The providers of placebo solutions

On April 16, 2009, in Leadership that lasts, by Neculai Fantanaru

Decisive  for the impact of your leadership is its content of "vitamins" and the way you manage it.

It's not easy to be a merchandiser for a new medicine.

Suppose you own a company producing drugs. Finally, the efforts of the researchers were materialised in a very efficient medicine in treating the bacterial infections. If everyone would realize the fact that this medicine gives indeed results, your company would make millions in sales. But now the big challenge expects for you: the most important step you have to do is to prove that this medicine is efficient that indeed comes in the help of the people and does not put people's life in danger.

Therefore, you have to prove in front of the people in this domain the efficiency of the medicine. The simplest way in this case is to test the medicine on a lot of infected animals. At the end of the tests, if the bacteria disappeared and the infected animals survived, you will receive the permission to test the medicine on human volunteers. If these results are also successful, after this medicine is approved you can sell it on the market. On the other hand, if the medicine is not efficient, means that you invested money and work in vain.

Are you producing and deliver a leadership that stagnates?

The companies are formed and developed by leadership - but also due to it can regress and to decrease their performance. Only one element can accelerate or decelerate the processes of leadership’s degradation – the quality on which is based,  and the quality that it delivers.

A company that falls under the influence of a leadership which stagnates for a long time at a medium level, and has no-growth trends is like bankrupt. Such an operation - implementation of a model of leadership from the outside - can be completely ineffective.

Just as the forms of land degradation are rendered on the map either by different ways of combining the level curves, either by specific conventional signs accompanied by additional information in the form of letters or numbers - so the efficiency and the equity of leadership is rendered through a process of quality development, a process, which values ​​the relationship between the contracting parties. This process must have a permanent character, and to allow the assessment of „erosion” trends of the implemented measures and strategies.

I also have to add that this transition towards a new model of leadership it is made under the influence of a triggering factor - confidence. Confidence is a kind of protection against all forms of exploitation if it is accompanied and with professional results.

Do you always appeal at companies that prove to have effective solutions?

In any moment of crisis suddenly appear from nowhere on the market all sorts of consultant and expertise firms which sustain to have miracle solutions and concrete strategies of solving the problems. Taking advantage of the crisis and the black expectations of the managers regarding their companies' future, these “miracles” firms sometimes succeed so easy to sign contracts with a lot of companies which their performance level became smaller. And, just like in the comedy movies, at the end you observe that the new solutions which have to be implemented are so funny and ridiculous, that almost make you laugh. Don't laugh because it's not for laughing. It is very possible that these placebo solutions, if they are implemented in the companies “easy to fool” will lead to bigger problems than they existed in the crisis, especially financial loss.

If the firms which produce medicines must prove first if the medicine is efficient before selling it, probably the most fair would be like consulting firms to prove first that the solutions they offer are really effectivet. When they pass through a serious financial crisis, companies need a simple solution, fast and reliable, that's why they cannot afford the luxury to invest huge amounts of money in consulting services which do not bring them so many advantages and do not assure the professional assistance at a high level.

As a general rule, before putting on market a product, the firms first have to prove the quality of the product, what it can do, where can be used, if it is compatible with the international standards, if it is advantageous economically etc. in the case of the consulting firms, things are not different, their experts have to win the trust and attention of the clients and to convince them that the solutions that offer are reliable, efficient and functional, and especially that they are in the limit of law.

Conclusion: the most important thing which you have to count before signing a contract with a consulting firm is to ensure that it has a lot of experience in domain and that the solutions which are proposed are reliable and realistic.

Leadership is like a very expensive pill that is meant to remedy any damage at the company level. Nevertheless, before getting it, you should know what vitamins it contains, if it has a curative effect, and if it is really effective in fighting with the disease that you have to treat - as well as its consequences.

Decisive  for the impact of your leadership is its content of "vitamins" and the way you manage it.