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This week's assignment:
Once was unfortunate.
Twice was shameful. Three times was absolutely unacceptable. But when
Matchstick pushed their losing streak to four in a row, the unqualified
disaster required swift executive action. Martha Stewart, disappointed in
the perpetual losers, summoned all the candidates to the conference room for
a surprise corporate shakeup. First, she selected Ryan and Jen from
undefeated Primarius to be opposing project managers. Taking turns, the two
new PMs selected candidates until the new corporations were formed. When the
shuffle was complete, the new Primarius was Jennifer, Howie, Sarah, Carrie,
Bethenny, and Jim. Matchstick, hoping to break the curse of their
predecessors, consisted of Ryan, Dawna, Amanda, Leslie, David, and Marcela.
Martha's first task for the new corporations was to create, package, and
sell a limited edition Wish-Bone salad dressing. All the candidates were
eager to prove themselves after the shuffle, but none more so than the final
two selected by the project managers - Marcela and Jim. Each corporation
left their product formulas to their resident culinary experts, creating a
dressing-to-dressing contest between two chefs. And one corporation bristled
when their colleague's extreme sales pitches prompted a customer to
complain.
After the last bottle sold, the new version of Matchstick emerged victorious
and redeemed the corporation's tarnished name. With so many new faces in the
conference room, picking out the problem candidate could have been more
troublesome than finding a ripe tomato in January. But Martha Stewart
effortlessly snared the scared little rabbit from Primarius' lettuce patch
and sent Jennifer home for her failure to lead
a group of talented individuals to victory and rein in the out-of-control
Jim.
His outlandish, tactless sales hawking of salad dressing
included, "known to cure warts and bunions" and "I wish I wasn't being
boned." Can't you just imagine the Wish-Bone executives squirming over this
presentation? Can you imagine this guy representing any company? His
profanity insulted one customer who complained to the store manager. The
manager told Jennifer that if another customer complained, their demo was
done.
Jim's response, "If I stepped on someone's toes, cry me a
river." I knew Jennifer was in trouble when she didn't immediately deal with
Jim She said she was afraid of his reaction. However, not showing backbone
or effective management skills to handle difficult people is why Stewart let
her go. Stewart noted that managers can't fear their employees.
That, of course, begs the question: Why is Jim still a
candidate? Ratings. He makes for great drama, and people keep tuning in to
watch the train wrecks. Remember, Omarosa launched an entire career being
rude and obnoxious.
Stewart is not going to hire Jim. His day is coming. He is
selfish, inconsiderate, rude, obnoxious, has no class and isn't a team
player. He doesn't "fit" the Martha Stewart brand, which is based on good
taste and class. Jim has neither. He does, however; offer great testing of
the leadership skills of the other candidates.
There are Jim's in the real world. How we deal with them
is one of the true tests of leadership.
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Lessons Learned
FIT
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Set high expectations.
Although Ryan chose Marcela last for his team, he
candidly told her he did so because he hadn't yet seen her demonstrate
business skills. He gave her a pep talk, asking her to step up and
prove herself. He clearly motivated her because she responded
excitedly, claming she welcomed the chance to "show what I've got."
She largely won the task for them by creating a salad dressing that
sold well. Effective leaders set clear, high bars for their team
members and voice their belief in their abilities to clear those bars.
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Match team members to the right
task. Savvy leaders match their team
members' talents and skills to the right task or role on the team.
Ryan clearly did this when he chose Marcela, a chef, for the task to
create the salad dressing. Likewise, Jennifer put Bethenny, also a
chef, in charge of creating their salad dressing and Jim, a graphic
artist, in charge of creating the label. Teams work optimally when
their members are doing what they do best and enjoy doing.
It's important to have fun.
Ryan continually expressed to his team the
importance of having fun. Martha Stewart has remarked several times
this season about the importance of having fun. Fun is too often
missing in work teams. Teams who have fun enjoy working together and
will perform to a higher level. Seattleites can see this in action by
watching the Pike Place Market's fish throwers. Having fun in the
workplace is a winning strategy in business.
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Praise people.
Ryan (the current poster boy on how to do it right in
leadership on this show!) praised Marcela's skills telling her she was
"amazing" and that he received many compliments on her salad dressing.
People are hugely motivated by praise and acknowledgement. Smart
leaders do it often.
UNFIT
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Don't choose a loose cannon for
your team. Project manager Jennifer chose
Jim over Marcela knowing full well his negative effect on the
candidates. Ryan wisely did not chose Jim, noting that he wanted
people "who work well together." Wise leaders chose team members who
play well with others. Obnoxious, rude team members will likely
bring down the performance and potential of the entire team.
The bottom line? In a mass market environment, it's important to get
attention, but for the right reason. When in doubt about the kind of
sales tactic to use, it's usually better to err on the side of
wholesomeness as opposed to edginess.
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It takes backbone.
Jennifer failed to deal with a serious conflict and
problem -- Jim. She should have shown him the door or at the very
least found a way to manage him more effectively. One idea would
have been to put Jim on a task that will involve no customer or team
interaction. Truly, there are some individuals in the workplace who
need to be shown the door. Like a cancer, they need to be cut out
before a team can function well. Jim is one of those people.
Leaders need to be able to deal
with conflict and confrontation and it requires backbone. Leaders
who can't are missing a necessary piece in the leadership toolbox.
Conflict is a reality in organizations. How you deal with it is what
matters. Conflict avoidance often leads to greater problems and
larger blow-ups. If you don't have effective conflict resolutions
skills, hire a coach to help you develop them.
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Pushy salespeople.
Leslie of Matchstick pushed customers too hard,
pressuring them to buy several bottles of the dressing at a time.
She even placed extra bottles into customer's carts, which later
were left all over the store. Forceful salespeople drive customers
away.
When interviewing, know and
emulate the company image and brand. Jim is the antithesis of the
Martha Stewart brand. Smart job interviewers who truly want to work
for a company do their homework and determine how to present
themselves as a fit with the company's core values, brand and
culture. Jim acts as though he has never picked up a Martha Stewart
publication or ever watched her show.
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Trial does not mean bulk
purchasing: Matchstick almost suffered a
sales catastrophe when Leslie kept pushing people to buy multiple
bottles of salad dressing. One of her teammates suspected that
Leslie was putting bottles into shopping carts when shoppers weren't
looking! As a result, shoppers began dropping off bottles of the
dressing all over the store.
The bottom line? About all that one can reasonably expect as the
result of an in-store trial is to convince a consumer to buy one
unit of a product - in this case, one bottle of salad dressing. In
any case, it would be unusual for a consumer to buy multiple bottles
of a brand new flavor of dressing in a single shopping trip. Leslie
simply overdid it.
The Endangered
Species List:
The following people are on this week's endangered
species list, based upon the likelihood that they will "just not fit in"
in the near future:
Jim
(Primarius): He just can't stay out of the
firing session in the conference room. It's inconceivable that Stewart
will choose him as her apprentice.
Howie
(Matchstick): He has a hair-trigger temper
that will eventually get him into trouble.
Leslie
(Matchstick): She's had two bad weeks in a row
- as losing project manager last week and as an overly aggressive
salesperson this week.
Gold Stars for This Week's Episode:
There are no gold stars for this week's episode.
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| The Report Card |
Primarius:
- Effort --
- Performance --
- Creativity --
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"Jim
doesn't know what selling with class is. It's embarrassing and I
wish that he would disappear." |
Matchstick:
- Effort --
- Performance --
- Creativity --
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