Somebody Please Lead – Part 3

OK, so “mergers of equals” don’t work because of the “Be Nice” behavior mutation.

Still not convinced?   Then let’s look at a case.

Two small businesses have decided to merge. They sell the same “solution” but are not competitors; they have adjacent protected market territories. The two business leaders have figured out that they can pool resources and combine back office functions like purchasing, IT support, engineering, installation, implementation, accounting and advertising. They have a great logical reason for the merger that the savings in the back office can be deployed to the sales and implementation teams to grow the overall business much farther and faster than they can do so standing alone. Both companies are about equal size in staff and revenue. Both are about the same age and have about the same number of customers.

They are equal, right? Not so fast.

Company “A” has a model where the “Sales” account manager is also the “Implementation” account manager. The guy who sells the project also manages the implementation of the project. Company “B” follows a separation of duty where the sales guy sells and the implementation guy implements. The commissions paid in Company “A” are much higher than at “B”.

Which way is the best way? The “A” model makes sure that the project management process is customer focused, and that the salesman does not promise things that cannot be delivered. But Model “B” has the sales guys really spending time selling, and the implementation guys are able to handle more projects.

The issue did not come up until after the companies started to merge. This issue hit the same time that the accounting issue about where to recognize the revenue, when the deal is signed or when the install is complete. Oh, and the healthcare plans don’t match up either.

Both owners are involved in the day to day operations of their companies. They wanted to avoid the confrontation of who “makes the call” because they both got bit with the “Be Nice” mutation. And as the differences in the operations started to “throw spanners into the works”, they both got defensive about the practices of the two companies, but still avoided the issues because neither one was comfortable with make the call because of the feelings of the other guy.

What was the answer?

Someone stepped up and took the leadership role. One of the owners found the courage to say “Stop, we are being silly” and with respect and tact begin to point out the issues and ask for a decision. This owner saw that if something was not done, and quick, the gains would be lost, or worse. This owner saw the need to do something, and did something. And guess what, the other “partner” recognized the courage and agreed to follow.

You see, the partners really were not equal, just like the companies were not equal. One partner had the foresight to see that there was a better way, the courage to make the bold step to “step up” and lead, and finally the skills to tactfully communicate solutions to the problems. With that combination, a leader was found, and the company started on the path to growth.

Epilogue

Back on the train to Denver I had breakfast with the folks across the hall, and after we sat in the observation car and talked about the art of business.  As we approached Denver my new found friend said that he had made a decision. He said had been fighting the urge, but that our conversations had convinced him that he needed to step up and take the lead. Much of what I had said was similar to what a management coach the company had hired to help “fix” the problems had said, but what I said made it obvious what was needed.

I asked him what I had said that really set him to a decision. It was “Leaders are not selected, like word from God. True Leaders see that something is wrong, they figure out how to motivate others to see the same problems, and then leads the team to fix the problem. True leaders discover courage they always had, but were reluctant to use because they did not want to step on anybody’s toes.”

“Was that it?” I asked?

“Not all,” he said. “You can always apologize for stepping on toes.”