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You walk into your staff meeting thrilled and excited with the new direction of the business. You describe the direction with conviction and passion. You expect your team to be on their feet when you're done, as excited and ready-to-go as you are.
Instead, you're faced with 14 unimpressed, unmoved and unexcited faces.
Don was the CEO of an electrical design and contracting company. The business was already profitable. It had gained market share rapidly during its five year existence.
Last year, Don realized that he could offer an entirely new service using existing resources. He launched a computer cabling service by adding only a manager and a cabling system technical team. The rest of the resources were already in place within the company.
When he introduced the concept, he expected excitement and more ideas on how to expand the new service. Instead, he got skepticism, irritation, even boredom from his managers.
The team had always come through for him before. Would they again? |
Leaders who set new direction in a vacuum miss out on the input, vision and creativity of their teams and risk demoralizing talented people and missed opportunities with clients.
Don did things his way and watched a 25% decline in gross margin.
Once he included his leadership team in the planning and the vision, they turned the losses around in six short months.
Their return on investment was $400,000 or
708%
Run the numbers |
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PowerStep Small steps for today that power big change
The next time you are faced with an unexpected negative result, don't think about blame- start with yourself, and discover what you could have done differently. Then learn from the negative experience.
Lynn was in charge of a small advertising firm. As part of a Grand Opening initiative, Lynn's client wanted flyers distributed to every home within a 5-mile radius. Concerned about the store's image, Lynn emphasized to the contractor that the flyers must be hung neatly and uniformly at every home, and never placed in mailboxes.
Imagine her shock when she drove through the neighborhood and found the flyers neatly displayed at every home, hanging from the garbage cans that had been placed at the curb for pickup!
The easy reaction is to blame the contractor for the terrible execution, fire him and think "lesson learned - bad contractor." The PowerStep reaction is to think "lesson learned - my instructions were bad. They focused on what NOT to do, instead of what TO do. Next time, I'll tell the contractor to hang the flyers on the mailboxes, neatly and uniformly". |
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Can "A Players" Save the Day?
The methods of Jack Welch (former CEO of GE) are proven, practical and relevant for today's businesses, right?
Not anymore. A recent Fortune Magazine article lays waste to seven of Welch's business tenets, citing changes in business, the world economy and market volatility as key factors that mandate change.
Old Rule: Hire "A" Players. Remember this? Rank your employees A, B or C, and move the lower ranking employees out at the rate of 25% per year.
New Rule: Hire Passionate Players. When the marketplace began to change more quickly and companies tried to respond quickly, they couldn't -- because they didn't have passionate people aligned around the corporate mission. The "old rule" ranking system developed individuals who were more concerned about their individual performance than they were about the performance of the team.
What develops passion in employees? |
