Part 29 (2/2)

The martial arts teach that we should be like water This means that you react exactly proportional to the stimulus, not more not less, and then return to a steady, calm state When you drop a pebble into a pool of still water, ripples fan out from the center and dissipate until the surface returns to the cale Hopefully this calm, steady state is one of happiness; if not, you may need to find a new job I've found that you can only react appropriately if you are either a Zen master or if you can anticipate the size of the pebble hitting your pool

So, I try to give you what I've found to be the most likely response, not to depress or scare you, but to make it easier for you to be like water and react appropriately ifYour Uniqueness Is Healthy

It doesn't require a lot of research to realize that the most successful companies and people are those who have eether a presentation on visionaries, and each has two things in co, positive vision (I avoided those alomaniacs with visions to take over the world)

Second, they all eths From creators and inventors like Albert Einstein, Dr Marie Curie, Henry Ford, Leonardo da Vinci, Granville Woods, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs, we learn that uniqueness in inventiveness isn't enough You need to embrace those unique ideas and trust in theood example would be Herbert Kelleher, who took Southwest Airlines to new heights by eer airline that continues to withstand downturns in the industry The company does it with a unique style and sense of humor Southwest Airlines definitely side-stepped the ”norm” the other airlines ed in, and eanization ht out by Herb Kelleher

The ability to maintain faith in your convictions, principles, and values requires that you believe in yourself or your organization Almost all innovators have to weather the storm of ridicule fro can't be done than to watch it happen

Colonel Billy Mitchell (father of the US Air Force), Father Edward Sorin (founder of the University of Notre Daement), Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia), and Bruce Lee (founder of Jeet Kune Do) all had to withstand the slings and arrows of naysayers In est opponents were their friends, family, and countrymen What makes their ideas live on successfully today is a result of their dedication to their ideas But that dedication wasn't easy Their ideas were seen as non-status quo Against the establishe in the way things had always been done Your organization s should be You have to eanization

OK, so your organization e the world Youlives Perhaps you're just trying to provide needed services Perhaps you're just trying toer purpose? A vision?

Why not?

If you do or not, if you organization does or not, you still should embrace your uniqueness You should not confor just because ”that's what's always been done” or ”because that's what everyone else is doing”

Here's a more concrete example (in case the previous was too abstract) Let's say your company is concerned about where it stands in relation to its competitors Let's say it looks at the metrics published by its top coe so that it anizations are relatively successful, but in soanization 1 has a ratio of one IT support person for every ten people supported Organization 2 has a drastically different ratio-one IT support person for every fifty people Organization 1 is entirely US-based while Organization 2 outsources support to a country overseas

So, after research and e its support anization 1 It believes it will have the success that Organization 1 has Organization 2 wants the positive press that having a US-based support unit brings and the leadershi+p believes the smaller support-to-customer ratio will build better relationshi+ps with custoanization 2 spends a lot of resources to change its support model and move its operations back to the United States It also hires anization 1 The changes take 18 ains froe and is happy with it

At about the saanization 1 announces that it has moved its IT support function overseas The leadershi+p of Organization 1 had looked carefully at its closest coanization 2) and decided it wanted the econosupport services overseas, Organization 1 expected to see cost savings that it could return to its custoher levels of customer satisfaction It also hoped more customers would try its services since they would be able to offer a ed its e

Far-fetched? Not really Sports teaher education do it But the ones that can weather the storms are the ones who embrace their uniqueness and believe in themselves

Rather than look for benchood, you have to be able to deteranization's values, principles, and purpose If you independently deterood is, then you can find others who meet your criteria This will allow you to learn from others; not copy or use their root questions and their e their experiences

To be truly successful, you have to define success for yourself You have to embrace your uniqueness

Recap

It's OK to be unique While it would be nice if we could find our exact anizational twin, it is unlikely to happen And if it does, chances are our e will not have all of our metrics questions answered

We have to embrace our uniqueness and create metrics that fit our specific and special needs We can and should leverage any existing metrics we can find-but we have to do it with the purpose of using theuide rather than a set of ready-ths and weaknesses, ill createin our environ organisanization ianization's uniqueness It is your organization's uniqueness that will give it the opportunity to excel

A P P E N D I X

Tools and Resources

Tools can be (and often are) confused with resources I'll use a simple delineation between the two Tools are iten, create, analyze, and publish metrics An example is Microsoft Excel

On the other hand, resources are reference in nature and provide infor, creating, analyzing, and publishi+ng metrics Rather than an analysis tool (like Minitab), resources include textbooks on how to use software or perfors, books, and discussion groups (such as those found on networking sites like LinkedIn) There are also organizations (new and established) that you can join and participate in to learn more about metrics

In this appendix, I'll share sohly recoues and friends Please don't buy any of these tools on the basis of their inclusion here; instead, if soood to you, research it further Just as with metrics themselves-you'll need to marry the possibilities to your specific requirements Based on your root questions, your environrams you develop-different tools and resources may be called for

Tools

Some tools play multiple roles, but most specialize in a primary function and have other functions as a supple tools work this way They are designed (and do a good job at) capturing and tracking trouble tickets, andtools They don't providea coood at what they are supposed to do The key is not to try to ned to do

The really good news is that a ram doesn't require a ton of statistical analysis or co Always keep in hts that can support decisions, direct investigations, and expose areas of concern