Death by a thousand cuts. This is the most common way to perish in business these days. Most companies, ideas, and products die a slow and miserable death. While the press may feed on the dramatic boardroom duels or corporate take-overs, the reality is that most disasters are due to a thousand paper cuts (often self inflicted). I have been pondering just this very issue while watching the Big 3 in Detroit trip over themselves. This caused me to look inward at some of my own personal experiences and draw some quick and biased conclusions.
On a whole, the deceased are usually large companies who are too bloated to feel the pain until its too late. Frequently it's their own arms and legs flailing about (to justify their own existence) that produce much of the damage. It is only when the patient reaches a critical state of weakness and immobilization that the true external predators come in to take their prey. So how in the heck does this happen?
Reason #1: The Stool Fell Over
Most companies I have studied or worked for often don't understand (or forget) the three legs of organizational behavior: Evaluation, Empowerment, Rewards. If a company understands these three key components and ALIGNS them equally, then the stool does not fall over. Sadly, most companies fail miserably at doing so.
The reality is that most companies expect great ideas, but they do not reward or empower to enable risk taking. Most companies are not willing to "fail fast and fail often" in order succeed. Mind you, this does not mean one has to be revolutionary all the time. Better yet, "fail fast and fail often" promotes being evolutionary. It's like flying a plane - 99% of the time you are slightly off course. But, minor adjustments made along the way while moving quickly allows you to get to your destination effeciently. The key is you picked the destination up front, charted a rough course, and hit the gas.
What frustrates me all too often is that most companies forget the basic laws of physics - for every action there is an equivalent reaction. If you evaluate employees on achieving key financial goals but do not empower them with the tools and leverage to change - then you are doomed to fail. If you expect to drive higher margins but reward on pure sales volumes- then you are doomed to fail. If you reward on customer satisfaction but evaluate on average handling times for telesales - then you are doomed to fail. Net, you better align the legs of your stool before you try to sit on it.
Reason #2: Scar Tissue Creates Arthritis
Bureaucracy is the scar tissue of mistakes. Put another way, "process for process sake" is the result of you getting burned. Net, you create a new process to further manage the current process in order to cover your fanny and put heat on the other guy who did not follow "protocol". At this moment you should be able to insert you own favorite example, such as "The program is on hold because the marketing review board has not received the TPS report that outlines in detail the campaigns multi-touchpoint strategy. Without having the complete copy for the collateral we can't assess the programs alignment to the six pillars of the companies strategy. Please put your request back through the queue to the review board. Requests are evaluated in order of submission and require sign off from all financial, marketing and business directors before it will be evaluated".
How did we get so lost? What causes us to emulate the customer service line at the local department of motor vehicles in our daily lives? F E A R. We are afraid of failing. We are afraid of doing the "right thing" versus the "safe thing". We slip in "shareholders" as a scapegoat for not taking risks. We don't take responsibility for our actions. Rather, we push responsibility to others and assume the role of the good soldier.
I am not advocating that process is not required. It most certainly is. But, lets take a closer look at the definition of process from Merriam-Webster On-line. As a noun: a natural phenomenon marked by gradual changes that lead toward a particular result. The key words here are "natural" and "result". As a verb: to subject to or handle through an established usually routine set of procedures. The key words here are "handle" and "routine".
You know you are on your way to paper cut heaven when you are adding processes or steps to a process that stretch beyond "natural". Is it natural to take as much time to facilitate the process versus working on the projects goals? Similarly, you know you are cutting into yourself when you are focused more on the "process" than the "result". If you need to establish a department that has the sole focus of managing the processes of the program managers...you are in serious trouble.
You know that you are doomed to the slow death when you are focusing on "handling" the process versus delivering the idea. Net, don't spend more time completing program management documents than you do developing ideas or solutions. Lastly, if the "routine" becomes too complex to manage on your own, then its more than a routine. There is a reason that the long session for ice skating is only a few minutes. Any more than that, and they could not remember the program or execute on it well.
Reason # 3: Battlefield promotions
In the civil war, there were two roles you did not want. The first was the guy who carried the flag. The second was the guy who stood closest to the flag guy. The first guy had to run up the hill without a weapon. The second guy was doomed to pick up the flag and drop his gun when the first guy gets one between the eyes. Either way, you were going to get shot. At least the first guy was trained on handling the flag.
Seriously though, companies too often prescribe the battlefield promotion when it should be the last resort. Obviously this strategy works if you have a hardened veteran or a young visionary ready to take the next step. But, more times than not managers hire from within to avoid issues from the staff, human resources, or his or her management.
For example, if you need a replacement fast but your human resources has a long drawn out hiring process (see previous section) then you look for alternate solutions. Or, imagine that your team is suspicious of people outside your division because "they are the other guys". Or, perhaps your upper management has old ties to one of the folks on your team. The usual outcome is that you pluck that somebody who has the skills or background "on paper" and usher them through. Unfortunately there was probably a reason why you or your predecessor did not put this person in the first place. What you really get is an emperor with no clothes.
The resulting impact of your new leader is a reliance on process an lack of understanding of the three legged stool. Yes, its a circular reference. The fact is, most big companies do not have the bench strength (or they don't groom it well enough) to manage attrition. The layers of the organization become ever more complex. The fog of war prohibits those at the top from realizing that they are often a ship of fools. Now obviously most companies do not suffer from this holistically. On the contrary, most of the time this situation is a localized tumor. But, if the tumor resides in a major organ of the company, and is left unchecked for too long, serious harm can result.
The Golden Rule of Three Focus, Simplicity, Scale.
To avoid a slow death one must focus on the Golden Rule of Three. First, have a focus. The more you layer on, the more process and other assorted baggage you have to carry to market. Second, be as simple as possible. My old boss used to say that if an idea could not be written on the back of a matchbook then it probably was not a good idea. Remember, there are no big ideas - only small ones that become big over time. Lastly, seek scale. If the idea can't be big in some way, then don't do it. Johnson and Johnson will only launch a product if it thinks it can achieve #1 or #2 in the space. Who the heck aspires to be #3?
Comments