Cultivating Your Competition
November 14, 2005
It’s a common tale anymore. XYZ Company loses 2 or 3 or half a dozen key producers who leave to form their own company, often to compete directly with the company they just left. This is not uncommon with web agencies and it used to be that nobody got exercised about it. Volatility and entrepreneurship is just a characteristic of the web business.
These days, however, if you are XYZ Company you’ve got plenty to worry about. Today, your employees are likely far more savvy about the Web environment and the dynamics of customer relations and cutting-edge applications than you are. One or two individuals with a great idea and some gumption can create the next big thing in the blink of an eye. If you’re not careful, they’ll take their ball and leave to start their own league – and maybe beat you at your own game.
The thing is, not all of them will leave you for this. Only the very best ones will.
But why should this happen? Why should successful companies be losing their best people this way? I think there are several factors involved, but perhaps the overriding factor is the energy and creativity of formidable employees chafing against company inertia and close–mindedness.
Most companies, even successful ones, are fond of what they perceive as stability. Doing what made you successful in the manner it made you successful can be intoxicating. So long as money is coming in, it can be easy to believe that you don’t need to pay attention to certain dynamics of the marketplace. After all, why change, why innovate when nothing appears to be wrong with the way you’re doing things now?
Well, here’s a reason: the people you employ create your success and they’re not always satisfied to sit on the sidelines when they see innovation occurring in their industry. If you’re not going to let them participate in the innovations and improvements they’re seeing almost every day, they’re going to leave you in order to do so.
The thing is, not all of them will leave you for this. Only the very best ones will.
Most of the really good people working in industries that produce or that are dependent upon web media, information technology, design, marketing, programming or applications are constantly working on their own to keep up with innovations in their industry. They’re constantly keeping tabs on how media and technology is changing and how it’s changing our world. They’re also constantly looking to improve themselves and expand the breadth of their understanding.
If you ignore them or patronize them they’ll then begin to wonder why they’re trying to help your company. They’ll start wondering why they aren’t instead just helping themselves. They first thought, “why not us?” But now they’re thinking, “why not me?”
In doing so they’re often very active in area–wide and worldwide communities. They’re continually cultivating and maintaining relationships in an ever expanding network. These people can see, often long before you can, which way the wind is blowing. They see how new tools and evolving technology is changing patterns of consumerism. They see how technology is or should be adapting to habits and preferences in specific markets or in the general population.
These people, your very best producers, see all of this and they see how others in their industry or related industries are stepping up to the plate to make a positive difference or to adapt swiftly to these changes. They see how other daring and energetic people are able to capitalize on voids or evolving paradigms in the market and receive significant rewards for doing so. They see how other companies use agility and forward thinking to stay current and relevant amid these subtle or sweeping changes. They see all of this and ask, “why not us?”
You may recall one of your best web developers coming into your office to suggest that your agency begin adopting Web standards and semantic markup in order to improve the quality of the work coming out of your shop. Perhaps one of your sales executives suggested you look into a CRM that could streamline your project flow. Maybe your best designer had a couple of ideas for how better to handle creative discovery meetings with clients. Eh, who can remember? Those guys are always bugging you about this or that. Who has the time to bother with it all?
So your best employees come to you with suggestions that can help keep your business current and relevant; to make your company a place at which they’re proud to work. If you ignore them or patronize them they’ll then begin to wonder why they’re trying to help your company. They’ll start wondering why they aren’t instead just helping themselves. They first thought, “why not us?” But now they’re thinking, “why not me?”
A few of their friends are thinking the same thing. Their friends are also key producers where they work. These are the friends they’ll be Instant Messaging later today and the same friends they’ll be trading emails with tomorrow. They’re saying to each other, “I know this would work better. Wouldn’t it be great if we could just…?”
Yes, there’s a cost to innovation and adaptation. There might even be a cost to going down the road of “how could we…?” as opposed to “why should we…?” But ask yourself how those costs compare to losing your best employees. The very best people are migrating away from inertia and closed-mindedness and moving toward agility and empowerment. Where does your company fit on that scale? Are you keeping your best people happy or are you cultivating your own future competition?