IQ versus EQ...or should we just consider VQ?

When I was studying Human Resources Management back in the 80's, IQ was considered the most accurate way to test a person's ability to respond to certain job requirements, and to also be able to solve problems or issues in a clever, intelligent and efficient way.  It was a quotient that measured abilities, logic and skills.

In the next decade, we had more discussions and theories about EQ, or Emotional Intelligence as it became more widely known, which focused on people's feelings and their ability to cope emotionally with situations that required more tact, as opposed to more logic.

However, I would like to propose another element in the equation, that of VQ, or "Values" quotient.  I believe that people are greatly motivated by their values, as well as the level of intelligence, or emotional awareness.  I would like to explain this with the following examples:

Two people with the same levels of IQ and EQ, have two different values in life.  One is ambitious, wants to be successful, works hard and wants respect, and even power.  The other, wants a peaceful existence,  a stress free life, and wants to enjoy nature and sharing life's pleasures with others.  With these different values, their roads will be shaped.  One will take the high road to the city, to work in a successful firm, amongst the hustle and bustle, the other will take the low road, leading to a more natural and relaxed environment.

Both people in the example might use his or her IQ and EQ to fight for what they believe in according to their beliefs and priorities in life, but it's the value quotient that will determine how these will be used.

Therefore, it can be said that a lot of business decisions can be made upon each person's values.  If the Top executive in a firm wants power, their IQ and EQ levels will help make the decision, but it's the VQ that will determine what outcome is required. 

Therefore, whether you take the high road or the low road, at the end of the day, it's your values that will give you the job satisfaction that you crave...............

....what are your values?

Dynamics of Branding - A New Approach

For so long now, marketing communication theories and practices have supported strongly the  concept that creating strong brands adds value to the company's asset sheet.

This is particularly true for large corporations and multinational companies that are "faceless", and have a large workforce, as recognising a product because of its brand association is the way companies stay in business.

However, with smaller companies where personal contact is made with customers, especially in Service Industries, the strongest brand element that should receive a good portion of the advertising budget, is the employee!

How can an employee be considered a brand builder?  If we take the simple definition of a brand, which is normally quoted as "the personality that identifies a product, service or company", this fits in perfectly with the premise that employees should be considered as an important marketing communications tool as well!

To date, I haven't read anywhere in  any marketing literature about employees being considered as part of a company's brand in the sense of traditional branding approaches, so, I pose the following:

• If a company has a workforce made up of long term employees, people that are committed and dedicated to the company, and its products and services,  the customers will subconsciencly feel an attachment to these employees.  This is true especially when they see and work with the same people over and over again, closely and over many years, thus brand awareness, and brand reliability, have been created by the employee; 

• If companies with long term employees, who show genuine care for their customers and provide not only service, but a friendly, reliable and trustworthy approach, then the "brand recall", is created by the employee.

The two scenarios above, are only a few of the analogies that can be considered  in correlation to the traditional approach, and the new approach I am suggesting.

If companies spend some time and money developing their employees by considering them as part of brand building strategies, it would add more value to their generic products and services and give them the edge on their competitors. 

We've seen in many management books that labour turnover is costly, but  what about the cost or damage to the "brand"?

There's nothing like visiting your local service centre to find the same technician that repaired your first piece of equipment many years ago, you know him/her inside out, and so does he/she! 

Or booking your holiday with the consultant that has known where you've  travelled for the last 20 years and knows what you like and don't like, where you've been and haven't been! 

Think about it, branding is not just about logos, symbols and signs, it's also about companies investing in developing their strongest brand - people who will keep customers coming back and happy!

Silence of the Spams

What has happened with communication?

We hated it when our parents would tell their friends something about us, or when relatives where updated on what we did and were doing, or going to do...neighbours would stop us in the street and would ask us how "it" went, and before you know it ...the grapevine came back to slap us in the face and choke us up a bit!

We hated the phone, the backyard fence and people coming over, to get that last bit of gossip for the day!

But thanks to technology and developments in communication, and the ease of access to these, we volunteer this information freely and without second thoughts.

The boss asks us how did "it" go, and we stop, look around, laugh with a smirk on our face and say "ah, so you saw it on my wall aye?".

But somehow, this free volunteering of information, "sound" advice to friends or relatives, business information to colleagues or competitors, has to be reviewed by those dishing it out, to ensure that they won't be "dishing it in".

The telephone limited our communication to the person we were talking to, or to those who dared to eavesdrop. These days, the receiver of our communication is not just one, but hundreds of the people we know, multiplied by hundreds and hundreds of the friends of friends of friends of friends, and some enemies!!

Before you know it, we are "coincidently" getting unsolicited messages and advertising about some item that we can buy or send money for, to improve our lives for the next decade in this mixed-up millennium.

Businesses can't afford to have their employees discussing company issues with friends whilst fertilising crops. No one needs to know the boss is a ratbag, chances are everyone has already guessed that for themselves, no one needs to know whether your company's products are not worth buying.... no one needs to know you will be looking for another job during summer break..... no one needs to see you tagged in a photo with a person you don't want your boss, partner, or spouse to know you know of.... etc. etc....

Before liable and slander suits could start flowing, companies, employees and everyone of a communicable age, should consider silencing the spams, and getting back to the traditional methods of communication, where people got together and exchanged ideas and thoughts in privacy....

.... and not in front of a 15inch portal to the world.

You are only as good as the company you keep.....

.... An expression normally used to caution someone about the type of people they mingle with, entertain, or call friends, but this article is geared towards investment in business growth and development, and how every member of the organisation must contribute to this objective in order for a company to survive and thrive.

I liken today’s economy, and what is currently happening with many companies, to an old tree that, after many years of care and bountiful fruit production, has started to wither and become weak.

When first planted, it is nurtured and provided with the care, protection and the sustenance it needs to grow and yield fruit.

Whilst the tree produces fruit, the investment is considered worthwhile. Over the years, it becomes a little neglected and it doesn't receive as much care or attention as in the past, as it is taken for granted that it will continue to produce and survive on its own with minimal attention.

However, its endurance also depends on many other external conditions, which either help it to flourish and grow, or threaten its existence.

Companies, like trees, need to be constantly nurtured. Once set up, they need to constantly grow and develop, and together with the management and the workforce, supported and cultivated so that they can withstand the forces of external threats that could cause its demise.

The current economic environment is not a healthy one and business owners and their employees will need to take some time-out to consider how they could put a bit more love and care into it, by sacrificing profits and affluence at the expense of investment and spending.

Such investment includes time and financial outlays in training the workforce, advertising and research and development. In a period of economic turmoil, spending is the only solution to keep what one has managed to acquire.

Natural disturbances and human intervention shaped the forest of today. Both will shape the forest of tomorrow....

... You are only as good as the Company you keep!

Business Disorganisation, how to avoid it!

Ever since the industrial revolution and the upsurge of commerce and industry, business organisation and development took on a dramatic change from the primitive working practices of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, to high level, forward thinking entrepreneurial strategies, which led companies into the 20^th century.

However those same entrepreneurs who took businesses into the 20^th century are also, in part, responsible for the deterioration of these philosophies in the 21^st century.

Building a successful business from scratch is a huge accomplishment, especially if the business owner had very little education or no formal qualifications. Experience, determination and perseverance, as well as hope of a better future for the family and the economy were probably more of a driving force, than hanging up a qualification on an office wall.

Unfortunately, the factors that contributed to first generation business owners’ success are no longer applicable in today’s business environment.

Other factors, amongst others, that need to be considered are:

• The current economic situation and other macroeconomic factors
  

• Today, a strong reliance on family, friends, relatives, government officials, and other associates is mostly considered as nepotism and bribery

• Children entering the business and starting immediately in management and/or authoritative positions, not from the bottom up, causes rifts with qualified, non-family member, employees

• Family feuding amongst siblings who take over from original owners when they retire, divorce or pass on, could disagree on how and who should run departments or divisions

• Second and Third Generation relatives entering the business, bringing with them their own ideas and philosophies as to how the grandparent should have ran the business, and how Uncle A or Auntie B should have not listened to Auntie A and Uncle C and Brother A should not have said this or that with Cousin B and C!

Nowadays, such companies are suffering from the "Second and Third Generation Syndrome”, and “Business Disorganisation”. The original owners, who may themselves have been deprived of an education and academic achievements, ensured that their children got themselves a first-class education, so that they could enter the company in an important, top executive position, to enable the business to continue to flourish.

For businesses to continue to be successful, they have to be run by fully trained and qualified personnel, who are employed on the basis of doing the job the right way, rather than filling posts with people who oblige the owners to hire them, through some type of “hold” that they have.

Therefore, it is wise to consider that a combination of qualifications, know-how and a zest for purpose and passion for reaching goals will ensure continued growth and development rather than disorganisation.

Is the Customer "Always Right"?

Why would customers need to complain if :

• The service is good;

• The Sales people are courteous and knowledgable;

• The products are of good quality;

• The environment is welcoming and comfortable;

• The after sales service is even better than the pre-sale transaction?

Some of the above points are reasons that make customers feel satisfied and therefore contribute to the value they have received in any transaction made.

If a business doesn't provide any of the above, amongst other factors, then customers are not satisfied and complaints may arise.

"The Customer is Always Right", shouldn't necessarily apply if a business takes due care in ensuring that it provides good quality products and services, an excellent level of customer care, speedy and reliable service and after sales attention.

Therefore, all businesses should aim to limit their customer complaints to ZERO by implementing some form of quality managment.

If a business aims for this "semi" Total Quality Management model, then the only reason a customer would need to complain, would be to satisfy some other need that the customer has, which is not related to the buyer-seller relationship.

Whilst all sales people can be trained to deal with customer complaints concerning the goods and services of the business, they cannot be trained to deal with complaints arising from some other motivator or trigger that is instilled in the mind of the customer that is not related to the transaction.

They just need to ensure that they can tell the difference between the two!

Emotional Marketing

Previous generations grew up in a world that had gone through the Depression of the 1930’s, wars and economic crises, therefore as adults they became conscientious consumers. If my parents had their way, I would still be wearing clothes and shoes that were in fashion in the 1970’s and driving a 1980’s Japanese car.

Instead of poverty and hardship, the only depression we experience these days is the one that causes us stress, unhappiness and sadness. We even have a new form of remedy known as Shopping Therapy, now we buy things because they make us feel happy, look good, important, sexy or glamorous.

To put emotional marketing into practice, Marketers must have an acute understanding of human behaviour and physiological and psychological needs. Emotional Marketing can be used as part of the integrated marketing communication process to stimulate desire and invoke positive sentiments in consumers. Clever triggers, such as words, images, and other stimuli used in advertising should elicit the emotion that will persuade consumers to buy.

Success and importance also are attributes that everyone wants to have or feel. A TV commercial for a luxury car, emphasizing its features, horsepower and quality may not be as successful as the same product being advertised with subliminal visual messages such as a person in a business suit, driving the car to their luxurious home after a hard day’s work.

Self image is also another strong emotion. Why is it that thin, pretty women are used in advertisements for diet soft drinks? Aren’t overweight people the target market? But imagine an obese person being depicted in a commercial drinking diet cola; consumers would feel negative emotions instead of positive ones.

This emphasis on emotional marketing cannot work without an integrated marketing communication strategy. It is also important for sales staff to be adequately trained in the concept of emotional marketing. What’s the point of a company that manufactures exclusive clothing for women, advertising the quality and superiority of the product, when a sales assistant tells a customer that the skirt she is trying on makes her thighs or posterior look smaller than what they really are? The sale will automatically be lost because the customer will feel upset, as the real message she is getting is that her thighs and posterior are too big!

The essence of emotional marketing should create a positive sensation in the mind of the consumer that will encourage a purchase, instead of a negative emotion that will discourage consumers from buying.

To Tip or Not to Tip, what is the answer?

Every modern day management book that you pick up will include at least one chapter on customer care, or about how to improve customer service. Contrary to this however, is the old tradition of tipping.

Tipping is obviously beneficial to some business owners, as it is one way to cut salary costs, by convincing employees that even though their salary is low, the tips they will get from the job, will make up for this. This may have worked a few decades ago, but these days, satisfied customers are the key to a company's success.

So, why do we still encourage our employees to smile and provide good service for the sake of earning a tip? Why don't we train employees to give real service to customers regardless of whether they expect to receive a few coins a the end of the day, and reward them according to the job they are expected to do and their performance?

The answer is simple, as long as we continue to employ people on the basis that they will "act" in a manner that will enable them to earn a tip, we will not be too concerned with training them! But how do we know that they will "act" in a way that is congruent with the company's philosophy or expectations?

However, the consequences of this old tradition could be quite detrimental to a business and its reputation. What if an employee doesn't care about the tips at the end of the day, does this mean that he or she will not smile at the customer, give adequate information, or provide a satisfactory service? What if a customer doesn't leave a tip after the employee has provided an excellent service, will the employee shun the same customer the next time he or she returns?

It's time for business owners to assess the methods that motivate employees so that they can provide the acceptable level of service expected by clients and customers, as the future of businesses, especially in today's harsh economic climate, depends on SATISFIED CUSTOMERS, and not satisfying employees with big tips!

Debbie Phylactou

Human Resource Management and Marketing Specialist

Lecturer CIM

Specialist Business and Management Consultant

Somewhere, something went terribly wrong with our Human Resources!

Since the evolution of man, progress has meant that we have developed into human beings that can think and invent almost anything to make life easier.

We were originally designed to climb trees, run, hunt, take care of our offspring, and keep sheltered and protected from danger. Our bodies developed based along these lines, no such thing as the gym in those days to keep the biceps , triceps and abs in good shape!

We weren't designed to sit in a car to get from A to B, or to sit in front of a computer all day, finding everything we need, not only for work, but for personal use and entertainment.

When I was studying back in the early 1980's, it used to take about 2 weeks to find information for an assignment from the library. We learned to use the reference system of the University library, so that we could then go find the book. We'd sit in the library not talking, and taking notes. When we needed to use the computer, we had to write our own programme and walk to the main frame building to get a copy of the printout. It was so exciting getting one sheet of dot-matrix information, and well worth the 20 minute wait per sheet whilst the dots were being printed.

Now, people sit in cafes, sipping a choccamoccafrappaccino and munching on a blueberry, lactose free, sugarless, light muffin, searching for any subject with their notebook on the internet. Printing a document, with the printer next to you, is so frustrating when it can only print 50 sheets a minute, and God help you if you need a pen, because they are so hard to find these days.

We've made life so much easier that we are no longer so bothered with progress in the workplace. I hear so many stories about how there is no "job satisfaction" any more and that employees don't have the opportunity to be creative, or add value to their jobs, but it's not just the job that's at fault.

What's wrong with our human resources today? Amongst other things, the challenge is no longer there!

Debbie Phylactou
Debs Diagnostics

Motivation Stagnation

Developing
empowering
business
solutions

Have you ever wondered why people are becoming less and less enthusiastic with everything? Why is it getting harder and harder to motivate people, employees, customers and business associates?



Well, there's no correct answer to this, but a diagnosis of certain developments over the years can help explain what has contributed to what I call, "Motivation Stagnation".



Abraham Maslow, described in his hierarchy of needs, the fundamentals of what motivates human beings. It's important to note that this theory was first introduced in the early 1940's when the entire world was still experiencing the effects of the second world war, jobs were scarce, money was difficult to come by, food was rationed and people were feeling frightened and insecure.



Maslow used a pyramid diagram to demonstrate how the largest and most essential human motivators are the most basic needs; food, water, shelter, and the last level - self actualization, the desire for self fulfillment. This is the smallest section of the pyramid, as 70 years ago, it was considered difficult to get to this level, i.e. where people have all they need in life and are finally able to be happy with what they have achieved and no longer yearn for anything in order to survive.



2010, and Maslow's pyramid, should now be viewed "upside down". Basic needs are the smallest of the needs, and self actualization the largest. Human beings are striving for self fulfillment and can't find it. We are living in a world where even though everything is so much easier, our original instincts have been inhibited.

Einstein once said "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

It's by no way a coincidence that the easier things get, the harder it is to motivate or be motivated. So put away the carrot and the stick, they're no longer attractive or feared!

Think about it!

Debbie Phylactou
Human Resource Management and Marketing Specialist
Lecturer CIM
Specialist Consultant

Welcome to Debs Diagnostics

Developing
empowering
business

solutions

In today's changing business environment, traditional theories and concepts are no longer as applicable as they once were.

Debs Diagnostics is intended to provide new ideas and present original concepts to students and practitioners in the field of Human Resources, Business Administration, Marketing and Management with the intention of broadening the reader's perspective on various day-to-day business dilemmas.

Future articles will focus on a number of subjects, which I hope will enhance your understanding of why businesses, employees, employers and customers, react the way they do.

Together we can diagnose the problems and focus on implementing possible solutions that will change unproductive practices in a constructive way, for the benefit of all parties.

Debbie Phylactou
Human Resource Management and Marketing Specialist
Lecturer CIM
Specialist Consultant