Managing The Gap

“You were wrong,” Phil stated confidently. “How so?” I asked, though I could tell where the conversation was going. I had worked with Phil and his team several years ago. With a couple dozen employees and ten million in sales, we implemented a strategic alignment of the business; a process of creating the foundational vision, mission and values along with the strategic processes to achieve the business objectives.

“Our growth," he continued. "We are achieving what we set out to do, but it hasn’t happened like you said it would.”

I don’t ever recall telling him how it would happen, but I wasn’t going to argue the point.

“When we put our plan together for how we would get there, we calculated it would take a double digit growth rate, year over year. We were on track the first couple of years, then the economy dumped and our sales went flat. Then we had a down year. We all took a pay cut to avoid laying off anyone.”

“Good for you Phil. Sounds like to you did the right thing.”

“Yeah, but my point is the goals and metrics became so unbelievable that I finally stopped sharing them. They became meaningless.”

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It was at this point that it took everything in my power to keep from telling Phil this is where he missed the opportunity—in managing the gap between the goal and the current performance.

“So, what did you do?”

“I told them to just focus on their job and I’ll worry about where the business is going.”

Phil’s reaction is an all too familiar refrain I hear from many businesses owners. When things are going as planned managing the business is easy. The truth is however, we are learning much less when business is going as planned than when it isn’t.  It’s not easy to do, especially when everyone is looking to you for answers. Rather than bailing on the process as Phil did however, there are some simple steps you can take to stay the course, as follows:

1. Have a defined goal – As simple as it sounds, many leaders fail to clarify what the target is yet they expect the organization to perform as if they should know, or worse, as if it doesn’t matter. Don’t kid yourself…it matters!

2. You don’t have to know all the answers – The sooner you stop acting like a problem solver, the better. Become a solution promoter, viewing problems as an opportunity to involve employees in the problem solving process.

3. Seek small, successive wins – One of the biggest temptations when things aren’t going as planned is to look for big win. While understandable, it is not a recipe for success. Stay the course and seek small but measureable successes. A popular refrain of a friend and sales mentor, Jerry Vieira of QMP Associates is, “succeeding in business comes from doing a thousand small things right.”

4. Be patient and persistent – Edison once said, “most people don’t realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” You are likely closer to success than you think.

5. Don’t miss the larger moment – Whether you recognize it or not, you are modeling how to lead through challenging times. How you choose to act today will likely become the standard for the team tomorrow.

Yes, Phil is experiencing success. The larger problem he hasn’t recognized however is it is largely on his back. It is arguable whether the team has learned anything other than to keep their heads down and not ask questions. While it may have worked for Phil this time, he’s done little to prepare for tomorrows challenge. Either Phil can start working with his team to become part of the solution, or he’d better make sure he has his A-game on. It’s not a matter of if the next challenge comes, but when.

Take the time to start working with your team to manage the gap and you will create a foundation for performance that will pay off when it really matters.