I once read an article in Popular Science where the writers claimed that we use only 10% of the brain’s capacity—and much of that was structurally set at birth. All is not lost; it’s safe to say that we have the extra brain capacity to put to good use, and access to information is more prolific now than ever before.

Similar to how you manage your time, managing your intelligence is a use it or lose it bank account; those who work to stay mentally sharp show continual slight increases in intelligence throughout their lifetimes. Here are some prompts to rev-up your intellectual horsepower:

GET STARTED:

1. Become Centered – We are very emotionally inspired creatures, and those emotions can hijack the brain, persuading it to become ineffective, lose composure, and demonstrate stressed decision making. Take a deep breath; regain composure over a minute of silence. Brain researchers say that it typically takes two to three decision attempts to actually get to the correct decision─in general, the first decision is emotionally driven.
2. Expand Your Beliefs – Our experiences unknowingly create boundaries for our thinking. In fact, the Chinese use a host of words to describe the word “danger”; similarly many Indian tribes from various regions may use one word for snow; however, other Indian tribes in northern climates have as many as 24 different words for 24 different types of snow conditions. Broadening your mind can expand your intelligence; this is commonly referred to as thinking outside the box.
3. Move More – Healthy living is on everyone’s mind; many of the gurus in health say move more or exercise more. Consequently, the mind is the same—mental exercises work to increase the use of your intellectual horsepower. Some helpful exercises include making checklists, running possible scenarios, charting the pros and cons, visualizing problems with solutions, and identify patterns. Further resources to stimulate the mind can be searched on the Internet.
4. Drop Opinions – You don’t know what you don’t know…more specifically, increasing knowledge begins with knowing the facts, not making premature conclusions. From Dr. Edward de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats,” gathering facts, information, and research are the characteristics of the brain performing White Hat mental exercises. Some White Hat questions include the following: What are the facts? Where do I get the facts? How do I get true facts and avoid manipulated opinions?
5. Dig Deeper – For most of us, when presented with a problem, our normal reaction is to buzz in with the answer faster than anyone else. We all have preconceived notions, favorite solutions, and prejudices that prevent our intellectual skills from dealing with the real facts of the problem. Take a breather, shut down the buzzer-beating answer machine, and carefully absorb the facts. Do some personal research, which is easier than ever. Various Internet websites show how things are made, such as eHow, How It Works, and YouTube. A few seconds of research can link dialogue to demonstration.
6. Picture Proof – It’s been said that pictures says a thousand words; the mind is the world’s best camera. From experience to memory, a problem or situation placed in a visualized format can surface trends, hiccups in strategy, or gain knowledgeable insight. Become an expert in using imagery. The use of graphics, photos illustrations, charts, and flowcharts can bring clarity to a situation. Troubleshooting flowcharts are standard learning tools for repairing complex equipment.
7. Seek Skills – Building a strong intellectual mind is much like building a strong house from the foundation on up. Obtain a book on “mind mapping” techniques to uncover who you are and how you learn best. Skills can be developed in a methodical, strategic manner, especially skills designed to solve problems. Certain problem-solving concepts are discovered through the mapping process and directional clarity, yielding steps to operationalize your strategy.

Do you have specific intellectual horsepower management tools you most favor to attain better team performance or momentum? Would you say your leadership skills demonstrate a methodical approach to inspiring intelligent thought? How?

Learning technologies allow us to develop once and publish many times. Leverage…leverage…leverage. By using software to develop content, the sky is the limit. We can:

• Automatically capture and record transactions and processes
• Automatically publish to documents and interactive simulations
• Launch workflow for review and approvals before release
• Use PowerPoint skills to develop interactive eLearning
• Leverage eLearning in every form of learning event

The last point was a key point in a recent discussion about a unique learning strategy. A large wholesale and retail organization has thousands of stores and outlets with thousands of employees. One problem is that most of the stores are privately owned and employees are not corporate. There is no “hammer” to put down and decree how learning will occur for a new application rollout. Some outlets will demand instructor-led classroom training. Some will demand all self-facilitated learning. Some will demand online, live, classroom training. Some will demand the same but asynchronous. The answer to every demand must be “yes, of course.”

The scenario demands the ultimate in efficiency and leveraging of time and content. Only the latest technologies will support such a demanding audience and initiative. The good news is that the software is available to facilitate this strategy and more. The scenario above only addresses the development and deployment of learning assets and activities. The next discussion needs to be about effect. In other words, did behaviors change to facilitate increased productivity and efficiency? Watch for future blog posts on that topic.

It is not about the software, but…

Too often, I hear sales leaders talking about managing sales representatives: how they prospect, how they present, how they overcome objections, and how they spend their time. It is as if managing people is a nonstop, all-the-time effort. I often wonder how some sales leaders actually find time for strategic thinking and action, let alone helping reps become more effective at selling.

One big gap lies in the traditional approach to sales “training”: While many organizations spend time on some type of analysis to uncover key skills, competencies, and attributes of top sales representatives (with the aim of emulating those things and hiring people who have the same traits), the key insights the organization lacks are the Major Accomplishments that top sales representatives actually produced.

What are the impacts of this lack of transparency?

• Wasted time coaching without results
• Wasted time pulling reps out of the field for misplaced and misdirected training interventions
• Unnecessary extra processes and procedures designed to “manage” reps to produce better results (without clarity of what “better should actually look like”)

The point is this: If sales leaders desire a top-performing sales force (not just the standard 20% of the sales team), leaders need to:

• First understand what success looks like (Strategic Intent and Alignment)
• Identify the critical Major Accomplishments that lead to the defined success
• Align Business Processes that provide clear and smooth pathways for the reps (and the organization) to execute the Major Accomplishments
• Execute a People Readiness strategy that positively influences the sales reps’ ability to produce the Major Accomplishments with regularity and without unneeded friction

Manage the processes.
Enable the people.

Create a high-performing sales team.

Beginning as a brick-sized phone with monochrome screens that just handled telephone calls and were attainable by a small population, the mobile phone has morphed to become the lightweight, slim smart phones that have more computing power than the ENIAC mainframe, better graphics than the average PC, and digital cameras equal to or better than many of the cameras available today, and they are accessible and affordable by just about everyone. It is typical for every person in a household over the age of 12 to have their own smart phone, and there is an expectation that if you want to use your smart phone for a specific task that there will be “an app for that.”

For organizations, mobile phones were typically provided to senior management or certain departments like sales; however, today, most employees have their own personal device, and organizations are relaxing controls so that employees can access corporate networks for email and other corporate systems and information. The shift to “bring your own device” concept and the ability to maintain security controls is a win-win for the organization; they do not have to pay for the device or service, and they can still push content and information to the employee.

Despite what seems to be perfect timing for mobile learning to flourish, many organizations continue to struggle with developing truly engaging learning for the smart phone or tablet devices. The majority of mobile learning that exists does not incorporate many of the features that are available in today’s devices such as GPS, cameras for still capture and video, and the ability to “push-back” content through blogs. Most content can be considered as a job aid or reference material that is pushed to the end user to be consumed. I believe we will start to see a shift to content that is designed to be collaborative and interactive where learners, armed with their smart devices (phone or tablet) may consume some information being pushed to them. But the activities in the learning will require learners to be immersed in the process by posting a picture and comment, or a video that demonstrates the concept or task in action and then allow others to comment and add to the learning. For example, a practical activity for a field technician may be to demonstrate the procedures to replace a fuel injector. The student may easily answer some multiple choice questions; however, having the student document and show the process will require him/her to not only complete the mechanical aspect of removing and installing the injector, but also include performing any safety checks and experience any other nuances associated with the task that could not be learned simply by reading a job aid.

The greatest aspect to mobile devices is that they are a great connector: people to people, people to systems and applications, one to many, and many to many. The key is to understand how to best incorporate them all. We can no longer rely on a one-way push of information out to a smart device. We need to think beyond the device to the other technologies available and the core learning intent. The challenge is to move from creating mobile “access” learning and to develop user-centric learning through our mobile devices that incorporate the features of the devices (video, audio, text) and those of the organization (website, blogs, collaboration). Keep it simple. Think YouTube ─ short videos; Twitter – 140 characters; Amazon ─ rating stars; and Facebook – Like & comment. The pieces are there; as learning professionals, it is our time to make mobile learning work!

We’ve all seen the results of poor alignment:

• Poor performance (duplicate efforts, dropped hand-offs, excessive time to completion)
• Poor customer service (not having all the information a customer needs, not having the most up-to-date information, different people giving different and conflicting responses)
• Frustrated people (leading to high turnover, marginalized performance, and loss of momentum)

As change agents, we can see when alignment is not right. We can define what others are doing wrong and what they need to do. We know what good alignment looks like, and we have experienced the benefits that go along with that.

The Change Agent Toolbox

The good news is that each of us carries a toolbox well equipped to start the repair process and begin to fix the misalignment. Let’s look at what is inside our toolbox:

Vision - As change agents, we are one of the few individuals who can look across the entire organization, provide analysis, and describe a compelling vision of the future.

Leadership - I’ve never met a well-equipped change agent who did not count leadership as one of the most powerful and versatile tools in his/her toolbox. We lead when we are not in charge, and we often play the leadership role in organizations where a leadership void exists. We have all been in situations where we have served a time as surrogate manager when a particular part of the organization needed the help to get started.

Influence - As change agents, influence is one of the key skills we bring to our organizations. It’s an innate talent and one of those skills we have learned through years of practice. We apply our influence to engage individuals or groups to start moving in the right direction. The ability to get others to act on behalf of an initiative larger than their own area is critical.

Planning - Good planners are not rare, but good planners who can plan integrated actions across an organization are rare.

Event/Intervention Design - Actions that get the larger organization engaged together and moving toward a common goal are very effective when designed well. When we look into our toolbox, we have many design tools that will produce effective, organization-wide results.

Directing Others - Even though people do not report directly to us as change agents, they are affected by the other tools we use to gain alignment. If we help direct them toward a larger cause, they will act on behalf of that cause. Sometimes they just need someone they believe in to ask them.

What’s in your toolbox?

Others following this blog may be interested in hearing what skill set components you think belong on our toolbox. Let us know.

Almost immediately thereafter, as I juggled and reorganized the rest of my items to try and help clean up the mess, my mother’s voice echoed in my head, “That’s the lazy man’s load.” Yep, Mom, the apple of your eye is still doing it at age 42. What am I doing? I’m looking for what seems to be the easiest, fastest route to get my requirements met with an approach that is in deep deficit of forethought, preparation, or planning. Sometimes what seems to be the easy way just doesn’t pay. 

Of course, this is not unusual to say the least. 

I’m sure you know what I mean. Much to my chagrin, it is not an uncommon practice in my life―just as painful, it is also fairly ubiquitous in business. 

One recent example is a customer who is getting increased pressure from a new boss to flawlessly execute the business strategy as a priority for 2012. What if the strategy and plans are based on the specter of seasons past? He’ll pass to his go-to people, and keep over-tasking the same direct reports with as much as possible, especially those items critical to executing the strategy (we call this “box-checking” as opposed to realizing business benefits and the strategic intent). Do these direct reports have any special skills? Probably, but none more important than just the willingness to sacrifice much to get the work done; sometimes too much. The problem is that these team members just get overloaded with tasks―an approach that is not only not sustainable, but also counterproductive. In fact, it’s the fastest route to burnout for the employee and the quickest trip to things going “SPLUNK” for the company. 

As an example, ask the large consumer products company being dogged by repeated errors in their supply chain, struggling to move product out the door, that may be losing strategic placement opportunities on their customer shelves and, maybe even worse, could be losing the faith of their consumers.

Your biggest boss may not declare that “Excellence in Execution” is what creates competitive advantage for your organization, but guessing, hoping, and taking what appears to be an easy road can lose your hard-earned, coveted ground. As you enter 2012 and conduct strategic planning for your life, your career, your business, consider what measures you are taking to execute flawlessly on strategies you put in place.

Are you starting with Why? Are you developing a sense of purpose, clear intent to be built upon as the foundation for success? Do you have a framework for identifying obstacles that can inhibit reaching your intended goals? Allow me to share a favorite quote attributed to Unknown: “There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it’s easy.” That’s the bad news. 

The good news is that you’re not doomed to do things the way they’ve always been done. Click here to learn more about how to fundamentally change the way work gets done in your organization and achieve more success in 2012.

One answer might be to hire people from these different cultures to help sell products in the regions in which they are from. In order to hire a diverse workforce, the company must promote diversity and attract a diverse talent pool. They may do this in a programmatic way by creating councils on diversity, celebrating heritage months for various cultures, and promoting diversity in recruitment efforts at job fairs. But then, what happens when people of different cultures join an organization? Some of the larger organizations, like IBM, have Chief Diversity Officers assigned to integrating diversity throughout their workforce. Former IBM Chief Diversity Officer Ted Childs is now a consultant on this topic and trademarked “Workforce Diversity: The bridge between the workplace and the marketplace.” When organizations have a less programmatic approach and a more sustainable approach to diversity, they can design, market, and sell more products globally. Diversity must be part of the organization’s mission and growth strategies, and then effectively communicated to all employees.

In doing consulting work for some larger organizations and talking with friends in the training industry, I am seeing a real growing trend in diversity training. Global companies are championing diversity and striving to incorporate it throughout their organization, starting with messages from the CEO to training first-level managers on how to deal with issues involving diversity. In order to effectively integrate diversity into any organization, the message has to be communicated not only to new hires, but also to every employee so that inclusion occurs. Then, someday maybe organizations will not need to spell out diversity in their communications; rather, it will be evident in their principles and mission statements.

And, the next time I step into an Indian house, the first thing I will do is remove my shoes without any hesitation, whether it’s a party of 50 people or 2 people coming over for dinner.

Let’s just do it. Let’s start by evaluating our efforts. Clearly one way to do this is to look at the KPIs that measure process output. We have them control charted don’t we? Of course we do, and so we are readily able to compare past average levels of our key output variables with the new levels using simple student t tests. We may need to look for expected reductions in variation, too. Maybe we find it difficult to do ANOVA tests or apply F-tests, but there is someone nearby who can do these tests in Excel or the stats package of their choice, even, these days, on their phone. Statistical tests are not the whole story though—we should ask the customers and other stakeholders involved or affected whether our efforts have been worthwhile. 

We also should ensure that we documented the journey we took in an interesting narrative form that includes a clear description of the issues with the existing situation, the barriers to success that we overcame, the happy end result, and the lessons to be learned for future change agents. Along with this, we should document any process changes that we considered but rejected, including the reasons we did so. Better for us to explain why a particular method would not have worked than for someone in the future to think that we ignored the possibility. Or worse still, that they attempt that change themselves, unaware that we already considered or tried it.

And finally, we should document our successes and failures in applying thinking and analytical processes. Very few organizations take the time and effort to examine how their thinking processes are working (“Is our brainstorming effective?”) or their analytical methods (“Are we coming up with good root causes?”), This approach of thinking about how we are thinking is alien to many organizations. We take it for granted that the methods we have used in the past are acceptable and that our means of deploying them are optimal. But this is seldom the case, and so some reflection will pay off for future analysts and decision makers. This does not need to be a complex process―a simple table will suffice with entries like “Five Whys analysis: Tried to use it, but got bogged down in details so resorted to building on an existing, detailed fishbone diagram instead.”

See―that hardly hurt at all. Three simple steps―evaluate, recall, and learn―that we know we should carry out, but seldom do. And three simple steps that can make the world of difference in ensuring solid and sustainable change in any Lean initiative.

In order to keep up this momentum, we have made it our resolution to continue providing content that helps you achieve your business initiatives and ultimately helps you make a meaningful impact for your organization and your customers. Our inspiration and ideas come from your comments and feedback, so please continue to let us know what topics, trends, or insights you would like our authors to write about.

As we reflect on the blog in 2011, we are inspired by the commitment and dedication of our authors. They are the voice and driving force behind our blog.  In case you missed them, here are some of our most read posts over the past year:

Practical Approach for Changing Organizational Culture by Dave Roitman

The Human Factor of Change – Walking in Other Peoples Shoes by Pete Floyd

Everything is Ok, Right? by Andrew Freedman

Learning to Learn by Butler Newman

Re-Thinking Performance Management by Dan Seamon

The athletes that invest in strategies to sustain their talents and results over time are the ones on the Wheaties box, on the talk show circuits, and eventually get to light the torch at future Olympic ceremonies. 

Wouldn’t it be nice if we aligned every action during our race or project with components of a solid sustainment strategy so we were asked to light the torch for future projects? As individuals, we are merely members of a larger organization. We need to help our colleagues across the finish line as well. However, it is vital that we set the stage for them to be stars in their own work. Their notoriety is our testimonial. Too often, the stage for individual success is set in the classroom. An effective strategy to sustain success focuses on the workforce: where they are, when they need it, and how they can make it their own. It focuses on performance more than learning and definitely more than training.