An Interview with Les McKeown, bestseller of Predictable Success

One recent, frigid, January afternoon I caught up with Les McKeown to talk about Predictable Success: Getting Your Organization On the Growth Track–and Keeping It There, a Wall St Journal & USA Today Bestseller. The round-faced, silver-haired McKeown comes right to the point when he speaks; it makes you sense that you need to have your brain turned on immediately when launching a conversation. Then he catches you out with his dry, Irish humor & you relax. I found myself chuckling along with him as he spoke about his predictable success framework, & his myriad experiences working with organizations intent on success.

McKeown’s framework highlights the organizational life-cycle from early stage struggles all the way through to a company’s death rattle. For our talk, I asked him to focus on one of the stages of this framework, what McKeown terms “whitewater”. Whitewater is the third phase of this framework, & it is the first significant struggle an organization will encounter after it has had some marketplace success.

Early whitewater indicators
I asked McKeown to lay out some early whitewater indicators. He cites an increase in mistakes made… “over scheduling, missing important appointments, wrong orders, products delivered to wrong addresses & the like…” as a common signs.  “Usually it takes managers a couple of months to recognize the pattern,” McKeown says, adding, “at first, these seem to be small issues.”

Fall-out of playing “flock-ball”
McKeown chuckles as he relates that a typical early strategy in dealing with mounting errors is to play “flock-ball” – picture what happens at a kindergarten soccer game – where everyone rushes to create solutions at once, but inevitably the errors remain throughout the disorganized response. Soon, there is often a drop in morale that develops. The fun dissipates; growth starts feeling less easy.

So, if selling has been the dominant activity, what happens to the sales effort when whitewater occurs? Often, a company will see their sales as a strength & just try to sell their way out of the current pain. “This just makes the problem worse.” he says, “What it really needs is better systems & processes to handle the growing complexity. Picture trying to fix a leaky fire-hose by increasing the amount of water running through it.”

Do you have “founder’s dilemma?”
McKeown notes that at this time, the company’s sales effort likely needs to slow, so that the operations supporting the company can be aligned properly.  This activity is fraught with tension & leads to what he calls the “founder’s dilemma.”

A founder, especially a visionary leader, is also likely to be someone who can’t be bothered with the details of operations.  So, the organization is faced with an uncomfortable situation:  the answer to struggles in the past has always been to sell more, & the driving ethos of the culture is unlikely to be focused on operational details. If the company continues down this path, things will get worse, not better.

How to get out of your dilemma
“It is clear what needs to happen at this point,” McKeown says. “The management team needs to unhook from the sales function.  The service & operations piece of the business needs to become stronger.”

It is not any easy time for any organization. Often times, McKeown says, up to a third of the sales force may opt to leave the company at this time, while the non-sales functions of the company need to staff-up.

This is a scary prospect. The sales pipeline might dramatically reduce as the business has to slow down to handle the transition. McKeown says the company needs to move from a mindset of “big is better, to better is big.”

The whitewater phase also requires owners & managers to clarify professional positions & responsibilities – a formalization process that leads to clearer expectations & responsibilities, which are directly linked to the company’s strategy. It’s where the first meaningful organizational chart is likely to emerge.

Once the appropriate roles are defined, each team or functional area needs to develop the ability to efficiently work with teams from other functional areas. It is no longer OK to just know one’s own responsibilities; each team must understand how their work relates to other functions, & begin to work in a more integrated manner.

Next up
Change in any organization is unsettling. In my next post, I will ask McKeown about how to deal with resistance to change, & what success in this endeavor looks like.

Your help
Right now, I would like your feedback: Does this “whitewater” process seem familiar? Have you had a “sales stall” that was more about supportive systems & processes than sales effectiveness? What about resistance to organizational change? Any good suggestions for dealing with resistance, before we get McKeown’s advice? Please comment & start a discussion!

Stuart G. Danforth
Director of Positive Leadership Dynamics
Solution Focused Leadership Advisor

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