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“AT
ALL COSTS” IS TOO COSTLY |
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Should we be surprised at the scale and audacity of the current corporate scandals? Society has espoused the philosophy that it’s important to “do whatever it takes to produce the numbers” and that’s exactly what individuals have done. A recent article from the Economist has, quite rightly, pointed out that, “When undue attention is focused on a single figure (bottom line profit), undue effort is devoted to manipulating it.” Commenting on the current economic climate, George W Bush said that, “Unethical behaviour and conduct that began in the boom of the 1990s is being uncovered. Workers have lost their jobs and the trust of the American people has been betrayed.” Although
the unwritten rule for many companies has been to “do whatever it
takes to get ahead”, many of the individuals we come into contact with
in our work actually rate trust and honesty as the most important
attributes in successful team and organisational development. THE
COMPETITIVE SPIRIT
We
have some great photos of professional adult men cuddling stuffed toy
monkeys. On one of our team building programs, corporate groups are
asked to rescue and provide for this unique “endangered” animal. We
travel on buses to jungle areas, where teams must negotiate difficult
territory to gather supplies for their animal and follow the
instructions carefully to ensure its survival. Perhaps
not surprisingly, the activity inevitably gets very competitive –
although no direct instructions are given to compete against others.
It’s quite humorous to observe from an objective perspective the way
these people behave when the suits are taken off and the challenge is
on. It’s interesting to see to what extent these people will go to in
order to reach the given goal. They’ll battle each other in huge
football scrums and shred the other teams’ animals to pieces, lying
and cheating as much as is necessary to “win”. One
particular time when we ran the program, the heat was on before the
group even departed from the hotel. We were working with the top sales
performers in the company, and they were all hyped up and ready to go.
No sooner had the group left the briefing room, than an individual from
Team A stole Team B’s monkey and threw it in the rubbish bin. Team B,
however, only discovered their significant loss when the bus arrived at
the given destination. Team B was mortified. The whole day’s activity
was now useless. What
the individual in Team A hadn’t taken into account was the fact that
the CEO of the company was on Team B. And the CEO was furious! At the
end of the program she let it be known that if she found the individual
responsible for committing such a heinous crime, they would be sacked
from the company! A
day or so after the program, a very anxious individual approached us to
make a confession. “Promise you won’t tell?” he pleaded – “…
I stole the monkey.” He explained to us his confusion about the whole
episode, explaining that as the top sales performers, this group had
been told they had to give everything to win contracts, that they had to
do all it would take to get ahead. He had felt that his competitive edge
would be rewarded, and was taken by surprise when he was instead
threatened with dismissal. We
assured him that we had already spoken to the CEO, and had explained
that these activities were designed to provide the opportunity to deal
with issues that arise in the workplace in a more protected environment.
The exercise had revealed the flaws with a competitive focus, and had
allowed the group to consider what standard was ethically acceptable for
their company. The
individual kept his job, but he had learnt his lesson the hard way. BEATING
COMPETITION Each
time you enter a group you should be aware of where your competitive
focus is, and where it should be. When you talk about “doing whatever
it takes to win” or “the name of the game is climbing the corporate
ladder” - you have chosen a competitive focus. Like a bad ecology,
these ideas can pollute the organisational climate and become
self-reinforcing. By
focusing on team development rather than competition you will,
paradoxically, end up having the competitive edge. In “Built to
Last”, Collins and Porras look at the implications for organisations:
“Visionary companies focus primarily on beating themselves. Success
and beating competitors comes to the visionary companies not so much as
the end goal, but as a result of relentlessly asking the question:
“How can we improve ourselves to do better tomorrow than we did
today?” They
go on to explain that the most successful companies over the last 100
years have known at the very core what they stand for and why they
exist. They consciously concentrate on building the company not
developing great products. The company is not a vehicle for products,
but the products are seen as a vehicle for the company. These companies
exist as a great companies that produce ‘xyz’ and not the other way
round. The
most impressive teams in companies we have worked have a strong value
system based on a personal focus. Just
as individuals can be emotionally hijacked by stress, teams can be
hijacked by an unchecked and unmonitored lust for success at all cost.
Core values and excellence can end up taking a back seat while
competition drives the group along the road at frightening and dangerous
speeds. Ethics
give our society a form of order and stability. Those who choose not to
behave ethically can end up being a great burden on the rest of the
population. The current cost of competing “at all costs” has been
257 public companies with $258 billion in assets declared bankruptcy in
2001, AND the betrayal of trust. We aim to ensure that the companies we
work with recognise the importance of focusing on a higher principle
than “Doing whatever it takes …
“ Andrew
Grant
is the Managing Director of TIRIAN, an international training
& consulting company that works with multinational executives
throughout the region. Andrew and Gaia are the authors of Living
in Three Dimensions, and Gaia has also written The Rhythm of Life
and A Patch of Paradise. This article is also available at www.tirian.com/writing/corporate/atallcosts.htm |
by Andrew Grant (C)
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“Unethical behaviour and conduct that began in the boom of the 1990s is being uncovered. Workers have lost their jobs and the trust of the American people has been betrayed.” George W Bush
Each
time you enter a group you should be aware of where your competitive
focus is, and where it should be. When you talk about “doing whatever
it takes to win” or “the name of the game is climbing the corporate
ladder” - you have chosen a competitive focus. Like a bad ecology,
these ideas can pollute the organisational climate and become
self-reinforcing.
Ethics give our society a form of order and stability. Those who choose not to behave ethically can end up being a great burden on the rest of the population.
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