UnbelievableàBut True!
Regardless of how many management books will be published, and how many
gurus will emerge; regardless how many seminars will be held, and how many
business-tailored studies will be designed: Companies will continue to fall
into the same traps over and over again, like a disease that just cannot be
eradicated, no matter how many cures are invented and how many prescriptions
are written for it.
Over the past thirty-something years, the number of publications on
leadership, management, and business strategies has skyrocketed. We have
seen videoÆs, read books about the history of business during the past
centuries, and heard about surprising downfalls from companies that were
once praised for their business savvy and inventive financial approaches.
But what is the outcome? Well, if youÆre interested, just consult any of the
well-known business sources and the grim reality will hit you in the face:
companies and their managements continue to make errors that should be
totally obsolete by now: they dwell on outdated strategies, and accuse every
outside aspect of being guilty of the things that go wrong: As long as itÆs
not the road THEY developed to go from point A to B. They donÆt even wonder
whether there may have been some hurdles that emerged since that road was
mapped out. They donÆt care to listen to the unspoken word. And they ignore
the lessons that others have taught them through their actions during the
past few years.
This article doesnÆt say anything new. It may just say it straighter and
simpler than others: American business leaders should scrutinize their
tactics and determine what they can change without taking the old, easy way
out of laying off innocent and willing workers at the first signs of a
set-back!
Here are some facts for every leader - business or personal - to keep in
mind:
À Change will happen, even if you hate it. It is the reason for current
companies to exist: they responded to a need that once was, but that may
have now been saturated. Fortunately, there will always be other needs to be
met. It is therefore imperative to maintain the beginnerÆs mindset of
alertness and aggressive response. Success today is all about living up to
the customerÆs desires. And who knows what the customer wants? Right! The
ones who serve them: the companyÆs workers! Conclusion:
À Workers should have ownership. They should have the feeling that their
opinions count. The manager of this century realizes that. He or she thus
makes sure that employees: 1) are aware of the companyÆs mission so that
they are constantly in tune with the main reason why they work; 2) are kept
informed about changes that are considered for the organization; 3) are
involved in the execution of those changes, because thatÆs the only way
these changes will work anyway.
À Stakeholders should be encouraged to be creative: if workers, customers,
and suppliers know that their viewpoints receive attention, they will share
them. Managers that build in the mechanism of listening to all the groups
involved in their operational process have basically discovered a long lost
treasure: the principle of live and let live. If you give the people what
they want, they will give you what you want. If you anticipate on
suggestions from stakeholders, they will get encouraged to perform even
better. And, hey, if it doesnÆt work out once, no sweat! No one should moan
and groan too long over a creative blunder, for thatÆs a spirit killer. Yet,
creative blunders should be made responsibly. The investment made in them
should be digestible for the company without too much disruption in
processes and profits. And then: up to the next creative outburst!
À Old responses donÆt work for new challenges. Remember the sentence: if
something has been done this way for twenty years you can rest assured that
it should be done different now? Well, that counts everywhere. Definitely in
business! Strategies are wrongfully sanctified as the omnipotent response to
every confrontation. Not so! Revolutions require evolutions in order to
obtain resolutions!
À Not-changing is more frightening than changing! Imagine yourself standing
still in a universe thatÆs buzzing from all the spinning and moving thatÆs
going on. How alarming! Now zoom out into the entirety of the business
environment and wonder whether your company is buzzing, spinning and moving
along, or if itÆs standing still. Then decide what your next step should be.
À Managers should always focus on enhancing the skills and capacities of
their people. Train them! Educate them! Give them opportunities to develop
into even better workers! Give them chances to climb the corporate ladder if
they reach yet another milestone in their level of knowledge. The company
that makes workers understand that it has their best interests at heart will
prosper. For very few people will leave a place where they encounter
prospects and goodwill.
À We should keep our international eyes wide open! By now itÆs generally
known that Americans like setting a trend, after which they lose interest.
However, itÆs also known that other work cultures, such as the Japanese, are
focusing on improving the very quality of whatÆs invented here. History has
taught us countless lessons. Think of the transistor story: invented in Bell
Laboratories in the U.S., and subsequently perfected and commercialized in
Japan! Quality improvement guarantees generation of funds. And it saves
costs. We could learn from that!
Now, did you say that these tips are all old and worn out? Well, why then,
do we keep hearing complaints from the working class all over the line in a
country where most of the global trends are set? Why, then, do companies lay
workers off at the blink of an eye? And why, then, do capital blunders
continue to happen? You know why? Because once managers sit in their high
chairs in their ivory towers, they forget all the wise lessons they learned
while on their way up. That is, until the tower crashes. DonÆt let your
tower crash. Better yet: refrain from building that tower. Stay with your
feet on the ground! ThatÆs the whole secret to success in any operation!
Joan Marques, Burbank, October 24, 2003
---------------------------------------------------
About the Author:
Joan Marques, holds an MBA, is a doctoral candidate in Organizational
Leadership, and a university instructor in Business and Management in
Burbank, California. You may visit her web site at www.joanmarques.com
Joan's manual "Feel Good About Yourself," a six part series to get you over
the bumps in life and onto success, can be purchased and downloaded at:
http://www.non-books.com/FeelGoodSeries.html-----------------------------------------------------
