VeBridge News: 11-2-07

Business Lexington Article - Building the Team

By Dave Anderson
Contributing writer

Today’s competitive environment demands that companies be innovative, cost effective, and customer- and solution-oriented. Due to shareholder expectations, regulatory demands and pressure from competition, customers demand of their suppliers and vendors the very best for as little as possible. This places companies competing for new customers and fighting to secure existing customers in a quandary. How do they do it? How do they provide the very best products and services to customers at a competitive price and in a way that differentiates them from other vendors? The answer lies in the team the company assembles.

In today’s market, products are products and services are services. Many companies offer the same products, and many other companies perform the same services. In the past, a company could depend on business simply because it was the only grocery, the only hardware store, or the only beauty shop in town. Today similar businesses are found in every city and most towns across America. This is what a free and open market system provides to the consumer: choices. So how do we get the customer to choose us? We rise to the top of the mountain by assembling the best team in the area.

In the past 30 years, I have had the opportunity to work in small privately held businesses, medium-sized corporate environments and the mega, six billion-dollar Fortune 500 milieu. In each, I have oft been told that my strength lies in building the team. I have been fortunate to have the right folks come my way and blessed to have been given the ability to recognize these individuals and their talents. Looking back over these teams, I have realized that the members have possessed several traits that explain their success.

Working moral compass. These people have a strong moral compass. They can distinguish the difference between right and wrong. They are uncompromising on moral issues, and their word is their bond. Their goal is to provide value to their customers. They empathize with them and develop real relationships with them. Then, when trouble comes, and it always does, the resolution is developed between partners that have shared more with one another than job requirements and invoices. They have shared themselves.

Commitment to excellence. To the members of these teams, failure is not an option. They do what it takes to make the customer love not only them, but the company as well. They are people for whom, when they walk into a room, a crisis situation immediately becomes less of a crisis, because they bring ideas and solutions. They are fighters, thinkers, doers and listeners. These are people who do not shy away from new opportunities or problems that have never been faced. Instead, they embrace the challenge, acknowledge the effort required to address the issue, and work with the customer to bring about value and solutions providing benefits to all involved.

Leadership. I have been extremely fortunate to work with some very gifted leaders. These leaders have been women, and a few men, who have transformed organizations from being money losers to money makers. And they have done it while providing more value to their customers, without raising prices. Thus, they transformed organizations without a single customer reference to organizations securing written customer reference letters from nearly all of their customers — and they did it in months, not years.

Leadership in individual contributors and managers is an undervalued skill these days. Unfortunately, too many executives believe leadership begins and ends with them. In reality, true leadership in business, like true leadership in war, comes from those closest to the troops. Real leadership infects common people with an uncommon belief in themselves, their objective and the possibilities that lie ahead. The people on the teams I am referring to possess that type of leadership and executives would do well to recognize it, hire it, learn it and employ it.

Gender neutrality. These teams have all been composed of both men and women. However, one of the most uncommon traits of each team is that they all have had more women members than men. The “good ol’ boy” networking schemes of old have been dismantled and all sacred cows slaughtered. People are recognized for their contribution, and responsibilities are delegated based upon an individual’s ability and strengths. Shooters are used as shooters, and rebounders are used as rebounders. Square pegs should not be asked to squeeze into round holes. Using the right person in the right situation is simply the best approach.

Loyalty. Finally, the teams were made up of members loyal to the group and the objective. The group objective must always be more important than the individual objective, yet the group must work to ensure the success of each individual member, thus benefiting all customers serviced by each team member’s area. Every member must be accountable to every other member. Each must deliver their respective parts. Opinions are expected, and contributing to team meetings is a requirement. “I don’t care” is not an acceptable answer, and when issues are debated, everyone must take a side. Arguments may result, but because of the quality of the team, when the argument is over and a decision established, friends remain friends, the team becomes stronger and the customer is better served.

Simply stated, it is people who make the difference. Good people make a great difference when it comes to meeting the requirements, satisfying the customer and generating new business. Some may ask, “Where do we find these types of people?” Some you hire, but surprisingly, some you discover. Sadly, many good people are hidden below the hierarchy of company politics, gender bias and tradition. Unless you are willing to dig for diamonds, you will never find them. You must lead in the effort to uncover these jewels; they are easy to see when you know what you are looking for. They are the employees that get the job done, the ones you count on to complete the tasks. They are the woman who works twice as hard for half the recognition and the man willing to get dirty for the sake of the customer. They give their opinions, question authority, and provide ideas outside the common box of comfort. If you really want to see them shine, take them out of the ground, dust them off and give them some responsibility. You’ll be amazed how they glimmer in the light.

Experience has shown me the traits previously mentioned are all necessary. Do not settle for someone who possesses four of the five traits. Be patient. Wait, watch, and listen. These folks are out there somewhere, and they can make a big difference in your company. Trust me; they have made a huge difference in mine.

Dave Anderson is the chief operating officer of VeBridge, a Lexington-based provider of document management, litigation support and digital asset management products and services.