It is near summer's end, and hopefully there has been some downtime for each of you, when could just step back from pace and rhythm of everyday life.
In recent weeks, perhaps you have seen one of the articles on the cognitive impact of modern technology. While there are plenty of benefits from the ubiquitous access we have to information at our fingertips, there are also cognitive consequences.
Our tendency is to fill every waiting minute with activity, especially those activities mediated by our smart phones - email checking and maintenance, cruising news sites, calendar management, texting, staying on top of social networks, and RSS feeds. Now I'm as guilty of this as anyone, as my family will tell you, and summer vacation is a good opportunity to disengage.
It's a bit like a spinning wheel you used to find in playgrounds - you jump on, hold on tight, and keep spinning until you somehow manage to jump off. Only we don't always jump off in the era of new technologies.
But this isn't just about brain, body and society adapting to new technology; it's also about how we make time to be accessible for spontaneity, creativity and deeper reflection.
One of the great ironies of the BPR (business process reengineering) movement was this: it took considerable innovation to examine business processes and re-engineer the flow to save steps and time. And yet, one consequence was that there was often little to no time available for those whose work processes were 'reengineered' to then have any slack time for any creative thinking on their own part.
How many of us are doing basically the same thing to our own work lives? I run into any number of high achieving executives, filled with urgency, committed to working 18 hour days as long as needed to get results, but reluctant to commit a few hours a week to seeing the bigger picture and how to translate strategy into action. No one readily admits to that; most state that they do their deep thinking when they run, drive or amidst some other activity. Yes, there is great value in leveraging physical activity to free your mind to be more creative about your work. And there is also great value in holding some time sacred for stepping back, seeing how pieces fit together and capturing your thoughts to enable action by yourself and others.
My colleague, Mark Price, notes that marketing departments often make the mistake of treating all customers the same, rather than proportionately planning and spending more on their best and most profitable customers. The same might be said for how we allocate time to think about our customers.
All customers have the potential to be more valuable. Some have earned the right to get more of your mental energy, and focused thought about how to engage and retain them.
How do you ensure that you devote time to thinking about your customers?
How do you know which ones merit more of your time and consideration?
BestCustomerConnection, by Marc Sokol
