THE THEORY OF TRI-PEDAL BUSINESSMAN

By Raymond Walley

The conventional, and frequently correct, picture of an organisation is as a pyramid, with often-rigid hierarchies.  The man or woman at the top, whether they are called CEO, MD, or whatever, clearly is expected to have and to use a considerable ability in leadership.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that this person’s need to be an effective leader is critical to the success of the whole enterprise.  Those that achieve this usually create successful businesses.  Richard Branson is probably a good example.  Those that do not exhibit enough leadership tend not to be successful, or as successful as perhaps they could, and should, be.

However, what we frequently forget is that the first person in the organisation to have contact with the outside world is usually the humble receptionist.

Now I contend that it is just as important for this person to be an effective leader.

The effective receptionist uses some of the skills and attitudes of leadership to give the right signals to the visitor, so that they will continue to remain, or become, happy customers.

By the way, the term receptionist encompasses sales assistants in shops, doormen at hotels or anyone who is the first point of contact with the public.

We have established that it is crucial for the CEO, at the top of the pyramid, and the receptionist, at the bottom of the pyramid, to use leadership of some description to be effective.  Most senior managers can see, and agree, with the sense of this argument however, what of all the many levels in between?

Many people I have discussed this with initially gave little weight to this aspect of the need for leadership throughout the organisation.

However, I contend that it is just as crucial that the backroom boffins, who never see a customer, use effective leadership skills and attitudes to some degree as it is for the CEO and Receptionist.

Part of the problem lies in what many people believe leadership to be.  I maintain that the term “leadership” here equates directly with sales skills and that everyone in the organisation should see themselves as buying and selling services to and from one another.  It can be defined as “that combination of qualities that allows an individual effectively to sell ideas and concepts to another person”.

This is not the conventional view of the definition of leadership.

I believe this statement to be an axiom for successful businesses.

A company’s ability to sell its goods and services in the open market is directly proportionate to and dependent upon its ability to run an effective internal market place.

How often have we heard of the sales force that treats the sales support team with contempt because they do not directly produce income or, the support team who sees the sales force as a bunch of feckless spendthrifts, merrily travelling the country and generally having a good time?

Each faction considers that the other would not have a job were it not for their efforts and the same goes for accounts versus administration or accounts versus the sales force.

Now, suppose that all of these people truly understood the concept that they provided their services to the rest of the company’s workforce in return for the services they received - with the overall aim being the sales of the company’s products and services.  It requires that everyone in the organisation must see themselves as a sales person, even though they may be several times removed from direct contact with the company’s end user customers.

What has this to do with tri-pedal businessmen and women?  In a word, everything.  My experiences over many years suggest that there are commonly two ways of resolving workplace problems.  They are, a management fix or, a technology fix.

We frequently change some aspect of management in order to solve a problem we did not foresee.  There are hordes of management gurus in the world, each with their own magic formula to run companies more profitably.  Now I am not deriding them, like you no doubt, I have shelves of books on management methods and techniques and, as part of a holistic process toward business, they are immensely useful.

The other solution we often use is technology; we mechanise things, we computerise our work places, introduce paperless offices, or introduce GPS navigation for our drivers; just a few examples.  Again, I do not deride these aids to greater productivity, as before, they all have their place in a holistic approach to successful business.

Our problem often is that we see the latest management technique or technological advance as the answer to our prayer and concentrate all of our efforts into implementing it.  For a time it will work, but because we are only using two legs, management and technology, the stool we stand on falls over and we may find ourselves with more problems than we started out with, so, the cycle keeps on repeating itself.

What is lacking is leadership in the terms I have defined it as above, very akin to salesmanship.  Ultimately, of course, leadership should come from the top of any organisation, but to be truly effective it must permeate through the whole structure.

Any company that moves forward on the three legs of management, technology and leadership, cannot fail to be successful, anywhere, anytime and in any market.

It matters not what the company makes, sells or provides services for in the final analysis, all company’s are in the people business.  If we concentrate on finding and motivating the right people in our business who fit our culture and whom we can understand, then those people will learn whatever is necessary, do whatever is important and concentrate their efforts where it matters – in being successful.

How do we find our tri-pedal business people?  We concentrate on understanding how and why people behave the way they do.  We use some of the many proven methods of measuring and testing the qualities, attributes, attitudes and skills that suit our business and use that knowledge to mentor them effectively.  The result will be a motivated and happy workforce; thus, we achieve greater productivity and profitability.

Extracted from a seminar given at Imperial College University.