Responding To Chaos In The Workplace.

I had an interesting time facilitating a discussion at our monthly members meeting this week. Our primary topic was on business development so one of our members teed up an issue that was vexing him.  He explained that he has an engagement which he really enjoys, however, the situation is chaotic.  The organization is in flux and the employees are fearful of the CEO. This member was looking for input to navigate through the cultural dysfunction and improve his performance in the engagement. I thought that was an excellent conversation starter because it is a real-world issue, not some irrelevant hypothetical.  More to the point, the easiest business development opportunity is to sell more to existing customers.  It was a lively discussion which included input from all in attendance.  The best suggestion was to evaluate his goal for the engagement, an obvious starting point for any decision.  

I continue to be fascinated by the way people make decisions, especially in business. I understand that many have been trained to use quantitative methods while others approach decisions based on intuition or gut feel.  The best decision makers, in my experience, integrate the empirical with the subjective.  During our discussion, it became obvious that our Consultant had missed some opportunities created by weaknesses in the client's culture.  One thought was to present his work to the employees, demonstrating its value to the company as a whole, and to the individual employees.  That one action would have clear benefits by aligning the employees with the goals of the company while improving morale.

As I was trained as a financial analyst, I am more comfortable working with hard data. The use of statistics, linear regression, company values, and discounted cash flow analysis where my tools of the trade.  I learned early on that quantitative analysis was a good foundation, however, that was only the starting point for my superiors.  To arrive at a final decision they evaluated the opportunity based on their experience, corporate objectives, and appropriate risk factors.  I viewed their process as a combination of experience and gut feel.  Also, I am interested decision-making by people in their private lives, but that is topic for another day. 

At the end of the discussion, I provided perspective from my experience as an executive recruiter. I spoke to a very common introduction from job seekers,  who tell me they are looking for a highly ethical, stable environment, with a healthy culture, selling a respectable product or service.  I told our members that the first thing that I must do is to disabuse these folks of that lofty goal as most employers are managing chaos.  Most companies are under tremendous pressure to maintain relevance in the face of disruptive start-ups and technology.  They are fighting for survival.

Reasons for chaos in the workplace.

1. Every company is struggling for market share
2. The pace of change is accelerating
3. There is a major breakdown in internal communication
4. The influx of millennial’s is complicating the situation.
5. Tenures are short are getting shorter

These factors are creating significant opportunities for our consulting business.  By incorporating these dynamics into our work we provide a value-added benefit to our clients.  As with any product or service, good work is rewarded with additional work.  At the beginning of this post, I said that the easiest way to grow one's business is to sell more goods and services to existing customers.  In conclusion, if one is to consider ways to provide value-added services to their client, they would do well by helping the client minimize the impact of these five factors creating chaos in the workplace.

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Jim Weber, Managing Partner

ITB PARTNERS

Jim.Weber@itbpartners.com

Current Assignments

1. COO- Northeast-based Casual Dining Restaurant Company - New
2. VP Operations - Southeast-based Casual Dining Restaurant Company - New

3. CEO- Northeast-based Casual Dining Restaurant Company - Completed

4. Corporate R&D Chef, Atlanta-based Home Meal Replacement Company - Complete

5. Area Supervisor - Legacy Pizza Chain, Carolinas - Completed

6. Operating Partners - Legacy Pizza Chain - New

7. Controller - Atlanta-based Consumer Products - Digital Company - Completed

8. Outplacement Assignment - Atlanta-based Manufacturer:  Complete

Author of: Fighting Alligators: Job Search Strategy For The New Normal