A Random Blog

I was lucky enough to stumble across “Polarity Management” as a concept in management and leadership.

Basically, it states that there are two types of issue we need to deal with:

1) Problems to be solved

2) Tensions to be managed (polarities)

With problems, there is a right answer (you may not know it but its there). e.g. Should I launch product version A or B? It’s an “either /or” problem. Do your analysis, make a call, move on.

With polarities, there is no right answer, but there will always be a tension to manage. e.g. Should we encourage planning or implementation? Both are important, and if you focus on one, you will fail. However, it can be tricky to get the balance right, and different people will have different balance points. As a leader, you need to manage these trade-offs.

The most interesting insight for me that was not to treat polarities as problems to be solved. They will always exist, and you need to shift to managing them. I’ve lost count of the amount of conversations I’ve been in that have treated polarities as problems; “Decentralization vs. Centralization”, “Change vs. Stability” & “Team vs. Individual”.

As a result I’m thinking about the following polarities:

- Aggressive vs. Conservative

- Perfect vs. “Good Enough”

- Staying the course (pushing through “the dip”) vs. adaptability (and cutting losses)

Any change initiative, such as becoming more analytic in decision-making, needs three components to be successful:

1) People – do the people have the right training, skills, background, experience, and incentives? Is the culture supportive?

2) Process – is there a clearly defined process that is repeatable and reliable?

3) Tools – does the technology support the initiative?

If one or more is missing, then your probably wasting your time…

When I start to think about a marketing strategy problem, one of my favourite tools is to think about the buying process a consumer uses to obtain the product.

For a simple product, it may be:

“Hmmm, I’m kind of hungry” – “There’s a candy bar” – “I’ll buy that”

Which is why good in-store placement and channel access is critical to selling candy bars.

On the other hand, a complex product, like a drug for a mild, chronic condition, things can get really involved:

- Patient notices symptoms

- Patient decides to go to doctor

- Doctor makes correct diagnosis

- Doctor decides to use medication

- Doctor prescribes drug

- Patient fills prescription

In this example, a poorly selling product could be due to many reasons, and understanding which reason is the key drivers makes all the difference.

If a patient nevers gets around to going to the doctor because they don’t realize there is a medication option, then patient education at the “top of the purchase funnel” is critical. Mass media channels maybe more appropriate. Maybe a TV ad with the words “Ask your doctor about…” or “There is a solution….”.

If the patient is showing up, but the doctor isn’t aware there is more effective treatment, then MD education becomes more important, and it’s better to hire sales reps rather than wasting money on TV ads.

The point is you have to know the purchase funnel for your product – map it out. Then you have to understand where the leverage points are (which steps have the most leakage?), then you can choose marketing or sales activities that directly address those stages.

The result will be higher ROI for your marketing dollars.

I was thinking what would be the perfect first post to kick things off? I was procrastinating, finding issues and problems with each idea. Nothing was perfect. Nothing good enough to be the first post.

Then I thought, screw it. The problem with that attitude is you never start anything. I’m a big believer in something 80% right, done immediately, is better than something 100% right, done at some distant point in the future.

Get in the game and learn as you go. It won’t be perfect, but it will be better than the alternative of watching from the sidelines….