A new book about innovation is structured around a central question, which the author (Michael Schrage) calls the Ask. The central question (and the title of the book): Who Do You Want Your Customers to Become?
An article on FastCompany.com today by Schrage takes a closer look at this question, noting that it is the ask that differentiates innovators and how they approach their customers. The point, in a nutshell:
Successful innovators don’t just ask customers and clients to do something different; they ask them to become someone different.
To illustrate, the author calls out some contemporary examples:
Facebook asks its users to become more open and sharing with their personal information, even if they might be less extroverted in real life. Amazon turned shoppers into information-rich consumers who could share real-time data and reviews, cross-check prices, and weigh algorithmic recommendations on their paths to online purchase. Who shops now without doing at least some digital comparisons of price and performance?
The author directs particular attention to Google, noting that Google's search technology effectively turned its users into both partners and collaborators, enabling the company to harness and act on their collective intelligence to deliver a better search experience. An investment in customer capabilities that ultimately produces benefits for the company and the customers. (And yes, I've read In The Plex
And so, I couldn't help but wonder...
What if we looked at employee rewards in this way? What if, instead of using rewards to drive employees to do things differently, we created plans that enticed them to become someone different - different in a way that would be beneficial to the employees themselves as well as the company?
Where might a mindshift like this take us? If we changed our "ask", would it impact the programs we design and put in place?
Just some Friday afternoon musings...
Creative Commons image "question mark" by marco belucci
Very interesting musings, Ann. I guess my one concern would be the extrinsic motivation (aka rewards) being a frontrunner in 'asking' employees to be something different. Of all things, it would seem that a shift in being would by and large be intrinsically motivated through things like autonomy and purpose (yes, a Pink reference), along with an underlying shift in culture - values, norms - to enable and sustain the mindshift. The rewards would need to align with the shift (and so in that sense, yes, the programs would likely look different), yet in my opinion the rewards should not be the driving force of the shift.
Posted by: Mercedes McBride-Walker | August 23, 2012 at 01:47 PM
Understanding and respecting your customers is key. There are a handful of companies that go out of their way to help their customers. However, when you do this you create a strong company and attract people who want to work for you. You attract great people to represent your vision. Nice job!
Posted by: Sandra | August 24, 2012 at 10:22 AM
That's a good and rather unusual approach to customers. I like it actually, it is a very interesting one.
Thank you for sharing your experience and providing new ideas!
Posted by: Fiona | September 03, 2012 at 07:49 AM