An article for business professionals - November 2, 2006
Written by Jan Bolick
The Dimming Fire
A Management Mystery
Matt was all set. He had a team of six, fired up and ready to take his business to the next level. They liked the business. They liked Matt. They liked each other. This was going to be fun.
First they needed a 20% sales increase over prior year. They brainstormed and developed an action plan - complete with roles, responsibilities and a timeline. Then came a nice surprise from Matt. He announced a bonus plan: $200 per person for any quarter the team achieved a 20% increase. It would be a fun way to recognize and celebrate progress toward goal for the year.
At the first scheduled follow up meeting, every person had completed his assignments except for Matt, who shared profuse apologies. Something about being busy.
Understanding how hard it is to be in charge of it all, each member of the team took on a bigger role so that by the next check-in meeting, the project was done except for approval by Matt. Two months later, it still sat on his desk waiting to be tweaked.
A bit shy of the sales target for first quarter, staff members gathered to discuss strategies for making the final push. They reviewed the original action plan and asked about "that great idea" they had developed for promoting sales – the one (of many) waiting for management approval.
All eyes turned to Matt who huffed, "It wasn’t what I wanted. It needs to be re-worked. But I can’t do everything around here you know."
Team members continued to take on extra work without extra pay– staying late or taking work home to get it done.
If they had questions or problems, they consulted each other instead of Matt, hoping to protect his time. But it usually didn’t work because if Matt was in earshot of the conversation or within eyeshot of an associated email, he would jump in, ask for a re-cap of the situation and tell everyone what to do to fix it; needlessly taking everyone's time and robbing them of the opportunity to test and demonstrate expertise and self-sufficiency.
The fire dimmed each time this happened.
They exceeded goal for first quarter. An awesome achievement. Felt great to all. Would have been a perfect time for Matt to hand out the promised reward. Days went by. Nothing was said. Finally one of the payees-in-wait asked when the bonus would be paid. Matt’s response, "You’ll have to wait a little while – our cash flow is bad right now."
A few weeks later, a check for $200 showed up in each person’s mailbox. No note, no thank you, no congratulations.
Dimmer still, somehow the team re-fueled the fire by focusing on the big picture, concentrating on ways they could bring in more revenue and looking for ways to speed up cash flow.
One team member suggested that a specific payment date on invoices would foster quicker payment than the current "due in 30 days". Matt liked the idea. Meanwhile team members started asking customers for"1/2 up front" when an order was placed.
The second quarter goal was made and celebrated with high fives among team members. They waited, then asked and were told that cash flow was even worse, so it would be a while before the bonus was paid.
What about the advance money that was collected? Didn’t that help?
The computer wasn’t set up to take partial payments so instead of going to the bank to help cash flow, these payments sat in a drawer waiting on the IT guy to make the necessary software change. Meanwhile the products were manufactured, delivered and invoiced. By then the bookkeeper had forgotten about the deposits in the drawer but was quickly reminded by customers who called to complain. Several days later, a corrected invoice was sent showing that payment was due "in 30 days".
So that change hadn’t been made either?
Matt shook his head in disgust, "Our IT guy is so unreliable."
The bonus wait continued while Matt hovered over the accounts receivable list. The fire dimmed more as team members felt pushed to push for payment from good paying customers who had just received corrected invoices. They eventually got their small reward.
The third quarter goal was missed. Disappointing. No bonus earned. No need to "beg" for it. What a relief.
The team rallied, surpassed the fourth quarter goal, making up for the third quarter shortage. They had been skeptical when the owner had challenged them to a 20% increase for the year. But they did it. Absolutely unbelievable.
Could they keep it up?
Questions about fourth quarter bonus money were deferred to the owner who reportedly gave no response until finally word was sent that he wanted to meet with the team about the goals for the year. Meetings were scheduled and repeatedly cancelled at the last minute. Something about being busy.
The team was busy too - blazing through the first quarter of the new year, recording not just a 20% but a 40% increase over the prior year. Unbelievable!
Another bonus earned but not paid. Questions were reportedly deferred to the owner who reportedly promised to meet with the team soon.
Another 40% increase in the second quarter. Another bonus earned but not paid.
Six months into the new year, came the long awaited meeting with the owner who announced that he was disappointed. The company wasn’t making enough money for him to receive bonuses, so he didn't think it fair for the team to receive them. The bonus plan was cancelled. The decision was retroactive - back to the fourth quarter of the previous year.
The absolute dead silence was filled by the owner giving more details about his disappointment in the team for not bringing in more new business.
"What about the 20% increase last year? And what about the 40% increase so far this year?", the team members asked.
"It’s not enough," he said. "And besides, from what I understand, we got all of that because of Matt. I expected the rest of you to bring in new business."
Matt didn't say a word. Nothing in support or defense of his loyal, hardworking team.
They said nothing either. There was no point in mentioning how much worse earnings would’ve been without these 20-40% increases. No point in mentioning the leads that had been passed to and dropped by Matt. No point in listing all the action steps Matt had dropped or blocked. No point explaining all the extra work team members had taken on to compensate for this. No point lamenting the plans (and promises) each had made for spending the already earned, long expected $600.
There was just no point because now there was no fire. Not a single spark.
The owner kept his $3600. Four team members quit. The others just went through the motions. Did whatever they were told. Went home as soon as possible each day.
And Matt kept working by the dim light on his desk, slamming his fist on it as he shouted, "Why do I always have to drive this business by myself?"
Hmm...what a mystery.
At least it was to Matt. He had so many ideas, wanted so much for this business but felt so alone in making it happen.
His fired up team, who loved Matt and his business, was gone. The owner had gone back to putting out fires in the other businesses he owned. But Matt was not alone.
He joined the company of many managers who meant well but couldn't get or keep the fire burning.
Let's hope that Matt will be able to join the elite sub-set of this group that becomes stronger and wiser by solving management mysteries such as these - bravely reading and re-reading the stories - sifting through the ashes - searching for clues that explain the dimming fire.
copyright 2006 by Business Class Inc.
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Will you help Matt? In case he is too mired in this management mystery to come up with valuable clues...will you help by sending one or two suggestions for what he might do different
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copyright 2006 by Business Class Inc.
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