Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The Silent Killer

The greatest competitor for many businesses isn't some other company but instead is inertia; the tendency of the potential customer to do nothing. You may offer a marvelous product or service and your marketing will run up against the wall of Things are Good Enough that stands in the other person's mind.

Likewise, in the workplace itself, rests the danger of Indifference. The employee relations problems that can sink the effectiveness of teams do not stem from turf building and miscommunication but from indifference to the mission or to individual responsibilities. That attitude produces the other problems. Other goals are given such priority that the crucial ones are not consciously abandoned; they aren't given serious consideration at all.

Indifference is a silent killer that saps energy and destroys passion. It should be rooted out with the same vigor used against other dysfunctional attitudes. The effective performance of jobs requires certain levels of enthusiasm, commitment, and urgency. Those levels are not too much to demand of others and of ourselves. The individual who cannot meet them will not contribute to the team.

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