Understand people to succeed

Yorick Cool

This presentation

• To and fro between « theory » and small tips

• The slides don’t matter

• Interrupt me whenever you want, to say whatever you want

Talking points

• The problem

• Who am I doing this with?

• Who am I doing this for?

• What can I do?

The problem

Good companies

• With great ideas

• With great processes

• With great people

sometimes fail…

• If they failed to deliver (at all, or late, or not with enough quality)

• They didn’t understand their own people

• If they failed to sell

• They didn’t understand their clients

But these companies were great?

The question for success: who

• Who am I doing this with?

• Who am I doing this for?

➡ Understand who people are

Why is understanding people a problem?

• People are different but we assume they are like us

• We don’t always hear what they say

• We don’t have the same references

Who am I doing this with?

Remember:

• Being great with the wrong people is bad

• The wrong way of working with good people is bad

• The right mix is needed between good ideas, good methods and good people

What does understanding my people mean?

• Understand their motivation

• Understand their mindset

• Understand their culture

• Understand their communication style

Examples

• Agile in a conservative environment

• Financial incentives for mission-minded people

Who am I doing this for?

Who are your clients?

• If you don’t know, you will fail

• If it’s « you » understand who « you » are

• In any case, identify:

• Needs/desires (jobs/pains/gains)

• Willingness and ability to pay

• How many of these people you can reach

Examples

• Edebex - Clear and simple value proposition that appeals to their clients

What can I do?

The key

• Listen

• Listen

• Listen

Listen

• Be a « blank slate » - beware of interpretation

• To the little things - the first message isn’t always the most important

• What’s not said is often important

Getting people to talk

• Direct approach

• Indirect approaches

Questions

• Sometimes, explaining the answer to a closed question is more powerful than an open question

• Irrelevant answers are sometimes crucial - your question might be wrong

Prospective clients?

• Market research

• Don’t ask about « liking » the product but

• About the reasons to use it

• About the reasons not to use it

• Consider not asking about the product at all

Methodologies?

• Do adapt them

• But beware of the risk of breaking them

• When following a process, remember its purpose

Lean start-ups! Canvasses!

• Beware of blind spots

• Reasons NOT to use product/service

• Don’t oversimplify

• Lean is not a free pass to be sloppy. MVP is not a piece of trash.

Psychology profiles

• DISC

• MBTI

• Big five

• SDI

• Explore and use the ones you’re comfortable with

This presentation in one slide

• Success requires you to listen effectively to the people you work with and the ones you work for.

• This brings better understanding which leads to better collaboration and delivery of greater value.

• Any tool that can help achieve this is good, but should be assessed critically.

Let’s chat!

Some resources: failure

• http://www.businessinsider.com/33-startups-that-died-reveal-why-they-failed-2013-6?op=1&IR=T

• http://www.johnffinneran.com/blog/fat-startup-learn-the-lessons

Some resources: listening

• http://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2012/11/09/10-steps-to-effective-listening/

• http://www.wright.edu/~scott.williams/LeaderLetter/listening.htm

Some resources: DISC

• https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/

• http://discpersonalitytesting.com/free-disc-test/

• http://stevebaines.biz/2012/09/12/why-the-golden-rule-is-wrong-75-of-the-time-how-to-be-right-100-of-the-time/