Starting again - it's a marathon, not a sprint

I have written in a previous blog about my knee operation in January. I am pleased to say that I am making a good recovery, so much so that I am now able to start exercising again (I damaged the knee in the first place through a combination of over enthusiastic activity in the gym, followed by a long run).

In the last couple of weeks I have managed only a handful of runs – short, slow and more of a well intentioned shuffle – but runs nevertheless. The original knee damage had taken some time to diagnose properly, and then there was a wait for theatre time through the Christmas holiday, so I have not run for nearly 6 months. Boy, was it hard going starting all over again, but I already feel better for making the effort. I found that after the first couple of sessions I had to revisit the basics in order to make progress. This may sound odd, because running is what comes naturally isn't it ? Well, not quite – you see I had to remember to stretch a bit (but not too much) beforehand, and then again at the end; start slow and then build up ; and run to the heart rate monitor, not to a pace per mile. The average speed was a good minute or so per mile slower than I had been used too 6 months ago, but each run felt progressively better as I re-learned the things that had proven beneficial before the injury (and might, in hindsight, have prevented the injury if I had done them every session).

This voyage of re-discovery got me thinking about outsourcing practices. How often do we ignore the basics and blindly charge ahead…and not take corrective until there is a significant loss of business value ? How often do we suffer during a contract and have to re-learn the basics at times of crisis ? Could we avoid loss of business value by having a relationship health check ? …by going back to the training manuals or even going to an external advisor ?

My message this time is short and simple:

For Customers: Could we avoid the service received being percieved poorly (or even better, loss of face in a management review) by having a relationship health check with our Service Provider? Could we have a better conversation (more fact based; more collaborative) with our SP when we are not under pressure to deliver some remedial action plan than when we are subject to close scrutiny by our peers ?

For Service Providers: Can we improve/maintain our margins through getting some customer responsibility actions agreed in order to help us deliver better service ? Would we get a better hearing if we addressed some of the softer measures of performance (satisfaction survey results ; business outcome issues) rather than just those that carry service credit penalties ?

Conclusion: Both parties should conduct some kind of “post investment review” rather than wait until the deal performance is escalated out of the hands of the front line account executives to the senior executives of both companies.

...and for me, it won't be the Stratford Half Marathon this year....but maybe a couple of local 10K's ?

Business Value - Again

I have blogged on this subject a nmber of times already, and I will no doubt return to it many times in the future. The thing is, it is the whole point of what we do.

The trigger this time is a short but memorable book that I picked up in Marylebone station on the way home last week. Entitled "How to be Brilliant" by Michael Heppell and published by Prentice Hall, it is one of the modern self improvement classics. Although it deals with people and how they can improve their personal performance, it is relevant to business operations. The core message of this book is that knowledge is good, but nothing changes until and unless it is put into action. This sounds remarkably like my definition of Business Value which I defined in a post last June as:

BV = Capability x Usage

Heppel recommends setting goals, identifying the key inhibitors, and then doing something about that one big issue, all inside 90 days. In the world of outsourcing, this sounds just like SLA's, root cause analysis in the event of failure, and then setting up a corrective action plan.

Heppel's other key recommendation is also relevant - when you decide to do something - take Massive Action in order to get things going. I like this concept - don't do something half heartedly, if you are going to do it, do it properly and get noticed for it.

My message this time can be summarised as follows:

For Customers: You have the Capability - are you getting the Business Value ? If not, what Massive Action can you take to deliver the usage ?

For Service providers: If your customer is not satisfied, what Massvie Actions can you take to shift that perception by the end of the next 90 days ?

Conclusion: The Nike ad's got it right - Just Do It !