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Case Study

The case study at the end of Super Staying Power is meant to get readers thinking about how to integrate the concepts from SSP into their day-to-day reality. The case is messy, difficult, and requires that the reader think critically about the models from the book and apply them just as she would in reality… which is to say, the application will not be “clean.”

There is no one right answer here, since different people will make different assumptions in order to fill in information that’s (purposefully) missing from the case. (It’s just like real life, perfect information is a rarity!)

This is a critical point: your specific reality matters. To apply these concepts to your world, you need to ultimately ask yourself what would work best. The suggestions below are merely that: suggestions. Feel free to probe, challenge, debate, augment, or modify as you see fit.

Now, with that background, the author’s suggestions:

Sunday night planning

Creating a Magic Moment in Monday’s staff meeting is going to be tough, no doubt about it.

From a functional perspective, your ability to maneuver is severely limited; you don’t even control who is on your team! However, you are not totally without options, especially since your commitment is to GP and not POS. The following options are available to you at the social and political levels:

• Close ranks. Tell the team exactly what you’re thinking and feeling; they may be thinking along similar lines. If they aren’t, then you’re pretty much dead in the water (and you’d probably rather learn that now than later, after you’ve expended much energy). If they are, then you can commit to succeeding for the sake of one other. And, you can make that commitment mean something.
• Change the conversation with POS. Commit to exploring the possibility of buying GP with POS executives. You can’t have the POS conversation tomorrow—from the shenanigans that have been going on, it’s clear that politically, you don’t yet have the connections to be taken seriously by the right people at POS—but you can make the commitment tomorrow, which socially could help glue your team together and buy you some time.To be effective, you need to give yourself a path into POS. Think about starting with a phone call to the CEO, which you can make from the meeting:

  “POS CEO, it’s [me] from GP. I’ve been meeting with the team here, and I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, we’ve got some obstacles standing between us and our ability to execute. Bottom line: we can be doing more. I’d like to talk to you personally about what we need from you to help us get unstuck. I’m available every day this week at your convenience; just tell me when you want to meet.”

  The response you get to that call will tell you exactly how loyal you should(n’t) be to POS.

• Be honest about your concerns and desire to not rack up another 2 year stint. This meeting isn’t the time to be “politically careful.” This isn’t a political meeting. It’s a social one. Go for the throat.
• Determine a priority list for the resources your team needs. You’re going to have some tough decisions to make in very short order—like, you may need to fire the non-performers, and/or farm out business to other competitors until you can get back on solid footing with your team. Work with them to determine where to start and in what order to attack the issues. Don’t have this conversation from the perspective of “boss,” have it from the perspective of “I’m someone who is committed to making your life better sooner rather than later,” but definitely have it, because this is the part of the meeting where you take care of your team’s functional needs.

Monday – Client Call

• Set up lunch! You need to affirm the relationship, and it’s best to do that eyeball-to-eyeball.
• It’s inappropriate to belittle your current company… but is this really the time to worry about “appropriate?” Consider being honest about the frustrations the marriage has presented… and your commitment to GP and the GP magic. The trick is in how you do this—you need to convey confidence and provide the client assurance that the problems are being fixed. This part of the conversation combines political and social elements: you want to empathize with the client, while reframing her perspective to one in which she sees you as a solution to her problems.
• Tactically, here’s an idea to try: “Here’s the deal. You need something very specific from us. I can deliver. But because of what’s been going on, you and I need to be working much more closely together if we’re going to get this right. I can’t stop POS from assigning a seventh or eighth contact to you, but I can make that person irrelevant and keep the project on track.” Wait for the client to ask, “How,” and then say, “How about lunch tomorrow?”

Monday – Employee Hallway Meeting

• Give the employee a choice: “This conversation can end one of two ways. Either you can take the bait and ask me what you can do to help turn things around—in which case I’ll give you all the information you need to nail this thing and be a hero—or you can continue to brush me off like you’re doing right now, in which case you’ll walk away aggravated and I’ll walk away wondering if you’re the right person for where this team is heading. I’d like the first option… what about you?” This isn’t time to be nice… this is time for the hard sell. It’s time to establish the pecking order in no uncertain terms.

Tuesday

• I’d start with a laugh: “We’ve both had more shit sandwiches courtesy of POS than either of us need. C’mon, let’s let the company buy us lunch. We’ve earned it.” While this may sound subversive, you’re actually investing in your most important employee at a very critical time—a very worthwhile use of corporate funds! This approach confirms the social bond between you, and also includes an element of framing.
• Avoid business (other than anecdotes) for the first 20 minutes. Tell stories about work. “Remember when…?” and “What the hell was he thinking…” kinds of stories. Shake your head at the ridiculousness of them, and keep going until you are both laughing. Social, social, social.
• While you’re both eating, ask, Davis, “Where do we go from here? Assume POS doesn’t exist for a moment. What if GP were ours again? What if we blew up the hierarchy POS put in place and took this thing over? Don’t tell me you haven’t imagined it…” Start working with Davis to lay out a functional reality… you’re doing all the framing you need through the questions.
• Listen. Probe. Ask questions. Get everything on the table.
• Do you have a plan? If you do, share it. If not, go back to the call you made to the CEO: “Davis, if I get an audience with the CEO, I’m asking for the moon. What do you want?”

Wednesday

• I’ve already tipped my hand in terms of how I feel about this one. The sheet of paper exercise is a bit of a procrastination technique at this point: the only person with calling is the CEO, which (hopefully) you did Monday. You’re only making this call today if you haven’t heard back. Call back, and be direct. And if you get voicemail, then call the CEO’s assistant and figure out why you haven’t heard back yet and when you can expect to hear.

Thursday

• Don’t put so much pressure on yourself that you’re trying to make every single interaction a Magic Moment—there is an element of flow to this concept that you have to be able to read in the moment.
• Let the call start as usual. If it’s going well, roll with it. Don’t fix something that’s working! If it goes off track, appear to make the decision right then and there to have next week’s Thu call live and on-site. Move the call to Friday if necessary to accommodate. Without being annoyed, state, without emotion: “Hey, y’all. It strikes me that this call is more important than we’re treating it. Next week, face-to-face. I’m not sure this will be a trend, but until we start firing on all cylinders, we need better interactions than we’re getting here.” This is a combo platter than integrates functional (you need the meeting to work), social (you need the team to gel), and political (you’re making a power play) elements.

Friday

• Ask the client why she never shared her concerns with you? Something in the social relationship is broken.
• Invite the client to lunch with the POS CEO next week. Tell her: “GP can be a better firm than it’s been lately. We’ve been a better firm, I know what that looks like, and it burns me to no end to hear that we’ve become so much less than our potential. If you need to go, you go. I get that. But I made the opposite commitment. I promised myself I’d do everything I can to turn GP around. In fact, I’m having breakfast with the POS CEO next week. You and I both know you want more than a new partner, you also want to make sure something gets done because of your experience. This is the perfect opportunity. Why not join me?” Doing this reframes the conversation from one in which you’re listening to the client vent into one in which you’re providing the client an opportunity to vent.
• Don’t sell this client. Simply let her see what you’re doing. You can’t win the client over with words anyway, so don’t hesitate to confirm verbally the client’s commitment to leaving. But act as if you and the client are in things together. Invite her to breakfast; empathize; help her get heard… and keep the conversation alive.

These are tough days, and none of this will be easy… but even in tough times, there are opportunities to score Magic Moments and pull yourself up into a better place.

Finding those opportunities is what Super Staying Power is all about.

What do you think?

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