1. Strategy and Value Exchange: Mission Statement and Value Exchange
A proper mission statement gives employees a good reason to invest their energy in serving people, most of whom they'll never meet.
Our minds are naturally wired to always remember two things:
[1] We participate in Value Exchange almost every minute. Even when you sleep, you exchange hours of your life for a feeling of refreshment.
[2] The amount of time and energy we possess to morph into value is limited, it’s a scarce resource.
So, humans are picky when it comes to value exchange.
We want to exchange value only with those who matter.
Most of us are eager to save energy.
In organizations with poor cultures, employees are energy savers.
In organizations with inspiring mission statements and strategies, employees are willing to invest their energy to create value for people they will never meet.
A mission statement and strategy turn customers and other stakeholders from abstract figures to concrete and meaningful entities for employees.
Contemplation questions:
[1] Do you have a mission statement?
[2] Does it inspire your employees?
[3] Do they believe that their work creates value for stakeholders?
2. Customer cognitive biases: Cheap, Cheaper, and the Cheapest
It doesn't matter how cheaply you've bought a product.
What matters is how cheaply your neighbor bought it.
We often forget that price is a relative value.
The contrast effect is a cognitive bias that causes us to change our evaluation of the object depending on what we compare it to.
A neutral gray target will appear lighter or darker than it does in isolation when immediately preceded by a dark gray or light gray target.
A product seems cheaper when it is compared to more expensive ones.
Some companies deliberately structure their price lists, to begin with the more expensive products and then move to the cheaper ones.
Though it may scare off some customers, others will be more willing to buy medium-priced products instead of the cheapest ones.
Contemplation questions:
[1] Do you use the Contrast effect?
[2] How could you use it for your products?
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3. Trend of the week: Australian Employers Get the Right To Disconnect
“Australian employees can now ignore those and other intrusions into home life thanks to a new “right to disconnect” law designed to curb the creep of work emails and calls into personal lives,” Fast Company reports.
“The new rule, which came into force on Monday, August 26, means employees, in most cases, cannot be punished for refusing to read or respond to contacts from their employers outside work hours.”
Contemplation questions:
[1] Do you consider this practice to be fair?
[2] Do you employ it in your company?
[3] If not, are you considering implementing such a practice shortly?
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Read also: From Safe to Strategic: Breaking Free from Team Thinking Traps
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Good recap of the week.