Our earlier articles around Successful Customer Outcomes and Next Practice talked about the importance of understanding what customers want, aligning the organization to these objectives, and delivering consistently. Here we want to concentrate on another element, one that is at least as important because it is one of the key enablers for making the changes necessary to become a fully SCO-oriented company.

The proper implementation of SCOs will be a major shift for most organizations. Experience tells us that step change is almost always preceded by great insight, an individual with a clear vision acting as a catalyst for revolution. In the spirit of Next Practice (also discussed in earlier articles) let’s look outside the commercial world for examples of such catalysts.

There have of course been many great leaders: Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth 1, Abe Lincoln, JFK, Nelson Mandela, are just a few of the names that resonate. Columbus and Magellan brought us a new understanding of our world through their exploration, while great thinkers like Aristotle, Einstein, Newton and Galileo pushed the boundaries of knowledge. Society has also benefited from the work of Mother Teresa and Louis Pasteur.

There are many others. Think of the greatest human achievements, those things that we all acknowledge as new and earth shattering. There were people at the centre making stuff happen, reforming rather than conforming, pushing against the tide of opinion, resisting the momentum of current belief. What do all these people have in common? They were Masters of Mindset. They knew how to link the new with the old and take people with them into a new way of doing things. Of course the ‘technologies’ helped but they were largely developed as a consequence of insight – not as a means to it. They needed people to understand, become convicted and then act out in reality the vision. Those great folks helped to articulate a roadmap that we could trust and follow. At first it just existed in our minds, and we then created a new reality.

The greatest catalysts for change the world have ever known have had three qualities to help achieve the conditions for the great victories or the momentous changes:

Belief that the accepted ways of doing things are no longer appropriate
There have always been rebellious types, people who go against the flow, if only for the sake of being contrary. Here though, we are talking about constructive opposition to the majority view. In some cases, Churchill during the rise of Nazi Germany springs to mind, this opposition meant being a lone voice in the wilderness, risking ridicule and isolation.

Conviction that a new way exists that better fits a new order

To be constructive, a critical view needs to incorporate an alternative. This alternative may have been arrived at through scientific investigation, unexpected insight or a personal belief system. Whatever the route, the commitment to the new perspective matches the opposition to the prevailing view. The importance of creating viable options and choices is undeniable: “Let’s go this way” has more going for it than “Don’t go that way”!

Courage and tenacity in driving towards that endeavor

Silent objection has its place. It can be a key ingredient in significant change, magnifying the impact of a small event, generating an unstoppable momentum in a short space of time. The abolition of slavery in the US and the end of apartheid in South Africa were accelerated in the end by the willingness of many to accept a new view. But these changes needed a catalyst, a visible vocal representation of the alternative - a Lincoln, a Mandela. To reach the silent objectors or mass public opinion someone has to be brave enough to speak out and keep speaking out until the objective is reached.

In our quest to move into the Customer Age and the delivery of SCOs we should draw on the lessons from the Masters of Mindset and develop these three characteristics as individuals, teams, organizations and communities. Now how does this set of behaviors translate into the workplace, when there aren’t perhaps the scientific and social ideals to be pursued? Well just because the business of doing business may not seem as glorious an endeavor sometimes, there’s no reason to apply lower standards. Organizations of all kinds are as likely to suffer from a herd mentality as society as a whole, so the challenges of changing belief and mindsets are the same.

If we look at belief, you can ask yourself this question - how well formed are your convictions that “the way things are done around here” aren’t right? The leaders we’ve talked about worked hard at questioning the popular view and understanding its shortcomings. To be ill-informed is to be ill-prepared, so get to know enough about how and why things don’t work for you to demonstrate how different the new world could be.

In the same way as you should understand why today’s ways don’t work, it’s important to be very clear about how Successful Customer Outcomes will benefit you and the business you are part of. Hopefully this series of articles has helped. Prove the benefits (to yourself as well as to others) by making a difference in any way you can. Mother Teresa changed the lives of many people in Calcutta by first changing the life of one person, then another. Apply the principles in a way that your colleagues will understand and the confidence that starts to flow will be catching.

We humans are not natural embracers of change. With some honorable (and some masochistic) exceptions we tend to favor the continuation of the norm. We may be happy to introduce change to ourselves, but we don’t react well when others do it to us. Uncertainty is often the reason for this resistance, so any change catalyst has to be prepared for rejection and antipathy over a period of time. Uncertainty is temporary though if you work hard enough. Stick with the SCO message and the obstacles will get smaller.

If history tells us anything it is that mastering mindsets can be enormously powerful in effecting major shifts in thought and deed. We can also be sure that some pretty important things wouldn’t have happened if everyone had sat around waiting for someone else to start. What are you going to do to help bring in the Customer Age?