Understand people to succeed Yorick Cool
Understand people to succeed
Yorick Cool
This presentation
• To and fro between « theory » and small tips
• The slides don’t matter
• Interrupt me whenever you want, to say whatever you want
Talking points
• The problem
• Who am I doing this with?
• Who am I doing this for?
• What can I do?
The problem
Good companies
• With great ideas
• With great processes
• With great people
sometimes fail…
• If they failed to deliver (at all, or late, or not with enough quality)
• They didn’t understand their own people
• If they failed to sell
• They didn’t understand their clients
But these companies were great?
The question for success: who
• Who am I doing this with?
• Who am I doing this for?
➡ Understand who people are
Why is understanding people a problem?
• People are different but we assume they are like us
• We don’t always hear what they say
• We don’t have the same references
Who am I doing this with?
Remember:
• Being great with the wrong people is bad
• The wrong way of working with good people is bad
• The right mix is needed between good ideas, good methods and good people
What does understanding my people mean?
• Understand their motivation
• Understand their mindset
• Understand their culture
• Understand their communication style
Examples
• Agile in a conservative environment
• Financial incentives for mission-minded people
Who am I doing this for?
Who are your clients?
• If you don’t know, you will fail
• If it’s « you » understand who « you » are
• In any case, identify:
• Needs/desires (jobs/pains/gains)
• Willingness and ability to pay
• How many of these people you can reach
Examples
• Edebex - Clear and simple value proposition that appeals to their clients
What can I do?
The key
• Listen
• Listen
• Listen
Listen
• Be a « blank slate » - beware of interpretation
• To the little things - the first message isn’t always the most important
• What’s not said is often important
Getting people to talk
• Direct approach
• Indirect approaches
Questions
• Sometimes, explaining the answer to a closed question is more powerful than an open question
• Irrelevant answers are sometimes crucial - your question might be wrong
Prospective clients?
• Market research
• Don’t ask about « liking » the product but
• About the reasons to use it
• About the reasons not to use it
• Consider not asking about the product at all
Methodologies?
• Do adapt them
• But beware of the risk of breaking them
• When following a process, remember its purpose
Lean start-ups! Canvasses!
• Beware of blind spots
• Reasons NOT to use product/service
• Don’t oversimplify
• Lean is not a free pass to be sloppy. MVP is not a piece of trash.
Psychology profiles
• DISC
• MBTI
• Big five
• SDI
• Explore and use the ones you’re comfortable with
This presentation in one slide
• Success requires you to listen effectively to the people you work with and the ones you work for.
• This brings better understanding which leads to better collaboration and delivery of greater value.
• Any tool that can help achieve this is good, but should be assessed critically.
Let’s chat!
Some resources: failure
• http://www.businessinsider.com/33-startups-that-died-reveal-why-they-failed-2013-6?op=1&IR=T
• http://www.johnffinneran.com/blog/fat-startup-learn-the-lessons
Some resources: listening
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2012/11/09/10-steps-to-effective-listening/
• http://www.wright.edu/~scott.williams/LeaderLetter/listening.htm
Some resources: DISC
• https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/
• http://discpersonalitytesting.com/free-disc-test/
• http://stevebaines.biz/2012/09/12/why-the-golden-rule-is-wrong-75-of-the-time-how-to-be-right-100-of-the-time/