Right People, Right Positions, Right Game
In the NYTimes bestseller, Good to Great, author Jim Collins laid out the foundation of an outstanding enterprise class organization. When I heard him speak, last October he said that the winner is the one with the best team. To achieve the best team,
- A leader has to identify the right people who are the smartest.
- A leader has to put them in the right positions.
- A leader has to value, reward, and celebrate teamwork.
Those who change the world are enormously consistent in how they do it. The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency. â Jim Collins, World Business Forum, 2010
It’s my experience that Mr. Collins’ short list brings constant improvement in situations where the game never changes. The hidden assumption is that the playing field, the conditions, the climate, the trends, and rules of business remain the same.
They didnât. They don’t. They never will. They won’t.
Are You Suited Up for Soccer When Golf Is the Game?
I don’t doubt for second that Mr. Collins knows that and chooses his people to match the game that’s currently in play. Yet, when I work on strategy with big corporations and small business, too often I find their still suiting up and running the plays for the game that was on the field yesterday. It doesn’t work if you’re suited up for soccer and golf is the game.
.
The Internet has moved the field, changed the rules, disrupted conditions, upset the culture, sparked new trends, shifted the playbook with new models and more flexible teams, and relocated the executive locker room.
The consistency that was a strength also built silos, sales scripts, and standard procedures that has lead some of those âsmartest peopleâ not to see what they see and not to know what they know in deference to rules build to ensure one-size-fits-all consistency.
Those companies suited up for a highly consistent playing field are finding their sales numbers and their service reports frustrated by customers who value responses that are custom-made for what they need. Because to over-value consistency is to focus on process, when it’s people who help a business thrive.
So how can we use Jim Collinsâ Good to Great research and insights to leverage the opportunities of the new people-focused game — the social business culture, changes in the way companies and customers communicate, constantly moving metrics and toolkits, trend shifts, and elastic team dynamics of the 21st century online and off?
What Are the Highest Values of Your Business?
For 21st century organizations to move fluidly and fluently through multiple platforms and cultures, we need to look at the old short list in a slightly new way. The winner will still be the one with the best team, but now to achieve the best team, leaders will ignite communities of like-minded leaders at every level inside and outside the organization — employees, partners, vendors, customers, evangelists, friends, and fans who also want to invest in taking something from good to great.
Long-term, loyalty — trust — is a value-based relationship.
- Live your highest values.
- Be able to recognize the people who share them.
- Invite those people to help build your business.
Consistency will win — a consistency of valuing the people who share your highest values is irresistible business strategy.
What are the highest values of your business?
Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!
