If you look closely, you can see the economy changing before our eyes.

This Friday I was out for a drink at my local. It is not a frequent event these days, but still nice to get out every so often.

Yet, over the last few months, I have been noticing how it has been getting quieter each and every time. Less people, less menu choice and closing earlier.

This weekend it felt like the music was off, the lights on and dishwasher whirring by around 9:45 pm…we closed the place and were last to leave.

What is changing?

And it is not just me. Chatting to a local taxi driver it seems he is also seeing something similar, not picking up from places in town as much now either.

Rather than everyone going out to meet with friends at the bar, we appear to be increasingly stocking up at the supermarket and having people around the house instead.

Why has this changed?

Now maybe this is all the result of two years of pandemic restrictions… Maybe it is due to increasing energy costs curtailing eating out and increasing prices… Or maybe it is just cost of living increases making staying at home just more attractive, it afterall does cost less. (I know I am guilty of going out less, for at least a couple of these reasons too).

And… not just the pub!

Even on the way back from an autumn walk today, I passed an animated conversation in the street clearly on the topic of Halloween candy… or lack of…

There was talk of hunkering down, turning off the lights and hiding in the back room… maybe the pandemic has just changed us a bit… we are all a little more antisocial.

Something is up

Whatever it is, it does seem like something is happening. On the outside all is familiar, but underneath there are signs society is changing, albeit slowly, steadily, before our eyes. Accepted norms are increasingly being challenged.

This raises an important question for us now…

IF this is indeed happening, AND IF this momentum is there… how should we change our business model and interaction with customers today?

Simply relying on the old business model when an environment changes, in the hope the good old days will return, does not lead to great outcomes… just ask at your local neighbourhood video rental store.

What to do now?

An answer, of sorts, came in the form of another TED talk… Will Guidara and his focus on unreasonable hospitality… listening to customers and creating great experiences.

Now, we cannot all afford to be a high-end restauranteur, nor can our customers necessarily afford, nor business models support, fulfilling every wish and desire.

But, we can listen and watch closely what customers want, look for subtle changes in behaviour that necessitate a change to our products, then making sure we react and change them fast.

To survive we are all going to have to be nimble and working in partnership with customers is surely going to help.

Halloween night

More immediately, extending this principle, I also need to get to the shops quick… Halloween is tomorrow night and a large amount of candy is needed…

Based on my ’customer’ feedback… mini Mars bars, Maltesers and Swizzels are all products of choice … Tootsie rolls not… Some traditions will no doubt continue to survive!

Have a good week everyone… and happy Halloween (& leave any candy-related feedback in the comments below!)

I had a very enjoyable trip to Newcastle last week and posted a photo of the train station on LinkedIn to indicate my pleasure in being in the city.

Somewhat to my surprise, it garnered more views than many of my regular posts. It was not a particularly great photo, nor was it really insightful content… it was just a quick snap.

Now, this, of course, may say much about my other posts, but I prefer not dwell on that here 🙂 … but underneath there was also an important lesson to be learnt.

Short is best, when it comes to communication.

Smart Brevity – write less say more… and in their TED talk have made a business out of this. Apparently, the data shows that most of us never read past the first few lines. Those that do only skim-read, before blindly liking and sharing with our friends on social media.

Feeling guilty….? Don’t be (well not too much, we all do it!). The sheer volume of information, we have to digest is a problem… we all naturally find coping mechanisms. The trick, however, is knowing when to skim, when to not and when to concentrate.

Top tips for communication clarity

All of us, if you have ever written an email or created a PowerPoint presentation, are writers of communication. In thinking about our readers, there are areas we can help with clarity, which in turn helps us get heard.

• Most of the readers will not finish the article, so get to the point quick
• Keep it short, they only read the start, so key points upfront
• Use straightforward language, sentences, and words
• Make it easy to skim and pull out key ideas
• It is all about the audience… not you

Writing long is easy, writing short is hard

I have always found it somewhat ironic that writing less is harder than writing more, but it is true.

Psychologically the cards are stacked against us – as a society, we just seem to culturally value more – more time, more stuff, and more product equals bigger value. It is a hard-wired and a hard habit to break (Business books are an example, 250 pages that could be summarised in a deck of 6 slides… but would I pay £19.95 for 6 slides, probably not)

Also, having fewer words also means you need to be more careful about what you say, and even more difficult what you leave out too.

Of if this was easy we would of course all be doing it!

Why this is important… in Collections too

Many of my friends, those in marketing, with English or language backgrounds, will know this stuff already (no scoffing please), but it is relevant for the rest of us mere mortals. And, this is not just you and me, but customers too…

Think about most collection letters, emails, and messages you see. Do they follow the points above, and if not how can they be improved?

Most of those I see have clear areas of opportunity. Getting crisp design, clear and to the point is always a challenge… but it is also an opportunity to be heard, by the customer, leading to better outcomes (and business outcomes too).

Customer-centric customer letters I suppose… who would have thought!

… have a good week everyone.

This week the political situation in the UK got so surreal, at one point it seemed all I needed for entertainment was the Financial Times and Newsnight, giving up watching the rest of TV for entertainment (let alone Eastenders). It has all been quite exhausting, with the speed and level of change huge.

We are now seemingly on our fourth chancellor of the exchequer (finance minister) in four months and one who has just reversed all the policies set by the last one only a couple of weeks ago.

Much of the change (today) seems to be in a bid to stabilize financial markets. It would all be much more entertaining if it was not so serious of course… impacting us all with the cost of borrowing and interest rates.

This is big politics, and it can behave strangely, but it does, as of now, feel as if the adults are back in charge. Hopefully, things will settle down to have a sensible debate on policies at an election (rather have to focus on how to recover a completely wrecked economy, collapsed tax base, and financial markets (think pension), in what is already a cost of living, inflationary crisis).

The impact of getting things done – politically

Now, all this political talk also got me thinking about the dynamics of office politics too.

Office politics is something I dread, nor something I consider myself particularly I am good at either, but I do recognize that in some sense it is necessary.

It does, after all, drive pragmatic compromise in an organization, and helps to get things done… humans are after-all are sometimes complex organisms and there always needs to be a bit of negotiation it seems 🙂 !See also  Another week, another lockdown..!

However, at the extreme, it can also drive tribal behaviour, a blame culture, and short-term focus on personal goals, sometimes at the expense of others… employees, customers (and voters) all get caught up in these dynamics, both quick to judge and impacting everyone.

The speed of change – a problem

Change is of course needed and sometimes even necessary, but, as we have seen this week, if you make a dramatic change, and get feedback that it does not work, your best option is to fix or reverse as soon as possible.

However, there is a problem. In our accelerating, consolidating, digital world our ability to make significant changes, with greater speed, is increasing dramatically. We can, so often we do.

Unfortunately, the speed we receive feedback on these changes – whether this has worked has not – often has not kept pace… this is especially the case where human interaction is involved.

Unless the feedback is dramatically bad, it is delayed and easily gets lost in the noise. This seriously limits our ability to quickly adjust course, often until really too late when more damage has been done.

We see this dynamic often with process design, but also with organisational dynamics too.

A change is made, one we thought was going to be great, only to realise, too late, it was not… (eg customer complaints or employees leave)… compromises, workarounds and recovery plans are all standard fare.

We all make mistakes – design the feedback

The reality is, as humans we all make mistakes and the solution is not solely to work on perfection, but rather also a focus on fast feedback. Feedback loops are all too often not given the attention they need. See also  The importance of verbal communication

Change, itself, is often the dazzling star, getting all the focus. Feedback is, by design, post implementation, and frankly often seen as the boring bit. We can easily forget, even though it is critical.

In particular, what is crucial is that the speed and scale of the change being implemented is matched with the speed and scale of the feedback being received.

We need to ensure we stay focused on good outcomes before and after any implementation. Not doing so, allows for white space, a gap, which is then filled by spin or provides an opportunity for potentially suboptimal politics to start creeping in.

My argument is for creating good, regular feedback loops and making this a priority.

From process to politics

In politics, it is often said we have the ultimate feedback loop, the next election.

In our current world whether this is fast enough, and with enough data is really up for debate. Based off what has happened the last couple of years, maybe we need a re-think here too… something to mull on this week.

Have a good rest of the week everyone