Lee Sunter - Blog

Why people work the way they do

The book 'Drive by Daniel H. Pink', which deals with why people do the things they do and the use of rewards and punishments to control employees' production is an antiquated way of managing people. To maximise their enjoyment and productivity for 21st century work, we need to upgrade our thinking to include autonomy, mastery and purpose - which flows nicely into agile ways of working and into ProductDevOps teams

The 3 types of motivations

Motivation 1.0 - presumed that humans were biological creatures, struggling to obtain our basic needs for food, security and sex.
Motivation 2.0 - presumed that humans also responded to rewards and punishments. That worked fine for routine tasks but incompatible with how we organise what we do, how we think about what we do, and how we do what we do. We need an upgrade.
Motivation 3.0 - the upgrade we now need, presumes that humans also have a drive to learn, to create, and to better the world

Two types of individuals

	Type X	Type I
Main motivator	(extrinsically) - External rewards; any deeper satisfaction is welcome but secondary.	(Intrinsically) - The freedom, challenge, and purpose of the undertaking itself; any other gains are welcome, but mainly as a bonus.
Behaviour	is born, but behaviour patterns aren't fixed traits. Any Type X can become a Type I.	is made, not born.
Money	is the motivation for doing the work	As long as the compensation is perceived to be fair, money is secondary.
Performance		Almost always outperform Type X's in the long run. Intrinsically motivated people usually achieve more than their reward-seeking counterparts.
Well being		Behaviour promotes greater physical and mental well-being. They have higher self-esteem, better interpersonal relationships, and greater general well-being than those who are extrinsically motivated

So make the work interesting and give autonomy, so fundamentally trust the people and let them flourish, but that means moving people from type X to Type I

Type I features

Encouraging autonomy doesn't mean discouraging accountability. People must be accountable for their work. People need autonomy over:

Task - What they do,
Time - When they do it,
Team - Who they do it with and
Technique - How they do it.

People like becoming better at things - mastery. Mastery begins with 'flow' a concept developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - a state where the person doing the work looses track of time, is in a pleasurable 'trance' like state whilst undertaking a task. 3 Rules of Mastery:

Mastery is a mindset, it requires you to work at them and improve.
Mastery is a pain, it requires grit and deliberate practice.
Mastery is an asymptotic, "it is impossible to be fully realised, thereby being simultaneously frustrating and alluring."

Humans naturally seek purpose, to contribute and make a difference in something larger than themselves.

Key points that I took away

The way of thinking so far presumes that to take action or move forward, we need a prod that absent a reward or punishment, we'd remain happily and inertly in place.

It also presumes that once people do get moving, they need direction that without a firm and reliable guide, they'd wander.
But is that really our fundamental nature? When we enter the world, are we wired to be passive and inert? Or are we wired to be active and engaged? its the latter as our basic nature is to be curious and self-directed!

Depending on the types of tasks the traditional carrot or stick approach may not work

Challenging tasks - It is more about motivation 3 (the challenge) rather than motivation 2 (the reward)
Dull tasks - Menial tasks carrots work as the rewards do not undermine people's intrinsic motivation for dull tasks because there is little or no intrinsic motivation to be undermined.

Goals may cause systematic problems for organisations due to narrowed focus, unethical behaviour, increased risk taking, decreased cooperation, and decreased intrinsic motivation. Use care when applying goals in your organisation. If carrots-as-goals sometimes encourage unworthy behaviour, then sticks-as-punishment should be able to halt it, right? No as similar issues occur.
ROWE - Results Only Work Environment. No schedules or enforced work hours and no micro managers, as this work environment is totally measured on the employee's output - their results.

which is from the thoughts around whether talented, grown-up employees doing sophisticated work needed a leash of any length?
"More companies will migrate to this as more business owners my age come up. My dad's generation views human beings as human resources. They're the two-by-fours you need to build your house, he says. For me, it's a partnership between me and the employees. They're not resources. They're partners. And partners, like all of us, need to direct their own lives."

Innovation - "some sceptics insist that innovation is expensive. In the long run, innovation is cheap. Mediocrity is expensive and autonomy can be the antidote." TOM KELLEY General Manager, IDEO
People should
- have autonomy over the four T's: their task, their time, their technique, and their team.
- aim for mastery
- have a purpose

Sales Strategies

Miller Heiman's Strategic Selling

Might be the most well-known sales training company around since they've been training sales teams Strategic Selling for almost forty years. Strategic Selling is very well respected in the sales world and considered a standard by many Fortune 1000 companies. Strategic Selling presented the idea of selling as a joint venture and introduced the decade's most influential concept, Win-Win. When in complex selling environments with multiple decision makers, this approach guides sales representatives to look for "Red Flags" which indicate where a deal might be vulnerable. This approach lays a solid foundation for handling large accounts (via the "Blue Sheet"). The Blue Sheet, in essence, is a spreadsheet, which requires manual data entry and a commitment to update it consistently. This outstanding sales methodology focuses on the fundamentals of a customer buying process and provides solid groundwork for handling large accounts with multiple decision makers.

The core of the approach is:

To categorize the different contact/roles by their influence on the sales cycle.
Then determining their level of support for your proposition to flag the ones that would oppose it or go with it
Work that crowd to help them reach a consensus for a buy decision.

The good:

It forces sales guys to do their complete homework on accounts and not get stuck on THE ONE contact they feel most comfortable talking to ( a super classic trap, you see it happening every day even with the best sales guys). Or ignore the influencer's that are not decision makers (i.e. "who cares about Mr. X and Miss Y, this is what their boss want").
It is a constant reminder that you have to provide tailored value proposition to the different roles and individuals in the account. So no more generalist/off the mark pitch to everyone and his dog in the target account.

The bad:

Consultant and management often over-complicate Strategic Selling and turn it into a bunch of additional red tape meant to monitor sales-guys effort. But this is not a monitoring tool: it is aiming at improving sales efficiency, not providing a reassuring reporting for the various level of management.
key issue is it focuses too heavily on interactions with people and kind of put sales process execution as a lower priority. IMO the core of a sales is identifying the critical path to decision and which actions need to happen before getting an order. So Miller Heiman and its role identification/validation is important but not the main process.

The 4 key categories for contacts are the following and you need to tailor your pitch/proposition so it resonates with their corporate AND personal objectives:

Economic buyers/"Decision makers" - the guys who will signs the order. So you need to win their support and approve the deal

The CIO wants increased performance of xyz AND needs to personally show innovation to the board/CEO (economic buyer).

Technical buyer - guys who have to say that your proposition is delivering on promise and meet the company requirements (IT, purchasing, legal, etc…)

The head of purchasing only get measured on discount from the list price AND needs to personally get more integrated with IT guys so he can get involved earlier (tech buyer)
The project manager wants to be able to deliver his project without surprises AND needs to personally get more proficient on newish technology abc (tech buyer)

User buyer - the people who will be affected by your proposition

The people who are using the product wants to stop having frustrating issues with their current software AND leave at 5pm sharp every day. (user buyer)

Champion - the person who wants to make you win and give you insider info on the account. I find this category a bit "old school" and not very useful. If someone get the personal value you genuinely work to bring them, they will "Champion for you"

Example blue sheets

SPIN

Is an acronym for the four types of questions salespeople should ask their clients: Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-Payoff. These questions help identify buyer pain points and challenges and build rapport between buyer and seller.

Situation questions aim to understand a prospect's current situation (although reps should still do research before a call or meeting).
Problem questions get to the heart of the prospect's issue.
Implication questions probe the prospect to think about the consequences of not solving the problem.
Need-payoff questions prompt the prospect to consider how the situation would change if their problem was solved.

NEAT

Is designed to replace standbys like BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline) and ANUM (Authority, Need, Urgency, and Money).

The ‘N' in N.E.A.T. stands for core needs. Rather than focusing on surface-level pain, the creators urge salespeople to delve deep into their prospect's challenges. How will this product matter to them as an individual and the organization?
'E' represents economic impact. Don't simply present your solution's ROI -- help the buyer understand the economic impact they're currently on track to realize versus the impact they'll see if they make a change.
'A' is access to authority. You probably won't get to speak with the CFO, but can your champion speak to the CFO on your behalf? Just as importantly, will she?
'T', or Timeline, refers to the compelling event forcing your prospect to make a decision. If there aren't negative consequences to missing this date, it's not a true deadline.

Conceptual selling

Is founded on the idea that customers don't buy a product or a service -- they buy their concept of a solution that the offering represents. So do not to lead with a pitch, but instead seek to uncover the prospect's concept of their product and understand their decision process. Ask smart questions that fall into five categories:

Confirmation questions reaffirm information.
New information questions clarify the prospect's concept of the product or service and explore what they'd like to achieve.
Attitude questions seek to understand a prospect on a personal level, and discover their connection to the project.
Commitment questions inquire after a prospect's investment in the project.
Basic issue questions raise potential problems.

The sales methodology places a heavy emphasis on listening, and divides the sales process into three stages: Getting information, giving information, and getting commitment. All transactions should be win-win for both the prospect and the salesperson; if the salesperson feels this is not the case, they should walk away from the deal.

SNAP selling

Is a sales methodology that aims to bring salespeople to the prospect's level. SNAP is an acronym that encompasses four directives for sellers: Keep it Simple, be iNvaluable, always Align, and raise Priorities. With these principles in mind, salespeople can more effectively reach busy prospects with valuable knowledge, connect what they're selling with what's most important to the potential client, and make it easy for them to buy. And while most salespeople only think there's one decision involved in a deal -- whether the prospect buys or not -- author Jill Konrath actually identifies three critical decisions.

Allowing access,
Choice to move away from the status quo,
Changing resources.

With these mini decision milestones in mind, salespeople can more effectively keep deals on track.

Challenger Sale

The Challenger Sale asserts that practically every B2B salesperson fits into one of five personas:

Relationship builders
Hard workers
Lone wolves
Reactive problem solvers
Challengers.

According to Dixon and Adamson's research, salespeople are almost evenly distributed among these profiles. However, the most successful by far were the challengers -- this one group represented 40% of the top-performing reps in the authors' study. So what makes challengers so effective at selling? They follow a teach-tailor-take control process. First, they teach their prospects -- not about the product or service in question, but about larger business problems, new ideas, and astute insights. Next, they tailor their communications to their prospect. Finally, they take control of the sale by not being afraid to push back on their customer, and focusing more on the end goal rather than being liked. The Challenger sales methodology strives to impart the wisdom of the challenger to the other four types.

Sandler Selling System

Flips the script of the traditional sales process to a certain extent. While sales has historically revolved around the idea that potential buyers should be pursued and convinced by sellers, the Sandler methodology states that both parties should be equally invested. Although this doesn't completely reverse the two roles, it does level the scale.

Objections such as time or budget restraints often derail deals after a considerable amount of work has already been invested by both prospect and salesperson. But Sandler-trained reps strive to raise and assess the majority of obstacles in the qualification process. If the rep discovers that his offering won't truly address the potential client's concerns, he won't waste time convincing them that it actually does -- he'll simply abandon the process. Rather than the seller convincing the buyer to buy, with the Sandler Selling System, the buyer is almost convincing the seller to sell.

The three most important stages necessary for any sales process includes:

Build a relationship with the buyer and sustain it: According to Sandler's Sales approach, the seller should control the selling process by building a relationship with the buyer, and sustain it throughout the different purchase progression stages.
Qualify the Opportunity: Continually access the buyer's "Position" throughout the sales progression (such as their budget and their pain) to determine whether they are a good fit for "your solution."
Close the Sale: The primary objective is always to be closing with a focus on time and resources on areas that can help you make the sale.

Customer Centric Sales

This methodology seeks to transform salespeople from product pushers to collaborative consultants. Customer Centric behaviour focuses on eight points:

Converse situationally instead of making presentations
Ask relevant questions instead of offering opinions
Focus on the solution instead of the relationship
Target decision makers instead of users
Promote product usage to garner interest instead of the product alone
Strive to be the best seller rather than the busiest
Close on the buyer's timeline rather than the seller's
Empower buyers to buy instead of convincing them

MEDDIC

Is a qualification process for complex and enterprise sales. To find the answers, ask yourself and/or your prospect:

Metrics: What's the economic impact of the situation?
Economic buyer: Who controls the appropriate budget?
Decision criteria: What are the formal evaluation criteria the organization is using to pick a vendor?
Decision process: How will the organization pick a vendor; i.e. what are the specific stages?
Identify pain: What is the trigger event and financial consequences of the problem?
Champion: Who is selling on your behalf?

Every sales transaction should either enable a buyer to achieve a goal, solve a problem, or satisfy a need. If the product or service won't fulfil any of these three ends, the salesperson should walk away from the deal.

The Goal

An example is provided by The Goal (Goldratt 1986). The central character, Alex Rogo, is guided on the path to turning around his under-performing factory, by the enigmatic questions of an old physics teacher of his, called Jonah. Jonah deduces, by using effect-cause-effect thinking, that Alex doesn't really understand what is driving his business, in particular the damaging effect of local performance measures that Jonah sees in evidence. He asks Alex what the goal of his business is. Alex discovers that what he thought was obvious, is far from correct, so he sets out to define a clear and appropriate goal. Next he devises a set of performance measures that will serve the company at both global and local decision making levels by providing a clear indication of performance and also for helping decide which actions would be best. Alex devises and implements his solutions, in response to Jonah's enigmatic questions, with the help of the relevant members of his staff, and the plant is saved - for the time being!

The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win

It tells the story (parable) of life for IT people, told from the point of view of a mild-mannered mid-level manager - Bill, who is suddenly promoted up to Vice President of IT Operations. This is when the lessons start! Within his first day the payroll fails, while they are trying to fix this, they mess up the SAN (storage area network). This leads Bill and his team sit down to create a change management process to stop this from happening in the future. Further issues occur over the next few weeks (chapters) each highlighting the need to introduce, control repeatable processes, prioritisation and breaking down silos and move towards devOps. Luckily Bill has the advice of Erik his mentor to fall back on, as well as his common sense. Though this parable approach it makes the reader relate to our own issues we have all faced and to see how we can improve our ways of working.

Theory Of Constraints

Since its roots 20 years ago as a manufacturing scheduling method, the Theory of Constraints (TOC) methodology has now developed into a systems methodology that links elements of both soft and hard systems methods. It has evolved over the past 20 years from a production scheduling technique to a systems methodology which is primarily concerned with managing change.

The Five Focusing Steps in the Process of On-going Improvement

The Author of the TOC Dr Eliyahu M. Goldratt, an Israeli physicist, introduced a method called the five focusing steps for addressing system problems on a continuous improvement basis. The steps are:

Identify the constraint: Identify the operation that is limiting the productivity of the system. This may be a physical or policy constraint
Exploit the constraint: achieve the best possible output from the constraint. Remove limitations that constrain the flow, and reduce non-productive time, so that the constraint is used in the most effective way possible
Subordinate other activities to the constraint: link the output of other operations to suit the constraint. Smooth work flow and avoid build up of work-in process inventory. Avoid making the constraint wait for work
Elevate the constraint: In situations where the system constraint still does not have sufficient output invest in new equipment or increase staff numbers to increase output
If anything has changed, go back to step one: Assess to see if another operation or policy has become the system constraint. Goldratt (1990) states that this step is consistent with a process of ongoing improvement.

An AWSome day out

In Feb 2017 I attended one of the AWSome days, which is a single day presentation/demo of how to use AWS services, more details can be found here. The day started with an introduction on what AWS has to offer, with an explanation of the key concepts and services such as

Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2)
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)
AWS Database models (SQL vs. NoSQL)
Auto Scaling concepts
AWS Management Tools, including Amazon CloudWatch and AWS Trusted Advisor.

The session was great for people to wanting to get started with AWS. However the next step is to actually create an account on AWS and have a play with the technologies, but remember to set a payment alert to warn you if you are likely to incur a cost, (although there is a free tier, its still recommended just in case!) I would also recommend the a cloud guru material, but again most of this material can be found though AWS whitepapers.

Lee Sunter MBCS CITP - Blog