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Business Rule #45:
Beat the Clock
March 6, 2006
by Caroline Pfouts
Anyone who’s had to get a project to Federal Express before the end of the day knows that “Beat the Clock” isn’t just a defunct TV game show—it’s an every-day business reality.
This week’s task was essentially a race to see which team, given a limited period of time, could get the most people to text message Gillette about its new Fusion shaving system. It was a matter of attracting people on the street and getting them to use their cell phone to send a text message.
The Gold Rush team got off to a slow start, with Lee Bienstock, their Project Manager, soliciting ideas for the word they would ask people to text message. A choice had to be made, but it didn’t have to be the greatest marketing message ever created. It just had to make a text messaging connection.
Lenny Val’s approach to getting his team in gear was rude—but effective. He knew this task was going to be won by making one-to-one contact with the cell-phone-carrying public. When Lenny led a marketing charge and took their task to the streets on the first day, Charmaine Hunt and Leslie Bourgeois were quick to join him. Lenny all but hijacked part of the Gold Rush team away from its Project Manager. But the mad Russian had a point. When you’re in the middle of a competition, it’s no time to lounge around the suite and drink tea. It’s time for action.
The first order of business on the Synergy team was coping with Brent Buckman’s overbearing personality. Brent felt a huge urgency in having his ideas heard. Unfortunately, he had already alienated his teammates to such an extent that they repeatedly interrupted him and shut him down whenever he tried to speak.
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It’s fun to be the hot shot—and there’s something about cameras and microphones that brings out the extrovert in many people. Professionals though don’t have to show off. If they’re smart, they put the success of the group above their own personal glory. That’s what is meant by the term, “team player.”
In contrast, Brent behaved like a petulant two year old. He rolled his eyes and pouted when he didn’t immediately get the chance to speak his mind. If Brent had just written down some of his ideas, it might have helped him keep his cool during those moments when it wasn’t his turn to speak. It might also have helped him narrow down and refine the ideas he chose to share with the group.
On the other hand, Stacy Schneider and the rest of her team who kept railing against Brent could have spent their time more wisely. You don’t often get to choose the people with whom you work, and you don’t have to like them. Even Presidents and CEOs inherit staff. Rather than trying to send Brent home, Jose Pepi Diaz could have assigned Brent a task that channeled his energies and got him away from the rest of the group—or at the very least, Pepi could have divided Synergy into several groups, limiting the number of teammates who were subjected to Brent’s disruptive need to be the center of attention.
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When you’re in
