The Moneybag Perception Problem: A tunnel-view perception that poses a silent threat to the organization

Business Improvement Series

“I help improve people, processes and products – in that order!” As a CMC, I use this tagline as a sales pitch to prospective clients. Some might be impressed with it while some might question the underlying meaning. So, I’m about to disclose the profound philosophy behind my tagline. It is an outcome of my two decades of experience having served over two hundred clients across geographies and industry sectors.

Any business is always a “going concern”, irrespective of its trajectory or history. In this context, organizational development (OD) is of prime concern which is the pars virilis of any leader. There are several OD theories like systems theory, human relations theory, action research theory, etc. where a specific framework is adopted to understand and implement organizational growth. However, there is none to my knowledge that addresses OD problems in a holistic manner. As mentioned earlier that any business is a going concern and will continue to operate as long as there is sufficient cash-flow; it is imperative that it must also work on its “Brand Value” and “Goodwill” (BV&G); in order to grow. Top leaders are very well aware that long-term sustainability depends on BV&G and not just on cash-flow whether it is generated via investors or customers. A push-pull strategy (fundraising & valuation to sales strategy & customer acquisition) on its own can only elongate the survival but can never take you to the next level. For example, we all are aware of a major e-commerce startup that is running on losses since its inception but still is heavily backed by investors. In stark contrast, we also have a few other startups that have been star performers since over a decade with very pleasant returns to its shareholders including investors and customers. With this background, we can now have a look at the below image:

Figure 1: MPP Overview

 The “Moneybag Perception Problem” (MPP) is rampantly prevalent in organizations that are trying to thrive in a competitive environment. By definition, it is a tunnel-view perception purely arising out of a consumerist mindset, where one sees every other opportunity / situation / partner / person as a potential “Money bag”. This kind of a perception can affect the organization both internally and externally as shown in the image above. For example, your sales team starts seeing every other prospect as a “Moneybag” and measures the customer in terms of ticket value. Prima facie, there is nothing wrong in performance metrics like NPS, CAC, LTV, etc. which can be part of your planning, forecasting, KPIs and KRAs; but it becomes a problem when your sales team develops this perception right from the beginning of the sales cycle and carries it throughout execution. Such an approach will eventually reduce customer satisfaction due to a dip in the service delivery; as each customer will not be treated equally and this can spiral down into increased efforts in the long run, thereby increasing costs. Likewise, your HR team starts seeing each employee as a “Moneybag” and measures every employee in terms of their pay-band levels. Once again, there are formal processes to measure employee performance but this approach can spread like wildfire within the “informal organization” that exists everywhere; and very soon there can be an air of discomfort where all employees are not treated with equality. In this manner, employee performance levels can plummet as the work culture gets affected and very soon the attrition rate can rise to staggering levels, which will directly impact the overheads of the organization.

Figure 2: MoneyBag (generated via hotpot.ai)

The “Moneybag Perception” if ignored for certain duration; will certainly have a negative impact on the BV&G of the organization. I have personally witnessed teams disbanded, projects discontinued and organizations restructured for the wrong reasons owing to the phenomena of MPP. When I discuss on business improvement with team leads or even the top management; they usually come back with typical responses like “we are currently having a very high attrition rate and unable to manage our operations effectively”, “there’s too much competition in the market right now hence our sales is taking a hit”, “we are dependent on our sole supplier and hence we are losing orders”, “we are trying to raise funds but our investors are not confident enough” so on and so forth. Each statement is self-defined and there is a clear lack of understanding of the problem in most cases. Most of the times, clients are only able to convey the “Reaction” without being able to identify or define the problem accurately. So, how do we tackle this type of a silent killer?

Any business organization exists to deliver a product to the customer – be it a tangible product or a service. Your product can only be as good as the process behind it and your processes can only be as effective as the people who drive it. Now, here comes the solution – you have to ensure that you have the right people driving efficient processes that can deliver the right product. In our given example, it is the leadership team that has to work on the sales team and the HR team in order to bring about an organization-wide change. The management team then has to redefine the policies that can revitalize the service delivery and work culture of the organization. This will organically lead to continuous improvement of your product and / or service both internally and externally. To be able to achieve this you have to eliminate the MPP through a series of steps which can be very specific to the needs of your organization. I must reiterate that most organizations fail to make a turnaround because the leaders too are often a victim of the MPP and are unable to “see beyond” the reaction viz. the repercussions occurring due to total ignorance or complete denial of the existence of MPP.

Figure 3: Tagline (image via picsart..com)

As we know that any business is a “going concern”, as consultants let us strive to make it into a “winning concern”. Let me conclude once again with my tagline – “I help improve people, processes and products – in that order!”