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SUCCESS OR FAILURE IN BUSINESS RELIES ON ONE THING

There is not much new under the sun.

Ray Casemore, Retired

When I was around the age of six, my parents took me to the local fair where, like any other kid my age, I took in the rides, various games, and demonstrations. The memory is long past today; however, the one thing that stands out in my mind was the magician who was demonstrating card tricks. I remember being amazed at the magician’s ability to allow me to pick a card, without him actually seeing the card and then, after the deck was shuffled, to pick out the very card that I had chosen (or so it would seem). As a six-year-old living in a small town, I was absolutely astonished. Magic and specifically card tricks actually still amaze me to this day, as I spend time watching specials with magicians such as David Blaine¹ who, through sleight of hand, is able to amaze complete strangers with card tricks and other more dangerous feats. David, like many other magicians, is able to shift perceptions, making onlookers believe something that isn’t real. The question I’ve asked myself during the past 10 years of research into what makes an organization unstoppable when it comes to growth is: are we being led to believe that the secret to growth isn’t what we think it is?

For several years now, I have been traveling through North America and speaking at CEO and executive forums such as Vistage International and TEC Canada. In the hundreds of interactions I’ve had with CEOs, executives, and business owners, our discussions invariably turn to business growth. Sometimes it begins with some innocent small talk. I invariably ask, “How’s business?” Other times, the questions come directly from the executive, who is seeking advice on what I’ve seen working that would help their organization grow. I was motivated to write this book as a result of these discussions. To be honest with you, I think the secrets to becoming an unstoppable organization aren’t so secret. Instead, I believe that the real key to growth, the primary consideration necessary to truly becoming an unstoppable organization, has been somehow lost or forgotten amidst the glitz and glamour of new technology or lost as a result of chasing a solution that some guru might suggest is the “key to organizational growth today.”

Now before I go any further, let me share with you that I’ve been an acting management consultant for more than a decade. I have never during this time believed or suggested I was a guru; rather, I’m a student of the hundreds of executives and organizations with which I’ve had the pleasure to work for. They have demonstrated time and time again through both their successes and challenges that, to grow a sustainable and profitable business in any sector and any region, you need only focus on one thing: people.

When I say people, what I’m referring to are your employees. They are the people who make decisions, interact with customers, and invest a good portion of their waking hours to the success of your organization. It’s your people who will determine ultimately whether your organization is profitable or not, is successful or not, and will sustain it in a competitive marketplace or not. This might seem like an oversimplification; however, I can reassure you it’s not. When you consider that every single person who works within your business today has a different background, experiences, ideas, expectations, and beliefs both personally and professionally, the objective of aligning your people in support of becoming an unstoppable organization can seem a daunting if not impossible task. In reality, it can be. However, it’s for these very reasons that it’s your people who ultimately are the deciding factor between the success and failure of your business. Your people are the key to becoming unstoppable.

Throughout this book, I’m going to demonstrate exactly why people who work in your organization today, and who may be working in it tomorrow, are the single most important factor to its future success. There can be no better area to invest your time, energy, and money than in your people. I’m not suggesting in making this statement, however, that you need to run out and train your people, nor do I believe that hiring more or better people is the answer. It’s not as simple as that because as I alluded to, people are complex beings.

We have to think of our organizations as living, breathing entities that contain perceptions, norms, and ideals that ultimately influence the success or failure of the organization. These come from the people who work within it and the customers that it serves. It is our employees who determine the level of success (as measured by sales, productivity, profitability, and the like) an organization achieves, and it’s the degree to which our employees feel committed to the success of the organization that will determine that success. Put differently, you can train employees on new processes, add new technology, or bring in highly skilled people, but in the end it’s the employees’ own experiences, ideals, and enthusiasm that will determine how well we attract, service, and retain our customers.

When my family moved to a new home last year, I contacted a local satellite provider to arrange for equipment and installation of our Internet and television. Everything went off without a hitch. About a month later, my wife and I decided we wanted to install a third satellite box to operate an additional television in our basement, so I contacted “customer support” about getting a third box. I was told that it would cost nearly $400, which seemed ludicrous considering that our existing dish and two boxes had only cost $225 just 30 days prior. As I felt my blood pressure rise, I explained to the customer service agent that the cost made no sense. I was reassured several times that this was the price.

As you might imagine, we decided not to add the third box, but instead to move our business to a different provider. A couple weeks after I cancelled my service, I received a call from my original provider to ask why I had made the move. When I explained the cost differential and our disappointment, they responded with, “Why sir, a third box should only have cost you $99 and being a new customer the agent you spoke with should have offered it for free.” Those were my thoughts exactly, but unfortunately either the original agent didn’t know this was the case (which could be for various reasons), or didn’t care about the influence this policy may have had on my desire to keep them as my provider.

I’m sure you’ve had similar experiences, and I share this specific example because it highlights something that plagues most organizations today when it comes to becoming unstoppable. Employees of the organization, in their daily roles in supporting its objective, either don’t know what to do or how it is to be done or, alternatively, they simply don’t care. This statement isn’t meant to be negative in any fashion; it’s simply the truth. When it comes to acting in a way that best aligns with organizational objectives and satisfying customer needs, most employees either don’t understand what specifically the organization wants or needs them to do, or they’ve realized that the role they are in or the organization they are with simply isn’t for them.

Relative to employees not knowing what do to, the underlying issues can be:

• Not having sufficient or timely information to make decisions.
• Not having access to the tools to support making decisions.
• Not having the authority to make decisions.
• Not understanding the influence their decisions have on the business.
• Not being clear on the decisions others around them are making.

Relative to employees not caring about what they should be doing can result from:

• Not enjoying the work.
• Not enjoying the people they work with or for.
• Not having the support of leadership.
• Not believing the organization has their best interests at heart.
• Not believing they can make a difference in the business.

Whether an employee doesn’t know or doesn’t care can really depend on the situation at hand and the employee, but we can draw a hypothesis relative to causes when we consider the environment and challenges most companies face today.

Trials and Tribulations

My father once told me, “There is not much new under the sun.” What he was referring to at the time was my concern as a young teenager about some bullies at my school who were taking names and picking fights. Like most bullies, they strutted their stuff through the halls of my high school, bumping into people, shooting looks at those they didn’t like, and welcoming anyone to join them at the front of the school for an “attitude adjustment” after the final bell. Unfortunately for me, one of the more disliked hoodlums started dating my ex-girlfriend (yikes!), following which I presumed it was only a matter of time before I received an official invitation to the school parking lot for an attitude adjustment. As you can imagine, I was somewhat nervous. I shared the situation with my father, hypothetically of course, presenting a story about a guy who was being threatened by others at school, one of whom may have a knife, and asking what my father suggested my “friend” do if confronted. My father, who I’m sure got into a tussle or two when he was young, shared with me a story about guys carrying chains when he was younger, and suggested that the rumors were most likely not true and started by the bullies themselves as a scare tactic. Although I’m confident my father knew that my hypothetical story was about me, he ended our discussion by sharing this. “Shawn,” he said, “there have always been bullies in schools and there will likely always be bullies. There is nothing new under the sun. Regardless of the difference in our age, there is nothing that you have or will face or experience that I or my father likely didn’t experience ourselves.”

If you’re wondering, I was eventually invited for an “attitude adjustment” after the final bell, and following my father’s sage advice I went and waited, somewhat nervously, to accept whatever fate was coming my way. After some exchange of words, the bully decided to save bruising his knuckles on my face for another day, which never came. What I’ve never forgotten, however, is my father’s view that “there is nothing new under the sun.” I find this piece of wisdom surrounding me daily, particularly when reading the news. Rarely is there a story or a situation that hasn’t happened before. Each time we are faced with a record temperature high, the statement is followed with something like, “The last time we saw a high of this magnitude was back in 1951.” When faced with the recession of 2008/9, the media, while reporting the severity of economic events happening globally, frequently referred back to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Sure, these situations and others like them might emerge in different forms or ways, but rarely is something completely new, never having been experienced before.

I share this story with you because that lesson my dad taught me comes to mind when considering the trials and tribulations of many organizations, and specifically, the CEOs and executives who lead them. Despite the growing complexity of a global marketplace, the continued evolution and influence of technology, and the challenges in adapting to shifts in human behavior and preferences, one thing remains constant. We have always been attempting to find ways to get the most from our people in order to best support our organization and its customers, and this likely will never change. At the core, an organization and its ability to be successful or not relies on its people—that, in essence, is my father’s timeless wisdom at work. There is nothing new under the sun.

Consider, for example, that according to a survey of 1300 CEOs conducted by PwC, one of the top concerns globally for CEOs in 2017 is the challenge of “balancing man and machine.”² That is, finding the right skills and technology that will allow them to marry technology with unique human capabilities. Furthermore, what’s even more interesting about the survey responses is that a significant percent have found and continue to believe that technology has and will have a lesser effect on the growth and success of their companies than they once predicted back in 1998. What we can further glean from these insights is that regardless of the extent to which technology has and will continue to influence the growth of an organization, people and their unique talents and capabilities become ever more important. This isn’t to say that continued developments in artificial intelligence and other technologies won’t influence this perception in years to come, but it’s important to note that when survey respondents were asked about their most pressing needs, finding and retaining talent were amongst the top three areas identified. More specifically, when asked about which specific skills were most important for them to find in the people they needed, the following five skills were identified:

• 61 percent said problem-solving was a crucial skill.
• 61 percent identified that adaptability was essential.
• 75 percent suggested leadership was necessary.
• 77 percent identified creativity and innovation.
• 64 percent selected emotional intelligence as a key skill.

The results of the survey highlight a few critical points about growing an organization in today’s global economy, and they are in stark contrast to what many have believed in recent years, mostly on account of what “experts” have been suggesting. Specifically, despite the once strong belief that technology was going to change the face of business and people as we know it, this has not actually been the case. Although technology and its proper development and adaptation are crucial to remaining competitive, it has not and will not take the place of people as the most important resource for an organization seeking to grow and be profitable. Moreover, the more reliant we become on technology, the more we realize the importance of specific and unique human skills that can never be fully or effectively adopted by technology.

The question that logically presents itself, then, is how can we avoid becoming enamored with the latest and greatest technology, forgetting about the importance of our people? In my experience, the answer lies in what we have always known. A great organization, one that is successful and sustainable, is built on people. You might believe this isn’t much of a revolutionary statement and that you are already placing your people first. However, to confirm the extent to which this might be true, let me share with you a simple exercise I use with my clients to assess the priority of their people relative to becoming an unstoppable organization.

Step 1: Add up the total investment you have made in technology during the last three years. Costs typically include researching, buying, and introducing technology (including training, annual registration costs, and so on). Add to this any ongoing costs you have for existing technology such as annual subscriptions, upgrades, and storage fees. Last, add all online costs, including Website development, maintenance, and so on. Any personnel costs associated with this technology should also be lumped into this bucket.

Step 2: Add up the total investment you have made in further developing the skills of your people. This typically comes from the training budgets set forth by each department and may include personal development for employees (for example, time management) or group development (for example, leadership training). Specifically, do not include development that is considered “supportive” versus “necessary.” For instance, if you have compensated employees for furthering their education, but this education cannot or is not being applied on the job, then do not continue to pay for it.

For bonus material to assist you in your journey toward becoming an unstoppable organization, make sure to visit www.unstoppableorganization.com.

When you compare these two costs, which is higher? In my experience, it’s typically the former more so than the latter. The investments made to introduce and maintain technology far outweigh the investments made in developing people. If you want a simpler test to see this in action, pull up the invoice for your last ERP (enterprise resource planning) implementation and compare it to what you spent on the development of your leaders last year. I think you’ll find a big gap in cost, with the lion’s share of the investment having gone to the ERP project.

Although this is only a simple exercise, the investments we make in our people (and I’m not talking about wages, but rather how much we invest to strengthen their knowledge and abilities) are minor compared to many of the other expenses we have in operating a business. It’s almost as if we see a wage as the primary motivator of our people, when we know this isn’t true. In essence, I believe that we have our priorities wrong, and we are putting our proverbial wallets behind it and then often wondering why our organization, and specifically the people within it, aren’t performing to the extent we’d like to see.

The Journey Is as Important as the Destination

I was reminded of just how widespread the perception that technology is the solution, rather than a tool, during a recent discussion with a former colleague. I was picking up my two boys from an after-school program one day when our paths crossed, and he felt obliged to give me an update of what had transpired since I left the company more than 10 years ago. What was interesting about the discussion was what this employee (a key contributor to his department) shared.

There had been a change in leadership, with the former vice president having left the department and a new one taking on the role. As a result of the new vice president coming on board, there were proposed “changes” in data reporting and metrics that were identified as necessary. Several of the senior managers (whom I had very good relationships with and significant respect for when we worked together) had clearly disagreed with the VP’s ideas, having moved on to take jobs in other departments. As a result of the perceived changes in data and metrics, the new VP had determined that a change to the ERP system was necessary, with an initial price tag in the tens of millions of dollars. If you’ve ever been part of an ERP upgrade or installation, you know that the initial investment is usually the smallest investment made through the life span of the software, often only five years.

I asked my colleague what his thoughts were relative to these changes, and his response was one I hear all too often when senior employees are faced with a change in software after years of perfecting their processes in alignment with the previous software. “Let’s just say that I’m looking at other options in my career,” he stated. In other words, he was looking to get out. Now, what do you surmise the result will be of this department losing not only a respected and high performing VP, but also several key managers (with the potential for more senior people moving on), and being faced with introducing a new ERP platform that will more than likely change how every employee operates in their daily roles?

The reality is that introducing this new ERP platform will be a chaotic shift that will cost millions and millions of dollars and reap little to no improvements in performance, productivity, or morale. At the risk of being judged, don’t think for a moment that I’m against technology because I’m not. Clearly, upgrades to technology are necessary in today’s data driven world. But in this instance, where the decision to move to the new technology platform was made by someone in a senior role without including the input, feedback, or ideas of the primary user group or the leaders who oversee this group, the outcome becomes predictable. I know this from personal experience. Like you, I have been through numerous technology upgrades in my former corporate life, and each time I experienced the fallout of disgruntled employees, reduced productivity levels, and unrecognized objectives that were the drivers for the technology in the first place. Call me a doubting Thomas if you will, but any change to technology that is not driven by employees is a change that will be painful to introduce and nearly impossible to streamline. I’m not against technology; I’m against making decisions that do not include input and feedback from the primary drivers behind an organizations performance—its people.

Technology, although a tool, is meant to support a desired outcome, yet it’s our people who will have to endure the journey. New technology is disruptive, and of course this disruption can yield benefits if done correctly. But where is the predominance of the investment in money and time typically spent when it comes to introducing technology? In my experience, it’s not with the people.

Fundamentals to Success

Technology is obviously a significant contributor to continued growth and prosperity for organizations that want to compete in today’s global world. In my first book, Operational Empowerment, I shared the example of Larsen and Shaw, a privately held company that specializes in the manufacturing of hinges, and their introduction of a simple chat feature on their Website as a means to capture leads from prospective and existing customers who visited their Website. This might seem like a simple idea. However, for a manufacturer focused on proven sales methodologies, having someone specifically manage the chat on a daily basis meant, at least initially, additional costs toward something that was unproven. Larsen and Shaw decided to make the leap, carefully selecting and working closely with the employee who they felt would be most comfortable with using the technology. Although not in a sales role at the time, the individual they selected was key to setting up the chat tool, developing scripts, and supporting the development of a chat-to-sales process. Although the chat module, a piece of software added to the company’s Website, made broad claims about the ability to sell, the team at Larsen and Shaw knew that it would be by selecting the right employee, someone versed with the technology but also well connected within the organization itself, who could quickly respond to and satisfy customer needs. This was not a software first, employee second approach, but rather completed in unison with the employee being provided the autonomy and support necessary to build out the process.

If you are wondering how the transition went, the organization made its first sale to an online chat customer within six weeks of introducing the software. Unlike the example from my former colleague, this was an employee first approach to introducing technology, and the results speak volumes to its success.

Recognizing that people are primary to success is fundamental for an organization’s growth and long-term prosperity. The degree to which your employees participate in or are responsible for the changes within an organization will ultimately determine the extent of its success. I recently shared this view with a CEO in the form of a golfing analogy. There are typically three different kinds of weather for golfers:

Good weather where there is little wind, and with the right level of skill it’s not difficult to drop the ball onto the green where you plan to.

Challenging weather where wind directions and speeds make it more difficult to land the ball where you are intending.

Difficult weather where severe wind conditions make it next to impossible to hit the ball in the direction and distance you intend.

Employee responses to organizational change are similar to the wind. If employees understand and support a change, it’s more likely the change will happen faster and more effectively than if the employees push back against it. Pushback requires more effort, time, and investment to improve adaption, and more often than not, the results will be “in the rough.” In using this analogy, we can categorize employees and their willingness to accept or adapt to change into three categories:

1. Employees who are supportive and eager for change.
2. Employees who are neutral about a proposed change and can be convinced either way.
3. Employees who adamantly oppose a change.

The key, then, to building an unstoppable organization is to recognize that employees are primary to success over all else. The outcome of this as a fundamental philosophy shifts how an organization thinks, acts, and behaves. It influences the thoughts and actions of the board, the CEO, and senior and middle management. It breaks down the barriers in communication between frontline employees and those making the decisions that influence the organization. This, in turn, influences virtually every aspect of a business, including:

• How employees are hired.
• How leadership interacts with employees and teams.
• How communication flows both bottom-up and top-down.
• How employees are exposed to various aspects of the business.
• The connections built between employees and customers.