Category: Blog | Page 13 | Mariposa Leadership

March 28, 2014 / Book Reviews

Book Review | Interviewing Users

Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights
By: Steve Portigal

Head: (3 out of 5)
Heart: (4 out of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (4 out of 5)

In the innovation race, companies that gather insights from their customers and end users to inform the design of products and services are sure to beat the competition. But gathering quality information that yields insights is not as simple as chatting with a customer over a cup of coffee. Conducting a user research study is a skill, and the author, Steve Portigal, explains how to successfully plan and execute one so that the data yields insights which are compelling and actionable.

In this easy-to-digest book, readers will learn best practices for studying people, including:

Why interviewing over other methods yields rich insights
A framework for interviewing
How to identify a problem, find participants and prepare questions
Methods to enhance your interviews
How to manage the stages of an interview
The art of asking questions
How to document data
Interview variations and techniques to manage them
Bringing the data back to your organization

Leaders who want to do a better job of making products or designing services for their customers will want to read this book. Buy it now.

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March 28th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: consumer research, customer experience, customer research, innovation, Mariposa Leadership, product design, service design, steve portigal|

March 27, 2014 / Coaching Skills / HR / Talent Management / Leadership

Ask Mariposa | Overworked and Undervalued

Erica asks: I am currently performing job duties that are a step up from my job classification and working roughly 50 hours overtime! Internal hiring for this advanced position has been delayed for 6 months. Since I am already doing the work for this position and getting paid at a lower classification, I feel as if I am being taken advantage of. I want to approach management about this, but not sure how. What do you suggest I do?

Tawny Lees, COO of Mariposa, responds:

Hi Erica,

Thanks for your question – it’s a good one! And not uncommon. I strongly suggest you talk to your manager about the situation and work together to identify a solution. Here are some specifics for preparing for and handling the conversation:

Get really clear about your intended outcomes before having any conversations with management. Do you want to be considered for the higher position? Are you okay with the temporary workload if you are paid appropriately? Do you not want to perform these extra job duties at all?
Once you are clear on your intended outcomes, brainstorm (by yourself) some ideas about how you and your manager can meet your needs and the business needs. Promote you and then back-fill your position? Hire a contractor for 6 months? Share the workload with a few other people? Cut back on some specific deliverables for 6 months?
Reach out to your manager and ask for a meeting to work together on a plan for handling business needs while the team is lacking a person in the position.
Stay positive, constructive and solution-oriented while being firm about what you are and are not willing to do.

I’m sure you are tired from all the work, so my final suggestion would be to get some rest and downtime before you do this thinking and before you have this conversation. You will be much better able to think clearly and manage your emotions.

Good luck!

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March 27th, 2014|Categories: Coaching Skills, HR / Talent Management, Leadership|Tags: ask mariposa, overworked, underpaid|

March 21, 2014 / Stress / Work-Life Integration

Habits of the Mind

We all know there are simple things we can do to have a more healthy body, like eat well, rest and exercise. But it only dawned on me recently that there is an equivalent sort of hygiene for the mind. Here are three powerful “habits of the mind” that I believe contribute powerfully to long-term mental and emotional strength. They take effort, but the payoff is huge:

Optimism
Positive self-talk and self-regard
Forgiveness

Click here to read more!

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March 21st, 2014|Categories: Stress / Work-Life Integration|Tags: communication, Eric Nitzberg, leadership, Mariposa Leadership, productivity|

February 28, 2014 / Book Reviews

Book Review | Customers Included: How to Transform Products, Companies, and the World – With a Single Step

Customers Included: How to Transform Products, Companies, and the World – With a Single Step
By Mark Hurst and Phil Terry

Head: (4 out of 5)
Heart: (3 out of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (5 out of 5)

The book’s title, Customers Included, states the obvious: a customer-inclusive approach to innovation is essential to improving the odds of success. While many companies aspire to become customer-centric, others fail to include customers altogether, due to beliefs about the role of customers in innovation, a lack of time, or know how, among others.

Though the process of including customers is challenging, authors Mark Hurst and Phil Terry, pioneers in the field of customer experience, aim to change that with easy-to-read content organized around the three basic steps for including them:

Observe customers directly.
Discover customers’ key unmet needs.
Build consensus across the organization to meet those needs.

Peppered with real stories of product failures to illustrate key points associated with omitting customers from innovation (and product successes due to including them), the authors provide practical tips for a strategic, customer-inclusive approach to innovation.

Leaders who want to create a better product, service or experience for their customers – whether or not the customer is a shopper, a user, a student, a patient, a citizen, an employee – will want to read this book. Buy it now.

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February 28th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: customer experience, customers included, innovation, Mariposa Leadership, product development|

February 27, 2014 / Articles We Like

On: "Eight Essentials for Scaling Up Without Screwing Up"

From product development to HR, do you know of a leader that isn’t trying to identify and spread excellence within their organizations? We don’t (everyone is!), and that’s why this article by Robert I. Sutton resonates with us.

Meeting – and exceeding – customer needs is a top priority for most executives interested in building a customer-focused organization. Yet success requires scaling up the key beliefs, skills and actions that demonstrate excellence. This is no easy feat and if not managed well, can be a barrier to any corporate initiative, not just those that are customer-focused. The Harvard Business Review article, Eight Essentials for Scaling Up Without Screwing Up, is based on extensive research and outlines the key principles and actions for effective scaling.

Read it now.

What barriers do you encounter when trying to scale up?

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February 27th, 2014|Categories: Articles We Like|Tags: customer focus, HBR, product development, robert sutton, scaling|

February 18, 2014 / Coaching Skills / Leadership

The Introvert CEO

Michael asks: I was just named CEO of a small software startup company. I have a fairly introverted personality and realize this new role will require me to move more out of my comfort zone. Any tips?

Therese Tong, PCC, Executive Leadership Coach, responds:

Congrats!

Let’s start with a few assumptions around how your introversion might be showing up:

Telling yourself you cannot handle certain situations or leadership roles as well as an extrovert
Wanting to say something but not finding the words in the moment
Feeling that you need to be more at ease with all the networking and external conversations that come with being CEO

Reasons For and Motivation
Remember the reasons that motivated you to take this role. To make a bigger impact in the company’s success? In the industry? In people’s lives? Every time you catch yourself hesitating or worrying about stepping ‘out of my comfort zone’ – shift your thinking from ‘my comfort zone’ to these motivations and to the ‘others’ involved. See your desired outcome and take the step.

What you are doing here is observing your interpretation

[thinking, head] about an action, retraining your mind to focus differently and also getting in touch with the motivation [feeling, heart] that propels action [will, body].

Use the Gifts of Introverts
As an introvert, you have insight and have thought through issues with clarity and depth. Perhaps you are not as gregarious as the extrovert in selling your idea but you care about others and have great support with close friends and colleagues. From this foundation of insight and care, give voice to your thoughts and what you believe can happen. You can also use your gift of curiosity – when struggling for something to say in a social situation, just get curious and ask a question.

Return to Now
In a room full of too many people – imagine yourself talking to one person in the room, feel the connection you have with this one person; gently and slowly include two, three, four … other people in your dialogue. If you notice any discomfort or anxiety arising, take a deep breath, wiggle your toes. Return to the here and now – your body and the one person you want to share this idea with. Returning to the sense you have in your body, for example, your breath or wiggling your toes can be practiced anytime, especially when stepping out of your comfort zone.

Set Expectations and Allow Quiet Time
As CEO you will have a schedule full of conversations, big and small. For your sanity, you will need to protect adequate quiet time to decompress and reflect. Be clear with your administrative assistant, your direct reports and/or family at home that you must carve out alone time in order to thrive.

Give the above a try and let us know how it has helped you be more courageous to step into some different actions.

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February 18th, 2014|Categories: Coaching Skills, Leadership|Tags: business, coaching, effective leadership, executive coaching, executive presence, introvert, leadership, Mariposa Leadership|

February 8, 2014 / Stress / Work-Life Integration

Strength During Stress

Most executives have some periods of intense, unrelenting stress. This can happen for example during a time the team is rapidly growing in numbers; during a mission-critical project where the stakes are very high; or during a time of crisis such as a major HR or legal issue.

At such times it’s a good idea to get back to basics, and remember that your body and brain are the only real tools you have for success. These simple rules will help you to function at your best when times get tough:

Exercise, even if it’s just “walking meetings.”
Eat healthy, even if someone else has to get your food.
Buy a water bottle you really like.
Improve your sleep and break-taking hygiene.

For more on these 4 simple rules, read the full blog post here.

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February 8th, 2014|Categories: Stress / Work-Life Integration|Tags: effective leadership, Eric Nitzberg, executive leadership, exercise, Mariposa Leadership, productivity, sierra leadership, stress|

January 31, 2014 / Articles We Like

On "Customer Experience: How To Manage What You Don’t Own"

This article by Erik Long & Will Carter resonates because many businesses today rely on a complex web of external partnerships to deliver value for the customer. While external partnerships are often not within an organization’s direct control, certainly they can be influenced – and they must be – as they are part of the ecosystem delivering on the organization’s brand promise.

The CMO.com article Customer Experience: How to Manage What You Don’t Own shares insights and tips that leaders can apply across all aspects of business, from marketing to human resources, to improve the customer experience. Read it now.

What actions are you taking to identify and influence your company’s unowned touch points? What tools have you used like journey mapping? What other tools do you use to capture and understand your customers’ experience?

Comment below! Or pose a question via Ask Mariposa.

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January 31st, 2014|Categories: Articles We Like|Tags: ask mariposa, business leadership, CMO, customer experience, executive coaching, external partnerships, human resources, influence, Mariposa Leadership|

January 30, 2014 / Book Reviews

Book Review | The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas

The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas

By: David Burkus

Head: (4 out of 5)
Heart: (3 out of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (5 out of 5)

Creativity is often thought of as a mystery, a divine gift bestowed on just a few. In other words, creativity comes from an outside source. In reality, we all possess the talent inside to generate innovative ideas.

Drawing on research on creative individuals and innovative organizations to expose the four components influencing creativity, the author helps us see creativity-related processes can be learned. Given the right conditions, great ideas can emerge for anyone! And still, myths persist about creativity, which hold us back from creating and innovating.

In this book, David Burke uses an artful blend of data and story to debunk 10 creativity myths, including The Eureka Myth, The Breed Myth and The Expert Myth and explains how belief in them hinders our creative potential.

Leaders tasked with developing novel, useful ideas that will keep their organizations competitive, will want to read this book. Buy it now.

For more tips from David Burkus, join us for our free monthly teleconference, WiseTalk, on February 20, 11am PT/2pm ET. David will discuss the link between creativity and the customer experience. Sign up now!

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January 30th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|

How Design Thinking Changes the Way HR Implements Programs

Most HR professionals understand the pitfalls of implementing an HR program. To circumvent failure, HR professionals often conduct a needs assessment to inform direction, maybe conduct a pilot program, and then move to implement when given a “thumb’s up.”

A design thinking mentality shifts that. Whether designing a product, service or experience, the core principle behind the success of design thinking is “fail fast.” For HR professionals, this changes how “buttoned up” your program will be before piloting, or even before rolling it out. The point is to test the program and via observation and feedback, gather data on an ongoing basis to continue to improve. Why do this? Because “customer-driven” programs are the most successful.

To innovate the way you implement HR and Talent Management programs, join us in our new Using Design Thinking in HR & Talent Management workshop

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January 29th, 2014|Categories: Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation, HR / Talent Management|Tags: breakthrough model, breakthrough workshop, design thinking, executive coaching, HR Leadership, HR professionals, Mariposa Leadership, talent management|