Sao Paulo, 120mile traffic jams (+kidnapping)…

Next time you are stuck on the M25 on the way to Cheshunt, spare a thought for your colleague KAMs in Brazil, where traffic jams of 120 -180 miles in Buenos Aires are routine, wjth the added threat of being kidnapped for those KAMs working for major suppliers..
Several years ago while running a workshop at local headquarters of a multinational client I was informed that my personal bodyguard was essential in order to avoid the inconvenience and cost ($50k) of having to pay my ransom in order to conduct the workshop without interruption.
However, the $50k was a mere trifle compared with what they would have had to pay to release their global chairman, who paid a surprise visit from Europe, transferred from the airport by helicopter, landed on the roof, and participated in the workshop for 30 minutes before flying back to Europe again, all before the local mafia discovered he was in the country!.

The secrecy left me only moments to add a couple of spontaneous pleas for more local-KAM empowerment, before attempting to continue the session as planned.
Nice to be appreciated, if only via the price of a ransom…

Delegating NAM responsibility?

                                                                                                                     pic: BBC
Westfield Stratford shopping centre was displaying huge banners welcoming visitors from all over the world for the Olympics. The Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) said the words were back to front and not joined up as they must be in Arabic.

The rail firm First Capital Connect made the same mistake when it sent posters to 13 stations printed in English and seven other languages intended to warn people not to leave items unattended.

Delegating to machine translation...
Luckily the computer-produced Arabic message was incomprehensible rather than rude but it does illustrate the problem of having to retain responsibility for the downside when delegation goes wrong, especially when the delegator is busy with the next fire…

NAM: Responsibility without Authority
Despite the progress in terms of tools and process, the NAM role still works best by taking full responsibility with very little designated authority...
While others await the completion of the definitive organisation chart and job description that acknowledge the status of Account Management, pro-active NAMs know that the job thrives on loose definition, with all necessary authority coming from a clear Account Strategy, agreed by CEO, and truck driver...

How it works in practice
This ‘job-box without walls’ allows the NAM to move persuasively at all levels, co-ordinating all key functions in both their own organisation and that of the customer.
Having to act without designated authority, the NAM is forced to use persuasion, in turn based on understanding, identifying and satisfying the job needs of each job-holder, and representing all desired output in terms of that colleague’s role optimisation, with unselfish allocation of genuine praise and credit.
This can be very frustrating for some NAMs given that ‘we are all working for the same xx company’, with the loosely defined NAM taking full overall responsibility for all to do with the customer, while colleagues apparently work within the comfort of their own clearly defined 9-5 boxes, especially in these unprecedented times....

Need a way out?
If this all becomes all too much, the frustrated NAM should try to squeeze in evening classes in Production, Finance or Marketing and transfer into one of these ‘safer’ jobs...
Meanwhile, pro-active NAMs who persist 24/7 in the ‘responsibility without authority’ route often find a soul-mate, not within their own company but rather in the role of the buyer, who in practice works in a mirror-image of the NAM role…

So perhaps some evening classes in buying might help?