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The S.O. Factor: How to Make Your Business Stand Out
Everything has become a commodity; we find more inexpensive versions of
the same things. Companies quickly catch up with what others have done
– and even a good idea quickly becomes “commodicized.” How do you keep
your edge? How do you get remembered? How do you develop your SO…the
Stand Out factor?
Even though we know that new, different and distinct is what gets
people’s attention, most of our services and products look like what
people expect or what have already been done. We are stuck in a pattern
doing what we’ve always done. Bland. Boring. Blah!
The issue is actually deeper and more personal. Most of us don’t like
to Stand Out or to be different. We started off as unique and
independent – seeing things in our unique patterns of synaptic
responses. And then we were corralled into school. We were taught the
grass is green, the sky is blue and the sun is yellow. What if in your
mind, the sun is not yellow but some other color? Our first thought is
“that is not right.” The universe has an order and the sun has always
been yellow. We perpetuate the conventional approach by requiring what
should be instead of encouraging what could be.
In today’s thinking or service economy, our value is in our thinking.
Passionate performance happens when we have freedom to imagine, create
and innovate. Business and life successes are in the “could be,” not in
the “what is.” The result is that much of the workplace, and the
workforce as well, is now bland, doing yesterday’s approach even though
today is different. Customers and employees become bored and the effect
is employees changing jobs hoping to find more excitement and the
ability to significantly contribute. Customers and employees look for
organizations that commit to the largest experiences and impact in what
they do because it’s a lot more fun. And if the organization could be
ordinary or extraordinary, why not work and shop in a place that is
extraordinary?
In Stand Out thinking, being different is key. The goal is to know what
others do and insist on doing something better. We don’t try to fit in;
we separate ourselves because in a crowded marketplace fitting in is
failing. As Tom Peters states, “In a busy marketplace, not standing out
is the same as being invisible.” If the point of being in business is
to develop a loyal customer base – those customers who return and bring
their friends, it is not going to happen by doing what others do.
Regardless of the case, it is about getting noticed and being
remembered. Standing out is about creating something original, exciting
and dynamic.
Stand Out thinking starts with the permission to let yourself invent.
This happens in an open and accepting environment. It happens when your
workplace is diverse in both background and experience and when all
employees are required to openly invent, think and participate in
decision-making, and say what is on their minds. This is way to invite
the new, the different and the great.
As we were herded into similar thinking, much of our ability to Stand
Out was challenged, diminished or eliminated. Over time we became great
at doing what others did. We learned to be okay with blending and
fitting in. The good news is that we can relearn how to Stand Out.
Focus on these two areas to get back in touch with your Stand Out abilities:
1. Learn to reconnect with your creative side.
Over 90% of 5 year olds are creative, but only 5% of 13 year olds (and
older) are creative. We have trained ourselves out of being creative.
Train yourself back into creative thinking by learning how to revisit a
problem, issue or opportunity in the following ways:
o Frame it differently. Make it a product, a hobby, an inanimate object, a cartoon, a food, a superhero, etc.
o See it from another perspective: man, woman, child, minority, friend, enemy, teacher, employee, customer, affluent, poor, honest, greedy, etc.
o Morph the problem by changing it to the best, worst, an object, a person, a policy, a fruit, a car, a game, etc.
o Link it to an unrelated item to see the correlations; identify how it is similar, how it is different. This forces the brain to see connections it would normally ignore.
o Use pictures to visualize the problem, issue or opportunity. How does the visual encourage different thinking?
o View the problem as a color – what does it make you think of, how does the color offer a new perspective?
o Brainstorm using the phrases, “What if?” “How about?” or “Just consider…”
o Use word association to generate ideas.
o Write a headline, poem, obituary, news report or book title that relates to a business issue, event or other need. This forces a new perspective on the situation.
2. Build a culture of creative thinkers in your organization by the following:
o Allow employees to invent and take calculated risks.
Reward excellent failures; punish mediocre successes. Encourage greater
thinking. If you are not failing every now and then, chances are you
are not doing anything innovative. Visibly applaud creative efforts
that focus on value, profits and customer service. Applaud employee
reach and innovation..
continue...
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