Become a Certified Necessity – but are you competent?

Become a Certified Necessity – but are you competent?

I was quite amused to see an ad with the headline “Become a certified necessity”. Nowadays, there is certification for everything. Resumes, bios, business cards and LinkedIn profiles reveal a long list of the possible certifications that one can now get. But of what value are they? Too often I hear my clients’ complain about “So and so having the right qualifications, but is not performing”.

Certification is important, in that it indicates that someone has been exposed to a body of knowledge that should be relevant to the skill being certified. It sometimes indicates a level of competence, either through the passing of an examination, or a practicum.
However the certification is at a particular point in time. It is a snapshot. It does not indicate the ability of the certified person to actually perform the job and to use the knowledge gained to create the results required. When hiring, the easy thing to do is to use certification as a proxy for performance. For example, someone has their ACCA so we assume they must be a good accountant. Not necessarily. Having their ACCA only indicates that they studied a body of knowledge at some point in time.

When next you are interviewing a candidate for a job or supplier for a service and you are faced with a list of certificates, dig deep and ask questions that surface use of the knowledge to achieve results. And I don’t just mean the “Tell me about a time when ….” type of question. Ask how they would deal with specific situations. Really have a conversation about their ability to produce the results.

Consider also your own value to the organization. The only way to become a necessity is to produce the results expected. Glory in your certification, but don’t believe that it is sufficient. Continue to learn and improve your application of the knowledge.

THE BALANCED SCORECARD

Do you know your customers?

The Customer Perspective of the Balanced Scorecard answers the question ”How do we want to be viewed by our customers”. It is one of the first and most fundamental steps in articulating a winning strategy. This question begs some deeper questions:

1. Who are our customers now?
2. Who are our desired customers i.e. the ones that will yield the financial results we require
3. What are they like – what is the profile of these customers?
4. What are their needs? What problems do they have that we can solve – and solve better than the competition?
5. What type of relationship do we want to have with them?
6. Where do they want to do business with us?
7. How much do they value us? What is it that they value about us?
8. What type of image do we want them to have of us?

How do you answer these questions?

• Put yourself in their shoes. It is very helpful to state the Customer Objectives in the voice of the customer. Think of it as if the customer is seated opposite you, answering these questions.
• Use data. You probably already have a plethora of data about your customers.
  Troll your customer databases for information – how often do they buy, what do they buy, how much do they spend, which is the most profitable type of customer?
• Ask them. Focus groups, interviews or just “casual” one-on-one seemingly spur of the moment conversations whenever you meet them.

Your Customer Perspective dictates your key Internal Processes as well as the skills and culture you need to deliver on them. You should be on a never-ending quest to learn more and more about your customers. And then to use that learning to adjust and even change your strategy to get the results you want.

TAKE ONE ACTION

Set an intention to have a conversation with one customer per day. Ask questions like the ones above, listen keenly to the answers and make notes. Over time you will see some trends emerging that will either validate your strategy or cause you to change it.

INTERESTING LINKS

So many interesting articles! Here are a few of my favourites:
With all the complaints I hear about bosses, perhaps it’s time to consider going “bossless”. – click to view article

If “bosslessness” is a bit too much for you, at least be more curious, and help your team members to be curious too. Curiosity spurs great ideas, and of course, great ideas can lead to great innovations. – click to view article

Mom always told you to “sit up straight”. As with so many things, she was right. Read how your posture changes your mental state. – click to view article