Miami, FL, December 5, 2007 — John Thain, CEO of Merrill Lynch, has pledged to revamp the bank’s culture in response to insufficient management team cooperation that he believes could have contributed to the $8bn mortgage write down according to the Financial Times on December 3, 2007.
“Thain’s acknowledgment of culture and Management Dysfunction as a key contributor to poor business results is a courageous admission and other CEOs should be investigating it as well,” said Matthew Levy, CEO of Results Management Group. “The impact on corporate culture of poor executive level collaboration may be the single most underestimated cause of weak corporate performance for large and small companies alike.”
As companies across the nation prepare to execute next year’s strategies, addressing executive team dysfunction now is of the essence. Identifying the symptoms of Management Dysfunction is critical.
Software executive, Richard Kincaid of Vertical Computer Systems, recognized that his executive team meetings were power struggles with polarizing positions that caused a dangerous, self-perpetuating cycle. Levy uncovered other problem areas and set about teaching the executive team to redefine success, recognize each other’s strengths and styles, and gain velocity in goal attainment. Today Kincaid’s employees are united, excited, and productive which accounts for the company’s increased sales, product line expansion, and improved customer service.
Levy cites the following symptoms of Management Dysfunction:
1. Inability to follow through or deliver on promises
2. Lack of shared commitment to the same compelling vision or strategy
3. Not hitting the numbers
4. Chronic frustration or resignation of executives
5. Long list of unresolved issues, conflicts, or disagreements
6. Frequent revisiting of decisions that were already made
7. Power struggles over resources
8. Lack of accountability for the results they create and instead blame others.
9. Accepting mediocrity
10. High employee turnover
“Too frequently, says Levy, “executives know their company struggles with such issues, but they are resigned to letting them persist because of an inability to see the way out of the mess,” explained Levy. “That’s why Thain’s remarks about Merrill Lynch are not only bold but also smart.”
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Matthew Levy is the Chief Catalyst and principal of RESULTS MANAGEMENT GROUP, LLC, a growth management consulting and executive coaching firm that dramatically shifts business results by facilitating the creation of compelling visions and strategies, aligning executive and other management teams, developing an organizational capacity to manage execution and designing organizational environments and family business governance that support collaboration and the attainment of dramatically better results in any area.
