the elements. Our vision as shown on the attached “poster”, remains at heart very clear to what we have always known that we were aiming to create, and we have. And we also continue to evolve and improve upon it. A 10-year-old stab at some numbers ended up high or low in a few respects, but the heart and soul of what we were aiming to build IS what we have built, and are still building.
Our mission…. Drive Design Wins to Revenue! Is more true today than ever. It is the ONE thing that every one of us MUST do each and every day to deliver our vision. Not simple. To drive one, you must find one. You must then WIN one, and then make sure that it actually produces revenue for our client and provides an appropriate level of ROI for MCHP as well. Everybody must win on this one. We must learn to choose better so that our efforts yield a higher ROI. That means choosing markets, clients, and projects that we believe will deliver the most results. That is a scrutiny level that we are very immature on and needs rapid evolvement.
Our values and our styles remain core to our success. They require constant vigilance to ensure that they remain intact and that we are all living them, all the time. We must hold ourselves and those around us to a higher standard and be open to recognizing the need to change.
Let me step back a bit to the subject of PURPOSE. From our clients, we have been told that they see us differently and that we view things differently. And that is both true and intentional. From our team’s perspective, the non-commissioned compensation model that we deploy puts us into a highly favorable position of being able to simply SERVE our client without bias or manipulation. Our role is to simply SERVE our clients in the best way we can determine, and help them deliver innovation to their clients. We do that best by helping them make better decisions, faster. And by removing all of the possible roadblocks that they may run into during their journey of innovation. We do this with intention, planning, and a lot of 2-way conversations. This is the outcome we are planning when we say that our team’s purpose is to…
Deliver the freedom to innovate!
Active, not passive, removing obstacles and opening up the doors so that the WORLD can do what only it uniquely can do…. INNOVATE beyond imagination.
Our purpose is guided by analysis and planning as we create strategic objectives that are well-targeted, planned, and executed. Always pushing ourselves into stretch goal mode.
Within our team, we have a way of thinking that has us focused on serving our clients to the max and helping them achieve their objectives. This is the Microchip Client Engagement Process. At its heart is the perspective of CUSP that represents HOW we engage with our clients and what our mindset is as we journey with them.
Always about them, and their world, and their needs!
COMPASS is our real-time operating system that keeps MCEP running, leading the charge in the best direction, enabling conversations, and helping us clearly understand what the next best actions should be. We are in the early stages of that level of engagement coaching and making great progress on COMPASS being your best friend!
To most effectively DRIVE actions forward we must have a bias toward action, not data. The days of old where we did massive quarterly reviews of every known attribute of a BU or two no longer works. Our library is open, COMPASS, and anyone wanting to know anything that the Client Engagement team knows is welcome to dig in and search and explore to their heart’s content. Our gatherings and discussions must shift to forward-looking action plans and ideas. Information is great as long as it drives an actionable outcome. Otherwise, it is just a history book that once read, gathers dust. Our discussions, meetings, plans, and ideas must all be action biased. Within our team, for the past many years, we have circled around the concept of Plan/Do/Review. That is even more important now with 20+ BUs all looking for help to aid them in driving their profitable revenue. We own this focus. We must always come back to “what will move this forward” as a baseline.
Thanks so much!
Mitch
QBR’s – Rest In Peace
QBP’s – Viva la Difference
For decades we have all been doing minor variations on the same theme. Quarterly Business Review. We did them as sale individuals, we did them as groups, teams, and business units. We all spent hundreds of hours preparing text material, spreadsheets, charts, graphs, and cute little cartoons. We morphed from simple paper to transparencies (remember overhead projectors), and on to Harvard Graphics and inevitably the now-infamous POWERPOINT. We would prepare literally hundreds of “slides” that told all the story we wanted to tell about all the wonderful things that we had accomplished, in great detail, in the quarter/year that had just passed. We could hold court and verbosely “pontificate” on the greatness of what had been accomplished. Even if, in fact, we had not actually grown revenue in that same period. Our stories of days gone by were well detailed. Tons of information!
I won’t judge the past, as that is not of value. We all did this and it just WAS!
What I offer up is a proposal for your consideration. A new way of thinking for a changed time!
Let’s put the massive rearview mirror starring in the past. Let’s look forward. I can hear it all now, “but all that information that we shared was important”. Maybe it was. And just maybe that’s not enough NOW! Let’s shift into a higher gear, play a bigger game, and work to move all things FORWARD as our sole/primary focus. Revenue growth is the primary responsibility of any “sales team”. We own that purpose for the rest of our entire corporate team.
I propose the shift to a Quarterly Business PREVIEW. Information is good, even old information… IF it creates ACTION that moves our business forward, AND we can quantify the IMPACT of that action in growing our revenue. Otherwise, let’s spend our PREVIEW time looking at the specific actions that we are going to take as a team, quantifying the impact that they will have and creating detailed execution plans.
If you ARE in the REVIEW mode then you are looking at what was DONE, and finding insight into what has to be done NEXT. Information leading to actions!
This shift is darned near sacrilegious to many of us that are addicted to DATA. Wonderful DATA. In fact, within the halls of my own company we often hear the words “in GOD we trust, all others bring data”! My proposal to shift this is….
In God we trust, all others bring ACTION PLANS!
And the pragmatic side of me concedes…. We are not going to be able to rid ourselves of our data addiction. So, let’s leave a bit in just to pacify our data scientist’s side. I propose that we take a big lead forward, yet not go total cold turkey….let’s make a shift to 75% PREVIEW and 25% review of all of our wonderful PowerPoint charts and graphs. AND hopefully when we do that even the 25% side of the house will still have ACTION PLAN outcomes that manage to escape from the data jail. (We need a bit of time in each PREVIEW session to look at the last planned actions from the last PREVIEW and see what we can learn from their outcomes.)
Long-winded explanation to this ask… And this week I propose that you tackle converting ONE of your many business review report card sessions over to a PREVIEW, 2-way discussion where you put commitments on the table for things that YOU are going to DO that will grow revenue for your team and that you quantify the IMPACT that those actions will have. Get your crystal ball out, polish it up nicely, and give it your best gaze. Remember these are YOUR actions, YOUR plan, and YOU are responsible for the outcome!
Time to PREVIEW!
OK, Let’s ROLL!
Mitch
Continuing on from the last couple of weeks, we find that our four travelers have made it to the land of OZ and come face to face with the Wizard in all of his diminutive self. Seems that the man behind the curtain has built a pretty fierce façade. A lot of wisdom came from the journey that the 4 friends took and the Wizard himself added to the thinking at the end. Life is all about facing your fears! And to the courage he simply stated the obvious…” true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid”. And even the bravest people get scared. As the Wizard told a story… Dorothy said “weren’t your frightened?” (Wizard…) “Frightened? Child, you’re talking to a man who’s laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at catastrophe… I was petrified.”
My ask of you this week is simply, tomorrow, do the one thing that you are the most afraid to do with respect to thanking someone for something that they have done for you. Should not really be that scary… maybe! Make it a BIG thank you! The final thought from the walk to OZ is from the King of the Winged Monkeys (yes they scared the heck out of me)… It is the final consideration before waking up…Good always wins over evil. The King of the Winged Monkeys: “We dare not harm this little girl,” he said to them, “for she is protected by the Power of Good, and this is greater than the Power of Evil.”
OK, Let’s Roll!
Mitch
Continuing on our journey to OZ from last week we find ourselves in the company of another wonderful character… the Scarecrow. Along the trip to see the great OZ the scarecrow and Dorothy have lots of time to sing, dance, and talk. One of the conversations goes like this….
Scarecrow: “I haven't got a brain... only straw.”
Dorothy: “How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?”
Scarecrow: “I don't know... But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking... don't they?”
Dorothy: “Yes, I guess you're right.”
A lot of talking about our “stuff” with folks that we want to have as clients. Without any realization that they ABSOLUTELY do not care about our stuff at all. How could that possibly be? Our stuff is so great. Our stuff is world-class. Our stuff…. Talking without using our brain, just spitting out all of the product features and wonderful “benefits” that we could deliver if ONLY the client had a brain and chose us to supply their stuff.
Well, lets get very real. Today more than ever, the desire by people to change from using their known good stuff, is at its lowest ever. Change brings fear of failure and possible personal repercussions. Why should they shift from what they have been doing for so long that has been working to something unknown and unproven. Not going to happen…. Unless you can prove a possible outcome that is of more value to them than their current situation and has NO risk. That last part is really tough.
During the journey, the travelers reach many roadblocks and it is the Scarecrow that figures out how to overcome them. When the team reaches OZ the Wizard finally gives the Scarecrow a "brain" (which is just some pins and needles mixed with bran) the Scarecrow gains the confidence he needs to feel good about himself. But the smart thoughts? Those he's had all along. Just like with Dorothy, the Scarecrow's journey as a character is not about change or growth. As he traveled, the Scarecrow didn't gain something new. He just had the opportunity to use intelligence he already possessed—and, of course, to discover that he possessed it.
So my thought for your consideration this week is the following…. Let’s use our inquisitive BRAIN. And…..
Go out and ASK a client… “what would it take for you to shift from what you are doing today (using XYZ product or service, or working with supplier X, or…you get creative and build the baseline inquiry about “what would it take for you to shift”…. From… not to you… from something else) This is about understanding what they are afraid of, where is the fear, what would worry them. Only once you understand what the challenge is, can you help them solve it. One of their biggest fears should be stated as the challenge of creating change involving others in their own world. Change management is the 800-pound gorilla in the room. And your task is to scare it away. Have fun!
OK, Let’s Roll!
Mitch
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In the movie, The Wizard of OZ (and I know that I can not assume you all have seen it, but I did grow up with it and the scary flying monkeys) there is a very special Tin Man. In the journey to Oz, the Tin Man is in search of a heart that had been taken from him by the Wicked Witch of the East. In song and dance along the way, Tin Man repeats the phrase… “if I only had a heart”. Many quotes about having a heart are in this movie… here is one…
This statement made to the Tin Man by the Wizard is one of the all-time best Oz quotes, simply because it's so true. As most of us can attest, the love of our friends and family is all that really matters in life.
And so what you say… well here is my ask of you for this week… In this current time, I see a lot of folks with a lot of stress and anxiety. You can see it acted out in the manner with which they interface with others around them. We are quick to move to anger and curt responses that are out of character. We are judgmental when we really have no position to judge at all, not our role in life anyhow. You know it, you see it, it’s real, and it is under our control to alter it... Each one of us can make a difference and it can snowball. One person at a time. Start now. As you read this, take a moment to look around and see someone that you can make a difference for. Have a heart. Take a heartfelt action to pay it forward, deliver a smile, embrace someone needing a hug. Step into it and open up your heart!
Here is a radical thought. Do this with your client. Virtual or in person, it can still be done. You can use your heart to connect with another person that may not be even expecting it. Care greatly, Understand deeply, Serve endlessly, with Purpose (CUSP). Its not just a four-letter word, it’s showing the world that YOU HAVE A HEART! Your personal and professional connections and relationships will be forever stronger if you let your HEART show!
Ok, Let’s Roll!
Mitch
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