When Jim Collins wrote his book Good to Great, he hit a huge home run. He came up with a title that became part of the language of business, even among people who've never read the book. By doing so, he joined an elite club of business authors. (Sheryl Sandberg pulled off the same trick with Lean In. Send me other examples and I'll share them in a future email.)
The phrase 'Good to Great' struck a chord. It's a bold aspiration. But at the same time it feels comfortable. It's unthreatening for a leader to ask a peer, "Do you know someone who can help us go from 'Good to Great'?" It's certainly much easier than saying, "I'm looking for a really good turnaround consultant – do you know anyone who's not too expensive....?"
So why have I written a post called 'How to go from Great to Good?" Because Great to Good should be an early warning. Great to Good is actually bad....
It can happen to anyone, individual or organization. Here are some ways it happens:
- The company starts to take customers just a little bit for granted. I knew a company – a one-time market leader – that was built on a hard-won reputation for service. The MD confidently told me that service was their differentiator. All the heads around the conference table nodded. Trouble was, he and his team were living in the past. If you talked to customers, they said the service department was rude and expected you to fit in with their administrative convenience. This didn’t happen overnight. They first went from Great to Good.
- The company convinces itself that the current product is ‘fine’. That’s risky. As David Pritchett, former President of Rieke Packaging, says: "Yesterday's order winner is today's order qualifier."
- Anyone can fall behind regarding online tools and methods (many of which are free or exceptionally low-cost). Kids are running businesses from their bedrooms using customer engagement that runs rings round the good ('industry best practice”) marketing departments of many established companies.
I’m sure you can come up with more examples.
The problem with going from Great to Good isn't that being good is bad… the problem is the direction of travel.
That said, it's counter-productive to preach “a long hard honest and unflinching look at where the company might be being complacent”. That’s very hard emotional and cognitive work. It makes people understandably defensive. And by the time the situation is pressing enough to overcome the natural resistance to such an approach, it's probably too late.
Much better, easier and more energising is to focus on what’s working – your unique assets, resources, know-how and talents – and keep amplifying them. That way, once you’ve got to Great, you can stay there.
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Copyright Andy Bass 2021.