WORKPLACE FABLES THE SHARP SALES DIRECTOR AND HER WARRING TEAM

Mark Price, former MD of Waitrose, shares his workplace fables – true stories from the business front line that can teach us lessons about career success

The Sharp Sales Director had not been at Fit Finance for very long. She knew it had been flagging for a while, so decided that a great place to start getting to the bottom of the problem would be to meet with Fit Finance’s regional managers.

The Sharp Sales Director had already made one big and rather unsettling discovery. From her notes it was clear that, on an individual basis, each member of the regional team was more experienced than she. Indeed, each regional manager had a fearsome reputation as a brilliant and effective worker.

They were the kings and queens of their respective domains. How could Fit Finance be struggling with such big guns working for them, wondered the Sharp Sales Director.

When the Sharp Sales Director gathered them all around the boardroom table, she quickly discovered the problem. As she worked through the meeting agenda, all the managers expressed strong and differing views on every topic that came up – from which IT systems to prioritise, to what hours should be worked each day, to how best to run promotions – they all had an opinion.

The regional managers bickered and argued and wasted time. They saw each other as rivals and took more pleasure in beating their colleagues than in beating the competition.

Understanding that none of them would ever change, the Sharp Sales Director realised that she would have to let a number go until they worked as a team.

All the managers had strong and differing views