We pride ourselves in our PowerPoint presentations to our clients monthly, quarterly and annually, pimping out how many things we did and how accurately we did them.
There is nothing better than that productivity and unitary cost line going in the right inverse directions, especially when you have cool 3-D effects and nice color schemes to match your client’s logo.
However, after a few of them, that is no longer enough to satisfy either of our needs.
At Cognet, we also pride ourselves in the real art of process improvement, but not just flow charts and graphs. We may pride ourselves in knowing the standard deviation of your payroll runs is 74 and that on every other Tuesday we need 10.28 bodies to run the show, but that doesn’t make our teams work harder together to make your customers insanely happy.
Enter slide seven on Communication and Culture.
We look to the process of being partners and try to point out in our governance sessions the things we can do better, and those are not limited to the Statement of Work. It is critical to have consistent communication and attention to detail when folding two unique and different cultures together. That is exponential when you consider the number of sub-cultures on both sides, in addition to the normal ones. It only makes them more important.
We are unafraid to say we suck at communication, and from start to finish may suggest a Newsletter or Update Board to ensure that everyone knows the score. There is nothing worse than the “big secret offshore project” to scare your employees, and poor communication is gas on that fire for sure.
We work with our partners to suggest new and innovative means to communicate effectively, from engagement to live production years later, it is paramount to keep talking.
Culture can’t be ignored either. We recently invited a long-term client to come to India, who had never been. And even though they thought they understood the differences, they didn’t. That visit has opened new processes and tool sets, just based on understanding the other side of the world a little better. You think your traffic is bad, just come on over and drive on the left side for a while and you may change your perception of the daily commute.
We are different, and the little things can’t go ignored. We constantly guide our partners down a path to go global and know what that actually means, and how to best integrate that experience into their companies and lives.
Who says governance can’t be fun?
If you are interested in bringing documentation, measurement and process improvement into your company without hiring another person, call us today.