Running the “gamut”

We’re in the midst of some pretty serious recruiting and staffing efforts; the success of our Prolifiq for Life Sciences iPhone and iPad platforms requires it.

I read with amusement the following post on Forbes about the only three questions (and associated answers) that matter during the interview:

1) Can you do the job?

2) Will you love the job?

3) Can we tolerate working with you?

We have a rigorous interview process (the “gamut”) that subjects candidates to a series of back-to-back meetings and a “homework” assignment designed to answer these three questions. The candidate’s resume and credentials usually reveal the answer to #1, so our process is focused heavily on questions #2 and #3. It is very easy for a candidate to tell us they will LOVE the job; we look for evidence they in fact will.

The most important question is #3. We are a very fluid work environment; we hire “athletes” not “position players”. We need people who are smart, VERY smart. We need people who work, hard. We need people who adapt, quickly. We need people who collaborate, effectively. We need people who focus on results AND process. And, we need people who embrace and enhance our culture.

So when we meet, you’ll understand what we try to know about you.

Insight from ePharma Summit

600+ of the pharmaceutical digerati convened in NYC this week to learn and collaborate. Keyword tags for the event include: mobility, collaboration, apps, multi-channel marketing, regulatory compliance, customers, social media, personalized experience, and content. All very good stuff.

I spoke during a track session and shared some experiential insights on deploying mobility solutions within an enterprise. About half my audience had developed a mobile app; the rest were contemplating doing so. Many were seeking ways to help their organization create a comprehensive mobility strategy. Some were hesitant to involve their IT department. Say what?

The most cogent thing I heard during the summit was from Charlotte McKines, VP Global Marketing Communications Merck. During her keynote session McKines stated (and I paraphrase) that it was high time the CMO and the CIO align their missions, objectives and budgets.

My questions for marketers: when was the last time you sat down with your IT counterparts to discuss your vision, strategy and tactics? When do you bring IT into the decision process? How have you involved IT in becoming part of the solution rather than viewing them as the problem? How can you expect to be a “digital” marketer when you don’t involve the “digital” people?

My questions for IT: are you known more for saying no than for seeking ways to say yes? Have you clearly identified, in simple lay-person terms, what concerns you?  What have you done to affect the performance of the business in terms of revenue or cost? Would your co-workers say you stimulate, serve or stifle the team?

In this age of “collaboration”, I hope all who attended realize they cannot do it alone, and they come to work on Monday seeking ways to better align with the business.

Freewill

Seth Godin’s recent blog “It’s completely up to you” got me thinking about a line in Rush’s “Freewill”: “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”

Many companies are struggling with this exact concept when it comes to mobility, especially in light of the BYOD (bring your own device) movement. Many employees want to choose their computing platforms and have organizational support; some companies embrace and promote this concept (DISCLOSURE: Prolifiq is a 100% BYOD environment).

This is inevitable — today’s information workers are savvy enough to figure out how to get their devices working on corporate systems – with or without corporate support. And, the competitive arena is constantly changing in smartphones, tablets, and desktops with Google Android, Apple iOS, Windows 8, and even Blackberry 10 creating a plethora of devices available for the user community.

One choice: ignore the BYOD movement and enforce fixed device standards for all; another choice: embrace BYOD and be open to all devices; a third choice: select and qualify several devices and let users choose.

The real challenge then becomes how to ensure IT governance policies and, most likely, compliance policies. In heavily regulated industries (such as Life Sciences, healthcare Finance, and Financial Services) choices 1 and 2 are not very practical. Arbitrary barriers WILL be ignored (especially by key rainmakers) and a free for all is very problematic for IT, legal and regulatory. What is best is to embrace a heterogeneous environment, develop an IT governance policy to support heterogeneity, qualify several devices with the associated applications, and let users choose. This will not elate all parties; but some choice is much, much better than no choice.

But, inaction is not really an option because, as Rush sings: “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”

(Rush not your cup of tea? Check out my previous post referencing The Who.)

Turned Off

Just before Christmas, I read where VW was turning off email after hours for its employees. Then today, I read how this may be a trend that is catching on.

This is an interesting phenomena that speaks as much to individuals’ commitment to work – and “situational awareness” as it does to the state of enterprise communications.

First, let’s look at individual communication habits. How many of us begin our day as Seth Godin discusses in his blog by checking our incoming mail? This can accomplish many things including: filling us in on what happened since we last checked, providing breaking news about performance, or alerting us to some critical timing event. It also conditions us to be in “response” mode as opposed to initiation mode.

Now let’s look at enterprise communications. In the mid 90s, “portals” were all the rage to communicate with employees – a PULL methodology. Let’s put up a website, segment our content and our people will come find the information. When we realized this wasn’t working, we started shifting time-sensitive communications to email; this way we could broadcast – a PUSH methodology – to our employees. Really, really important communications will be marked urgent. That will get their attention.

Killing email is the resultant backlash. This is a clear indication we are PUSHING too much information at our people and they have resorted to other means of communication (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Jive, Connections, etc.) to avoid the deluge. But, at the end of the day the technology is only as good as: 1) responsible use policies, 2) personal communications discipline, and 3) effective content.

Every new technology views itself as “THE disruptor” and will render all previous technologies obsolete. What is required is for us to: 1) think of what information we need to PROVIDE to our people, 2)  determine the best medium to use, 3) establish protocols, 4) develop the appropriate content for the medium and the message, and 4) measure effectiveness.

This discipline will result in employees who possess the knowledge to proactively reach their goals using all of the knowledge at their disposal.

Doing the Right Thing; Paul and Edgar

Two weeks ago, I attended the Q1 Productions Life Sciences Sales and Marketing Compliance seminar in Chicago. It was an excellent event with lots of great content, very engaging speakers and an excellent opportunity for industry collaboration. I learned a lot and made many new friends.

However, this post is not about the event. It’s about two gentlemen who DID the right thing, and in the process saved me a ton of grief, aggravation, time and money.

Upon arrival at Hotel 71 Chicago, I valet parked my rental car. When I retrieved the car the next morning, the left-rear quarter panel had a two foot long scrape on it that was not there when I arrived. I reported this to Paul, the valet. He was very polite, contrite, and took a picture of the damage and told me he would have his manager prepare an insurance claim for me to process.

Because we waive all insurance from the rental car agencies, I was envisioning weeks of paper exchanging between our credit card company, the insurance company, the rental car agency and the hotel in order to get a claim processed.
When I checked out on the final day, Edgar, the other valet, informed me he had “one of the guys” buff out the scratch – it was no longer visible and the car was not damaged. I returned the car without incident.

Here’s a case where individual front-line employees were empowered to act, took the initiative and exceeded my service expectations. Edgar and Paul, thank you for your initiative; your actions have earned Hotel 71 a return customer in the future.