After some weeks of no blogging, I found again some time to write.

These last 2 weeks were weeks of internal communications - roadshows we called it. I visited our locations (Hoeilaart, Gosselies, Luxemburg, Athens, London) to share some latest news about the company, our results and our plans and discuss face-to-face with our staff.

The quality of the interactions was refreshing and leads me to think about new initiatives or actions. Most agree that we are progressing well with our transformation towards an even more dynamic and business-oriented organisation that balances well our customers' and staff's interests as aspired in our mission statement.

We now have to work on our productivity: getting the results of our efforts by capturing the opprtunities in the market as a united team. We will just do it!

Chris

It has been a busy week. Many interesting customer situations and opportunities were handled. With positive result!

Again, with the right attitude and team work, things progress. As some say: “what does not kill you, makes you stronger”, I prefer to say “The difficulties - or challenges for that matter - of life are intended to make us better, not bitter.”

I am going to hook off for a week taking some fresh air. Looking forward to talking to you in a week.

Take care,

Chris

Programming has been a long time for me. The old days of Fortran and Pascal. Now that I have been active in our delivery for fun this time this little thing.

class trasys{
public static void main (string args[]){
system.out.println (“We get IT done? You too?”);
}
}

Take care,

Chris

Confronting challenges and change takes courage.

Courage to recognise the starting point, courage to see the complications of the way forward and courage to build and implement the solutions. It is an integral part of leadership. Courage, and for that matter leadership, is not linked to a level in an organisation. Every individual in his or her environment has room to show courage and leadership.

At Trasys, we take on difficult things. We are courageous.

Chris

One of the speakers I had to privilege to listen to and have liked most, is Ben Zander.

Actually Zander is a musician who became teacher and conductor. He co-authored the book “The Art of Possibility” with his wife, a psychotherapist. It provides an interesting perspective on transforming one’s professional and personal life by awakening awareness of own capabilities and capabilities of others. Transforming others requires in many cases transforming oneself, looking at things from a different angle, a positive angle, an angle of possibilities rather than mismatching.

For me, it continues to be source of inspiration. Have a look.

Take care,

Chris

Cooking is one of my hobbies. Simple dishes with what I can find in our fridge. Unless I try I do not really know whether the dish works. Yes, relying on previous experience, experience of others or recipes will reduce the risk of failure. In any case, for me the ultimate gratification comes from a tangible, successful outcome. It also provides a necessary feedback loop, allowing me to correct or finetune. Food for thought for those that need to try out new ways of working.

It reminded me of the proverb “the proof of the pudding is in the eating” which has this sense of “test”. The proverb literally says that you won’t know whether food has been cooked properly until you try it. Or, putting it figuratively, don’t assume that something is in order or believe what you are told, but judge the matter by testing it. It’s much the same philosophy as in “seeing is believing” and “actions speak louder than words”. Then also, there is factual information to feed back.

Best,

Chris

We wrapped up our customer satisfaction survey of end of last year. Customer satisfaction has a lot to do with setting and meeting expectations. So to draw meaningful results, one needs to be thorough in measuring. And we were. Our results are pretty good. We interviewed 15% of our customers. Most inspiring was our customers’ commitment during the survey and the valuable feedback. We based our survey on research that indicates key drivers of customer satisfaction for services businesses. We measured our customers’ appreciation of their relevance and how we scored on them relative to competition:

Understanding: listening, understanding and anticipating the customer’s needs and expectations;

Effectiveness: delivering services and solutions that bring the agreed upon deliverables/ benefits for the Customer;

Efficiency: delivering good value for the agreed upon budget;

Timeliness: delivering services and solutions meeting the agreed upon milestones;

Creativity: delivering innovative services and solutions;

Responsiveness: responding to the customer’s requests, adapting and solving potential issues;

Communication: keeping the customer informed on the progress and issues in a trust-based relationship;

Ease of contact: being approachable, easy to contact, polite and respectful.

Not surprisingly, our customers find “understanding”, “effectiveness” and “efficiency” the most important drivers. We outperformed competition on all dimensions, and should be very happy about the results and grateful to our customers for the trust.

Nevertheless, like I always say, “one is as good as one’s last project”, going forward we need to keep up the good work.

Best,

Chris

We had an intensive start of the year. Apart from already interesting deals coming in, we held our New Year’s drink for our staff this week. The evening started with a fun, interesting and enthusing speech by Peter Hinssen; look at Blackberry’s commercial against Apple and Apple’s response, he used. He conveyed in an engaging way the world’s IT evolution over the past decades and the way business and IT are and will be fusing going forward. IT is driving change in our society and continues to do so. One of his points was that this will also require a continuous change in attitude of IT professionals. As a company, we are aligning to that. I underscored the point in my speech by showing a little film fragment of “The Matrix”. We chose to take the “red pill” and to discover and materialise the vast potential of ourselves individually and of Trasys collectively.

This week, we launched our sales activities as well during a half-day kick-off with the management team. It was a dynamic and very interactive afternoon where we reviewed our performance of last year and discussed our plans for the coming year. Two customers were invited to speak during diner, sharing their challenges and what it means for companies like us. Interesting and always very revealing to listen a customer explain.

So, we got going. It promises to be quite a year….

Best,

Chris

First of all, I wish you a very happy and successful 2010! In particular, I wish you health – a condition sine qua non.

My vacation was busy (I moved) but refreshing as I got to do things I do not regularly do. Let me spare you the details, you would not like to know... I hope your vacation was refreshing too.

Last year came to an end, a new is about to start. Although the closing is not completed yet, my sense is we had a good year taking into account the difficult conditions. We withstood well the challenges and I feel we are well-prepared for 2010. With the commitment and professionalism of our staff, I am sure we can start reaping the benefits of our past initiatives.

Take care,

Chris

I just came back from Athens concluding our traditional roadshows.

These are end-of-year presentations to our staff in every of our locations. I shared this year “where we are” that is how we progressed against our plan for 2009, “where we go to” that is what are plans are for the coming three years, “what we do” that is our management agenda for 2010.

As always it was exciting to meet our people and discuss various topics, but also to see the diversity, breadth and depth of the organisation. I came back energised and confident about our abilities, the pockets of energy, the expertise…

On another note, also today, we submitted the tender documents for ESP DESIS II, a large framework contract for the European Commission. It was a massive effort with many partners and many people involved. Let’s cross fingers. It is a big deal.

Now time to enjoy the Christmas holidays

Chris

Great week. Pretty busy but each time engaging and fun. In between, current affairs, customer interactions,… Some of my highlights...

Monday, I had a lunch session with colleagues CEOs on the market and its challenges. All face similar challenges in terms of market, price evolution etc. My conclusion: everyone suffers, but we are withstanding well and doing the right things.

Tuesday, we discussed our long term planning. Exciting initiative with a clear commitment of parties concerned to make profitable growth happen. My conclusion: there is a lot of upside for us, our starting position is quite favourable and we commit to ‘get it done’.

Wednesday, I participated in a memorable panel discussion with my brother Marc – ex-coach of Kim Clijsters – animated by Freek Braeckman – anchor of the VRT news. We talked about manager and coach. My conclusion: you need tension to have a current flow, but the matter is to tweak the tension and arrange as such that the resistance to change is minimal and excitement to change is maximal… One cannot change what one does not acknowledge.

Thursday, I presided our monthly workers council meeting. Always great to interact with the representatives of our staff, share information and discuss how we can improve. My conclusion: a strong team is hard to beat.

Friday, blog day… and, in a while, Saint-Nicolas weekend.

Enjoy,

Chris

I sense an increasing excitement in the economy. People expect the market to revive.

I would however call for caution. Governments are not going to be able to keep up with investing in the economy. The question is whether the economy will be sufficiently strong to continue autonomously. If not, unemployment will increase and consumption will decrease leading to more pressure on companies. Nevertheless, any positive sign should stimulate us.

More action, more results. Exciting!

Chris

This week I saw a quote on a wall that caught my attention: "big enough to cope, small enough to care".

That's very much how I think about us and about our distinctiveness. We are big enough to take on challenging things. However, it is not just size that matters but profitablity.

"Profitability is the best marketing tool", told me another CEO one day and he is right. People want to work for a successful company and customers want to be served by a successful company.

The other thing that matters is "care". Customer service is at our heart. Customers are our lifelihood and our reason of existence.

Take care,

Chris

We are moving into the end of year sprint. It is a time of many things to do to close off this year and to prepare for next year. Exciting but busy! It is also the time to look back at achievements of the past year. Exciting and rewarding! We have continued to respond well to our customers’ needs and to serve them to our best abilities. Our professionals have been engaged in great assignments, accomplishing impact and success for our customers. Let’s keep sprinting… I am looking forward to the end of year results and to our plans for years to come!

Chris

Yesterday, I experienced a stellar example of what we are able to accomplish and how we are able to work together. It was really fantastic!

We had to finalise an offer for a very interesting but challenging application development for a Flemish Agency. All parts of Trasys were engaged:

1. we had our consultants do an excellent job on analysing the request and building on previous experiences;
2. our responsible of application development personally committed time and ensured we had other experts cross-check estimations;
3. the pre-sales department did a great job in keeping everybody in line and producing the right content;
4. our most senior sector colleague – and also myself – were actively involved to make our offer compelling and match the customer request.

And I probably forget some other people who contributed.

Well, I can say it is exciting to notice we get IT done! Something like this every week – I should say every day –- and the buzz is going to be unstoppable!

Take care,

Chris

Customers are looking at value in different ways.

Value is a relative and subjective concept. Someone can find value in availability, someone else in expertise and still another one in advise. Notwithstanding that, in the end, value is expressed in a commercial context as the what a customer is willing to pay beyond the cost of the inputs required to deliver that value.

Therefore, it is clear that for some services, for example, customers attach a greater value than for some other services. In many cases, it is even required to provide a mix and, again, customers attach value to that as well. That is where the concept “one-stop-shopping” is based on. Again, these last days, in many interactions with customers I have noticed the relativity and subjectivity of value. It is our role to find out what customers value and to target those customers where we can deliver value they appreciate. And when we do, there is a win-win. We are becoming more focussed and increasingly good at this.

Let me know whether my blogs are of “value” to you. Not worth your money as there is no money involved, but worth your time. “Time is money” anyway. :-)

All the best,

Chris

In many circumstances, we as individuals or as a company are confronted with opportunities.

Opportunities can be challenges or the other way around, however you want to see it. Such circumstances in many cases require leadership to address them.

Leadership can be defined or described as the “Process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”. A definition more inclusive of followers is "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen.”

Honestly, I like the latter one. It is about creating followership. The ingredients of leadership can be discussed, but I have always appreciated the EPICC model that has five components:

1. Entrepreneurship: defining and taking initiatives, undertaking a venture
2. Problem solving: pushing the efforts that will define the way to go, the resolution
3. Integrity: having a sense of honesty and truthfulness
4. Conviction: exemplifying conviction about where to go, about one’s venture
5. Courage: being able to take tough decisions, to confront the challenges.

Leadership happens at all levels, in all circumstances, in private and professional life. It is a not a characteristic defined by nature of relationship (employee-employer, seller-buyer, …) but rather by the nature of intrinsic ability of individuals. It is a characteristic that can be found in anyone: colleagues, customers, family, … Parts of it can be learned, parts of it are innate.

Think about Gandhi, a remarkable leader! Think about the neighbour who initiates and orchestrates a street party! Leadership happens and can happen anywhere and in any situation.

Enjoy the weekend!

Chris

This week, I got in contact again with the concept of ‘creative cause’. It describes that we can see meaning and grow from challenges that stretch or block us. It argues that we attract what we aspire, that there is always a reason why things happen and that there is something to learn from what happens. It teaches how you should turn an ‘upset’ – something that is disturbing – in a “set up” – something to grow from or move on with. A few quotes capture the essence:

“We attract experiences to us
that allow us to become conscious
of limited or restricted aspects of ourselves
in order to transform.”
Carl Jung

"Between stimulus and response, there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
Viktor Frankl

As a professor in psychiatry and survivor of the concentration camps, Frankl wrote a very interesting book on Man’s Search for Meaning. Recommended reading.

Every troubled situation has something “good” or “for the better” in it…

Best,

Chris

It looks like we have a couple of solid leads for very interesting projects and a number of great wins over the last weeks. I would not say the market is picking up yet, but I notice signs that customers see light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s hope that light is not a train coming at us :-)

All jokes apart, the environment is still shaky. There is not yet a clear trend and market observers have diverging opinions. Is this a temporary uplift or a fundamental inflection towards an upward trend? In any case, customers value a direct and honest approach, commitment to their success and actions in their best interest. So doing, we can create the end of the tunnel ourselves!

Best,

Chris

The first of September always is a special moment. Vacations are over, children back to school, … it marks a new beginning.

Also in business we notice the difference. Customers are back, business picks up again. It is also a moment when I typically start thinking about initiatives to be launched in the last part of the year. A quick check in Wikipedia taught me that the first of September is the 244th day of the year. It also means there are 121 days remaining until the end of the year. So 1/3 to go.

With batteries recharged and energy refreshed, I am looking forward to see how we will end the year and launch ourselves in the new one, 2010. Already...

Best,

Chris

Thinking about organisational quality, I remember a framework used during my old days as a consultant. While maybe not necessarily prescriptive, it allows to diagnose and structure reflections on organisation. I would even argue that it can be extended to diagnose and structure reflections on relational quality, in particular in terms of commercial relationships.

The framework postulates that good organisations – or thus also commercial relationships in my extrapolation – are built on three qualities:

1) the quality of direction: to what extent is the organisation or relationship built on a longer term goal that is sufficiently well articulated and to which a clear path is outlined,

2) the quality of interaction: to what extent do people in the organisation or does the relationship allow for interactions that are open, constructive, bi-directional and adding value,

3) the quality of renewal: to what extent is the organisation or the relationship able to question and rethink itself, to come up with new and better ways of working

In hindsight, that is what externally our people are attempting when interacting with customers and what internally we as an organisation are trying to achieve amongst ourselves. I clearly see the positive effects of our efforts and notice continuously improving quality on those dimensions, either externally or internally. It bears fruit!

Best,

Chris

No business without customers. I am sure you don’t need convincing.

Therefore, this week we started a process of reviewing the status of our sales activities and the actions to take until the end of the year. Each of our sectors pilots a meeting where these topics are reviewed and discussed. So doing, we reinforce rigour in our sales process and cater all our people around our business. Quite interesting and exciting.

There is still a lot of business to be done while times are tough. No doubt. Those meetings reveal that success is directly proportional to having the basics right, making sure to addressing our customers’ needs. They also reveal that we find ways to help our customers through these difficult times, ensuring their core IT helps their business. I am looking forward to the upcoming reviews and meeting customers!

Best,

Chris

I did not really progress with Collins’ book “Good to great”. Getting back up to speed after my vacation has been my prime concern combined with some urgencies that came up. As always. That’s life.

We have had some interesting internal discussions on the market outlook and evolution. Nothing I can reveal, you will understand, but we remain with a positive feeling of a surmountable challenge. As I mentioned, these are good times to (re)think. Having had lunch with a colleague CEO, he confirms to face very much the same challenges. We are not alone…

Chris

I mentioned in my previous blog that I was reading the “Good to great” book.

Honestly, my holidays were too active for much reading. In any case, I struggled through the beginning of the book. Collins and his team collected a huge amount of data on company performance trying to figure out what factors distinguished transformation from good to great – those companies that made the leap from good results to great results after a transition point and reached those results for at least 15 years.

He conceptualised the transformation as a process of build-up followed by breakthrough. The process can be broken down in three consecutive stages: (1) disciplined people, (2) disciplined thought, and (3) disciplined action. Interestingly, it starts with people! Their leadership and the right people in the right seats. Logical, but true. That’s also why I insist on investing in HR although it takes time to bear fruit. The right people are the most important asset a company has.

Enjoy the weekend,

Chris

I am enjoying some time off with the family. Sun, sea, sports, reading, foods & drinks. It allows me to recharge the batteries and to reflect. Refreshing!

I am reading this book “Good to great” authored by Jim Collins. Quite interesting. I will come back later on what he has to say. In any case, he has nice one-liners – they simplify but illustrate the core of an idea. Two for the road:

“whether you prevail or fail depends more on what you do to yourself than on what the world does to you”

“greatness is not primarily a function of circumstance; but largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline”

I hope you are having a enjoyable and great vacation as well!

See you,

Chris

It should be said. We won a couple of very interesting framework contracts! Great stuff! This is encouraging because, with the overall contracted market and thus less deals, competition has intensified. Also, the sales cycles become longer and it has become much tougher to win deals. This affects all players. By consequence, all players have been and are taking measures accordingly.

Fortunately, based our market position and approach, customers continue to entrust us with key missions. They value our understanding and commitment, our expertise and insight, our answers and results. The challenge for many players in the industry will be to endure and persist, and to prepare for the market picking up. Signals remain still mixed. Therefore, patience and hard work are required.

Best,

Chris

As I explained in my previous blog, I have noticed in dealing with other organisations that some of those organisations or rather some people in those organisations take obligations or commitments lightly. And in some cases, Trasys was a victim of that. Regrettable but a fact of life, unfortunately.

Fortunately, at Trasys, we do not take our obligations or commitment lightly. Quite on the contrary. We get IT done. We do what is needed to deliver. As I wrote last time, our people are well intentioned, do right, ... and thereby inspire, energise and excite others. We live by our values, guiding principles and mission statement. These are an important part of how we look at our people and what we stand for.

For sure, in these difficult times, some organisations start walking the borderline. Not Trasys. We keep business ethics high. Our belief is that when we do the right things and spend the right effort, results will follow. And they do.

Best,

Chris

In all societies, where people live and interact, one can experience many types of behaviour. It can be exciting but also a source of trouble. That's life. Variety of background, education, experience feeds diversity and differences.

Nevertheless, when dealing with some organisations, I wonder sometimes where people's heads are. Or rather hearts. How can some people look into the mirror (see my blogs of November 29th and December 14th 2008) or in the eyes of a significant other person and say 'another great day at the office' after knowingly and unrightfully escaping legal or contractual obligations, not meeting commitments.

At lesser scale but not less relevant, with respect to moral obligations everyone can ask oneself whether one did all one could, did not free ride the system, was 'good' to others, was worth the salary.

Little conscious and weak values, I guess. Cognitive dissonance discarded because what story does one need to tell oneself to believe in the just cause of such behaviour.

Fortunately, in my experience, such behaviour at Trasys is not the rule. Most colleagues are well intentioned, do right, excell in doing their job... and thereby inspire, energise and excite others.

That's the environment we can create or contribute to!

Chris

Again an exciting week. I met with some customers and probed for customer satisfaction. Trasys came out great ! Customers value our commitment and can-do attitude. It proves that our efforts render results.

However, many people often mistake one for the other; effort without a result (after some time at least) is in vain. When we studied, we found it normal to obtain results after our study efforts. I am sure our studying children have not changed perspectives in that regard. In company or business life it should not be different : in the end, results are what counts.

For those going on holiday : enjoy !

Chris

This week I was invited by the Belgian Insead Alumni to listen to an interesting panel discussion between Carlos Rodriguez (ex-coach Justine Henin) and Carlos Brito (CEO Inbev) on “Passion to win”.

A few take-aways were relevant to me for the way customers look at the behaviour of providers, employers look at the behaviour of employees. Both claimed that passion is not equal to fun. Fun is what you have on the beach with your kids, passion is the drive to aspire something and is in almost all cases hard and painful, but therefore not less satisfactory.

They continued that passionate people feel ownership – they are relentless and take care – and that ownership is the difference one feels when driving one’s own car as compared to a rental car or a company car… Interesting.

Also this week, I talked to a few partners and customers. Surprisingly, while many confirm how difficult times are, they continue to argue there is still quite some business to do. As per above, they also claim that there is a significant correlation between conviction, passion, pro-activity, relentlessness, and winning contracts. I guess the message is clear. Now, we just have to do it.

Chris

Market (2)

I have been spending quite some time out of the office this week, talking to customers, partners, candidates. Always refreshing and interesting. Again, I take away there is still a lot of opportunity and a lot of willingness to collaborate.

Yet, I also believe many make their life more difficult than needed, create impossible contractual terms, stick to dogmas, do not clarify expectations. Taking away unnecessary emotions, adopting reasonable and factual sense helps in many cases create a win-win situation.

Enjoy the weekend, good weather has been announced!

Chris

With the stockmarkets slightly improved, some observers believe the economy is gradually starting to get out of the slump. Nevertheless, questions remain: is this a temporarily uplift due to inventory replenishment, to substantiated (or not) optimism, to the extraordinary efforts of the US government to restore their economy or to still other things ?

Well, your guess is as good as mine, nobody knows but the fundamentals remain weak so prudence is warranted.

When I talk to customers, I hear the same reasoning and, even worse, many had to take incisive measures to ensure survival. Imagine seeing demand drop with 40%! The nature, amount and ease of the opportunities how companies like ours can help customers has dramatically shifted.

For companies with the right attitude and proactiveness there is still opportunity... That's what customers tell me.

Chris

From our first four months results it is clear that, despite the difficult economic climate, it pays off when we continue to be proactive, persistant and work hard. And if not paying off in the short term, definitely in the long term.

We announced the renewed evaluation system to the staff. It focuses on performance - what one has been achieved - and on competence - what one is able to.

This new evaluation system favours and motivates amongst other for such proactive, persistant and hard working behaviour. And there is still business opportunity out there. We need to go and get it and that's up to all of us.

It is all about the right behaviour of people.

Chris

I received interesting feedback on my last blog. Some electricity-savvy readers remarked that resistors can absorb only a defined amount of energy. Right! Next to Ohm's law, there is Joule's law. Too much current due to too much tension and the resistor burns...

I was thinking: if the resistance is reduced, one does not need to put so much tension for the same current to flow. Also, the question is the power rating of the resistor. The higher, the more current the resistor can tolerate. I believe we are far from excessive tension. And I believe we can do even more and even better. Ask to and compare with people in other companies.

We have everything to be very very successful. It depends on ourselves, our destiny is in our hands ...

Chris

Driving over to work this week, I listened to Queen's song Under pressure, one of my favourite bands.

It reminded me of the headlines of the interview I had some weeks ago with my brother Marc for Datanews (published in Dutch and in French).

We discussed the parallels between business and sport for which I used the one-liner "for current to flow, one needs to put tension on the system". At least one thing I remembered from electricity and Ohm's law !

In any case, it is meant very positively and for the better. As a sportscoach knows advancing and improving requires training, dixit putting tension on the athlete to become better or in sportsjargon "no pain, no gain", also business leaders have been doing the same for years. Business literature is filled with initiatives companies can take to advance and improve themselves. Studying is de facto the same thing, as every student could testify. The art is to apply the right tension, at the right time and at the right place for an optimal outcome. A lot has to do with will power and ambition.

Best,

Chris

First of all, thank you. Many read this blog and in some way or another react, give me feedback. And that is what I would like to write about today.

Last Friday, the executive committee spent time discussing the importance and value of feedback for us as individuals, for us as a team, for us as an organisation. Negative but also positive feedback. At times, a candid, honest but tough conversation can do wonders. On the other hand, many underestimate the power of recognising, of congratulating, of appreciating others for what they have done or achieved. By the way, the employee survey we held recently was an important instrument of feedback we used to that end.

Organisations can be described in their quality of direction (do we know where we are heading?), quality of renewal (do we rethink and improve ourselves?) and quality of interaction (do we have value adding dialogues?). It is on the latter that we worked, starting with ourselves. The better people interact, the more fluid an organisation runs. For me this means feeding back as well as understanding other points of view. And, with the saying "change the world, start with yourself" in mind, that's what I am going to start with myself.

Regards,

Chris

With the impact of the economic crisis rippling through to all corners of the economy, I really wonder whether people realise the importance of professionalism and performance, of flexibility and responsiveness, of action and speed!

Without these qualities, one can be sure to be hit harder than with those qualities. In management, lingo bingo refers to 'sense of urgency'. Urgency should fuel the application of these qualities. Every single individual can contribute to success and commit to give one's best.

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will." as Gandhi said.

Regards,

Chris

"Speed is of the essence", as one of my colleagues argues. I cannot agree more. In a time where technology allows instantaneous and ubiquitous communication, one needs to act fast. In many cases, people like to have everything buttoned up, perfectly analysed, looked from all possible angles, etc. before moving ahead.

Well, that is not needed in many cases. Pareto already showed that “80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes”. Hence, you don’t need to know some or all details to take good decisions. In the spirit of my colleague, I would add to this: "it is better to be 80% right but fast and on time, than 100% right and too late".


Happy Eastern,

Chris

I read a funny passage about the importance of sense of humour and lightening up. Indeed, it is important in professional life. It attracts others and makes people more comfortable.

The story goes about a boss sending an executive - let's say Joe - to a counsellor. This boss told the counsellor: “I’m on the brink of firing Joe, even if he thinks he should have been promoted. He does more about the business than anyone else. He is brilliant. But he never smiles and he’s indecisive. He depresses the hell out of everyone. When Joe walks down the hall, people jump into closets, run behind watercoolers, and dive under their desks to avoid getting infected with his gloom. He gets so preoccupied with the dark side of things that his decision making is stiffened. If he does not ease up, I am going to throw him off a cliff – before he makes me and everyone else want to jump.”

So ease up! It makes you more successful.

Best,

Chris

As I wrote in my first blog this year (Jan 18th - a new year), 2009 will be a year of challenges. A year where we will have to focus on performance, productivity and results. I added professionalism. The last things one needs in times of difficulty are overreaction, misplaced nervousness, panic and egocentricity. Quite on the contrary: it is in those times that strong guiding principles and deeply-rooted values can pull an organisation through. Watson would agree as you can read in my previous blogs on beliefs...

Performance and professionalism, also in the sense of each individual assuming his or her part of responsibility, will go a long way!

Counting on you, you can count on me!

Chris

Finally, some last words on beliefs from our friend Watson. His thesis is that an organisation, in order to survive and achieve success, must have a solid set of beliefs on which it premises all its policies and actions. We have them. Next, that the key success factor is faithful adherence to those policies. We are working hard on this and are improving every day. And finally, that to confront challenges of change, an organisation must be prepared to change everything about itself except those beliefs. We are adapting constantly but our guiding principles continue to stand.

So I could not endorse more because these are my convictions as well. Definitely for a professional services company like us. During our internal roadshows, I have been insisting on adherence, and with that on performance and professionalism of each of us. Those will bring us to a next level in achievement and will pull us through when we face difficult times.

We (will) get it done!

Best,

Chris

Further to my previous blog, Watson continues saying that the real difference between success and failure in a corporation can be brought back to the question of how well the organisation brings out the great energies and talents of its people. I cannot agree more.

If you look at my previous blogs, you will see. Great, lasting organisations get their resiliency from the power of their beliefs and the appeal these beliefs have for their people. Let me tell you that we are making great progress. Our roadshows of this week proved this with the great questions our staff asked that go to the heart of the issues, that are direct and that prove commitment. In the current economic climate, times are going to be tough but if we "operate as a united team", we can prevail!

Best,

Chris

Some days ago, one of our consultants came to see me and gave me a little book titled "A Business and Its Beliefs". First published in 1963 and authored by Thomas Watson Jr. - IBM's CEO and son of IBM's founder, it describes the importance of principles dixit beliefs for an organisation. Watson claimed these beliefs were "even more responsible for IBM's success than its technological and economic resources or its organisational structure, innovation and timing".

For IBM in those days they were:
1) respect for the individual,
2) customer service, and
3) excellence.

I was pleased because it proves people in our organisation find beliefs or guiding principles important too. I was also pleased because Watson's beliefs can be found back in ours :
1) putting our customers first,
2) seeking excellence and delivering value cost-effectively,
3) operating as a united team, and
4) committing to our people to realise their full potential (see our brochure - making a difference).

That is our approach to making a difference. Moreover, it proves basics really stand time!

Best,

Chris

In this period of economic difficulties, agility and speed are important. Quick actions and decisions are essential. Swift, intense, immediate communication is needed. One needs to be on the ball quickly.One has to stand ground and avoid to be ran over. Time is the essence, as one of our colleagues says. He is right. And time is money as well...

Enjoy the weekend,

Chris

In modern organisations and definitely in times of economical crisis, when one need to play short on the ball, enduring relationships and fast communications are paramount. Trust is an important ingredient of such productive relationships and communications.

Too often relationships and communications break down because we fail to trust the other. I observe too frequently how people and businesses miss opportunities because of this. At times we are prejudiced and stop giving the other credit. I believe there are four ingredients:

1. reliability: do you stick to commitments? are you on time? do you follow up? ...
2. acceptance: do you respect another's view? are you non-judgemental? do you allow mistakes? ...
3. congruence: do you walk your talk? are you sincere? do you not play games?... and
4. openess: are you clear on what you expect? are you straightforward? are you willing to hear what the other has to say? ...

These ingredients are simple and when applied, they improve our relationships and communications.

Have a go at them. Enjoy the week-end!

Chris

One of my mentors, a guru in the field of IT, taught me about the 7Ps that make all the difference and distinguish the good from the great in IT. Seven is a lot, but if you would know the individual, you would not be surprised. He has and had a lot to say about this business, so seven is ok.

Let me list them and allow you for some introspection:

. Passion for superior performance
. People of exceptional quality and motivation
. Persistence to optimal processes management
. Paranoia in marketing
. Proactiveness in customer orientation
. Partnerships with deep leverage
. Perspective with maximum adaptivity based on insight, foresight.

For our kick-off yesterday of our 2009 sales activities, we had invited external speakers, CIOs. It was a refreshing experience! A customer or potential customer telling you in plain language what they expect from companies like us. Much to many people's amazement, their recommendation was simple. In one word: LISTEN. It definitely fits the list above. If many of the P's are in place, listening is a second nature. The discussion we had that day, centered a lot around many, if not all, of these Ps. Unknowingly. It tells me that we are on a good track as an organisation.

Enjoy the week-end,

Chris

As the end of the year is approaching and the "best wishes" tsunami has started, I remember reading a very nice booklet called "The Happiness Equation". I would like to share the gist of it. Good time of the year to do this, I believe.

Based on an old Chinese saying, happiness can be deconstructed in three things: someone to love, something to do and something to hope for. I think there is a lot of truth in it. We all need love and hope in our lives. Freud already pointed out that mental health requires the ability to love and the ability to work. In two words:

Someone to love. For everyone to fill in ... but I am sure human beings need relatedness. Attachment and affiliation contribute to individual self-worth and self-esteem, and so feeling well.

Something to do. Work links a person to a community. It adds purpose, stimulates our senses. Being able to make a difference, to contribute make us feeling well.

Something to hope for. Hope - or alternatively dreams - is a vital source stimulating us to move ahead. It can be fragile and easily broken but we need it to feel well as well.

I found reflecting on the happiness equation is an interesting exercise. And the holidays - as always - are a good period of reflection. I hope the happiness equation will give you food for thought over the coming days.

I wish you a very healthy and HAPPY 2009!

Chris

I received quite some reactions to the 'mirror' blog which is very gratifying. It inspired me to write another one on the subject. Thoughts that came to my mind were other types of questions and its relation to EQ.

Some more questions. Do you feel you have given at least as much as you have taken? Does your contribution outweigh your cost? Is your output at least proportionate to the input? The philosophical undercurrent for each is one that in the long term and with patience one will always receive more that one has given.

One's ability for introspection has a lot to do with Emotional Intelligence (EQ). My strong belief is that EQ next to IQ is a differentiating competence in any business and services businesses especially. Goleman in his book 'Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ' (1996) makes strong arguments in support. Some essential traits for EQ are:

Self-awareness (Emotional Self-Awareness, Accurate, Self-Assessment and Self Confidence)
Self-management (Emotional Self-Control, Transparency, Trustworthiness,, Adaptability, Achievement Orientation, Initiative, Optimism, Conscientiousness)
Social awareness (Empathy, Organizational Awareness, Service Orientation)
Relationship management (Inspirational Leadership, Influence, Developing Others, Change Catalyst, Conflict Management, Building Bonds, Teamwork and Collaboration, Communication)

Keep looking in the mirror...

Best,
Chris

I remember a long time ago a manager talking to his people. It was in the context of underperformance and morale issues; people were moaning, demotivated, complaining, ... you can imagine the drill.

He observed that most people looked for reasons outside themselves to justify their behavior. As if the environment justified them not giving it all, not being productive, not moving ahead! I don't want to push the logic but so doing a thief could also justify his behavior - bad childhood, not been treated fairly, others had more chances, etc etc ... It boils down to ethics.

The manager recommended his people to look in the mirror before going to sleep and ask themselves whether they were proud of what they had achieved during the day. Ask themselves what their family or children would say. I think it is a nice "acid test", an interesting thought. I am sure - if people still have a conscience - this little daily introspection will increase people's self-awareness and improve their behavior.

Cheers! I am going to look in the mirror,

Chris

Over the course of the years, I have grown increasingly convinced that ‘what gets measured, gets done’. It induces behavior that leads to desired outcome. It clarifies what is expected. This ties directly with objective setting and obviously with the evaluation system. Critical for every results-oriented organisation. So one asks oneself what the desired outcome is, what one expects, in short what one calls success.

Designing an evaluation system starts at the top. If leaders don’t know what is expected, chances are slim their organization knows, let alone, delivers what is expected. The leadership model I am adhering to consists of four D’s or E’s :

1) Delivering results or ‘Execute’ : the leader’s ability to consistently execute and deliver on promises,
2) Driving initiatives and change or ‘Energy’ : the energy the leader brings to initiatives and to change or improvements,
3) Developing people or ‘Energize’ : the leader’s ability to energise and develop others,
4) Demonstrating spirit or ‘Ethics’ : the leader’s adherence to and propagation of the company’s fabric of values and ethics.

These four D’s or E’s should be wrapped in ‘PASSION’. One expects a leader to feel excited about and attracted to what he or she is doing or is trying to achieve. A leader has ownership, is committed and – proverbially speaking – feels sick when things go wrong.

Let me know what you think! Looking forward...
Best,
Chris

Partnerships, a great concept and of crucial importance in business, definitely in the IT industry. As the definition explains, a few elements need to be in place: 1) a contract or relationship, 2) a contribution, 3) a mutual goal, 4) the sharing of profits and of losses. This is applicable between consortia members, company-customer, employee-employer, manager-shareholder, …, you name it.

Time and time again I notice how difficult it is to create and sustain equitable partnerships, beneficial for both parties. In many instances, partners quickly forget the higher objective and revert to contractual clauses. Clauses need to be there, but avoiding fighting over them saves energy and time and serves - in many cases - the business purpose better.

Economically speaking, it is a nice subject in game theory. Psychologically speaking, creating a win-win requires the mental ability of sharing, cooperating, allowing others to have benefits as well. In other words, the ability to be happy and content with oneself independent from the wellbeing of others. Apparently, the human nature – self preservation, greed, jealousy, ... – works against this …

Best,
Chris

We met with our management team earlier this month with a pretty charged agenda. Typically, we talk about results but this time we included reports on progress and actions on various topics. Interesting stuff came out. Our challenges are clear.

In one of my comments during the meeting, I introduced a new measure. A measure by which I will monitor our progress. I called it ‘the buzz’. I explained that I won’t be satisfied until I feel the vibrations and hear the buzzing of the organisation when coming in office in the morning.

It is just a way of expressing my drive for ‘busy-ness’ and actions, fed by my hunger for performance and results ... My sense is the management team and my colleagues from the Executive Committee got the message and the medium is the message as Marshall McLuhan wrote in 1964. My year of birth, by the way. I hope to receive the message through the buzz…

Best,
Chris

I have been checking on what market research companies are predicting for 2009. Their forecasts are not that bad for the IT industry. Gartner had predicted IT budgets to grow with 3.3% in 2009. Now, they claim the most likely case is growth between 0 and 2.3% and worst case a negative growth of 2.5%. We need to be careful, that is for sure.

Why is that? Obvisously, these days IT has become essential for the day-to-day functioning of companies and organisations. It is at the core of every business. Moreover, efficiency and effectiveness improvements that many companies and organisations are implementing, are relying precisely on IT systems. So, there is a limit to what the leaders of such organisations are willing to cut but ROI needs to be there!

I am a believer of “managing against the cycle”, trying rather to benefit from downturns and to look at downturns as an opportunity. Not easy. For example, I expect the talent shortage we experienced the last year is going to relax. The job market will be more fluid. I have some thoughts about how to leverage that … We will see what we can do. It is going to be interesting.

C U next week,

Chris

We had a good week. We are having good hopes for some interesting contracts in our focal point: at the cross-road of business and IT. Once we have confirmation, I will let you know!

Also, this week we accelerated our business planning process. Given the economic turmoil, I guess we will need to put in extra thought. Fortunately, a large part of our business is covered by multi-annual framework contracts. That helps. Nevertheless, planning is fine but execution is even more important! It is my conviction that in IT operational excellence is essential across the whole value chain, at all stages and levels in the organisation. We are going to make a point of it. Obviously, we will track and monitor progress and take action accordingly when required! Deming still stands!

Best,
Chris

We had a smashing event last Friday with our personnel. About 300 people attended amongst which our shareholders. From the multiple reactions I received, I can tell everybody really liked it. A federating event around our renewed future. As warming-up Philippe Marque and I had invited Pierre Klees to give a speech on “Trasys and the evolution of the world”. Pierre’s perspectives had a lot of depth and I would recommend everyone to read his speech. Not surprisingly, the audience was particularly waiting for the announcement of our new identity …

Every organisation needs a clear, compelling and differentiating identity. We wanted an identity that radiates professionalism, rigor, “can do” and that is serene and more modern at the same time; an identity that expresses our ability to dialogue with and listen to the customer. An identity that expresses pride! I am sure that what we portrayed radiates all of this.

Not unimportantly, we also introduced our mission statement and guiding principles. Our mission is dual: “To ensure the continued success of our customers by linking business with IT and – at the same time – to build a profitable and attractive company able to develop and retain quality professionals.” We want to balance doing well on the outside (customers) while taking good care of the inside (people). And the other way around. It is yin and yang. No way we can serve customers well without the right professionals. We are a people business. Finally, as Cor Boonstra, former CEO of Philips said: “Profitability is the best marketing tool”. Everyone wants to be associated with success: a customer with a good supplier, and an employee with a good employer. And the other way around!

Our guiding principles are for another time but you can find them here. Back to work now. The end of the year is going to be busy!

Best,
Chris

It has been great to discover Trasys over the last 10 months since joining from McKinsey last January. Formidable to discover a company that works with such a wide variety of great customers, on very interesting topics, with fun and knowledgeable professionals.

But we don’t enjoy the recognition and image we deserve. Trasys, since its inception in 1981, has been a modest company that never talks about its fantastic realizations. So we need to change that. It is a shame not to let all those great talents out there not know how good we are and convince them to work with us. Also, I am sure we could add value to even more customers, only if they knew….

We are a company that “GETS IT DONE”. Many customers I talked to over the last months confirm this. Trasys is solid, rigorous, reliable. Trasys does what it needs to do, provides on-the-mark solutions and puts the customer first. We need to have that come out!

That’s why we have been working on a new image and a new website. We are transforming into what we really are! And we should reflect what we really are! I invite you to discover this change and our new website. I hope you agree and like it. Let me know,
Best,

Chris