Why is Your Team Failing to Meet Its Targets?

Opening Insights

Have you ever wondered why your marketing and sales teams are not reaching their targets?

Have you ever considered that the problem may be that their primary focus is on their targets?

Informational Insights

What are we talking about?

Consider this: If your team’s primary focus is on meeting their targets and not on being of service and learning about their customer’s needs… there is a huge, Huge, HUGE opportunity they and the company are missing without even knowing it. Yet, to see this opportunity requires a disciplined and structured process that shows care, concern and selflessness… qualities becoming increasingly absent within people today (and hence people are becoming increasingly “untrusted” and automation continues to take over).

Narcissism in the Workplace

Narcissism is prevalent in the world today. The attitude of “the narcissist” affects and infects our businesses, organizations and schools.

The rise in narcissism is accelerating, with scores rising faster in the 2000s than in previous decades. By 2006, 1 out of 4 college students agreed with the majority of the items on a standard measure of narcissistic traits. Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), the more severe, clinically diagnosed version of the trait, is also far more common than once thought. Nearly 1 out of 10 of Americans in their twenties, and 1 out of 16 of those of all ages, has experienced the symptoms of NPD. Even these shocking numbers are just the tip of the iceberg; lurking underneath is the narcissistic culture that has drawn in many more. The narcissism epidemic has spread to the culture as a whole, affecting both narcissistic and less self-centered people.

Like a disease, narcissism is caused by certain factors, spreads through particular channels, appears as various symptoms, and might be halted by preventive measures and cures. Narcissism is a psychocultural affliction rather than a physical disease, but the model fits remarkably well.¹

While narcissists can create great power, express great vision and inspire (manipulate) scores of followers, they are also known to be poor listeners, with an extreme sensitivity to criticism and an overt lack of empathy. That being said, the main characteristic of the narcissist is extreme selfishness (lack of care or awareness of others).²

The consequence of selfishness is the inability to see choices and opportunities. When one is so focused on oneself and one’s goals the opportunities for growth and success in working with or for others is often unnoticed. Thus opportunities for synergistic collaboration are missed.

For example: Johnny is only focused on meeting his sales target for the month. He visits one of his key clients. He gets the order needed to meet his sales quota for the client and ends the meeting. Johnny fails to further engage his customer, and so he fails to learn of that customer’s struggles, hence he misses an opportunity to offer additional company products and services.

Thus, in order to be successful in business and life one must develop an attitude of selflessness. More importantly, for businesses to deal with the incoming millennial wave of narcissism they must develop collaborative cultures where narcissism is not only stopped and not tolerated, but selflessness is taught, mandated and rewarded on all levels. Such an initiative is not only crucial for business survival, but for the survival of humanity itself.

Possibilities for Consideration

Remembering the words of Gandhi: “We need to be the change, we want to see in the world.” We need to carefully examine the cultures that we allow to develop and perpetuate within our organizations. We need to examine the short-term and long-term benefits and costs not only to the business, but to the industry and the world as we know it, and as we desire it to be.

Sources and References

• ¹“The Narcissism Epidemic” by Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell. Copyright © 2009, Simon and Schuster.
• ²Narcissistic Life, Date Unknown
• killakinadotcom (graphic), May 20, 2013

Take a moment and examine…

• As you reviewed the material above, what stood out to you?
• What is the potential impact, economically and/or socially?
• What action is needed to stop or support this idea?
• You may want to consider whether you:
  • want to be aware of,
  • should become supportive of,
  • would want to be active in this topic?

Add Your Insight

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Being willing is not enough; we must do.
LEONARDO DA VINCI