Select Your Crew, Get Rid of Mutineers, and Harness Everyone's Strengths

It is so tempting.

You arrive as a new supervisor or manager in a department or division.  And the first thing you want to do is to "change things" and make your mark and make a difference.

You learn the business, you go see some customers, you design some new programs and "ways of doing things," and within 30-90 days, you LAUNCH your new plan.

And in 90 more days, you haven't reached your goals and the results are not that much different.

Why?  Because you started with tactics, programs, and measures.  You didn't start with the people.

Jim Collins said it better than anyone in Good to Great.  First, you:

1. Get the right people on the bus
2. Get the wrong people off the bus
3. And get the right people in the right seats

But assessing, working with, and adding or eliminating people take up valuable time, right?  Yup, sure does.  "I'll figure out the people part later, but for now--I've got to change somethings and satisfy my boss!"

In extreme cases, you have to step aboard and make immediate changes.  Like the ship's First Mate who takes over for a Captain wounded in battle.  If he doesn't put out the fires, plug the leaks, and grab the wheel with both hands--the entire ship and crew are in trouble.

But unless your ship is on fire and leaking water, you need to first CAREFULLY select your crew, and in particular--the leaders of that crew.  You need to remove the mutineers and leave them on shore.  And then you need to see to it that everyone on the ship is doing the job they were born to do--which might not necessarily be the job they're in now.

When the crew is right, only then can you chart your course, raise the sail, and head North with the confidence that you are all a team committed to one thing: the destination.

Success…right under our noses.

Patrick Lencioni captured my attention in 2002 when Chris Walton shared "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" with me and his management team.  I've been a fan ever since (of both Lencioni and Walton, but I digress).

Yes, products and services are important, but it's the TEAM that at the end of the day, defines a company's greatness.

I was in the audience last month when John Maxwell told a story about two clients.  They both happen to be restaurants selling chicken.  One of them was operating with a focus on product and price.  They had little emphasis on the people.  The energy in the employees was low.

The other company focused on developing their people and viewed success as creating a superior experience for their customers--through the excellence of their people.  The investment in the employees was high and it showed in their dynamic energy.

Two restaurants selling chicken.  One focused on product and price.  One with an emphasis on developing their people and teams in order to provide superior service.  Guess which one is achieving record success?

Lencioni's latest book, The Advantage, makes the point even further.  The following is from the jacket of the book:

"While too many leaders are still limiting their search for advantage to conventional and largely exhausted areas like marketing, strategy, and technology, Lencioni demonstrates that there is an untapped gold mine siting right beneath them.  Instead of trying to become smarter, he asserts that leaders and organizations need to shift their focus to becoming healthier, allowing them to tap into the more-than-sufficient intelligence and expertise they already have."

Lencioni and Maxwell remind us "it's not about the widgets (or chicken).  It's about people.

Organizational Clarity

Leaders need to personally be clear about their vision and their strategy.

And just as importantly, they need to do something with it.  Employees and the team must know the vision, and the top leader must take responsibility for ensuring the vision is shared.

How?  Constant messaging to employees.  I don't know of too many companies that over communicate. But the greatest ones do.

They create visual work places.

They post the score (how the company is doing in all measurable areas).

They communicate the goals to the employees often.

They communicate the successes, setbacks, and challenges often.

They are accessible and "make the rounds" often to socialize the goals, objectives, initiatives, and how the company is doing.

Question:  Do your team members know the goals and the score?

To Be Like a Rockefeller

In the late 90's, I was presented with a book from my friend David Parfitt in Atlanta titled Mastering The Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish.  That book forever changed and improved the way I've set goals, created and communicated plans, and organized and worked with teams.

I'll share just three principles from the many that Harnish discovered were put to use by John D. Rockefeller  during the latter half of the oil industry era--when his disciplined approach to business created unprecedented success.

1. Create a One Page Operating Plan.  A one-page plan is simple enough that it will get referred to and used often, as opposed to most plans in 3-ring binders that become shelf decorations.

2. Keep Everyone on the Same Page.  How do you do this?  You create simple, compelling goals and make them visible-- and then support with #3 below.

3.  Create Meeting Rhythm.  Establish a series of regular meetings with your team and extended team to communicate priorities, get reports against objectives, and use the One-Page Plan as a measure of your progress.  Everyone ought to know what's expected and what's coming each time you meet.  This keeps the meetings short, pointed, and impactful.

If you'd like to learn more about The Rockefeller Habits, go to Gazelle's website, created by Verne Harnish, where you can download the forms and worksheets to help get you on your way.

What Do You Value?

I think most lists of company values are crap.

Yes, I said "crap."  Why?  Because, in my opinion--the lists are contrived from a random list of values that the leaders think "sound good" or would be good for the organization.

If you want to dig deep on this, spend 3 minutes at Jim Collins' site to listen and learn about the absolute #1 best way in the world to select your company values:  Examine your best employees and what makes them special--and take their list of collective values and attach them to your company.

I've used Collins' technique and can tell you it works…very well.

On Purpose

Mission and values….yes.  But purpose?  What is a company's "purpose statement?"

Verne Harnish (author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits) puts it this way.  "Values are the rules of the organization.  Purpose is the heart."

Questions to get at your purpose:

"Why are we doing what we are doing?"

"What is the reason we are in the business we are in?"

"What is our Passion for the business we're in?"

"What's our Higher Reason for being in this specific business?"


When you've developed your purpose statement, it breathes life into why you're here. And whether you're a company of 10,000 or a company of 1, it is always better to be "on purpose."

Mistakes on our Path

Mistakes properly dealt with lead to wisdom, as long as they're not made twice. They are sometimes part of our path to best practices.