Leader's Edge Column

Spring Training for Managers

Here's a program to get them as involved, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable about their own companies as they are about their favorite sports team.
By Don MacRae

Walk into any business in America, ask a manager about the problems that plague his or her favorite sports team, and you'll invariably get an earful about overpaid players, poorly executed games, and inept coaches who should be fired. These experts aren't shy about telling you how they would fix things if they were calling the shots.

Now ask these same managers about problems at their own companies -- and prepare to hear hesitant, semicoherent management babble. Why can't they delineate their company's problems as clearly as they do those of their favorite teams? Probably because most managers simply don't trust their knowledge of the business enough to reach insightful conclusions about what's wrong with the organization or how to repair it. As a result, would-be leaders are too timid to emerge from among the ranks of managers, and senior executives have trouble gathering the support they need to build a successful business.

SOUNDS OF SILENCE. This point came home during a meeting I attended where a CEO addressed some 300 managers following a particularly poor year. His remarks -- chastising them for not producing solutions to remedy their company's dismal performance -- were met with silence.

Later, I asked several managers why they hadn't spoken up and offered ways to improve the business. Unanimously, they told me their bosses didn't encourage them to ask questions about the company's woes, let alone suggest ideas to cure them. No one, they said, had bothered to clearly explain the organization's direction to them. Indeed, if an analysis had been done of the business' strengths and weaknesses, senior management hadn't deemed it necessary to share the results. Furthermore, management was too busy putting out fires and switching directions every three months to allocate the money or people required for strategic thinking.

CEOs and their top officers have two main goals: boost the bottom line every year and prepare their organizations for the future. To get the job done, they have to understand the business and its markets inside out. Most CEOs and senior executives have the knowhow. If not, they're soon replaced by someone who does. Ask them what's wrong with the company, and it's like listening to a sports fan describing the tribulations and potential of their favorite team. They're involved, enthusiastic, and well-informed about business-plan initiatives, strategy, and needs at all levels within the organization.

PASSION INFUSION. They can't create a successful company alone, however. They need to infuse the organization with their passion -- which means getting middle management as involved in the business as they are. All companies have potential leaders in finance, human resources, sales, marketing, manufacturing, information technology, new-product development, and other disciplines who could help the CEO deal with the challenges that face the organization -- if they were privy to the same information that executives have. Then they could start speaking up with suggestions for how to steer the company.

Let's give this idea a formal name: Project 2001: Strategic Leadership. To get it going, the executive committee must form two teams -- the external-analysis team and the internal-analysis team -- both consisting of strong managers and staffers from throughout the company. High achievers in human resources, marketing, and sales would lead the external-analysis team, while their colleagues in finance, manufacturing, and information technology would head up the internal-analysis group.

For several months, each team would grapple with the questions and issues outlined in David Aaker's book, Developing Business Strategies (John Wiley & Sons, 1998). The external-analysis folks would identify the company's key customers, their reasons for buying, and their unmet needs. They would also study the competition -- its products, sales, and growth trends.

BEYOND NUMBERS. The internal-analysis team, meanwhile, would look at weighty issues such as profitability and return on assets. It would consider whether the company is spending too much on materials, assembly, product design, or wages. And it would go beyond the numbers to assess new-product development, e-business initiatives, and employee relations.

With their analyses complete, both teams would move to strategy-oriented questions, such as: Where can we add customer value by doing something better or different than our competitors? Can we gain an advantage by offering a no-frills product or reducing costs? Which alternative growth options should we pursue, and how? What should our immediate strategic priorities be?

Once these questions have been answered, the executive committee would identify strategic objectives that both align with corporate goals and prepare the organization for the future. Each objective would be assigned to a leader from Project 2001 who'd be held accountable for results. A strategic-action plan would be prepared for each objective and reviewed on a timely basis. Execution is everything.

DEEPER UNDERSTANDING. Project 2001 serves a number of needs. First, it gives the executive committee accurate, current data and analysis so it can make the best decisions for the organization. It provides managers throughout the company with a chance to gain a deeper understanding of the business, make a significant contribution to its future -- and show off their talents in the process. It also gives them a real sense of participation and ownership.

Indeed, to develop a leader's edge, managers at every level need to have the same kind of trust in their knowledge of the business that they have in their opinions of sports teams. With that trust comes the ability to clearly delineate problems, present solutions, and challenge the experts on the executive team with conviction. There are leaders-in-waiting in every organization. All they need is a chance to show what they can do and a process to help them do it.

© 2001. The Lachlan Group. All rights reserved.