Unigrams

The Buried Treasure

When aiming at developing skills, the natural tendency is to provide additional knowledge. But in the case of experienced people, the most efficient way is often to build on their existing experience: this is the buried treasure, just under our feet!
This unigram justifies the whole unigrams approach. The larger the experience, the higher the benefits.
The whole series is based on the best observed practices. They will be used to share the common experience of the company.

The Winning Handover

The right hand offers to the left one and the left hand draws from the right one.
The pool-in reflex : this might interest someone else.
The pool-out reflex : this should already exist somewhere
Such a behavior is a key success factor for our company.

The Tightrope

Disseminating ideas and re-using solutions implemented somewhere else is a difficult exercise.
You always have to find the right balance between:
- simply reproducing the solution, which is a quick and cheap answer, and
- taking into account all local characteristics and building a custom-made solution

The Magic Trick

In a magic trick, you need the magic wand and the magic words. Giving only the magic wand to someone is of no use.
When passing knowledge on, be sure to pass on all the aspects of the experience, including tips, difficulties and failures.

Chase the Octopus Away

As many scientific experiences prove it, the octopus is a very intelligent animal. Despite this it’s not the King of the seas. Why?
After laying her eggs the female octopus stays with them, refusing to eat. When they hatch she dies. There is absolutely no transmission of knowledge down the generations and the fabulous intelligence of the octopus hits a dead end.
Unlike the octopus, what characterises us is our ability to learn from each other. A very intelligent person who doesn’t share his knowledge has no business being with us. Chase the Octopus Away!

The Double Reward

In our business, improving competitive positioning (= moving along the x-axis) reaps profits (= y-axis) twice: in volume, and also in percentage. The countries in which we have the best competitive positioning are the ones with the best profit margin rate.
The leader is the most visible. The leader has a better capacity to bring innovation to the market.

The Rising Balloon

Leadership is like a hot-air balloon: it constantly needs energy to stay in the air.
Without energy things end up falling down.
Staying #1 requires a lot of energy and becoming #1 even more!

Choosing is Giving Up

In order to exploit a forest, you need to cut down some trees to let the others grow… The resources (time, money, people) are always limited and have to be dedicated to a limited number of initiatives.
We usually forget (or don’t accept) that choosing is impossible without giving up.

The King of the Village

The important thing is to be the King, even of a village. It is much better than being a baron in an empire.
To be a leader is to be recognized as the best company in its field of activity and being able to lead and influence the market. The leader is the company that sets the market standards in its field of excellence.

The Leadership Engine

The way we can develop its leadership is through the following cycle: Ideas produce Innovation if they are well cultivated, Innovation brings Leadership, and Leadership allows to set the trend and to collect more Ideas.
Innovation capacity and leadership go together. The leader has the best capacity to influence the markets.
The management know-how is the main drive for the right completion of the cycle.

The Iceberg of Innovation

When talking about innovation, the common idea is to imagine the breakthrough innovation, drastically impacting the market and leading to diversification.
But the most valuable innovations are not allways the most visible. They mainly consist in elaborating new products, solutions or services to existing clients, or in proposing existing products, solutions or services to new clients.

The Customer’s Shoes

You have to put yourself in the other’s shoes, follow his path, expose yourself. That is empathy: the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in his situation.
Listening to the customers is mandatory but not enough: they seldom express their needs directly.

When in Rome…

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do”.
This advice was given by St. Ambrose to St. Augustine who wanted to know which fasting custom he should follow, Milan’s or Rome’s.
All products and services have to be adapted to the local customs, when transferred from one country to the other.
Each country benefits from being part of the whole organization, while keeping its citizenship, culture and local roots.

Solution Seeking Problem

Having a bulb without a socket, or without the appropriate socket is of no use.
A problem usually calls for a solution. But be aware of the tendency to force a solution without checking that there actually is a problem:
- check that the solution is adequate
- always re-assess the customer’s needs

Camel or Dromedary?

If you face the camel, you cannot know if it has one or two humps. You need to go around it to find out: camel or dromedary?
When observing a situation, it is the same: take time, walk around, don’t stick to your first impression, re-assess your judgment.

The Right Time

The target and the clock merge: like when launching a rocket, you have to choose the right time window.
Too early would be wasting the idea, not being in the position to make it a success, and giving it to a potential competitor. And too late…
An innovation is an idea that meets a market.

The Right Soil

Palm trees can even grow in London… with appropriate soil and care.
It is the job of the management to create the right conditions to allow an idea grow into innovation.

Be on Target!

The secret of success is professionalism, using the right method :
- define the Timetable
- list the Actions
- assign the Responsibilities
- keep the Goals clear
- call on the right Experts
- use the adequate Tools

Cherry Picking

The nicest cherries are always at the top of the tree… Then why do we always start by eating the ones at the bottom?
When describing an idea, we always focus on the benefits for the customer. But at the same time, it is mandatory to evaluate all the efforts he will have to make in order to enjoy the innovation: the customer only sees the net benefit.
You will perhaps have to provide him with a ladder…

The Friendly Innovation

Very few people, the so-called “early adopters”, like and buy innovation. The majority simply seeks new ways to address existing needs. Innovation could require a change in habits, that usually disturbs people.
To be better accepted, the innovation should always refer to the existing, and secure people through a friendly aspect.
“As soon as something old is shown in something new, we feel at ease” Friedrich Nietzsche.

The No-Men

As soon as new ideas are suggested, you usually have to face attacks from No-Men, crying out:
- “we already tried that 5 years ago…”
- “the boss will not accept it…”
- “where I come from, we don’t do it like that…”
- etc.
Be careful, there could be a No-Man hiding within yourself!

The Knights of the Good Idea

Like the “Round Table”, the Good Idea needs its Knights, able to bring the energy to overcome the obstacles and to make the change happen, ready to “die” for it :
- a champion, who will develop and express it
- a sponsor, who will promote it at the highest level
- a project manager, who will bring it to life…
Having a good idea without its “knights” is just leading to failure.

The Broad-Shouldered Manager

The ambition of the good manager is to allow his/her team to succeed and not only to succeed on his/her own.
To make this happen, managers have to educate their teams, to communicate and explain to them the company strategy, objectives and results.

Seagull Management

Just remember seagulls on the seaside: they suddenly appear, make a lot of noise, move a lot of air, and that’s it.
This illustrates a bad management behavior. It doesn’t solve anything and leaves the people frozen.

The Good Fairy

The Good Fairy appears and solves the problem by waving her magic wand.
This is a bad management behavior as it doesn’t help people to gain knowledge. Solving a problem helps the manager to gain time once, but it doesn’t help his team to gain efficiency in the long run.

Beauty and the Beast

We all know the fairy tale of “Beauty and the Beast”. On the surface both of them were very different to look at, but underneath the appearance they were equal in their virtue.
When preparing a report, give consideration to the presentation, so the information is clear and easy to understand.
Do not let a beastly appearance hide the true meaning of the message.

Pulling Upward

When a position becomes open, the priority is to fill it with people from within, which in turns creates a new open position, filled with people from within, and so on.
The priority is usually given to internal applicants rather than external ones; as a result, hiring is mainly at entry level in the organization.
Internal mobility is a way to create a corporate culture, to disseminate ideas across the company, to open the minds to different points of views, to build personalities and to better attract and retain good people.
Internal mobility can, in some cases, lead to geographical mobility.

Sitting in the Desert with a Pot of Gold

Imagine you have earned a very large pot of gold but you are stuck alone in a hot desert with no water. Unable to escape how happy are you?
Wages and benefits are only part of a satisfying job package. Other rewards include career progress, development opportunities or social contact with colleagues.
A complete package is comprised of money + recognition + prospects.

The Saddle without the Girth

Putting someone in the saddle, giving him a leg up, means also to tighten the girth, or the person will come off the horse.
Giving a responsibility to someone implies to provide him with the means to success : appropriate resources, training, people.
Do not judge a person without evaluating the means that have been allocated to him.

The Valley of Despair

Changing means aiming at moving from a given level of efficiency towards a higher one. But on the way, a difficult phase always has to be passed through : the Valley of Despair, where the situation deteriorates.
The Valley of Despair is the transition period during which the emotional aspects of change, the feeling of the end of a familiar period, and the associated uncertainties have to be managed.
You cannot avoid it, you should not neglect it: you must live with it! Keep the objective, reassure the people, communicate.

Tacking into the Wind

When sailing and tacking into the wind, the course taken is always much longer than the shortest.
During the course of a project, you have to take into account the conditions changes. The target remains the same, but the path differs.
Differentiate the objective and the means; explain it to the people you work with.

Display the Score

It is obviously possible to still comply with speed limits without a speedometer, but it is not the easiest way.
Measuring indicators and making them available is one of the most efficient ways to influence behaviours.

Gap to Success

In the final stages of a car race the information given to the driver will tell him how many laps there are to go to reach the finish line.
When striving to reach the end goal the most critical information you must provide will focus on what is still to be done, instead of what has already been achieved.
When presenting your figures be sure to make clear the current gap which needs to be bridged to successfully achieve the objectives.

Keep Swimming

In order to progress a swimmer must not stop for fear of drowning.
All IT systems must be reviewed and updated on a regular basis to keep up with the wave of innovation.
Maintenance is essential to keep a system afloat.

Weak Signs

Smoke getting out of a volcano is predicting an eruption.
Minor situations that seem to have no importance can be a sign for high risks. The responsibility of everyone is to recognize and identify these signs in order to help preventing dangerous situations.
Serious accidents are in most situations preceded by weak signs.

The Dilemma of the Umbrella

Opening your umbrella is an efficient way to protect yourself when it’s raining…only if you have taken it along!
Safety equipment is usually seen as a constraint but is a good way to protect oneself. A constraint but for wellbeing.
Protection is a matter of prevention.