Killing the goose

In one of Aesop’s fables, a poor farmer discovered a glittering golden egg in the nest of his pet goose. Even though he thinks this must be a trick, he takes the egg to be appraised. To his delight and good fortune, the egg is pure gold. The next day he rushes to the nest to discover another golden egg. This continues everyday for several weeks until the farmer becomes wealthy.

Unfortunately, the farmer becomes greedy and tires of waiting for the goose to only produce one golden egg each day. He impatiently grabs an ax to kill the goose and take all the gold he is sure lies within her. However, after slaying his prize goose he discovers there is no gold, and he has destroyed the means to produce more golden eggs.

This story exemplifies the principle that any entity—be it a person, business, or country—has two key elements to create sustained, superior performance: the capacity to produce, or the means (the goose); and the actual production, or the results (the golden eggs).

In order to get the results and achieve sustainable, superior performance, one must invest in developing the capacity of individuals within an organization. Far too many private and public organizations on Saipan are performing below their capability for various reasons. Likewise, far too many individuals are less productive than what they are capable of achieving. Just ask yourself: “Do you possess more intelligence, talent, energy, and creativity than you are capable of accomplishing, or even allowed to do in your job?”

Sadly, we believe that the vast majority of people would answer “yes” to that question. They are not fully committed because they are not engaged in work that challenges their highest performance or allows them to excel. Stephen R. Covey, in his book The 8th Habit, shares the following insights from a poll of 23,000 U.S. residents who were employed within key industries:

Only 13 percent of the individuals take initiative and responsibility for results.

Only 15 percent felt that their organization fully enables them to execute key goals.

Only 22 percent are motivated and feel valued for the work they perform for the organization.

Only half were satisfied with the work they accomplished by the end of the week.

A friend recently confided that he was not happy with his job and was looking for other employment. He is making good money that pays the bills, the company is a financially strong organization that has a good reputation in the community and is expected to continue its growth in an uncertain economy. However, he is so frustrated that he would be willing to take a lower paying job if it would give him more fulfillment.

The main problem is that the culture of the organization he works for does not encourage nor allow him to realize his full potential. The company has created a stifling environment that has too many controls, demands accountability, rewards compliance, and constantly looks for ways to minimize operational costs to maximize profits. In other words, the company is focused on bottom-line profits at the expense of top-line people. It is killing the goose to find the gold, and in the process losing its golden people.

These organizations, and there are many, have a focus on profits at the expense of people, versus developing people to achieve greater profits. These organizations push low performers up to meet minimum performance levels, but in the process pull high performers down so that a lesser portion of their potential is tapped. The symptoms these organizations are plagued with includes low morale, high turnover, and stagnant or declining sales. A business with this environment has the sustainable power of a mayfly.

What’s funny is that when sales decline, their MBA execs and top-ranked consultants will immediately grab the ax to start cutting more expenses—which usually means laying off people and a reduction in training and other professional development “expenses” (got to keep those shareholders happy). In the process they are killing the soul of the organization—assuming it had one in the first place—and hastening their own demise.

Practically any business can create improved results for a short time, but the real challenge is to deliver consistently superior results over the long term—to keep those golden people producing golden results over time.

(Rik is a business instructor at NMC and Janel is the owner of Positively Outrageous Results. They can be contacted at: biz_results@yahoo.com)