Question

•Use the Internet to research a business failure determine the level of responsibility management had for the business failure you researched. Provide specific examples to support your response. •Create a list of three best practices that not only would have helped the company you researched from failure, but would also apply to the rest of the industry your company was part of. Explain your rationale for selecting these best practices.

Answer 1

No ship can set sail without a captain, and the same is true of businesses.Without the right leadership, a business will almost certainly fail even if the best possible employees are on hand. There’s a reason leaders in organizations get paid the big bucks.

Sometimes it’s the wrong fit, someone leaders get burned out and don’t step down or sometimes the leaders had no right being there in the first place. Still not convinced? Take a look at these five businesses that were destroyed because of poor leadership. They might still be active and flourishing today if someone else was at the helm.

1. Netflix

Who had the bright idea to split Netflix into separate paid services? The leadership, of course, and it was to detrimental effects. Netflix had the potential to take over and revolutionize the video industry, and in fact that’s exactly what it did when it took down Blockbuster. Nobody saw RedBox coming or the popularity of paid online streaming like Hulu Plus – including Netflix – until it was too late.

2. Blackberry

Remember when Blackberry was the ultimate status symbol, and nobody could fathom having any other type of smartphone? Blackberry has a history of nepotism, which often leads to poor leadership. The company also promotes people from within based on tenure rather than on skills and potential to actually lead. When competence isn’t the primary reason for a promotion, a company will surely sink.

3. Enron

This may be an extreme example of leadership gone corrupt, but it happened and is likely happening (perhaps on smaller scales) at other companies today. A number of Enron executives were found guilty for a variety of charges and are now serving long prison sentences. The takeaway lesson here is that they got away with it for years, and corrupt leadership caused financial ruin for hundreds of people.

4. Citi

Vikram Pandit simply didn’t have what it took to save Citi, which is why the company is now in bailout and basically owned by the government. He’s an example of a leader who should have never been put in the position, and should have had the foresight and courage to step down before taking down everyone else with him.

5. Merrill

Stan O’Neal wasn’t popular to begin with, and his incredible cost-cutting tactics earned him plenty of enemies. However, as the CEO of Merrill, he also became an ouster and he was in charge when Merrill had the biggest losses in nearly 100 years. He was then caught trying to merge with Wachovia behind the board’s back.

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It’s clear that poor leadership is poison to a business. However, keep in mind that it’s also important for everyone in a company to be invested. Many of these disasters could have been prevented if the leaders weren’t blindly trusted and given the keys to the kingdom. It’s a two-way street with both leaders and subordinates being held accountable.

Figuring out and strategizing leadership is something that should start in a business plan when a business is just beginning to stretch its limbs. Failure to plan and not having SOP in place are triggers for poor leadership, but it’s just so easy to skip over these steps in the early stages. Business owners too often think they can get around to these kinds of details later, but later never seems to come. Perhaps if more startups focused on streamlining management protocol, foundations would be sturdier.

performance management best practices

1. Be SMART about setting goals.

Not every goal is appropriate for a performance management setting. Goals that aren’t clearly defined can become bogs to get stuck in rather than opportunities for success. Following the guidelines to SMART goals can be incredibly helpful.

2. Offer frequent, actionable feedback.

Millennials in particular value frequent check-ins and guidance on their performance. Managers should plan to meet formally with their reports on a quarterly basis at the very least, but should still find time to offer feedback on a regular basis between formal meetings, especially when an employee is working on a big project. It is important for an organization to create a “how to” guide for the appropriate way to offer feedback, as well. For the feedback to be useful to the employee, it needs to be honest, clear, and actionable – meaning they can make immediate changes

3. Offering training for employees and

Performance management is an amazing tool to target employee weaknesses, but an organization needs to be willing to offer training for employees to improve and move forward. The same goes for managers – organizations should offer managers training in the skills that are critical to good leadership – communication skills, listening techniques, how to offer feedback, and how to avoid the pitfalls of reviewing an employee.

4. Get outside input.

In this blog post, we talk about the difference between 360-, 180-, and 90-degree feedback, but consider getting some input on your employees from other people than just you. Others will have a different view of the employee’s strengths and weaknesses that you might not be able to see as a manager and not a peer.

5. Leverage technology.

The annual review used to be dreaded, in part, because of the sheer amount of paper it would generate. But nowadays we have technology that can streamline the process. If you’re hesitant to implement a performance management system because of the admin side of things, investing in something like emplo can be a lifesaver. With emplo, you can set goals, track accomplishments, and measure KPIs.

6. Document everything.

Not only can it be helpful to target future goals to work on, but it is also a great roadmap to see how far an employee has come since they started at an organization. This should basically become the go-to place for any information about an employee’s performance and growth at your organization.

7. Reward success!

Once your employee has met a goal, offer a reward. It is important for you, as a manager, to take a moment to recognize an employee’s success and celebrate with her. It will make her feel like you’re on her side, cheering for her, and encourage her to pursue even greater goals in the future. The reward doesn’t need to be elaborate, but even just taking a moment out of your day to say, “Good work on that project” can go really far to boost an employee’s morale.