An Unexpected Opportunity
One of the most important aspects of a 21st century organization is that of the unexpected opportunity. When organizational members can use a devastating change to make a new opportunity, everyone wins. An owner of a small business that provides business research and compliance automation products was faced with a product launch that did not meet his personal standard for quality. There were numerous glitches in the automation system to the point that the trainer who was demonstrating the product had to avoid using certain functions. It was not good. The owner took stock of the situation and decided that his customers would not be served well enough with this new product so he cancelled the product, not just delaying the launch, he directed his developers to start over and rebuild the system.
This action had the potential of huge impact to the company and all of the people who were dedicated to this product design, development, launch, and support. The owner’s decision had to be respected for its integrity but it also raised lots of questions regarding the future of these people. There was no directive from the owner as to what these folks should do with their time. They were not assigned to other projects or work. Usually when a project is cancelled, the people working on it are reassigned or terminated. One manager, in particular, had just hired two instructional designers/trainers to prepare and present the classes that new customers would need. What were they all to do?
This manager had an autonomous approach to her career and work. She was aware of the value that she could create for the company and so set out to create a result that would be beneficial to her new employer. She was very aware of how to be an asset to an organization while continuing to provide her unique and autonomous value. She discussed the situation with her new team and they concluded that they could design education programs for the other automated solutions that the company was offering without the benefit of training classes. The team engaged some other employees and found that many customers did not install their automated solutions for 6 to 8 months after receiving their software because it was so difficult to install and actually integrate with their other automated products. This presented a huge risk for the company because the uninstalled products could be cancelled at any time. So the sales cycle was not actually complete until the product was installed, up and running, and demonstrating value to the customer. Why not shorten the sales cycle by helping the customers install and integrate the automated solution? Connecting the training classes to the sales cycle was sure to increase bottom line results as it decreased the risk of cancelled sales.
With this new plan, she proposed a strategy to keep herself and her hires employed while serving the customers at a higher level than they had been previously. The new classes would earn new revenue for the company and there would also be savings in customer service costs since the representatives would not have to take as many calls to help the customers try to install and integrate the solutions on their own.
The company executives decided to take a chance on this new plan. It paid off well, even allowing the company to form partnerships with other professional service firms that would ultimately become highly strategic customer referral sources. All three customers, including owners, employees, and the automated solution users, were highly satisfied. The training venture had worked out well.