The Jets are proud professionals; I have no doubt these Jets want to win
every game and even if I pay an absurd price for Jets club seats and personal
seat licences, sending me a birthday card is a very nice touch from an organization
that clearly wants to do the right thing. But the utter consistency
between the lousy play of an utterly undisciplined team and their sending
birthday cards two weeks too late is reinforcement the NY Jets is still an
organization that can't execute on anything. At this juncture, I'm rather
convinced that Matthew Broderick based his character Jimmy Winter on Jets owner
Woody Johnson in the terrific Broadway musical "Nice Work if You Can Get
It."
Under-performing companies tend to take operate much the same way
the lost and wounded NY Jets do: breakdowns in every facet of the business
conspire to keep them from achieving very much. Mediocrity becomes the
norm, miscues are rationalized, management does more to justify why they have
been victims of bad luck or bad economies rather than engaging the strenuous
process that will really fix the apparent and growing structural
problems. Just as Rex Ryan continues to defend the embarrassingly horrible
play of his poster boy QB Mark Sanchez, most managers in troubled companies
strenuously defend their direct report employees guilty of their own on-the-job
fumbles, interceptions and routine bad judgment.
Businesses are a collection of human beings and it is only natural
that people who spend so much time together in the same workplace in their
chosen field will develop close relationships with one another. I'm
always particularly wary of those proclaiming "we're so close and we so
care about each other we're like a family!"--- because they are
guaranteed to be the least objective of all. Just as being a player's
coach serves Rex Ryan well when he has talent that can win games, I can't fully
blame management for failing to stop a company in decline when it is built on a
culture of camaraderie. Clearly, I'm not suggesting organizations should
not foster positive working conditions, but when they are plagued by poor
execution it becomes necessary to bring in professionals who do not carry the
baggage of established relationships.
Without objectivity even the best intentions won't be
sufficient. Bringing in external help to navigate through diminished
performance is not a sign of weakness, in fact excellent executive teams
recognize its importance. My experience is only the strongest executives,
those with the serious intentions of winning have the good sense to engage
objective professionals to align intentions with objectivity that will drive
desired results through superb execution on all levels.
2 comments:
Nice job, Mav! LOL
Mike,
Great post! My sales staff gets compensated through salary and commission with commission being about 75% of their earnings. We have no sales contests among the account reps. If the sales goals are met the entire team receives bonuses including sales, marketing, accounting and the warehouse staff. There is zero animosity, no back stabbing, everyone covers each other. The majority of my staff have been with me for 8-9 years. Turnover is nil and everyone has the same goals. I find it to be more effective if everyone works as a team just like a sports team. We all have our own responsibilities, and everyone contributes as a TEAM to achieve our goals. It really works out great. The culture here is one that most small to medium size businesses would envy.
Nick V.
11-12-58
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