As a member of various CEO groups in LinkedIn, I often
receive e-mails from consulting firms seeking to establish a relationship. These
emails usually offer a free link to one of their articles. Always looking for
better professional insight, I like to scan these articles looking for
something of value. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long to be disappointed.
After a couple of sentences, the shallow nature of the information becomes evident.
It is frustrating even when the information is free.
Case in point (yes, I am picking on these guys), I recently
read the Watch out for these EmployeeMisbehaviors article. In a flash, the platitude meter spiked. The problem
is that, in the world of business, performance is the only metric. Beautiful verbiage
does nothing to turn information valuable. Even the best of intentions can't be
monetized. Only execution has a chance to deliver the goods.
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| Launch Article |
The article starts by establishing that managers deal with
poor employees. Really? Then, it quickly describes generally-accepted reprimand
techniques. Finally, it lists seven types of employee misbehavior, followed by
corresponding explanations. Do you mean to tell me that a manager needs en
explanation of what procrastination is? Incredible! The article seems to assume
that managers were not previously aware that tardiness, temper tantrums,
negative body language and others were types of employee misbehavior. Au contraire, a manager who hasn't already dealt with such misbehavior has a
bigger problem than just a couple of bad employees. He or she has been sleeping
all this time.
All employee problems starts with poor hiring. A good
manager will immediately and clearly establish metrics and ambitious goals for
the new hire from day one. Any deviation from the expected performance should
be immediately addressed. As Reagan said, "trust, but verify". No
surprises. In fact, trouble employees usually show their true nature fairly
quickly as personal behavior tends to regress-to-the-mean.
But if consultants are such lightweights when it comes to
delivering value, how is it that they stay in business? Well, because people
like you or I spend too much on their services. But it must stop.
The article mentioned above made me remember one occasion at a trade show when a consultant attempted
to sell me on the many services they offered. Within his pitch, he used the ROI
acronym at least a dozen times. So, I stopped him. I asked him to explain what Return on Investment (ROI) meant to him. Nervously, as if I was the first person to ask ever, he fumbled as he
tried to describe cost savings. To this, I asked why would he assume that I
would spend any money? "If I spend nothing", I said, "there are
no savings". Talk about hitting a concrete wall; the guy looked horrified.
It was clear that they would not be able to bring value to us.
Perhaps the problem begins with the fact that consultants
face zero accountability. All they have to do is make a beautifully bound
presentation of their opinion. Anything beyond an opinion will depend on you or
I. So you end up exchanging money for a custom made book. That is it; execution
and performance are not part of the deal.
Don't settle for just an opinion. Demand Performance instead. Any service (or opinion)
that can't pay for itself should be discarded. Often, you will even hear the
common adage "in order to make money you have to spend money". I
suggest you throw a yellow flag. You too can ask: "how about spending less money
to make more money? Have you heard of that?" By the way, even your own
employees may fall for such falsehoods. These types of phrases tend to make
people who can't manage their own checkbooks at home sound capable of making
investment decisions for you. As you can tell, I do not buy any of it. You shouldn't
either. Demand real quantifiable ROI's, not just the marketing types. If you
find consultants who can both project and deliver real returns, keep them. They
are rare!
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