Setting: Operations
True: Partially
Cost: High
A measure of elitism and pride at your company can be a good thing… but only a small measure. (Think thimbleful.) As a rule, it’s better to remember what George Costanza’s mother told him when he was growing up: “You’re not special.” [The episode when he said "God bless you" after another man's wife sneezed...]
The “we’re special” mentality keeps a team looking inward instead of outward, and usually means that standard rules of business don’t apply. It also provides license to work inefficiently. If you encounter it in the Operations setting – or think it yourself – consider a few better sentences:
- “How is it that we’re different. Let’s write down the top five ways in which we are different. Do you think we SHOULD be different in these ways? Why? Why not?”
- “Do you think our number one competitor would be different in the same way? Is it possible we could fall behind if we don’t change?”
Every company has a set of unique capabilities and challenges; we all know that. But this sentence is highly correlated with reluctance to change, laziness, and an unwillingness to face the full truth. Think of when you heard it last… in that instance, could it possibly have been used as:
- A reason not to adopt or even consider best practices
- A reason to postpone new technologies
- An excuse for lower-quality service level to end customers
- A dismissal of an outside perspective that could be useful (from a customer, consultant, or another department)
- A reluctance to accept that a competitor may threaten market position
Here are two classic questions that may wash away these supposed differences and motivate to action [borrowed from Difficult Conversations, by Susan Scott]:
- If a competitor came to town with unlimited budget and started from scratch with the goal of taking all of our business, what would they do that we are not doing? Why can’t we do that?
- What is one thing that is impossible, which – if it were possible – would change everything?
Your competitors don’t believe your business is different, and neither do your customers. So tell me again, what is so special about your business?