When I’m frustrated by something, I’ll tend to keep thinking about it, like a problem to be solved. If I can figure out why I’m so irritated, then maybe I can learn from it (rather than only complain about it).
Fictional Stories and Real-Life Budgets
In the past, I’ve mentioned I got hooked on reruns of Chicago Fire with my sister during her chemo treatments. It was so entertaining that it became a bright spot during a very challenging time. Importantly, it had two key elements — a charming ensemble cast and lots of exciting scenes with fire. Sadly though, the episodes since her death have been such disappointments that I almost dread watching them. We’ve been told the show was too expensive so they had to cut production costs, especially the paychecks of the actors. But, this short-term focus on profits will hasten the inevitable demise of the show.
The lesson for management — when you stop spending money where it matters, you devalue what remains. The question for management — are you guilty of doing that too?
Imagine your business is a TV show. Keeping it running is expensive. If you have a mature work force (cast), their salaries take a big chunk of your budget. So, are your tempted to trim them back, so you can save money? That’s what they’ve done to this cast, by firing some and doing revolving layoffs on everyone else, so that each episode has only a limited number of actors. The charming ensemble dynamic barely exists now. As for the action scenes? They must have been judged as poor ROI so they too could be minimized. But, what metric has been used for ROI?
In your business, do you do “optional” things that demonstrate your commitment to your team? Do you have a nice holiday party each year, or a summer team-building event? Do the people at your company feel valued, or are they simply cogs in a machine?
In the case of the TV show, we may keep watching it, but we’re not happy about it. Now, it’s only a matter of time before the show is cancelled. When it’s so apparent that management does not value its cast, it’s also implicit that they don’t value their consumer. As the customer, we can tell the business is focused narrowly on profits, and it will to sacrifice quality for short-term gain.
When you’re pressured to trim your budget to increase profits, what are you willing to sacrifice? How much do you value your cast? Will you take the path toward cancellation because it looks better on the ledger sheet?