Business Strategy - Rowers
Russian version. The below translation into English is by me.
Once upon a time there was a team of rowers. And it decided to compete with another team of rowers. Each team had 8 people. Both teams practiced hard, and on the day of competition, they were in the same condition. However, in the end the opposing team surpassed theirs by 1 kilometer. The losing team was in the worst mood.
Senior management got concerned. They decided to hire a group of analysts to assess the situation and to give recommendations how to win the next time. After several weeks of intense mental labor, analysts gave an answer to the question why the team lost. It turned out, the winning team had seven rowers and one captain. Meanwhile, the losing team had 7 captains and only one rower.
Top management slapped their foreheads and decided to hire a consulting company for repositioning/reorganization. The consultants decided that the team had too many captains and too few rowers and recommended to rebuild the team. Now the team had only four captains, two managers, one senior manager and one rower.
Consultants advised to work actively with the rower to motivate him to achieve victory.
During next competition, the opposing team surpassed by 2 kilometers. Senior management fired the rower, because it was unhappy with the results of his work. All other team members received bonuses for achieving good results in the process of motivating. The analysts again sat down to calculate and came up with the reason for the defeat:"The strategy was good, motivation was OK, managers were great, but the means of implementing the ideas were bad."
The losing team is building a new boat to be used in the next competition...
Once upon a time there was a team of rowers. And it decided to compete with another team of rowers. Each team had 8 people. Both teams practiced hard, and on the day of competition, they were in the same condition. However, in the end the opposing team surpassed theirs by 1 kilometer. The losing team was in the worst mood.
Senior management got concerned. They decided to hire a group of analysts to assess the situation and to give recommendations how to win the next time. After several weeks of intense mental labor, analysts gave an answer to the question why the team lost. It turned out, the winning team had seven rowers and one captain. Meanwhile, the losing team had 7 captains and only one rower.
Top management slapped their foreheads and decided to hire a consulting company for repositioning/reorganization. The consultants decided that the team had too many captains and too few rowers and recommended to rebuild the team. Now the team had only four captains, two managers, one senior manager and one rower.
Consultants advised to work actively with the rower to motivate him to achieve victory.
During next competition, the opposing team surpassed by 2 kilometers. Senior management fired the rower, because it was unhappy with the results of his work. All other team members received bonuses for achieving good results in the process of motivating. The analysts again sat down to calculate and came up with the reason for the defeat:"The strategy was good, motivation was OK, managers were great, but the means of implementing the ideas were bad."
The losing team is building a new boat to be used in the next competition...