The Idea: Our most recent Elevation Forum with Walmart emphasized a simple truth: winning organizations embrace creative tension, and often little advancements (not big ideas) create the largest breakthroughs. Routine execution and measured resource deployment is as crucial to success as big risks.  The Forum focused on leading in a world of paradox – that big ideas can be great, but so can the little ones.

The centerpiece of the Elevation Forum conference featured VP of OTC merchandising Annie Walker.   Walker and five members of her buying team spoke to the forum members for over two hours on the characteristics of optimal retailer/supplier engagements. The panel honestly shared their thoughts on the hidden roadblocks and attributes of a special supplier/manufacturer relationship and how, in many cases, they grew profitably together.  Here are the top ideas shared:

  1. If you are 95 percent in stock, it is still unacceptable to have 500 of the best outlets out of stock.

  2. With regards to price, they don’t want to hear “the consumer will pay it.”  Rather, they want to hear what should she pay for it?”

  3. The goal is to leave money on the table, creating consumer savings.  How are you at helping them bolster their “Live Better” Promise?

  4. Are you sharing what’s changing in the outside world that will affect everyone’s business?

  5. Eighty percent of appointments are not useful.  Are your presentation topics broad & relevant or are you conducting useless meetings?

Walmart’s Walker shared that the best relationships “start with a YES mentality, taking problems head-on, and evaluating opportunities from multiple data perspectives.” Studies showed that companies who embraced internal debates, and offered a devil’s advocate perspective, generated forty-eight percent more solutions (or options) to problems. Internal critics help you stay self-aware and grounded in reality.

The Walmart team also shined a light on a number of blind spots that many companies struggle with, blind spots that minimize their overall impact and effectiveness with the retailer. The teams that win with Walmart reduce groupthink and conformity of thinking within their ranks. Members of the buying team challenged the audience to broaden their scope of thinking, improve the relevance of each face-to-face engagement (by cutting fat from longer, tiresome presentations), and to take the time to examine the implications of emerging unmeasured channels of distribution.

The forum focused on organizational effectiveness, and tackling the paradoxes of decision-making with a focused team; distractions in the workplace devour over two hours per day.  Creativity specialist Todd Henry’s work on organizational effectiveness (F.A.T.E.) became increasingly important:

  1. Focus: What one thing truly matters today?

  2. Assets: What assets are being wasted or underutilized?

  3. Time: What activities are killing your team’s productivity.

  4. Energy: What sacred cows or people are wasting your energy?

Here’s a thought to consider: “Most companies experience a growth stall (or loose a step), but the winners are always relearning, challenging norms and embracing paradox. They have a belief that two seemingly conflicting views (or strategies) can co-exist at the same time. You can be both agile and disciplined; creative and action-oriented; or vulnerable yet direct in communications. The very best are open to self-assessment and changing models.”

The next Elevation Forum event will be in April 2017 in Arizona.   Drop me a note if interested.