The Race! A simple story about a race , A mirror on business And perhaps something to AVOID doing &

Some time ago, a boat race was organized between two competing organizations. One was a Swiss company – let’s name it Cow Co. Ltd, and the other one was Sempuma from Malaysia

Both teams worked very hard to get to top level When the day finally came where they could measure their strength, both were very optimistic

Both teams worked very hard to get to top level

When the day finally came where they could measure their strength, both were very optimistic

But the race was short and came to a surprising end , where the team from Malaysia won by more than one kilometer !!!

The morale was low at the Headquarters of Cow & Co in Switzerland. Nobody understood such a huge difference.

Top Management decided that the causes MUST be identified

A project team was set up, to identify the cause and to suggest corrective measures if needed

After weeks of discussions, the project team came to the following findings: The Malaysian team included seven rowing officers and one steering executive In the Swiss team there was one single rowing officer and seven steering executives

The Malaysian team included seven rowing officers and one steering executive

In the Swiss team there was one single rowing officer and seven steering executives

The top Management reacted immediately and hired external Consultants to conduct an in-depth analysis on the Swiss team‘s structure

Some months and many 10‘000 Swiss Francs later, the Consultants came to following conclusion: Too many team-members had been steering Too few of them had been involved in moving the boat

Too many team-members had been steering

Too few of them had been involved in moving the boat

The Top Mangement reacted in a radical way and restructured the whole team as follows: ... Four steering executives … Two senior steering managers … One steering directors … One rowing officer

... Four steering executives

… Two senior steering managers

… One steering directors

… One rowing officer

Additionally, they implemented a sophisticated Performance evaluation system to motivate the one rower . The top Management said : We must enrich his responsibilities to make his job more interesting and therefore get the best out of him

We must enrich his responsibilities to make his job more interesting and therefore get the best out of him

The next year came and a second race was organized The result was cruel. The Asian team won again This time by TWO Kilometers

The result was cruel. The Asian team won again This time by TWO Kilometers

The consequence of such a heavy blow:

The top management sacked the one rower because of bad performance !!! The equipment was all sold and all new related investments were frozen The Consultants were praised for doing a great job The money that was not invested was distributed among the top management and the steering committee

The top management sacked the one rower because of bad performance !!!

The equipment was all sold and all new related investments were frozen

The Consultants were praised for doing a great job

The money that was not invested was distributed among the top management and the steering committee

A metaphoric presentation by The mirror of the economic world Visit us @ www.prasena.com and ask for our change management audit with risk analysis and concrete suggestions for solutions based on the concept of the eMatrix© [email_address]