Stop making/taking excuses: Who's responsible for growth?

While scandal and Sarbanes-Oxley have held corporate America's financial feet to the fire, sales departments have been pointing fingers at the slow economy, engaged in a blame game and dodging responsibility for poor to mediocre results. Well, the economy is turning, and those who have avoided personal responsibility for results are in for a bumpy ride.

The economy is not and never was responsible for stagnant sales. Some companies actually experienced sales growth during the past several years, especially those with a no-excuse culture.

In helping companies grow their businesses, I invariably meet blame-game players throughout organizations who make and accept excuses for non-performance. This game causes non-performance, from lack of revenue generation to low margins, reduced profits, overrunning costs and poor cash flow. Significant change does not occur until employees stop making excuses and start taking responsibility. Here are some suggestions for putting an end to the blame game.

Identify the players

In sales, excuses for non-performance sound like this:

• Customers just aren't making capital purchases yet.
• It's impossible to compete when our competitors are priced so aggressively.
• Our market's shrinking and everyone's cutting prices just to stay in business.

In other business areas:

• If marketing (or shipping, accounting, etc.) would get their act together, we'd be able to meet our goals.
• If they'd only train us, we could do our jobs better.
• If our policies weren't so restrictive, we'd be able to better satisfy the client.

Essentially, when people blame the economy or any external condition, they don't believe they have control over the outcome. Therefore, they're unlikely to think creatively about how to resolve a problem or improve their effectiveness.

Build a disciplined culture

Here are four rather simple, effective ideas for building a disciplined culture and eliminating the erosive effects of the blame game:

• Hire disciplined people.
• Implement a No-Excuse Zone.
• Foster creative questions.
• Define performance metrics.

Hire disciplined people

Ian Troup, under whose leadership Upsher-Smith Laboratories Inc., Plymouth, grew from $8 million to $200 million in annual revenues overan eight-year time frame, recently said, "If you don't have the right crew, the right captain doesn't make a difference." Disciplined people look for solutions to every challenge. Use a proven assessment tool to identify candidates who have a belief system that supports accountability.

Establish a No-Excuse Zone

Once we start recognizing excuses, we need to enforce a No-Excuse Zone where we stop accepting excuses of any kind, from anyone, at any time, for any reason! Ask an excuse-busting question such as, "If you couldn't use that excuse, what might you do differently to achieve your goal (or solve the problem)?" This strategy empowers your people to be more creative.

Foster creative questions

Train everyone (including yourself) to ask creative excuse-busting questions. John Miller, author of QBQ! The Questions Behind the Question, suggests the following format:

• Begin with "what" or "how" (not "why," "when," or "who").
• Contain an "I" (not "they," "we" or "you").
• Focus on action.

In using the QBQ! process, the accountability-ducking comments identified earlier, now become:

• What might I do to jump-start sales in my territory?
• How might I differentiate my products/services so I can compete better?
• What training would move my skills to the next level so I can grow market share even in a declining market?
• How might I improve my communication with marketing so that my projects get done on a timely basis?
• What can I do to help my clients set better expectations?

Define performance metrics

Finally, leaders must define performance expectations, measure actual performance against targets and hold people accountable for achievement. The individual's desire and commitment as well as his or her knowledge and skills determine the types of planning and support that are needed from the manager in order to ensure a consistency of successful activity that yields predictable results.

Take responsibility for growth

A disciplined culture where employees throughout the company take personal responsibility for achieving results and meeting performance separates winners from losers. Losers talk about why past efforts went awry and why future actions won't work, while winners think creatively, take action and make changes.

Stop accepting excuses. Stop making your own excuses. Step up to the difficult challenge and make sure everyone's responsible for results. To inspire your people to rise above their circumstances and to take action to achieve profitable growth, try implementing the ideas I've shared. And let me know how they work for you.

Danita Bye is president of Sales Growth Specialists. She can be reached via e-mail at Danita​@​Sales​Growth​Specialists​.com.

© 2004 American City Business Journals Inc.