We’re just a few days into 2018, and while some of us are already planning out how we’re going to master Mandarin, shore up our emergency savings funds, or write that novel by year’s end, others have decided that the yearly resolution-setting ritual isn’t for them.
Regardless of where you fall on the personal betterment resolution spectrum (we won’t judge!), we at Harvard Business School Online invite you to use 2018 to take a fresh approach to your workplace initiatives and challenges with the following insights offered up by HBS Online courses:
Use the Jobs-to-be-Done framework to go beyond knowing who your consumers are to understanding why they are purchasing your product or service
If your role involves the marketing of a product or service, you no doubt can classify your customers along demographic lines like “college students living in metro Philadelphia” or “fathers between the ages of 35 and 54.” But while these descriptive attributes may be correlated with purchase decisions, they don’t provide you with information about why these people made the decisions they did.
Unlocking the “why,” or the job-to-be-done, of your customers allows you to meet them where they are with the product or service optimized for what they need. As Professor Clayton Christensen describes in the Disruptive Strategy course, his research found that the jobs-to-be-done of McDonald’s milkshake buyers ran the gamut from helping people pass the time during their morning commutes to work to enabling busy parents to provide a small indulgence to their children later on in the day. With that information about why customers were “hiring” the milkshake, McDonald’s could choose to develop different milkshake products optimized for each of those distinct jobs, while gaining the realization that its competitors on a job-to-be-done basis weren’t just other manufacturers’ milkshakes, but also bananas, bagels, Snickers bars, and more!
Improve buy-in for, and successful implementation of, your team’s decisions by inviting constructive dissent
Perhaps it was the sense of camaraderie on a team that made its members shy away from conflict. Or maybe it was the dominant voice from a senior leader that made contrarian views seem unwelcome. In any case, many of us can recall a time in our work history when a suboptimal decision was made due to a lack of alternative viewpoints coming to the fore.
The good news is that, whether you’re leading a team or simply participating as a thoughtful and engaged member, there are powerful tactics you can employ to make sure that the decision that is made has a high probability of success. As Professor David Garvin highlights in the Management Essentials course, both mindset and method come into play when architecting a good decision-making process. On the mindset side, he contrasts the advocacy approach, in which persuasion and lobbying rule the day at the expense of minority viewpoints, with the inquiry approach, in which a variety of arguments are actively solicited and considered in the spirit of critically thinking through to the best option. With the groundwork in place to enable constructive group dynamics, the team members can size up the stakes—is the business problem under consideration low-risk and routine, or high-risk and novel?—apply the best decision-making method, from consensus to devil’s advocacy or dialectical inquiry, and drive toward closure.
Capture and communicate how your organization can learn from your completed projects via a retrospective review
There’s a huge sense of accomplishment that comes with delivering a completed project (particularly when it’s on time, on budget, and high quality!). But before rushing off to tackle the next project on your plate, make sure you maximize the long-term value of your team’s achievement for the organization by taking the time to conduct an after-action review (AAR).
Broadly, an AAR seeks to do two things: codify best practices and document areas to improve next time so that all that was learned over the course of the project gets either institutionalized or constructively addressed going forward. As Professor Garvin illustrates in Management Essentials with protagonists ranging from United States President John F. Kennedy to the miners of the Chilean mining rescue, learning from both successes (just how or why did that project succeed, and how can those approaches be sustained going forward?) and failures is a key step within the process of project implementation. Among Professor Gavin’s strategies for running an effective AAR are scheduling it in a timely manner, focusing on data-driven solutions to addressable problems, and articulating an action plan with clear priorities for how to move forward.
From all of us at HBS Online, best wishes for a personally and professionally successful New Year!
Are you interested in expanding your business knowledge? Explore our online course catalog and learn about how furthering your education can elevate your career.
