Lessons Learned

• The Good:

  • Location, location, location: It can make a huge difference in sales and marketing. Gold Rush was smart to focus on a captive audience (bored people in a ticket line). These New Yorkers were not rushing somewhere so they paid attention to the pitch.

  • The early bird gets the worm: Gold Rush got an early start and beat the competition out of the blocks. They had 100 text messages before Synergy even arrived.
     

• The Bad:

  • No Leadership: You know you have a leadership issue when:  your team members are openly accusing each other of aggressive and threatening behavior -- and you allow it to become the focus instead of the task; your sales team doesn't hit the street until almost noon; you have no creative sales strategy (bathrobes don't count); you have no contingency for when you run into problems (P.S. You always will).

  • Losing control of your team: Lee, though earnest in his lead-by-consensus approach, was ineffective at directing, making decisions and leading his Gold Rush team. He failed to establish clear roles, provide an effective plan or make key decisions. If there is a leadership void on a team, leaders within the team will often rise to fill the void. That was demonstrated when an aggravated Lenny (frustrated by Lee's overemphasis on coming up with the key text word) took control of the reins to send the team selling in a preferred location. Lenny actually got what mattered -- results, and victory.

  • Poor brand representation: The gimmick to sell in bathrobes wasn't particularly creative or effective. Is this really the best that the "best and the brightest" have to offer? How happy do you think Gillette was with Brent representing it, making a spectacle of himself with his "robot" dance in his slippers? Come on people, this is an audition for corporate America, not dancing with the disturbed.
     

• The Ugly:

  • Stacy was wishy-washy when she retracted her original accusation that Brent "threatened" her, stating instead that he made her feel "uncomfortable." Those are two very different things, with very different consequences. Trump obviously wasn't buying what she was selling.
    The bottom line: If you have been truly threatened by a co-worker, you should immediately notify your boss and HR. However, don't throw around the word "threatened" loosely; be prepared to back up your story and justify your serious accusation.

  • Focus on the task, not on personalities: During Synergy's planning for this week's task, Stacy seemed almost obsessed with cutting Brent off every time he wanted to make a point or contribute an idea. Eventually, Brent confronted her about it, and told her to stop. Stacy then reported to her teammates that Brent had threatened her. When Mr. Trump interrogated Stacy during the boardroom session, she tried to bring up this incident in an attempt to get Brent fired. Mr. Trump, to his credit, would have nothing of it, and instead castigated Stacy for not being able to handle Brent.
    The bottom line: Brent has unintentionally alienated the rest of his team. It's not that he has performed poorly, because in both episodes so far, he has contributed to whatever success his team has had. Unfortunately, his teammates have decided that he just doesn't fit in, and several of them have become more focused on getting rid of him than on doing the work that Mr. Trump assigns them to do. They would all be well advised to zero in on the tasks at hand and forget about looking for ways to stick it to Brent. What's the harm in listening to what he has to say?

  • If you snooze, you lose: One of the more humorous scenes from this week's episode showed the members of Synergy trying to drag themselves out of bed on the morning of the task, after everyone from Gold Rush had already left. That extra time in bed allowed Gold Rush to seize a prime sales location in Times Square and to get a big head start on selling.
    The bottom line: This is a competition! In every task, one team loses and one team wins! It's one thing to lose because the other team has a superior idea, but it's almost inexcusable to lose because of a lack of hustle. In sports, teams that have superior athletes are often defeated by less talented teams that just work harder. The same is true in business — the most talented company may fall victim to a hungrier competitor.

Endangered species list

Tarek (Gold Rush) comes off the list. Not only did his team win, but he wisely kept a fairly low profile this week. The following people are on this week's endangered species list, based upon the likelihood that they will incur Mr. Trump's wrath in the near future:

Michael (Synergy): It was his idea to promote the Gillette Fusion by having his team walk around Times Square in bathrobes. Any more ideas like that one will punch Michael's ticket home.

Brent (Synergy): Mr. Trump didn't fire Brent this week, after most of his Synergy teammates ganged up on him. Even if Brent became the world's greatest manager overnight, it's unlikely that his colleagues would change their opinion of him. In their eyes, Brent will probably be the one to blame for any additional misfortunes suffered by the team.

Lenny (Gold Rush): He showed this week that he's a very strong-willed person who was not about to be bossed around by Lee, his 22-year old project manager. Lenny's initiative had a lot to do with the victory for Gold Rush. But, how will his style sit with his teammates if they lose?

Commentary

Need to disable the loose cannon disrupting your team?

• Take control of the situation. Get his or her attention, show concern for the predicament, reduce the intensity by speaking in a calm, quiet voice and suggest a timeout.

• Compartmentalize. Send the problem child off to do tasks that do not involve interaction with other team members -- send them on "blimp" duty.

• Set clear boundaries, expectations and consequences for good and bad behavior.

• Remember: Loose cannons can still be resources (they are often creative). The leadership challenge is how to manage, control and maximize their value while minimizing the potential for damage.

Managers are responsible for resolving conflict that emerges on their teams. Followers look to their leaders to provide protection and order. Estimates are that managers spend at least 20 percent of their time resolving conflict.

As a manager, you need conflict resolution skills in your tool bag.