Acting Out Responsibility

After writing a nice little spiel about taking responsibility and avoiding excuse making I had to put my words into practice in order to hit the deadline. My work internet had crashed for some odd reason so I had to fly to a coffee shop to use their wifi. The irony of writing about a similar scenario and then having to act it out. At least I got a good coffee out of the experience.

Standards vs Expectations

There was a time when having electricity all day was the norm in Zimbabwe, when running water flowed out of all our taps, all the time. That was the expectation and no one questioned it until things started to go wrong. Standards, we all have them. Well at least I think we all have them. For many what passes as a standard is mere millimetres away from not having any at all. There is a difference between standards and expectations. Expectations are assumed, standards are set. Where standards exceed or meet pre-existing expectations then people are happy, where they do not there is work to be done. Standards are the phrases that promise you how the job will be done, the level of quality, the validity of quotes, and the duration of guarantees.
Set standards, then stick to them. Standards create and clarify expectation. One of my favourite “standards” in the country is the department that promises a 24-hour turnaround for a particular service. That is eight working hours today, eight working hours tomorrow, and eight hours the next day. Their ‘24-hour service’ takes three working days to actually deliver (e-mail me if you can guess the department). That is not a true standard. If you can only deliver in three days then advertise a three-day standard, keep to it, and then try to improve on it.

Towards a 97% Sucess Rate

I came across a statistic this week that showed that 97 percent of women would swoon if their boyfriend gave them a mixtape (a personal collection of meaningful music). My second thought (the first being to see if it actually works) was to ask what if 97 percent of your clients had a high-emotion, positive response to your product. Not just a “that is nice” but a “wow that is totally amazing I want it now” response to your offering. Not just one or two of your clients, but nearly every single one. That would be a pretty impressive track record.

Impossible I hear you say. There is the first problem. You think it is impossible.
Realism is well and good, but a lot of our excuses not to do something are not based on realism.
They are based on false assumptions about the way things are done and erroneous perceptions about how people will react. Until you have tested and tried it, do not tell me that it cannot be done. Time and time again, I have been shocked at how successful, an idea that I thought would fail, has actually been.

Doubling Productivity

So I write a weekly column for The Herald newspaper in Zimbabwe. Had a thought this week, if every time I write a column I write a second one at the same time. That way I will have a group of extra articles that I can either publish elsewhere or turn into a book. It just takes an extra bit of time a week and I double productivity in that area.