Do not ignore the warning signs

13th October 2011

I am sure you will know what I’m talking about, when I mention the little background/subliminal signs which are often a fore-runner of something much bigger. The employee who starts to turn up 5 minutes the 10 minutes late. The amounts of rework going up by 0.5%. The slowing of orders from a big account. Good customers being slow to return a call. While these issues are all still small and seemingly insignificant, we tend to push them metaphorically under the carpet, and hope they will go away, but in our heart of hearts we know that these are probably the warning signs of far worse to come.

This really came home to me last Saturday, having watched what I would laughingly call the England Rugby team, capitulate in a woeful display to the French in the quarter final of the World Cup. They couldn’t tackle, they couldn’t pass, they couldn’t catch, and worst of all, they didn’t appear to have the fight or will to win. But should we really have been surprised? In my opinion “no”. The warning signs have been there at least since the last World Cup, and the odd good win has papered over the cracks. This was a disaster waiting to happen, and there now needs to be wholesale changes throughout the whole organisation, from the top management, to the players, to the back-room staff, but more fundamentally to the culture and the way things are done. Clive Woodward introduced a great culture, and subsequently a winning team back in 2003, but standards have slipped badly since he left, and it is easy to see by the off-pitch antics, the carefree attitude and the general lack of discipline, that this is a recipe for disaster

So don’t ignore the little taps on the shoulder, the little worry that crosses your mind, or the gut feeling of concern. If these happen, analyse them properly, understand what has alerted you to the potential problem, and then do something positive about it.

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