It seemed obvious to me, but it was invisible to them.

I think it’s baked into the plot of every reality TV dating show ever made. There’s one potential partner that is clearly a disaster but the contestant doing the choosing is inexplicably drawn to them until their defects are exposed later in the season. We shake our heads and wonder how the contestant could be so oblivious to the horrible attitude and abhorrent behavior of this potential love connection.

In my eighteen years of consulting, I’ve walked into more situations like this than you’d  think – not inexplicable dating decisions, but business defects that slapped you in face the minute you saw them but were seemingly invisible to the people who led the organization.

In the most egregious situations, these were problems that could sink the business. Here’s what I’ve seen –

Arrogance – In almost every case, it’s been in a business that’s been around for a long time. Years of consistent revenue, continued success, and comfort gave the leadership team an air of invincibility – every new product will turn into gold, every decision will be right, and every expansion will boost the bottom line. There’s no reason to be circumspect when it’s been a long time since there was a misstep. You might be wondering how I got invited into a business like this. Typically, there was a tear in the fabric of the universe and they didn’t know what to do. Years of smooth sailing had produced unprepared sailors. As you might have already guessed, when the consulting engagement began, they were certain the problem was not them. They had successfully guided the enterprise for decades and surely this new wrinkle was the fault of someone or something else. It’s a tough putt to get these folks to say, “It’s me. I’m the problem and I’m responsible for the solution.”

Entitlement – I’ve found this most frequently in family-owned businesses. If you work in a family-owned business, the odds are not in your favor –  approximately 40% of U.S. family-owned businesses make it to a second generation, 13% to a third, and 3% to a fourth or beyond. Let me hasten to say, some of my favorite and most rewarding engagements have been in family-owned businesses who have engineered a way to keep generations of family members engaged and committed to continuous improvement. However, there have been others where successor generations seemed blissfully unaware of the hard work and ingenuity of their ancestors who skillfully created a goose who could lay golden eggs. Sadly they were only interested in the golden eggs, which they viewed as some sort of birthright. Any conversations on keeping the organization healthy, ensuring its longevity, or positioning it for future growth were uninteresting to them. Suggestions that the goose might not always lay golden eggs were met with skepticism. It’s been my experience that one or two members of successor generations see with clear enough eyes to break through the entitlement barrier and champion the necessary reforms. Sometimes they can awaken their fellow successors.

Inattention to Big Picture/Inattention to Detail – If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you’ve most likely read, “You have to earn it on every interaction.” It requires incredible effort and mature systems to make that happen. When businesses start, the founder/founders do everything – including delivery of the product or service. Because of that, there is tremendous care and precision that goes into that delivery. As the business grows, it’s usually not long until other people are delivering the product or service. Organizations that grow the right way create processes so that every customer interaction happens just as if the founder was delivering it. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen very often. Founders often assume that the good employees that they hired will do work the way the founders wanted it done, but they don’t. Some founders lack the know how to create good processes that ensure consistent quality and delivery. In other cases, inattention manifests itself in more physical ways. Facilities and equipment don’t get the tender loving care they need. Soon things look old or fall into disrepair. These business leaders are missing the skill that Jim Collins wrote about in Great by Choice – the ability to zoom in and zoom out. Running a business demands that you give attention to the small things that make happy, productive employees, delighted, loyal customers, and friction-free operations. Conversely, the business also demands that you give attention to big things like supply chain disruptions, changing business environments, and macroeconomic conditions.

Oblivious to a Changing Market – I spent the early portion of my business life in a declining industry. The advent of the commercial use of the internet hit the newspaper industry like a speeding train. Other industries have experienced similar seismic disruptions – film vs digital photography, video rental vs streaming, traditional transportation vs ride-share. As a young manager in the newspaper industry, I was surprised by the range of c-suite reactions to digital media. Some saw the looming threat and attempted to take appropriate actions. Other dismissed it, calling it a passing fad like the hula hoop. Then there were the deniers. They knew in their hearts they were in deep trouble but because they lacked the wherewithal to make a meaningful response, they elevated “whistling through the graveyard” to an art form. These are extreme examples, but in every industry there are constant changing conditions that require a careful examination and in some cases, a course correction. Those leaders that assume that repeating yesterday’s actions will guarantee tomorrow’s successes are often wrong.

An Undealt With Problem Employee – I saved this one for last because it’s so common, so unpleasant to deal with, and sometimes not on the business leader’s radar screen. I’ve seen multiple flavors of this problem and multiple negative consequences. But, take heart, I’ve seen lots of successful resolutions. Frequently, it’s the highly productive employee that’s chronically difficult to deal with. Maybe they verbally abuse other employees. Maybe they quash discussion from their subordinates, refusing even to entertain good ideas that might increase productivity. Maybe they sow discord among fellow employees, making sure there’s always a current of discontent running through the building. Whatever it is, it’s worth mustering the courage to address it. This might help. Earlier in my career, I managed an operations staff of about 70. One of the departments in my purview did data entry. I was directed to lay off an employee. I got out my productivity stats and identified the employee that would be let go. I called in the supervisor of the department and shared my plan. The supervisor instead proposed that we let another person go. I glanced at my stats and saw that this was the most productive employee in the department. The supervisor said that she was very productive, but also very disruptive, moving from co-worker to co-worker complaining about the company and its policies. I told the supervisor that I’d defer to his judgment but that he was still ultimately responsible for the overall productivity of the group. To cut to the chase, the high performing employee was let go, but the productivity of every other member of the group went up (including the person I had originally targeted) and the productivity of the team exceeded what it was before, even with one less person. Dealing with problem employees produces dividends (and listening to the supervisor closest to the problem is a good idea too).

Running a business is hard. Stepping back and looking at your organization with fresh eyes is even harder.