Special Topic of the Month:

My son, Benjamin Thomas Coughlin, was born this week on May 30th at 2:29 AM. He is a handsome young fellow and certainly reminds me of life's true priorities. More on this later.

Topic of the Month:

MODERN CORPORATE CANCER

First, I will define a few terms.

An organization exists for the purpose of its members to direct their collective time, talent and energy toward the fulfillment of a specific purpose and the achievement of specific goals.

Cancer is a disease that steadily destroys an organism.

Using these definitions, I am amazed by the number of ways that people unconsciously allow various cancers to overwhelm a corporation. Here are a few that come to mind: egos, gossip, politics, evaluations, rudeness and arrogance.

A person's ego flares up when they look at every decision through the filter of how it will affect his or her career or the department they work in. They are not focused on how it will enhance the group's ability to fulfill the organization's purpose. If an organization has a fixed amount of time, talent and energy, then anything or anyone that wastes those resources is essentially a cancer. Some individuals get so stuck on their egos that they essentially ruin the effectiveness of the organization for which they work. They lose sight of the big picture. They quite literally are protecting the two or three trees around them while the entire forest is burning down. Somehow they don't realize that the fire is heading toward them and they have wasted their opportunity to be part of the solution; that is, the successful revitalization of the entire organization.

Gossip is nothing more than the manifestation of an ego run amuck. A person wants to protect their own turf and consequently he or she systematically goes about ruining the reputations of other people. Hello!!! This person is a cancer. They are keeping the organization from being as effective as possible.

Remember: effectiveness is continually achieving better results in the highest priority outcomes. An effective corporation consists of individuals who direct 90% or better of their time, talent and energy toward the fulfillment of the organization's purpose.

Clearly, gossip is a waste of these precious resources.

Politics is the on-going combination of egos and gossip. Politics plays itself out when individuals say things that they don't necessarily believe in order to generate an outcome that benefits them and their small group. It is the absolute opposite of an effective organization. From high level executives to front-line employees, politics robs an organization of an enormous amount of time, talent and energy. And then people wonder why their stock price is falling through the ground. Look at the examples of Xerox and Yahoo. Their top executives wasted an enormous amount of time playing politics that resulted in an incredible loss of short-term and long-term profits.

Evaluations used to seem so pertinent. They could serve as the basis for professional growth. Now corporate evaluations have become as insane as the idiotic new tv show called, "The Weakest Link." If you haven't seen it yet, this is quite a doozy. An extremely rude "host" insults "guests" who in turn vote to eliminate one another until one person is left. Basically, this is the current practice at many corporations. Employees are looped together in groups of 30 to 50 people. Everyone is evaluated and there must be people in the bottom 10% in each group. These individuals are generally ostracized, given 90 days to improve and then usually escorted out from the company. My goodness, I'll bet that really turns people on to synergize their talents and energy toward achieving a common purpose. (Sarcasm intended.) It seems to me that it is the job of the manager to effectively recruit and develop employees. If they developed these bottom feeders, then why aren't the managers being punished? Why is 10% the magic number? Why not 30%? Why is there any percentage? Why not let go of an employee based on their own poor performance regardless of whether or not they fit into some theoretical category?

Ego, gossip, politics and team destroying evaluations are internal cancers. But let's not forget about the external cancers of rudeness and arrogance. While I see and read about rudeness and arrogance in many situations, I think it can be summed up in this story. As I wrote earlier, my wife gave birth on Wednesday morning. On Thursday afternoon I received a phone call where the caller asked if Barb was home. I said, "No, she just gave birth yesterday." I expected the caller to congratulate me. Instead he said, "Well, she just got her name entered to win a brand new car and I wanted to follow up with her. When can I call back?" He was an obvious phony who wanted to sell us something. I said I thought that a year would be appropriate. (OK, I was a little rude as well.) He said, "Look, I want to talk to Barb and I will get a hold of her." Click. He hung up on me. This kind of insane rudeness and arrogance happens constantly in malls and retail stores, over the phone, at the post office and seemingly everywhere else.

However, while at the hospital, I experienced a totally different experience. Every nurse, doctor and staff member was extraordinary. They acted as though they all had a common purpose of caring for people. They saw their work as meaningful. They did every little thing that you could hope for. I will never forget their kindness to my family and I.

So what do we do about these corporate cancers? I could, and someday will, write a book about this, but for now I suggest three things: Clarity, Focus and Synergy.

Clarity -- Make sure that everyone knows why your organization exists. A mission statement on the wall means nothing unless it is performed everyday by every employee. If you're wondering whether or not your organization's purpose is clear, randomly ask 20 people to state the organization's purpose. If these 20 answers are not close to one another, then you don't have a clear purpose.

Focus -- Then focus all efforts, meetings, activities and decisions toward answering these questions, "Is this improving our chances of fulfilling our organization's mission and achieving our organization's objectives? Is there anything we could do that would be more effective? What is it? When can we get started? Who will be involved? Where will it happen?"

Synergy -- Answer these questions in cross-functional meetings. One department on its own is a silo which leads to cancer. Discussions and decisions need to occur in a cross-functional manner.

QUESTIONS FOR THE MONTH

• Is the purpose of your organization clear and compelling?
• Is it shared by the members of the organization?
• Are the individuals within the organization taking time to reflect on what they are doing and how it relates to the fulfillment of the organization's purpose?
• How can you enhance the effectiveness of your organization on an individual and small group basis?

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

I encourage you to read and/or listen to, "How To Win Friends and Influence People" and "How To Stop Worrying and Start Living" by Dale Carnegie. These are true classics that lay it all out very effectively.

If you need articles for an association publication or for your organization's internal newsletter on any of the following topics, feel free to contact Dan Coughlin. Also, if you need a presenter for a keynote address or a breakout session at a local, regional, national or international association meeting on these topics, contact Dan as well.

Topics:

• How To Be A Results-Focused Leader
• How To Increase Personal Effectiveness
• How To Build Outcome-Based Teamwork
• How To Master The Art Of Management
• How To Communicate Like A Master Sculptor
• How To Use Innovation To Drive Better Results
• How To Build A Professional Services Firm
• How Dignity and Self-Esteem Drive Better Business Results
• How To Detail Your Way To Greatness
• The Myths and Realities of Executive Coaching

Back to The Enhancing Effectiveness Page

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