Champions Make Business Initiatives Successful

Who or what actually comes up with all the great ideas that launch companies into the global market, increase revenue by leaps, or develops successful new product launches? Most management theorists believe that it is the internal processes and structure of the company that does the most help while others might see it as the sole result of individual effort. Something in the middle appears to be true.

A dozen major U.S. and Japanese companies were analyzed over the past 20 years for to understand the causes of success and failure for major business initiatives (Peters & Waterman, 2005). Out of the 24 major business initiatives 15 were successful (profitable) while 9 were unsuccessful (unprofitable). In 14 of the 15 cases where a business initiative was successful a champion was cited as the reason for success. Of the 9 cases where the business initiative wasn't successful only 3 were cited as a champion being the reason why they were not successful.

We might assume that individual effort is not important in the modern world of team work but this isn't true. It is the champions that make success possible. Teamwork works well for those who follow the leader. When everyone is working under the leader it appears that success is much more likely.

This is a significantly different understanding of successful companies than what has previously been toted. In the recent past the processes and structure of the company appear to be one of the major reasons why a company would become successful. Under the champion success rates the structure of the company and team work become a support function to those with leadership ability.

What should a company do? The components of success are best merged when individual innovation, open lines of communication, team work, and accountability are present. This will require a company to foster a spirit of "can do" attitude throughout its ranks. Individual effort as well as effort within teams should be rewarded with praise, promotional opportunities and pay.

Easier said than done! It takes years to develop the right kind of cultural mix throughout the organization. You will have some people resistant to following another person due to their perceived incompetence and positional authority. Other people might work within the teams but only participate as much as necessary. Therefore they aren't putting the individual effort forward that would allow for innovation. Everyone has to be on the same page as to understand when it is acceptable to lead and when it is acceptable to follow.