STAR Business Consulting Advises Business Owners to Bark Less and Bite More Often

March 29, 2011 - PRLog -- Every neighborhood has one dog that seemingly barks all the time for any reason, or for no reason at all.

What happens is that neighbors soon grow accustomed to this noise and tune it out. Shortly thereafter, no one hears the barking dog. But the dog still barks, only now no one pays any attention.

And so it is in an organization with an owner who does a lot of barking. Barking is just that, a lot of noise without any action (the bite). After the first few barks, the employees listen, then ignore the noise because they understand that the barking is just that, and there is no bite behind it.

There are countless leaders who talk about what they are going to do “tomorrow” about some issue, concern, challenge, problem or opportunity. The words are hollow; There is no follow-through and nothing of consequence changes.

In many organizations, there is someone who isn’t doing the job they were hired to do. This individual may even hold a position of significant responsibility. Everyone in the company knows that this person is a slacker, but the boss doesn’t take action to address the situation.

That is because for the boss, it is not a problem worth dealing with if it does not impact the owner directly. Everyone else is impacted.  

When the owner becomes aware of a problem and deals with it by ignoring it or telling the messenger that they will do something about it and then they don’t, several things happen.

The first thing is that the people working in the organization lose trust in their leader. These employees might never say that in so many words, but trust erodes. Trust is very hard to earn back once is disappears. This is the start of the slippery slope of disengagement.

The second is that the owner loses the respect of the employees. If employees come to the owner with a problem and a solution, and the owner does not take action, the employees learn that the owner doesn’t care what the employees see, think or feel.

These employees are on the payroll to help the organization to become more profitable, and when they see the boss not taking action to improve the profits of his or her own company, they lose respect.

The third thing that happens is that company morale stagnates or decreases. Employees think that “if the owner doesn’t care, why should I?” Who wants to work or do business with a company where people no longer care?

The owner who barks and does not bite has a disease. It is curable, but takes effort. The disease is ATANA which stands for All Talk and No Action.  

There was a manufacturing company based in the Midwest that held an annual sales meeting every year. The week prior to the meeting, the lowest performing sales person from the previous 12 months was terminated.

It was no surprise to anyone in the company. This was because the company published internally the rankings of the sales force from top to bottom each month.

Everyone knew where they stood on the list. Everyone strived to improve their ranking through the year, because no one wanted to be at the bottom of the list on “Departure Day.”

At this company, there was not a lot of barking. There was no need for it. The culture was designed so that the distracting barking was eliminated, and there was one “bite” a year painful enough to make a difference in how people performed.  

This isn’t just about people who are performing. It could be a vendor not delivering what was needed or promised; a process that no longer works or costs the company extra time and other resources, or a client that is costs more than the company is making in profit from the relationship.

More than 100 years ago, Elbert Hubbard said this about employees: “If you work for a man, in heaven’s name work for him! If he pays you wages that supply you your bread and butter, work for him; speak well of him, think well of him, stand by him and stand by the institution he represents. I think if I worked for a man, I would work for him. I would not work for him a part of the time, and the rest of the time work against him. I would give an undivided service or none.”

The 2011 corollary for owners is this: “If you hire a person to work in your company, listen to them. If they come to you with suggestions or issues, listen carefully, investigate the situation quickly, tell people what action you are taking and then follow through.”

“There is no faster way to kill the spirit of an employee than to ignore what is said to you, or when you say you will take action and then not follow through, especially when the information given to you is done with the goal of trying to improve the company you own.”  

Founded in 1994, STAR Business Consulting, Inc. is a Valencia, California based company with a focus of increasing top line revenue for clients. Industries served include banking, certified public accounting, manufacturing, distribution, entertainment, event production, information technology, financial services, insurance, consumer products, law, healthcare, medical equipment, film, commercial and residential real estate, construction, food and beverages, printing, professional services and others.

Services and programs provided by the company include Contract Sales and Marketing Director, Creation of Results Oriented Sales Plans, Client Retention Programs, Competitive Advantage Clarification, Client Acquisition Plans & Programs, Sales and Customer Service Education, Tradeshow Lead Generation Follow Through Program, New Segment Penetration, Marketing Plan Creation, Sales Compensation Plans, Sales Meeting Production & Facilitation, Key Account Management Strategies and Telephone Coaching.

# # #

STAR Business Consulting, Inc., based in Valencia, California, provides strategic advise on growing top line revenue for domestic and international clients. Clients include the Fortune 500 and the INC 500 in a wide variety of industry segments.