The current issue of Fortune profiles 10 Top Leaders And Their Secrets. It’s an interesting read, made even more so by the repeated references to the importance of leadership communication.
These leaders echoe the counsel we give our clients everyday. Things like … Spend 85 percent of your time on the road talking to people (not emailing them). Coach 100 to 200 employees in a given month (it’s worth the time). Listen more (we mean really listen). And, my personal favorite, be relentlessly on message (until you can’t stomach saying it one more time).
Wikipedia, the on-line encyclopedia created by volunteers, was recently the subject of a hoax, in which false information was intentionally included in one of its entries (I’ve included the AP Story in the extended entry below.)
This reveals the downside of Wikipedia, which may be vulnerable to false information. But it also reveals the upside — the perpetrator of the hoax was tracked down and revealed by a Wikipedia contributor. There’s the double-edged sword to open on-line communities: their openness leaves them vulnerable, but the commitment of their communities as a result of that openness provides a strong corrective over the long haul.
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“Benchmarking” is being used widely across businesses today. And if companies aren’t using it, they want to be, or perhaps, feel they ought to be. But do you have appropriate standards in place to implement benchmarking? Let’s say you conduct a “benchmarking survey” to compare the “numbers” in your company to the “numbers” of other companies. You find your company has more favorable numbers in all areas but one. Sounds good, right? So you report these findings back to management. Sighs of relief that “everything is just fine” may give leadership that warm, fuzzy feeling, while in reality these findings mean little more than you’re the best of a mediocre group. If mediocrity is in fact what you are striving for, congratulations, you’ve achieved it. Is this what you’re trying to accomplish?
If your answer is no, and your benchmarking agenda entails discovering and incorporating best practices, you may want to dig a little deeper. Benchmarking should not be a comparison check. Benchmarking should be used as an improvement process. You should be searching for best practices, what the standards are, and who sets them. But you should also be interested in how those people meet the standards and why those practices are “best.”
Remember to think before you leap. Here’s a link that may help to guide you along your benchmarking way.
Ten Benchmarking Mistakes to Avoid
