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How many times in business do you look for things to be alike – you look for complementary products to add to your range, you look for complementary employees to join your team and you look for complementary businesses to work with.

Many times this is a good solution – things that are similar feel familiar. They are like a pair of comfy slippers that are easy to put on and wear. But …

… sometimes familiar just doesn’t work. I was reading Under the Loupe Blog and Annette was talking about a lovely piece of jewellery she was making with warm gold tones and yet when it came to the clasp gold just didn’t work when she put it on, yet a silver clasp did. Her story triggered my thinking about similarities vs contrast.

Sometimes familiar means you are stuck in a rut and you don’t grow. In your team you need a balance of alike people as well as people with totally different viewpoints – that’s how creativity happens in a group. Thinking from divergent views means you get flashes of brilliance that wouldn’t come from people all being alike. Diversity in a workforce needs to be embraced and celebrated, not trodden on and forced into consistency.

In a business often it is the “left field” product lines that suddenly take off rather than the run of the mill. Who can forget all the trends of things like pet rocks, hula hoops, Bindeez (before we all realised that the dogs running around in circles after eating Bindeez had nothing to do just being happy). What are your left field product lines?

You also need some slightly left field alliance partners in your referral mix. Yes, businesses that are similar but not competing with you can be a great source of leads, but often totally different businesses can be an untapped oil field of referrals. I think that is why leads clubs such as BNI work so well – totally different businesses all wanting to give their customers a great result.

Today think about whether your business is “too” consistent – and whether or not you need some contrast to trigger new results.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff
Heart Harmony

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