From watching TV and movies we know the doctor’s code “First do no Harm” and we want them to mean it. Who wants to worry that their doctor is preforming a procedure that they know or believe may make us worse?
The answer is – NO ONE.
CROs like doctors, share the code and like doctors, see things every day that are dangerous, scary, risky, or just headed to a place no one wants to end up. Like the doctor, the CRO can diagnosis the situation and prescribe what to do or not to do, to avoid that dangerous place. Neither doctors or CROs get to demand changes of someone who doesn’t want to change. Often the change sounds hard and the risk for not changing sounds exaggerated. The result is no motivation to do anything different than today.
The code creates different challenges depending on the CROs role. A CRO can be part of the leadership team or an outside consultant. This conversation is about the CRO as a leadership member and how the code should be interrupted.
When the CRO is part of the leadership team they are both part of the team running toward the risk and they are the doctor who can protect them. The CRO has a dilemma. Do they confront their peers and the CEO with a complex diagnosis that may sound knowledgeable yet vague based on a lack of common understanding, or do they play the role of leadership team member and stay on the path?
A CRO team member does not get to apply the power of CRO Thinking and Revenue Science™® because his CEO and team do not understand the science and are comfortable working in their silo doing what they did last year and hoping for a better outcome.
This issue and the “code” of “First do no Harm” is the CRO’s problem. Those who don’t struggle with this, really aren’t CROs but some operational head of sales and marketing who is perfectly happy to just sell, market harder. They claim all success and blame outsider forces or bad luck for any failure.
The CRO who struggles with the code knows that just doing the same old stuff harder is doing harm. The harm comes from letting others who don’t know how to fix the issues keep doing what they are doing without getting smarter and making changes. A professional CRO vs someone with a CRO title, knows that no matter how good or how bad a person, a team or an organization is today they MUST get better tomorrow or fall further behind.
The CRO with the code manages their desire and ability to move fast with the constraint of moving as fast and as far as the team will go. As long as the team is moving forward at a pace that keeps the team and the business surviving, the CRO is true to their code, while striving for thriving.
In order for CROs to do their job, they have to like to win, so holding back to the speed of the team is a challenge. Experienced CROs become good teachers and realize that the team moves slow at first and then accelerates. The risk to the CRO of the acceleration is the team has not learned nearly as much science as the acceleration might indicate (in the case of a bubble or great economy) and will relapse when things change again.
The acceleration motivates the CRO and the team, which helps cement new habits. This is the first step toward a new culture.
The code works and is what allows everyone to progress, first at one speed and then at another. The CRO knows this increased speed is another necessary step to a new culture supported by the code.
Upcoming Revenue Science™ Certification Classes:
Coming in the Fall of 2017