Who does not like to be a Snoozer Cruiser?
Life seems to be Cruising along and business keeps happening with no possible challenges of the targets or goals not being achieved. Now this is (a) a condition which many will love to be in and (b) the Buddha island from ‘The Life of Pi’ that you would like to get out of fast
Many a top achiever has seen his house of cards come crashing down on him. There is nothing like a good thing for ever. Clients have a change of mind, people move out, managements change, business models re-engineer…..
Snoozers may have great results, but their potential is dropping as they are likely not keeping up with the situation or time, probably focusing on regular trouble shooting than forecasting problems and looking for solutions. Making the business secure by looking for new opportunity
Imagine a Retail / Kirana / Mom and Pop Store which was doing just fine, chugging along. Then as competition came along, they continued to offer add on services such as home delivery to keep in touch with their target segment. And then came along online stores – which beat them on the primary customer requirement of quality, convenience, with attractive pricing. They had time, a little less probably, to react. They had their limitations. They could have upped their game but they were afraid to take a decision to either invest or seek technology to support themselves.
Snoozers in organisations and jobs are also a little bit like this. They are unsure of themselves and unwilling to let go and try something new – what if this impacts their core and otherwise running business / work? There is a lot to do as it is. Customer demands are very high, clients need servicing and a lot of time goes into customer management. But then they are slowly and steadily getting into a zone of no return as they will find themselves without a tangible idea for future or ability to solve a problem of tomorrow as they were so busy with today
Are you a Snoozer? Look up these questions / statements and if you answer most or all of them as YES, you will know that you likely fall in this zone.
- I have just a few but high value / revenue generating clients.
- These clients are very happy with my work and I have been rewarded both, by them (appreciation / recognition) and my organisation (compensation., promotion, incentive) for the business / work we do
- There is not much new innovation required in this work and I manage mostly client servicing or problem solving – with simple and complex
- I have not ventured into any new department or project un-associated with my client work in the last 12 months
- Business is coming in fine and is probably growing though not be a significant margin
- My work can be managed by someone junior to me with a little guidance / support
- My clients love me and will do anything for me
- My work is significant for my company and I am the one who really brings in the bacon through my clients. Without me the company will have a significant issue
How to get out of this SNOOZE box?
Snoozers can move very quickly into the Quitter box if something suddenly snaps in the client. A dispute which the client expected you to solve but this did not happen and they lose faith. A major impact in client business which impacts your business. Environmental changes in client (eg industry is affected, client business impacted etc), external factors – a lawsuit, Tax claims, Governmental action, anything which significantly brings them to a sharp decline. Since the Snoozer has not worked out alternatives, performance drops and because potential is low s/he has a strong tendency to move into quitter box
Snoozer needs to improve Potential, by increasing Knowledge and skills and being able to increase a wider reach from where the business dependency moves away from the current set. This s/he needs to do over and above current work load. There has to be a stretch and therefore the struggle to move out of comfort zone. Willing to take feedback from others and going to new markets / new opportunity and seeking their inputs towards becoming better and more balancedIt just takes a little time to increase the potentiality and move upwards to becoming a Rock Star
Are you in the Snoozer Cruiser Box? Do you want to move ahead and become a Rock Star?