What are the critical success practices that make Brand U successful? Chances are your productivity is based on how you manage customer, time, quality, communications, risk, technology, and performance commitments. The seven Brand U practices that ensure our sanity and survival in today’s turbulent workplace seem to be:
- Customer management. The customer is the beginning and end of all work. Without a customer, there’s no reason for the existence of a business, an organization, team, or any of us.
- Time management. Time quandaries! All Brand U’s have them. The lack of time is our biggest problem and headache. We always hear the same messages from our customers, bosses, team members, and other stakeholders: ‘Where is it, I wanted it yesterday!’ ‘Just do it!’ ‘Solve the problem!’ ‘Get it done!’ ‘I wanted something else!’
- Quality management. Quality means adding real and perceived value to our stakeholders. As performance responsibilities and quality authorities have been down loaded on self-managed teams, Brand U’s are responsible for their process and product quality. The more value we add, the more we’ll be in demand and the more money we’ll make. This is part of the new value exchange between Brand U employer and the Brand U employee.
- Communications management. The average American couple discusses critical family issues less than 12 minutes a night. As time and performance expectations squeeze us, we have less time to communicate with our significant other, our children, and our work partners.
- Risk management. I’ve had a number of small businesses. Some tanked, some floated, and some did well. What I learned as a Brand U is there’s no sure thing in small business. High risk – high reward. But, I’ve learned to have fun, diversify my risks, and bounce back. If I don’t, stress kills. This may be the biggest personal risk of all.
- Technology management. The shape, nature, and fabric of Brand U working lives are dictated by technology. It sometimes seems that computers want our jobs. While there’s little chance we’ll be assimilated (as the Star Trek Borg say) by a computer, there’s a very good chance we’ll be replaced by someone who knows how to use one if we’re not careful.
- Performance management. Brand U‘s are responsible for their work. We’re remunerated by how we perform or expressed another way, by how much value we add. Adding value may mean developing new skills, working on a team, being an entrepreneur and forever improving,