dispatches from the new world of work

Where's the WOW?

Remember that television commercial that asked "Where's the Beef?" Last week, I read a great article from the Gallup Management Journal about Toyota Financial Services and their transformation. One question that came to me was "Where's the WOW?"

In the midst of change, at the very core, is a little thing called "talent." Leaders can have great ideas and great visions, but the only way that change is effected is through people. Toyota Financial Services had a grand idea of moving beyond car loans for its Lexus and Toyota dealerships. Why not offer branded credit cards, and other loans? Toyota was looking to increase their brand loyalty. They understood that it would require transformation in many areas of the organization.

When we think about change, we have to start with talent. But we must look at the architecture (systems and structures), and what's our goal (ambition). This is the area that Toyota had to reassess: What was the ambition of the company and how could they connect that to the talent.

Toyota had to discover how to get energy and momentum going in this transformation and, most importantly, how to engage the talent. They asked the question that I have asked many of my clients, "Where is the WOW?" What was going to get the attention of the talent, and what was in it for them? How was this initiative for Toyota going to be different from others, and how would their financial services be unique and special amidst the services from others?

WOW happens when you ask the question, put "fresh eyes" on the project, get closer to your stakeholders, and do not accept excuses that lead to mediocrity. How many times have organizations missed this important question, "Where is the WOW?" In other words, why should anyone, the talent, the customer, and other key stakeholders care about this initiative?

Val Willis posted this on 02/20/08.

Comments

Unfortunately, "Wow" is scary for most companies. They've built systems that actually inhibit (even punish) talent who think outside the box.

So, it will be interesting to see how Toyota does with this.

Perhaps the first step would be to host a group of customers to come in and review everything from car production to customer service processes (but there we are - back at scary.)

Posted by Mary Schmidt at February 20, 2008 1:41 PM

Val, Great question to ask. My guess is that it is generally preceded by either "So what!" or "Why should I (or your customers) care?" in many engagements. It kind of reminds me of the scene in the movie Big where Tom Hank's character is sitting in a meeting and says "I don't get it" and everyone in the room reacts as if they've never heard the question before.

Not only do you need to have the talent to answer the "Where's the WOW" question, but you have to have the talent with the courage to ask it.

Posted by Andrew Hayden at February 20, 2008 1:58 PM

Toyota Financial could learn something from Toyota Manufacturing. The Toyota production system becomes effective when it is a tool of the people doing the work, not another group (such as the quality dept) coming up with the ideas and asking others to implement them. Maybe Toyota Financial should have involved their talent in the idea generation (the what) rather than just the how. Ambition is great when it is shared ambition...

Posted by Mike Neiss at February 20, 2008 2:05 PM

Tom,
I think you are absolutely correct when it comes
to the importance of talent. I know you probably read it but here is Seth Godin's take on talent.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/02/marketing-hr.html

Posted by David at February 21, 2008 10:42 AM

Can't disagree with the sentiment, but was I alone in finding the article rather old news, and actually not very Wow, but more like common sense?

Posted by Rob at February 23, 2008 5:30 AM

Talent is absolutely a sine qua noon. Nowadays â€“ while at the over-revolution of knowledgeâ€“ is even more important, in fact without precedent.

When I went to college to sign up for diverse courses, my counselor forewarned me that my education (about to commence) would have a validity (not be outdated) for the first five years of completion. I got the message clearly and have never stop to attempt to better myself.

I mentioned the above because I know many people with doctoral degrees from Harvard, Oxford, MIT that, once completed their studies, donâ€™t read anything more that ambiguous news headlines. They think that the economy is a snapshot (static) and, therefore, not making quantum progresses. Today sci-fi has been superseded by the world-class news media alone.

Likewise, many company and countries captains worship mediocrity. Itâ€™s unbelievable how universal this is, beginning with the most advanced nations. Friedman tells his siblings that they had better study not to give away their jobs to people from China and India and Russia.

In the mean time, knowledge repository is growing to ruthless proportions. The direct consequence is for economy to get more and more automated with more and more Artificial Intelligence. I wonder if the people from China and India and Russia will give away their jobs to Asimo and other robots (now in the womb).

Should we expect â€œWOWâ€ from the forthcoming robots since the subjects of mediocrity-dom are accelerating the automation described?

In 1970 a fellow by the name of Alvin Toffler in a book titled â€œShock of the Futureâ€ told us many things to get prepared for in advanced. How many have pay attention? Those who are not interested in the granularity (atomic/sub-atomic scale) of details and have paid no heed cannot complaint. Get ready!

Posted by Andres Agostini at February 27, 2008 9:01 PM