6 Causes of Territory Wars
As the landscape in this industry becomes increasingly competitive, turf wars erupt, often within organizations, and disruption adds to the downward spiral of sales and profits. If you are experiencing turf wars in your company, identify which combination of the following six causes are the ones you need to address immediately.
1. Insecurity
When a person feels insecure about their position, skill level, or job security, their insecurity will cause them to create a turf war. The insecure manager or salesperson will be quick to blame other members of their team for mistakes. This person will appear to have a “victim” mentality and is always the worst part of something that “just happened”! He will be constantly defensive about his decisions and very protective of his territory not wanting any help or encroachment (as he sees it) on his area of responsibility. Ultimately, the insecure person will lash out, causing a huge distraction to his other employees who will be sucked into his drama. The entire organization suffers as a result.
If you see a turf war raging around a person you identify as insecure, the best way to calm them down is to take control of the situation. First, have a policy that “we are a team and we help everyone improve by sharing knowledge, information and support.” As a manager who creates this mutual assistance work environment, she is telling everyone that there are no sacred cows in her department; she is not interested in anyone trying to be the lead dog, because this is a team approach. If you are consistent with this expectation, turf wars will be minimized. Also, sit down with this person to see what is going on in their life that may be causing this insecure reaction. Has his wife lost his job and is there more pressure on him at home to perform financially? Is he sailing? Has he given up because he no longer believes he can compete? Train this person through his insecurities and you will not only be a better employee but also remove the catalyst for turf war.
2. Changes in leadership
Every time there is a change in leadership, the employees go back to the animal-based programming deep in their DNA and try to determine the new “alpha.” The new leader will bring unknown skills and expectations, and everyone wants to make a positive first step and take the opportunity to climb the group’s rearrangement. In some cases, people may feel that they were passed over for promotion and create a turf war with the incoming leader.
The hardest step for any manager entering a new position is being assertive enough to establish alpha status without shutting everyone down in the process. It can be even more complicated if that new person is promoted within the current staff of employees. As a new leader, it is best to call a department meeting and address these issues by making your expectations very clear, explaining his work style, and “taking the elephant out of the room” by addressing the realignment and positioning that is occurring. Talk to him up front.
3. Lack of resources
In a downsizing environment, there is a scarcity mentality that will make people feel threatened. That threat makes them protective of what they perceive as theirs, in other words, they begin to protect their territory. A scarcity mindset breeds protectionism and makes people play not to lose rather than play to win. Sellers focus on holding on to what they have instead of exploring new opportunities, which only perpetuates limited resources. The lack of resources also poorly prepares and equips staff to create additional resources. If training is reduced or eliminated, or if sales staff are not continually updated with technology to stay competitive with the competition, panic and the aforementioned insecurity will ensue.
As a friend told me, there is a difference between being poor and being broke. The difference is the attitude. Poor is a perception that this situation will not change, so measures must be taken to survive. Bankruptcy is an attitude that believes lack of resources is a temporary condition that will soon go away with good decision-making focused on long-term benefits for short-term sacrifices. When faced with a lack of resources, be sure to focus on the long-term benefit of the whole and maintain a positive approach. No one would consider cutting off their left leg as a good way to lose weight, so why do that in your business?
4. Internal Competition
In this country we love our sport. We use sports analogies in business, compare athletic heroics to the performance of individuals in the workplace, and try to create the same kind of competitive environment that we believe takes athletes to greater heights. The flaw in this logic, as any coach or team manager will tell you, is that internal competition between players can cause the team to suffer at the expense of star attention. The competition is outside the organization on a global playing field; infighting only gives the opposition a chance to get ahead. Internal competition among sales people will cause individuals to lose at the expense of their teammates. Sabotage, misinformation and lack of support will lead to turf wars, and the biggest loser in this scenario is the company.
If you want to create internal competition, it must be based on self-improvement. Have people compete against their own individual targets, as opposed to others in the sales force. With this type of contest there can be more than one winner. If the team fits together as the executive can only hope, they will help each other so that the entire team achieves their personal goals. Everyone wins, especially the company, as long as they set the goals correctly.
5. Bad communication
One would think that with advances in communication technology we would have eliminated communication problems, but they continue to be the leading cause of problems, lost profits and turf wars in business. Miscommunication can be information withholding, incomplete information, or inaccurate information. Some poor communication is unintentional and some is intentional. “Knowledge is power” can be misunderstood by those fighting a turf war; Hiding information makes that person feel more valuable if he or she has the answers at the expense of other employees and the company.
The new business model is the Fish Bowl model, with clarity for everyone and no hidden information; everything can be seen and is out in the open. The Internet is eliminating privacy with the vast amount of information at our fingertips, both personal and professional, and the faster companies adopt that model, the faster information can be shared and the better communications will be. Today’s technology allows the information-sharing process to happen faster, but the key to improving employee communication and eliminating turf wars is setting the tone for openness.
6. The Dogfight Manager
Coming out of college as a textile manager trainee, I learned of an organization that hired a lot of college grads and literally had them standing by the walls of the plant waiting for another shift supervisor to make a mistake and lose their job. , creating the opening for the new employee. The pressure was insane and the revolving door and supervisor burnout was the end result of this kind of turf war. If you are a manager who has ever uttered the words “Why can’t he be as good as him?” or “You better get your act together or you’ll be looking for a job” or “How can you let that guy beat you? You should be outnumbering him all day”, then you’re a dogfighting manager. A dogfighting manager enjoys pitting one employee’s performance against another and then sits down for survival of the fittest. It’s a mandated turf war, and nobody likes to work under those pressures.
As the manager resists the comparison of employees. They all bring different skills to the team, and you are there to coach them and help them create the best team. Focus on the individual development of each member of your staff to make them better at what they do and grow in their skills and abilities. Instead of comparing the best and worst of your sales team, why not use the best as a mentor for the employee who needs the most development? Unless you have established internal competition for compensation, the mentor employee will appreciate the recognition and your team will be strengthened.
Territory wars can cause so much disruption and drama in a company that everyone becomes more focused on the internal soap opera and less productive. Take a look and identify the causes of your turf war. Identify them, correct them and watch your profits increase.
Russell J. White, an international speaker, author, and consultant, is president of Russell J. White International and founder of The Edgewalk Institute. His cutting-edge ideas help companies with strategic planning, brand building, leadership development and growth strategies. He can be reached at http://www.thinkbigguy.com or 877-275-9468
