Author: whatifconcepts

Empowering those that inspire so they can excel at the work that matters.

Great Barriers

Have you had the opportunity to tour the Sistine Chapel or summit the Eiffel Tower?  How about viewing the Grand Canyon or the Statue of Liberty?  Have you seen the Great Wall of China or the Great Barrier Reef?  The common denominator for each of these landmarks is that it takes a journey for most of us to reach any one of these.  Once you get arrive in the general proximity of the landmark it takes an additional investment of time and money to see the actual site.  There are often crowds and additional obstacles to navigate.  The cumulative experience of the journey makes the adventure to a landmark more memorable.

How many New Yorkers have never taken the ferry to the Statue of Liberty?  They can do it anytime they wish since proximity makes for a low barrier.  If you are visiting Rome you are more invested in a visit to the Sistine Chapel and enduring the lines, entry fee and the endless galleries that take you to the actual chapel.

Sometimes convenience does not draw more customers and clients?  Most of us go out of our way to find the top rated specialist who does knee replacements.  Usually getting an appointment takes effort and patience since the leading specialists are often booked months in advance.

What do you produce that may accelerate its return on investment by increasing the barriers?  What would thrive if you promoted scarcity?  Opportunities that are not omnipresent cause potential customers to become less transactional.

New Audience

Simple changes to a know practice can result in rewarding results.  Walking the streets of Italy, I saw parked cars with leaflets placed under their rear window wiper.  The fact that most of the rear windows were more vertical than a front windshield made them visible to pedestrians.  The audience for the advertisement suddenly included those walking past.  The potential audience was significantly higher for advertisement placed in the rear window compared with those left on the front windshield.

Have you considered how a subtle shift in current strategy might increase your audience dramatically? How do you measure new opportunities?

Train Station

A European train station in action is a marvelous example of efficiency.  There is an endless swarm of activity.  Arrivals and departures being coordinated by timetables.  Large boards announce the pending schedules.  The arrival of the Eurostar from Napoli to Roma becomes the departing train for Milano.  Within 30 minutes the passengers have disembarked and the outbound passengers loaded and departed.


Does your cause have a networking hub for great ideas?  A terminal to sort new concepts and determine which track might be best for directing the concept on for further expansion and refinement.  Who manages the station?  How do you creates a culture of inquiry that encourages innovation and treats ideas with respect?

Mistake to
I

I find the results of this survey to be enlightening.  Jim Joyce is a baseball umpire who missed a call at first base that would have been the final out in a perfect game.  Armando Galarraga the pitcher is seen in the picture below making the play that resulted in the mistaken call. 



The poll at the top of the post shows that despite a mistake, it was the integrity with which Jim Joyce dealt with the blown call that did not cause a major backlash to his reputation.  Once Jim saw the replay of the call he went to the locker room and apologized directly to the pitcher who accepted his apology.  He addressed the error by making a very honest and emotional statement to the press.



Mistakes happen.  How you address missteps and take corrective action says a lot about an organization’s values.  How does your organization deal with errors?  Do you enhance a relationship or create a greater divide?

Primary Function

What is the primary function of a World Cup soccer telecast?  One station in the UK found out when it ran an advertisement during England v. USA game.

Apparently there was little sympathy for a poorly timed commercial.  For the TV station the primary function may be about generating revenue.  For the viewers the primary function of the TV station is to provide an uninterrupted live feed of the game.  One of these functions took priority over the other with significant consequences.



I cycle past a real estate sign listing vacant land as part of a regular riding route.  The realtor’s sign had been twisted by the wind and tagged with graffiti.  To my surprise I saw new signs when I passed the lot yesterday.  Across the street was a new listing from a competitor.  The new realtor’s sign was larger and composed of graphics and pictures.

 The sudden appearance of a competitor was a reminder that if you are not attend to your competitive advantage another organization can come along and corner the market.  The realtor with the original listing and the abandon sign was playing catch-up.  The ‘dip’ that the competitor had to cross (as Seth Godin would say) was so small that it took few resources to change the game.  Had the first real estate listing been more active and attended on a regular basis, perhaps it would have made it harder for the new listing to standout.

Tradition Says
“Our organization’s board meets from 3 to 5 pm the second Wednesday of the month- it is tradition.”

Some sacred cows are hard to change.  Customs passed down from one group to the next.  Athletes know that if they do the same workout every time they will get a similar results but not improve.  That is why they add interval training where they increase the exertion over a period of time and then allow for some recovery before repeating.  The next workout might be a distance workout which lasts five times longer than the interval workout but the intensity is much lower.  Variety allows for expanded capacity.


What if your organization’s next board or staff was half as long?  How would that alter the agenda?  What would you email to the participants in advance of the meeting?  Speaking of participants, how would they receive a meeting that ran half as long?


Try it for one or two meetings and see the results.  If this idea appears too radical, try it at the committee level first.  Seth Godin had a great post on this very concept for business.  His challenge was delivered with conviction.

The View from Above

How do you ensure that you have a real perspective on the social sector’s horizon?  How do you get enough altitude to survey the landscape?  Consider the following scenario.


Imagine you are watching the following sporting event on television.  What does the following image reveal?




Perhaps it provides some detail but your ability to understand the game is limited, so we expand the optics. 
 
But even this is confined so we go to the next perspective.
 
Perhaps now you have enough information to consider a variety of viewpoints and develop a plan.  Who in your organization will make sure you take time to consider the aerial view before diving in for the close-up?