Importance of becoming a shortcut, part 1

I was having a conversation with three of my friends and the topic of what we want people to say about us when we died came up.  My teacher friend said that he hoped that people would remember him as someone that made a difference in the lives of his students, and helped teach them to become great citizens of the globe and help make the world a better place. My judge friend hoped people remember her as someone who made a difference in the lives of women and children and helped to give them a voice.  (She’s a judge and was formerly the chief of the criminal division for the District Attorney’s Office, where she was responsible for prosecuting crimes against women, children, and the elderly.)

My third friend’s response; I hope they say, hey look he’s moving…..

Ok, so that was a joke I remember hearing somewhere, but I think it’s an interesting introduction into the topic i wanted to blog about today; The importance of becoming a shortcut.  In his book BE A SHORTCUT: The Secret Fast Track to Business Success (Wiley and Sons 2009), author Scott G. Halford explains that it is important for individuals to really focus and be good at a particular skill and therefore become a short cut or asset for those that they work with. This in fact is not only important on an individual level, but needs to transition across an entire organization. From individuals, to the teams, the company and in some cases across a corporation’s affiliates, everyone’s goals have to be similar in scope. Some companies are able to translate that into their brand’s slogan, i.e. Addida’s “nothing is impossible.” Other companies turn that into their vision.

For our company, Next Step Connections, our vision is to help students and young professionals towards reaching their career related aspirations. Whether it is from gaining experience through internships, building skills through workshops and events, learning entrepreneurship or assisting with assimilation into a foreign culture, our primary focus revolves around helping people find the right path to a successful professional career. Every team member at NSC is playing a role to help our participants find a way to improve their chances towards work related success. So on a personal level our intern placement manager’s goal is to find great company partners that will build meaningful internship opportunities for our internship candidates. While our program coordinators are on the ground, working face to face with each of our participants, helping with everything from orientation (ensure a smooth transition to this new and foreign culture) to leading monthly meetings (internship coaching sessions). Even our drivers who pick up participants at the air port, are important in delivering part of the customer experience and are aligned with our companies vision. Every individual in our organization is working to be a short cut to help our clients find their true career callings.

On page 66 of his book, Scott G. Halford writes “There are a lot of people who do a lot of things, but fewer people who do a few things exceptionally well. They are the masters. They are the ultimate shortcuts, because they are the ones we go to as our definitive resources in this world. That makes them worth a lot of money and gives them considerable influence.”  This not only makes sense for individuals, but also for organizations.  In order for companies to really succeed and thrive in this now global market, they have to really become great shortcuts for their clients.  For our company, that means we had to be careful with the number of products or services that we offered, even if they were in line with our companies vision.  Our core was and still is international internships, so we needed to make sure that we were the “master” professional program out there before we went out to build other offerings.   If your company seems to be struggling with a number of product offerings, maybe it’s time you got them to focus and become the premier shortcut in one offering first.