Discuss...Do you do BAU???

BAU – or ‘business as usual’ is an expression that I hate.

I see it used as a cop-out.  It’s nothing more than a lazy statement that tells everyone that your intention is just to do ‘the same old, same old’.

Unless your BAU is to strive forward each day with the enthusiasm of a starving dog scoffing 

stolen food, then all you’re really saying is “I’m not going to be doing anything different.” 

So tell me this Mr or Ms Complacent...Why should I continue to bother to employ you? Why should I continue to pay you good money to sit on your rump doing ‘BAU’?

I want people working hard in my team; working hard in the belief that they really are making a difference.  I want people who are seizing the moment and every possible opportunity to make things better.  To sell, produce and market our products so that we’ll all reap and share the dividends in the style of medieval kings and queens at a sumptuous banquet.  I don’t want passengers.  I want participants. I want people that have bought-in to my vision and agree with my strategy for growth and ambition.  I want to be the market leader.  I want my people to want me to be the market leader.  I want to rob opportunities from others and watch them wither and die as I leave them in my wake of profit, profit and more profit.  I want to be known throughout the world.  In fact, I want to DOMINATE the world!  You must be always thinking up ways of increasing my profile.  When you wake up, shower, drive to work, drive home, eat your dinner, when reading your kids their bedtime stories and in your dreams.

So you see, your weak and pathetic BAU just doesn’t cut it.  Not with me.  Not on my watch. You have no excuses.  Not one! NEVER!

Unless of course, I missed something?   

Maybe I didn’t tell you that this is what I wanted.  That it’s what I expected from you.  That this is the contract between us.  It’s your job.  You won’t find it written down so don’t bother looking, but I was sure that I had made myself clear? 

Clear?

Clearly not!

All employers want this from their workforce.  Most don’t get it.  Possibly because they may have hired the wrong people.  Possibly because the conditions aren’t right and the resources aren’t there.  Possibly because the workforce is de-motivated and isn’t being engaged.  Possibly a mixture of all of these things? 

How do you get people to buy-in to your vision? 

Simple! 

You have to sell it to them the same way that you want them to sell it to your prospects.  They must be enticed.  They must get a seat at the banquet table so that they can see, touch and eat the rewards.  Failure to reward leads to complacency at best and total de-motivation to the point of inertia at worst.  Nobody works for free.  Not for very long anyway.  In the same way that a dog will eventually refuse to chase after a stick if it’s not praised for doing so; people will lose ambition if they think that they’re just being slogged for your benefit.

Not many people get anywhere in business without the help of others.  

So why don’t we look after those who work for us if we really want to dominate the world?

I’d be grateful for your opinion.

Wishing you the best in all that you do,

Keith