Staffing Smarts: Strike Trojan Horses, Fifth Columns and Other "Sabs" - Before They Strike You
There are many ways that your business growth can be stopped in its tracks, but one of the worst ways to leave unchecked is competition originating in your workplace, in the form of employees and other staff who undermine the organization's goals.
Sometimes this sabotage can be unintentional, at other times it may be quite deliberate.
Here are some issues to be aware of and stop, before they do you any damage.
Make sure you are not housing a Trojan Horse, who is actually someone who doesn't work for you and is not even on your payroll! The story is told of how, a few years ago, a man showed up, every day for a year, to work in the new product development area at a major corporation.
He managed to outsmart all the security systems to do this.
Due to the company's use of a 'hotelling' desk assignment practice, he was able to insinuate himself into the workplace very easily.
Needless to say, a lot of valuable information was siphoned off to the people who were paying him - who turned out to be the corporation's competitors.
If your company is small, it's less likely a Trojan Horse would succeed but there may be other saboteurs we can call Fifth Columns.
These are the people who are on your payroll but, while they don't get paid by anyone else, manage to work against your company and its goals.
They are often those who 'work to rule' - even though they are not in a union - and always do the bare minimum, as stipulated in their job descriptions.
This can include people who are sometimes not good enough to promote but also not bad enough to fire.
Such Fifth Columns may exist in pockets within the company or may be dispersed throughout the entire organization.
If your company is facing stagnating growth, and seasonal or economic indicators don't support this, it may be that competition sapping your growth is coming from people on your payroll.
To take steps dealing with saboteurs, you need to regularly monitor all front-line employees, including customer service reps, delivery people, service technicians, and others who have contact with your customers.
Find out what's going on when these individuals are in contact with key clients and also with key suppliers.
If you notice that absentee rates are above average in certain functional areas or departments, or you have long service employees who are suddenly leaving the company in droves, this may indicate there are some issues going on, such as personality clashes, which consume everyone's time and energy, meaning your goals and your customer's goals are not being met.
(In such cases, your competitors are likely already laughing all the way to the bank!) Also take the time to notice if there are long-service employees, whose work is good but who haven't been promoted when they thought they should have been, who are now acting as low-level saboteurs.
There may also be managers who tend to practice favoritism, which can sap morale and impede good performance, as employees become fed up.
When employees have reasons not to do a good job or not to respect those in their environment, you have a brake on your growth way stronger than any action an outside competitor might take.
This was the case of a computer manufacturer, who faced serious and sizable threats to its technology in the marketplace.
Customer research conducted by an outside party revealed the level of planned customer defections when their contracts ended, but also showed what the computer manufacturer needed to do to stem these potential losses.
However, the two product managers loathed the marketing director so much, that they stonewalled all his plans to take corrective action.
They even fostered resentment among the sales force against him, just to be on the 'safe' side.
This company no longer exists, but its demise cannot be laid entirely at the door of technological change.
Internal sabotage had much more to do with the fact it went out of business than any external competitive threat.
Monitoring your human resources on an ongoing basis, to spot any sabotage, will ensure you never dig your own grave.
Copyright Deborah C.
Sawyer
Sometimes this sabotage can be unintentional, at other times it may be quite deliberate.
Here are some issues to be aware of and stop, before they do you any damage.
Make sure you are not housing a Trojan Horse, who is actually someone who doesn't work for you and is not even on your payroll! The story is told of how, a few years ago, a man showed up, every day for a year, to work in the new product development area at a major corporation.
He managed to outsmart all the security systems to do this.
Due to the company's use of a 'hotelling' desk assignment practice, he was able to insinuate himself into the workplace very easily.
Needless to say, a lot of valuable information was siphoned off to the people who were paying him - who turned out to be the corporation's competitors.
If your company is small, it's less likely a Trojan Horse would succeed but there may be other saboteurs we can call Fifth Columns.
These are the people who are on your payroll but, while they don't get paid by anyone else, manage to work against your company and its goals.
They are often those who 'work to rule' - even though they are not in a union - and always do the bare minimum, as stipulated in their job descriptions.
This can include people who are sometimes not good enough to promote but also not bad enough to fire.
Such Fifth Columns may exist in pockets within the company or may be dispersed throughout the entire organization.
If your company is facing stagnating growth, and seasonal or economic indicators don't support this, it may be that competition sapping your growth is coming from people on your payroll.
To take steps dealing with saboteurs, you need to regularly monitor all front-line employees, including customer service reps, delivery people, service technicians, and others who have contact with your customers.
Find out what's going on when these individuals are in contact with key clients and also with key suppliers.
If you notice that absentee rates are above average in certain functional areas or departments, or you have long service employees who are suddenly leaving the company in droves, this may indicate there are some issues going on, such as personality clashes, which consume everyone's time and energy, meaning your goals and your customer's goals are not being met.
(In such cases, your competitors are likely already laughing all the way to the bank!) Also take the time to notice if there are long-service employees, whose work is good but who haven't been promoted when they thought they should have been, who are now acting as low-level saboteurs.
There may also be managers who tend to practice favoritism, which can sap morale and impede good performance, as employees become fed up.
When employees have reasons not to do a good job or not to respect those in their environment, you have a brake on your growth way stronger than any action an outside competitor might take.
This was the case of a computer manufacturer, who faced serious and sizable threats to its technology in the marketplace.
Customer research conducted by an outside party revealed the level of planned customer defections when their contracts ended, but also showed what the computer manufacturer needed to do to stem these potential losses.
However, the two product managers loathed the marketing director so much, that they stonewalled all his plans to take corrective action.
They even fostered resentment among the sales force against him, just to be on the 'safe' side.
This company no longer exists, but its demise cannot be laid entirely at the door of technological change.
Internal sabotage had much more to do with the fact it went out of business than any external competitive threat.
Monitoring your human resources on an ongoing basis, to spot any sabotage, will ensure you never dig your own grave.
Copyright Deborah C.
Sawyer
