Tale of Two Businesses

It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times is a famous line from a Tale of Two Cities that plays too true to businesses and how they perform.  Over the past few years I have worked and consulted with dozens of companies, however there are two large companies that on the outside looked to be great organizations but when they were examined from the inside there were huge problems that the executive team did not see. 

The list was long and dubious: morale was in the toilet, sales were slumping, people were looking over their backs waiting to see who would be the next to be let go, team meetings were a drudgery, and the employees were being asked to do things that did not match up with their personal morels.  Anyone of these are recipe for disaster for a business that wants to grow and be successful.

These problems originated from managers that had had power go to their heads and were not trained effectively on how to motivate the people that they oversaw.  They managed diabolically, with whips and chains like Strombolli , and ultimately debasing their employees by pointing out their flaws to everyone and drilling them into the ground to show that in some way the manager was better than those that he managed.  This may have worked in ancient times, or up into the mid twentieth century, but these tactics have lost their effectiveness.

Very few people will ever respond positively to these types of harassment in their everyday responsibilies, in fact it will be like pulling on the bit in the mouth of a horse and sooner versus later they will buck back and become harder to manage and motivate.   The cost to train new employees from the ones that left far outweighed the benefit of not caring about the employee individually, moreover it may give you a bad reputation that is difficult to repair.

Another manager from one of these companies told his sales people they would lose their jobs if they were not greedy and took every penny from the customer or if the sales people did not tell the customers there were problems they did not have all to improve the company’s bottom line to stay in business.

Oh the folly of these ill-born statements!!!  Do they not realize that these customers may need their services in the future and they would remember how they were treated before?  Do they not realize that these customers will share their experiences, good or bad; with other people and that these poor statements will actually cost them profits instead of the short term gains? Do they not realize that they are loosing the trust of those that they manage?

These managers should have had training on how to work with the people that they managed by motivating the individual to achieve their personal best or to set goals that were achievable not inflated.   They should be focusing on empowering their representatives to be great for the customer and because of that experience the customer will send more referrals. In addition they should be helping the individual grow instead of chopping every limb off.  They truly needed the ABC’s of Business Survival, Revival, and Thrival to focus on their Airway or their pulse.  The employees needed resuscitation for their breathing, and they needed to improve the circulation to the customers to continue to grow.

Even though these two companies are instantly recognizable for their success they need major overhauls in the way they hire and train their managers if they will improve and retain the best talent.  Until then they will continue to have high turnover and unrealistic expectations that will be impossible to achieve because of the managements lack of understanding and caring for their people they lead. Don't grow faster than you can manage.

What is your company doing to provide training for their most important assets?  Are your managers going to inspire your employees to perform at their best or chain them to bad practices?  These questions and more will be solved through consulting and coaching sessions with Brandon Kelly and Eagle Consulting.