Page 276 - The Power to Change Anything

Become an Influencer 265

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

To see how the principles we’ve studied can be used in
combination in an actual business case, let’s take a look at
what we (the authors) once did when working with an ex-
ecutive team to solve a particularly destructive problem.
The leaders attempted to use each influence method we’ve
discussed to deal with the company’s inability to deliver on
commitments.
In this company, employees were good at making promises;
it was keeping them that gave them fits. With each new proj-
ect, senior managers set clear objectives, department heads
agreed to detailed specs and deadlines, and then one or more
groups fell miserably short of their goals and delayed the proj-
ect. This habit of always missing deadlines caused enormous
problems with customers. Delays and crisis recoveries caused
costs to spiral out of control. And the company’s growing rep-
utation for being “long on commitment but short on fulfill-
ment” was beginning to cost them dearly in the marketplace.
Old customers were fleeing while new ones were becoming
increasingly difficult to find.
To identify the self-defeating behaviors that were leading to
failure, a team consisting of several senior managers and the
authors conducted interviews with project managers and proj-
ect team members. The research team quickly discovered that
people were completely aware of consistent failures, as well as
the reasons for them.
Fact-Free Planning. One manager told us that corporate
executives would lay out plans without gathering facts about
what the team was actually able to accomplish. If they did ask
for input, it was just a joke because they already had the dead-
line in their heads. The manager explained, “More often than
not, we know from the onset that we’re going to fail because
we don’t have sufficient resources. Watching one of our proj-
ects unfold is like watching a ‘slow-motion train wreck.’ You