Tip of tongue- Top of mind

“What leaders talk about will become what others think about”

-Nathan Jamail, Keynote Speaker, Bestselling Author

The Cycles We Get Stuck In

As leaders we often implement a new process or expectation, then we don’t talk about it for weeks or months- until the next annual planning session when leaders starts questioning the process/expectation and wonder why it failed. This problem is very common in business and if you have worked for any organization for a number of years – you most likely know exactly what I am taking about.  It can show up disguised as a few different things.

Cycle Disguises:

• “The power of new” (I coined this phrase in my 1st book “The Sales Leader’s Playbook”). This is when we get excited about a new process or idea and after a few days or weeks, the newness wears off and we no longer are doing it (it all of sudden isn’t an idea, but actual work and it falls to the sidelines). 
• “The BBP” (Bigger Better Plan).  The power of new then becomes an ongoing cycle of always looking for the next new idea or the “BBP”.    Because the previous new idea or system started to suspiciously feel like hard work, we look for the next idea or system that will be even better and reignite the excitement in us that we think will be instantly successful without the hard work.
• The “WSSB factor” (Write, Share, Store and Blow).  Another popular cycle we also get stuck in is the “write it, share it, store it and blow it”.   This is most common with annual business plans:  we write a business plan for the year, we might even share it with peers, bosses and employees- then we store it on the famous book shelf in our office and finally in 12 months we blow off the dust, update it a bit and start all over.

The good news is there is a simple process that leaders can do to fight these temptations and vicious ineffective cycles of poor leadership choices.

Introducing “TOT-TOM”

TOT-TOM (tip of tongue, top of mind) is key in keeping the leaders and teams focused on the goal/priority/system without the unproductive and distracting cycles that we discussed.  TOT-TOM is a top down leadership approach; meaning that the leader at the top will set the volume and consistency for this top of mind approach.  If the top leaders continuously ask and inspect their direct report leaders and those leaders continuously ask and inspect their direct report leaders and those leaders continuously ask and inspect their direct report employees- then the idea and expectation will continue to be top of mind.  But if the top leader does not talk about or inspect the process or expectation the next leader down will not either and so on and once again we find ourselves in a place of ‘it isn’t working so what else should we do” cycle. 

Critical component of TOT-TOM- the top leader sets the tone and inevitably determines the success rate based on communication and inspection.

A Familiar Story

Company XYZ spends tens of thousands of dollars on a new CRM tool.  This tool allows sales reps to create and implement a complete sales plan from pipeline management, customer contacts and notes, sales call plans and sales results.  This CRM also has the ability for the Sales Manager to assist and see the sales team’s activities, pipeline and successes, giving them the data they need to coach their sales people.  This same CRM is a great tool for the director to discuss with the Sales Managers on how they are coaching their sales people. Lastly the VP’s could use the data and results of the CRM to make sure the Director was successfully doing this job (you fill in the titles that work for your business- the concept is the same). 

The Reality

After 12 months the President looks at the data of the CRM and finds out the usage is at less than 50% and the data in the CRM shows that the salespeople are doing the wrong things and skipping the most important activities.  Sound familiar?  The President asks the VP’s why this is happening, the VP’s go ask their directors and so on- and the response is one that falls into one of the cycles:

Power of New: “It worked well at first but doesn’t have everything we need for our organization exactly”

BBP: “Maybe we should find and hire someone to build a CRM that is specific just for us?”

WSSB: “Let’s put together a plan that we can implement instead and visit about it at our next session”.

  The real issue here is TOT-TOM. 

Solution

If the President , from launch day, would have discussed the CRM data during weekly one on one sessions and had daily conversations regarding the system and what they were noticing in the reports as it was occurring with the VP’s-  then the VP’s would be talking to their directors and inspecting activities of their teams and so on.    The more it is talked about and inspected, the more everyone would use it and adapt it to their culture, their role and to their effective sales strategy process.

As leaders we must own the responsibility of not just walking the walk, but continuously “talking” about the expectations and plans we want our people to think about and focus on.

Final Thought

Tip of tongue – top of mind is a simple concept, similar to all the other great nuggets and cool quotes- but like those little nuggets and cool quotes they work if we believe and implement them consistently.  Test this theory; identify a specific activity your employees can implement and from top to bottom discuss and inspect it daily and in 60 days see if the activity and expectation are not just still present- but are actually stronger and prevalent than day 1.