Blog Page

Ever noticed how some leaders swing between being too harsh and too soft?

I repeatedly see this pattern when working with organizations implementing the Service Profit Chain. Leaders eager to boost employee satisfaction suddenly become reluctant to lead. They stop setting standards, being directive, and managing.

Their hearts are in the right place—they don’t want to damage the employee satisfaction they’ve worked so hard to build.

But here’s the twist: This approach backfires spectacularly.

Without clear direction, teams drift, service quality drops, and customer satisfaction plummets. Then comes the devastating conclusion: “See? Creating a great workplace doesn’t work.”

The real issue is that these leaders are missing a fundamental truth: Power and Love aren’t opposites—they’re complementary forces.

Think about it: Just feeling good but achieving nothing? That’s not satisfaction. That’s stagnation.

The magic happens when you blend both:

• First, build the foundation of trust and belonging (Love)
• Then, raise the bar with clear standards and expectations (Power)

When done in this order, something remarkable occurs. Instead of resistance, you get engagement. Instead of compliance, you get commitment.

Why? People don’t just want to feel good; they want to achieve something meaningful. They want to grow, contribute, and excel.

Martin Luther King Jr. captured this perfectly: “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anaemic.”

So next time you’re tempted to choose between being supportive or demanding, remember that it’s not either/or. It’s both/and.

Your team deserves nothing less.

#Leadership #EmployeeEngagement #ServiceProfitChain #ManagementTips #OrganizationalDevelopment

Picture a perfectly ripe peach on your desk. 

It’s beautiful, fragrant. After a few days, tiny spots start to appear. A few days later, when you finally think about enjoying that peach, it’s mushy, spotted, and crawling with fruit flies.

Leadership failure rarely announces itself with dramatic mistakes. More often, it creeps in through quiet inaction – those small moments when we choose to “wait and see” instead of engage.

– We see the team member struggling with a project but tell ourselves they’ll figure it out. 
– We notice communication gaps widening but convince ourselves they’ll naturally resolve. 
– We observe declining engagement but hope it’s just a phase.

Potential rots silently. 

By the time the symptoms become impossible to ignore, the damage requires far more intervention than a simple, early conversation would have.

Great leadership isn’t just about avoiding wrong decisions – it’s about making the right ones at the right time. It’s about having those uncomfortable conversations when they’re merely uncomfortable, not yet critical. It’s about addressing small performance gaps before they become chasms.

Ask yourself: 
What conversations am I avoiding today that I’ll wish I had yesterday? 
What small issues am I hoping will resolve themselves?

#Leadership #Management #PersonalDevelopment #ProfessionalGrowth

The Service Profit Chain (SPC) is a management philosophy that links profitability and growth directly to customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. [1] It differs from traditional management theory, which often focuses on inward, product-centric models, by emphasizing an outside-in, customer-centric approach. [2, 3]

Here are the key elements of the SPC and how they differ from traditional management theory:

• Customer Loyalty: The SPC identifies customer loyalty as the most critical driver of profits and growth, particularly through the “ambassador effect” where loyal customers recommend a business to others. [1, 4, 5] This contrasts with the traditional emphasis on market share as the primary profit driver. [4]
• Customer Satisfaction: The SPC stresses that mere customer satisfaction is not enough for loyalty. Instead, it highlights the importance of exceeding customer expectations and creating “enthusiasm” to foster genuine loyalty. [6, 7]
• Value Creation: The SPC emphasizes the need to understand and deliver value from the customer’s perspective. [8] It challenges the traditional “core service with peripheral offerings” model, which often leads to increased costs and a disconnect between what businesses offer and what customers truly value. [3, 9, 10]
• Employee Capability: The SPC emphasizes the need for continuous employee training and development to ensure they possess the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver exceptional customer experiences and adapt to changing customer needs. [11, 12]
• Employee Loyalty: The SPC recognizes that enthusiastic employees are essential for creating enthusiastic customers. [13] It stresses the importance of fostering employee loyalty through trust, pride in their work, and a shared sense of purpose. [14] This focus on employee well-being and motivation contrasts with traditional management approaches that may prioritize efficiency and cost-cutting over employee morale.

The SPC model encourages businesses to invest in their employees and empower them to make decisions that benefit both the customer and the company. [15, 16] This approach fosters a culture of service excellence, where employees are motivated to go above and beyond to ensure customer satisfaction. [17, 18]

As explained in my book Best!

Running a hospitality business today can feel like pedalling a water bike against a strong headwind—lots of effort, not much progress. This struggle persists despite customers seemingly desperate for anything that makes their lives easier or more fun, preferably both. So, what’s causing this resistance?

The Three Mega Trends Creating Headwinds

1. Abundance

We live in a world of abundance, with an oversupply in virtually every market segment. Since the scarcity years following World War II, we’ve experienced a steady increase in offerings that far outstrips demand. While more customers seek great service, the increase in demand hasn’t kept pace with the explosion in supply.

What it means: We’re all part of a hyper-competitive environment. As businesses shout louder to attract attention, the noise drowns out everyone. The internet has made communication easier than ever, but being heard has never been more challenging.

The loyalty factor: In this environment, customer loyalty is pure gold. Loyal customers recommend us to their friends, possibly the only sustainable source of new business we have.

2. Service-Dominant Logic

The much-talked-about “coming of the service economy” is no longer approaching—it’s here. What makes this challenging for traditional service providers is the entry of new players who invent novel services and raise the bar, creating more refined offerings than the old economy ever dreamed of.

What it means: The kind of service you provided in the past probably won’t cut it in the future. Being in a hyper-competitive market only amplifies this challenge.

3. Lack of Engagement

The situation is further aggravated by widespread disengagement in the workforce. Year after year, Gallup surveys show that the vast majority of employees are not particularly engaged in their jobs.

What it means: While low engagement might be tolerable in some industries, it’s critical in service businesses. There’s a world of difference between being served by someone who merely has a job and someone who is truly engaged. This difference often translates directly to customer loyalty.

Facing the Headwind

Despite these challenges, some service businesses seem to have found the secret sauce—not only are they untroubled by the headwind, they’re thriving. How do they do it?

The answer lies in successfully implementing the principles of the Service Profit Chain—a framework that establishes clear connections between customers, loyalty, value creation, and employee engagement. While it’s not always easy to get started, once you do, you’ll experience a flywheel effect, slowly but surely building momentum until you become unstoppable.

Does this sound too good to be true? It’s not. There are numerous examples of extremely successful service businesses that have done exactly this.

By understanding and addressing these three major challenges—abundance, the shift to service-dominant logic, and the engagement crisis—you can transform your business and make the much sought after transformation from good to great.

When is the best time to start addressing these challenges and implementing the Service Profit Chain in your business?

It’s like the wisdom about retirement savings: the best time would have been 5 years ago, but the next best time is today. Every day that passes is a missed opportunity to start building that flywheel effect.

Learn more here

I’m offering something rare these days: live human interaction.

No chatbots. No algorithms.  No prerecorded webinars running in infinite loops.

And NO SALES pitch. You have my word.

Just you, me, and a few other leaders working together to level up our skills.

Welcome to my Growth Workshops.

What makes these different?

• It’s really me. Not an AI pretending to be me.
• My perspective on an important topic
• Live interaction. Ask questions, get real-time answers.
• Small groups. Only 10 spots per session.
• Tailored advice. Because your challenges are unique.

Twice a month, for 50 focused minutes, We’ll tackle a real leadership issue, share experiences, and develop practical strategies you can use right away.

And it’s completely free.

Why am I doing this?

I like going against the stream, always have – they go AI I go live ;-)

No, seriously, I want to give you the opportunity to sample what it is like to work with me. I believe in the power of human connection. In learning from each other. In the magic that happens when minds meet in real-time. The power of thoughtful conversations.

And who knows, maybe that will also make a tiny contribution to a better world. I would like that

Check out the workshop details and grab your spot before we fill the last seats

Hope to see you there

Mike

PS Please share if you know someone who might enjoy participating

#growth #leadership #development

In an ever-changing world, complexity awareness has become a pivotal concept for effective leadership and problem-solving. Whether you’re grappling with societal issues, navigating business challenges, or simply trying to make sense of everyday life, understanding the difference between what is merely complicated and what is genuinely complex is crucial. This is the essence of a presentation I recently delivered, where I unpacked the nuances of complexity awareness and provided actionable insights for embracing uncertainty.

Why Complexity Awareness Matters

Too often, we find ourselves leaning towards simple solutions in the face of intricate problems. This impulse to oversimplify can lead to misguided strategies and ineffective outcomes. In my presentation, I emphasize the distinction between complex and complicated scenarios, using real-world examples such as societal interdependency, criminality, and political issues like Brexit. Recognizing the unique characteristics of these situations allows us to approach them more thoughtfully and strategically.

Breaking Down the Framework
The framework I discuss, developed by Dave Snowden, categorizes scenarios into four types: clear/simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic. Each category requires a different approach:

Simple: Best practices are well-defined.
Complicated: Requires expert analysis and good practices.
Complex: Involves emergent practices and calls for adaptability and experimentation.
Chaotic: Demands novel practices and immediate action to restore order.

Understanding where a situation falls within this framework helps in choosing the right tools and approaches.

The Human Element in Complexity
Our tendency to seek control, crave consensus, and desire predictable outcomes often hinders our capacity to manage complex situations effectively. During the presentation, I delve into the concept of sense-making—gathering information, testing assumptions, and taking action—to navigate complex scenarios. It’s about being comfortable with uncertainty, holding space for diverse perspectives, and remaining present and transparent as a leader or consultant.

Invitation for Further Exploration
If you found these insights intriguing and wish to delve deeper into complexity awareness, I invite you to get in touch.
Feel free to connect with me via email or LinkedIn.
Understanding complexity is not just an academic exercise; it’s a vital skill for navigating today’s unpredictable world. By embracing this framework and fostering a mindset open to uncertainty, we can become more effective leaders, consultants, and problem-solvers.

At its core, learning and development aim to expand our capacity to achieve the results we desire. It’s about bridging the gap between what we want to achieve and our current abilities.

For learning to take place, three crucial elements must align:

? Awareness of the Gap: We must recognise the disparity between our goals and our current skills or knowledge.

? Declaration of Incompetence: some version of I don’t know how to do this

? Commitment to Development: The willingness to invest time and effort into closing that gap through learning and growth.

This process works quite well when it comes to hard skills, like mastering Six Sigma or creating intricate Pivot tables in Excel.

But in the context of personal development, it becomes more challenging because we don’t really know or understand what we can become before we become it.

Most of us have no trouble looking back at ourselves and thinking oh boy, was I naive or immature at that point in my life – but it’s only when we have developed beyond that point that we can fully appreciate that we have moved on.

And if we do not understand what we could become, there is no gap, and with no gap, there is no declaration of incompetence.

In fact, we don’t even consider a gap because, most often, when things don’t go as planned, we typically attribute the issues to the incompetence of others, their unwillingness to collaborate, or external factors beyond our control.

Rare is the manager who reflects, “ What a mess this turned out to be. I obviously need some personal development.” Most have a serious blind spot as to what they could actually become.

So, don’t wait for your managers to ask for more personal development – instead, think about how you could best help them identify their blind spots.


Coaching might be a good place to start.

If you’re intrigued by the concept of complexity in leadership, I invite you to explore further with my series of micro-lessons. Dive deeper into this topic and discover how to effectively navigate the complexities of leadership.

First Name

Last Name

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human:

---

---

It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but I only recently grasped the crucial difference between ‘complicated’ and ‘complex’. For a long time, I naively used these terms interchangeably, believing that extreme complication somehow evolved into complexity. This misunderstanding is more common than you might think, and it’s essential for us, especially in leadership roles, to recognize that these are two fundamentally different scenarios requiring distinct approaches.

Why Should We Talk About Complexity Awareness?

We are inhabiting an ever-more complex world. Everything is becoming increasingly interdependent, reacting and interacting in unpredictable ways. The world has shifted from the relative simplicity of a few decades ago to a far more complex state today. This evolution presents a unique challenge: if we fail to understand what true complexity is, we run the risk of applying oversimplified solutions to intricate problems—a trap that politicians often fall into with their penchant for straightforward fixes to multifaceted issues.

The Pitfalls of Oversimplification

It’s not just politicians who fall prey to oversimplification. As managers, we’ve all been guilty of this at some point. Whether it’s dropping prices in response to falling sales, creating new rules to manage staff behavior, or introducing a new bonus system to redirect efforts, we’ve often reached for the simplest tool in our kit. But here’s the rub: treating everything as a nail when you only have a hammer doesn’t work well in a world brimming with unique screws.

Expanding Our Toolbox

Our response to this? Broaden our toolbox. With a wider range of tools and approaches, we can make more nuanced and effective interventions. This also links to the concept of awareness. What we are aware of, we can manage. But what we’re oblivious to often surprises us at the most inconvenient times.

Sorting the World into Buckets

Imagine sorting the world into four buckets: Predictable and Unpredictable, then further into Clear (Simple), Complicated, Complex, and Chaotic. Predictable scenarios are where cause and effect are apparent, like making coffee—follow the recipe, and you get a good result every time. Then there are complicated scenarios—like software issues or medical problems—where cause and effect are known but require expertise to navigate.

The unpredictable world, however, is a different ball game. Here we have complex scenarios, like the Cuban Missile Crisis, where cause and effect only become clear in hindsight. These situations don’t equip us to handle future complexities as each one is unique. Then there’s chaos, like the January 6th assault on Congress, where there’s no discernible cause and effect at play.

Mechanical vs. Organic Systems

A key distinction to understand here is between mechanical and organic systems. Mechanical systems are non-adaptive and predictable, while organic systems are complex, adaptive, and unpredictable. Human behavior, being organic, adds an inherent level of unpredictability to any situation involving people.

Navigating Different Situations

In dealing with these various situations, the first step is to identify which bucket you’re dealing with. Is the situation predictable or unpredictable? Can you deduce cause and effect? In predictable scenarios, responses are straightforward. But in complex situations, where outcomes are uncertain, a different approach is required. Here, we need to be comfortable with not knowing and adopt a probing attitude, learning as we go.

Embracing Complexity in Leadership

Handling complexity requires a shift in mindset. Acknowledge uncertainty and be comfortable in it. Be present, as stress and complexity don’t mix well. Transparency is key—admit when you don’t have all the answers. Be empathetic to how differently people handle uncertainty. Remember, in complex scenarios, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, we need to be adaptive, experiment safely, and learn from each step.

Conclusion

Understanding the nuances between complicated and complex scenarios is crucial for effective leadership in today’s interconnected world. As leaders, our challenge is to recognize these differences and adapt our strategies accordingly. By doing so, we can navigate through complexities more effectively and make better decisions for our teams and organizations.

---

I invite you to explore further with my series of micro-lessons. Dive deeper into this topic and discover how to effectively navigate the complexities of leadership.

First Name

Last Name

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human: