I joined an entrepreneurs’ support group a few weeks ago. Our latest topic of dinner conversation: How to close the gap between what we know and what we do?
You know what I’m talking about. We write business strategies that look worth at least a million or two in investments or donations. So why can’t we get our staffs to march in lockstep? Worse, why can’t we get ourselves to do more of the things we ought to do, more of the time?
David Maister knows. He wrote The Fat Smoker. It’s not exactly up there with Good to Great, The One-Minute Manager, or other phenomenally popular management titles, but you won’t find a better treatise on the behavioral fallacies underlying most strategic initiatives – and how to overcome them.
Maister comes by his wisdom honestly. He quit smoking and lost 30 pounds, and he has kept to his good habits. Of course, it took a medical catastrophe to stiffen his resolve. But that is not dissimilar to what happens in organizations, he says.
If revenues drop off sharply, it’s amazing how quickly businesses can act to deal with known inefficiencies and bad habits they could have tackled years ago.
So why don’t they tackle them? This gets to the heart of Maister’s argument: Strategic initiatives, like most New Year’s resolutions, promise rewards in the future but require discipline in the present. Not much fun. So people – and organizations – often begin with the best of intentions but quickly fall off the wagon.
Maister knows the secret to staying on the wagon. It’s choosing a strategy that your organization can live with, every working day. As with successful diets, he says, “It’s about a permanent change in lifestyle.”
And what that requires is going public. Not only must everyone in the company buy into the change. They must consent to having their performance measured and the results made public. Like a Weight Watchers’ weigh-in.
Top managers must buy in. Everyone in the company must buy in, or find another company. It is not a solution for the faint of heart.
So what will our entrepreneurs’ support group talk about next time? Our companies’ missions, in 10 (maybe 20) words or less. Nobody wants to do it. It’s hard. It’s public. We may be disappointed with the results. But we know it’s good for us. Like a weigh-in.
