Tag Archives: culture change



Entrepreneur in Residence

April 13th, 2009

EIR for short, an entrepreneur in residence is what Venture Capital firms seek, they invite an entrepreneur in to help them put together a solid idea.  

Very smart, identify a real go getter whom you want to work with, invite them in.

My question is why are only venture capitalists doing this?

I think big companies should hire entrepreneurs, to come in, sit in their organisation for a few months, bring their outside in view and generate real change within the organisation.

Act as a your own venture capitalist in your industry..

I’d love to see that, hey we hired Guy Kawasaki to come sit in our offices for 3 months, help us come up with some game changing ideas.

From my point of view that would be real fun but also a good way to hear ideas from the edge, observations on how to improve, or just a different point of view.

Really want some culture change? Hire a dozen entrepreneurs seed them in different divisions.


Five Star Service

April 5th, 2009

Shopping at a local supermarket on Sunday I received great service from a new checkout person.  It was at that moment I thought, why don’t they have a simple touch machine where after the transaction you can rate the service, 1 to 5 stars.  I would have loved to give her five stars.

Imagine that, a small touch screen device, where you can rate the service in a second.  The system then records the rating and at the end of the day the staff member gets their average rating.

Staff realise:

  • They are instantly accountable
  • Provides a benchmark to lift the bar
  • Real time rankings by the hour (look at peaks and troughs during the day)

For the service provider:

  • Instant feedback on staff
  • Reward the best staff
  • Compare satisfaction by time of day
  • Get the real picture of what your customers think of your service
  • Stimulate a cultural change in customer satisfaction, sending the right signals to staff and to customers

And for customers:

  • Feel the respect for opinion
  • Can reward outstanding service by giving five stars
  • Feel valued
  • Makes them consciously think about the level of customer service provided

Not sure on the cost but it would be worth a try! This one little thing could change the whole customer service experience.

(Extra for experts: You already realise people are doing this on twitter (see here) and will continue to do so.  Bit of a no brainer.  Embrace the change)


Accountability and Driving

February 22nd, 2009

I want to share a brief story from my uni days:

“I was heading back from the airport on the motorway, and a car in the lane beside us suddenly jerked to the left, forcing itself into our lane, nearly forcing us off the road.  Argh!! Five minutes later this same car missed the offramp so swerved across two lanes nearly missing us again.  I jotted down its number plate.  Later that day I wandered into uni, only to be very nearly swiped off the road by a lunatic driver.  The very same driver that had already just about wiped me out.  Three times, one day, same driver.”

The issue here is accountability.

Sure I can report the dangerous driving to the Police who may send a warning letter BUT what difference is that going to make.

Altering the general attitude on the road is almost a culture change.

Particularly in Auckland where I live.  Drivers are frequently rude, cut in, swerve, drive with no care for others.  As there is virtually zero accountability such people continue.  This continues on a downward spiral as it becomes more acceptable.

How could you solve this? Make everyone accountable to their number plate.  Register each number plate online where people can put feedback on your driving.  In fairness for each negative response you should have to upload a positive response for someone who was nice to you.

It would be a gold mine of activity, huge opportunity for novel stories to be shared and create accountability.

Benefits:

  • Suddenly a cars value could depend on its driver.
  • Accountability
  • Dangerous drivers are quickly identified
  • Culture change in driving attitudes

It would be nice to implement.  However could you really do this? I fear (like the recording industry) their would be a huge uproar and the dangerous few wouldn’t let it through.  

Thoughts? Do you think there is a better way? Or more importantly has a model been proven but in a different scenario?



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