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Are Jigsaw Puzzles Obsolete? Think about it. Jigsaw puzzles are timeless toys and tools. We’ve all made them. Our parents and grandparents grew up with them and our children and grandchildren will too. Leaders and managers also regularly use jigsaw puzzles as a tool – a metaphor for planning, team building, marketing, etc. A universally understood and embraced symbol of fun, building, and problem solving. Can such an established icon of our leisure, youth and work ever become obsolete? The reality is that as a game, a toy - nothing’s changed. With the jigsaw puzzle as a business tool changes are coming! In yesterday’s world a business owner merely had to complete a puzzle that was the organization. The finished picture was the Vision and Mission. The spreading out of the pieces was the SWOT analysis – an understanding of the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities. The border determined the shape and size of the puzzle. It included the budget, the commitment of the leadership, the willingness and ability of the employees, the marketplace opportunity, etc. The pieces were the people and the functions they performed. The leader put these pieces together. Once the organizational puzzle was complete it merely needed to be superimposed over a market segment (a street, neighborhood, community, etc.). The marketplace was one of “mass”. Large groups of people with limited options were shopping in the place closest, most friendly and convenient. If we were reasonably efficient in our operations, effective in our personal relationships, and close to the customer, success was probable. Markets were powerless. The masses bought whatever was sold. We as consumers did very little comparison shopping since our options were so limited. Manufacturers and distributors controlled most information and as consumers without information and aggressive competitors we had limited ability to negotiate. Today the game has changed – there are no more mass markets. Power has shifted from the manufacturer / distributor to the customer. A consumer – a niche of one – can shop from an unlimited number of sources. The basic changes are simple – today we have a global not local economy, a sophisticated consumer with options versus yesterday’s “mushroom” consumers (in the dark being fed B.S. [blue sky] - whatever the market sent their way), technology that has unleashed information rather than yesterday’s world of filtering it, and the resulting most competitive marketplace ever. © Square One Consulting (September 2001) Assembling the perfect picture of your organization today does not guarantee success unless there is a clearly defined marketplace that needs what this organization does. For success today a marketplace must be defined before the organization that will serve it is assembled. Leaders who attempt to utilize yesterday’s planning in tomorrows’ world feel like they are being strapped onto a roller coaster with their organizational puzzle and a marketplace puzzle dumped in their lap and told to finish these pictures before the ride is over. It’s possible but very stressful and risky. To plan for tomorrow organizational leaders must refine the planning process – change the rules of the game. Before they build their system they must fully understand the world of their customers and prospective customers – they must address the external - “the market” first and define their operations / administration second. New “marketing” pieces have to be placed in our organization puzzle before we assemble it. These pieces are simple: 1. Who is our customer / prospect? This must include very specific understanding of the organizations or individuals. With businesses it’s more than SIC codes, gross revenues, and number of employees. It must include consideration of the culture of the organization, its Vision and Values, and the generational demographics of the people that make up the entity. Individuals are more than an age and economic matrix. They are to be considered based upon their personalities, Values, life stage, and life style. We need to know more than what they buy – we must know why, when and how they buy.
2. What is the customers’ want and need? Customers need people, products, and services to help them solve problems and capitalize on opportunities. These are their needs and the basis for their expectations.
3. What product or service do we offer to meet this want and need? Ultimately, we must from an inventory of commodities, products, and services assemble for them a positive buying experience – a solution to their problems and satisfaction of their needs. © Square One Consulting (September 2001) 4. At what price will this customer buy? Forget about totaling all of your costs and a profit margin. The only question to be answered is “What is the market willing to pay?”
5. How can you profitably deliver the product or service at the price established? This is the change in the marketplace. Today you have to innovate your processes to “come in” under the price and quality standard established by your customer. If you can’t, it’s over! Even if your picture fit together perfectly in the past you have to take it apart and remake it. If that is not challenging enough you must also add new pieces – those of the customer / the marketplace. IN TOMORROW’S WORLD YOU CAN’T MERELY SUPERIMPOSE YOUR PUZZLE ON A MARKET SEGMENT. You must build the marketplace into your picture – this is customer closeness / intimacy. If you add pieces to the puzzle, you must change the finished picture, reshape and refine some pieces and / or get rid of some of the existing pieces. In a customer driven market the opportunity increases but the daily activities of people in your organization must change. Change is never easy. In yesterday’s world your job was to Manage Change – to solve problems and capitalize on opportunities as you transitioned from yesterday to tomorrow. The success stories of tomorrow will be written by those organizations willing and able to Architect Change. As Peter Drucker explains, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Managing Change is about “seizing the day – Carpe Diem”. Being an Architect of Change is about “seizing the opportunity (the future) – Carpe Mañana!” As you make your decision about your position on CHANGE, remember: “There is no more delicate a matter to take in hand, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful to success, than to step up as a leader in the introduction of changes. For he who innovates will have for his enemies all those well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new.” Niccolo Machiavelli Good luck, have fun and Carpe Mañana! © Square One Consulting (September 2001) |