The Doctor is In! Symptoms, Diagnosis and The Leadership Cure for Your Business

One of the questions that I ask clients when working on brand identification is, “If the brand of your business were a person and walked into the room, what words would you describe it?” The point of the question is to help identify what type of brand personality the organization has and how they want their customers and prospects to perceive them.

But the same type of exercise can be helpful in other diagnostic ways, as well. For instance, when something’s not right with your body and you go to see a doctor, they don’t cut you open to find out what’s wrong; instead, they diagnose your symptoms.

We can do some of the same things when it comes to your business. For instance, show me an organization characterized by:

• lack of shared vision
• power struggles and in-fighting
• lack of clear objectives
• disjointed efforts and stop-and-start initiatives

And I will show you an organization suffering from a power vacuum. It may have a titular leader but it lacks the clarity that is provided in an organization with strong leadership.

Without strong leadership to provide clear objectives, authentic shared values and a commitment to the mission and vision of an organization, this business is likely to develop power silos – departments that war with one another over resources and priorities and turf.

What’s more, without clear objectives and a commitment to mission, vision and shared values, these organizations lack the ability to establish measures, which leaves them few objective ways to hold any of its members accountable.

In this type of organization, a few power-mongers fight fiercely for dominance. And as a result, meanwhile, most employees experience frustration and discouragement. Eventually they become disengaged and apathetic when it comes to the good of the organization; after all, it’s every man for himself here, isn’t it?

And we haven’t even mentioned the customer yet, have we?

Without a commitment to the customer, which leads to the development of the mission, vision and shared values of an organization, which then leads to the development of the strategies that will be employed to meet them in the form of clear and measurable objectives, how can you hope to succeed?

More?

Show me an organization characterized by:

• uninspired, boring, repetitive behaviors
• severe adherence to policies
• inability to solve problems or identify areas for growth
• a propensity to shift blame and C.Y.A. (cover your - well, you know)

And I’ll show you a business led (or at least managed) by someone whose ego is squarely in the way. While this person may have a clear vision and even good values, they don’t bother sharing them. Instead, they manage by decree, wondering why they are not blindly followed into the fray.

As opposed to the first type of company diagnosed, this business doesn’t suffer from a lack of accountability, in fact, there’s so much accountability that its employees are terrified to step out of line or even to step up and solve problems for customers. Staff quickly learn that it’s a mistake to speak out or make suggestions.

In this organization, employees have no meaningful way to contribute and creativity? Forgeddaboutit! Once they’ve learned their place, these employees become fearful and discouraged, then bored, then completely disengaged. No wonder they don’t care!

And we haven’t even mentioned the customer yet, have we?

Your business needs – and your customers and your employees deserve – to have good leadership, in order to succeed.

And in order to provide good leadership, you have to stop focusing on all the wrong things. 

Making peace between warring managers. Balancing competing organizational priorities. Telling yourself that your business is awesome, that your employees set you apart and that your customers love you.

To become successful and build a truly great company, you need to get back to what must be the heartbeat of your organization, and that is the customer.

In a customer centric organization, there exists a strong customer-centered vision and mission. Every role from the top down in this organization exists to fulfill the mission and vision of the organization for the customer (what you will do) and to do so from a core of authentic, shared values (how you will do it).

In a customer centric organization, every employee is clear on why the role they play is important to the fulfillment of the mission and vision of the organization. And every employee is empowered, so that they can invest themselves by making a real difference by solving problems that matter to people, be them customers or co-workers.

Good leaders inspire vision and set direction. They keep the mission and vision of the organization in front of themselves at all times and lead by example. It is not the opinions and desires of turf-warring managers, the sales force, the controller or any other individual – including themselves – that determine company strategy and policy; but rather, the final determinant in every decision-making process is the mission, vision and shared values of the organization. When in doubt, this company errs on the side of doing what is best for the customer, every time.

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Elizabeth Kraus is the author of 365 Days of Marketing.
If you want to build a business which provides the maximum when it comes to customer and employee satisfaction and loyalty as well as profitability, change the way that you  understand and use marketing.  365 Days of Marketing is available on amazon.com or save $5 off the list price when you use the Code USH9VPJG and purchase on my site at 12monthsofmarketing.net.