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  CRM and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
 
I recently acquired a new Harley-Davidson augmenting my well-worn, four-wheeled mode of transportation. To hone my motorcycle riding skills and, hopefully minimise the possibility of personal bodily damage, I attended a workshop to teach riders basic safety principles.
 
While I was there, it occurred to me that the risk management principles taught in this motorcycle safety course would make useful advice for any CEOs struggling to steer through the challenges and opportunities of now common economic woes.
 
The safety course instructors used an awkward acronym that's probably familiar to many riders - S-I-P-D-E - which stands for scan, identify, predict, decide and execute - the basic principles used to avoid obstacles on the road. Interestingly, the same principles could be applied to aid CEOs struggling to manoeuvre troubled companies through corporate turnarounds in the current unsettled economy.
 
1. SCAN. Motorcyclists learn to look 12 to 14 seconds out front of their current position. A higher focus is placed on threats that loom in the next four seconds, but it's also crucial to avoid imminent danger by scanning further ahead.
 
Similarly, CEOs must make sure the short-term, typically, the next four months are well managed. Meanwhile, to avoid other impending threats that can quickly become catastrophic, or to capture those "once in a decade" opportunities as they arise, CEOs must also focus further out, generally 12 to 14 months ahead.
 
Both motorcyclists' and CEOs' scan must be outwardly focused and broad enough to encompass their entire field of vision. In recent years, there are many tragic examples of companies that have sunk due to a lack long-term focus. By focusing on boosting its short-term earnings, for instance, WorldCom appears to have sacrificed its long-term position as one of the leading companies in the telecom sector.
 
2. IDENTIFY - both threats and opportunities. Every good rider knows that "alternative route" is a necessity to swerve around any looming obstacle. In a turnaround, companies rarely have the financial resources to sustain an unanticipated threat as it materialises - unless they have a vision for success, or some proven model for sales and marketing that can be easily adapted from another industry.
 
Also, in a turnaround situation, the best employees tend to leave if they don't clearly see the company's vision for the future. That's why CEOs leading a turnaround must also possess the skills to interpret what they see as they scan the horizon. In large companies or organisations doing well, a CEO can often rely on the advice of a first-rate, knowledgeable management team. However, in a turnaround, that staff may be either too biased or too shell-shocked to give accurate, objective advice. That's why identifying key opportunities is critically important to aid in successfully pursuing new business, and overcoming the "negative inertia" many companies "in turnaround-mode" currently face.
 
3. PREDICT - the impact of identified threats and/or opportunities. This is challenging for many CEOs. It's easy for a motorcyclist to predict what will happen, because it's his or her skin on the pavement if an oncoming obstacle is ignored. But for many corporate CEOs, it's easier to freeze like a rabbit in headlights and overlook potential threats or opportunities that would enable the entire company to move beyond any current economic woes. Time and money is lost when they fail to predict the likely outcome from a pending threat or opportunity.
 
4. DECIDE - what you must do to avoid the threat or seize the opportunity. Like a motorcyclist, the decision may be to slow down until the threat is no longer relevant or to allow more time to respond if a "what if" situation comes to fruition. At other times, just like an experienced motorcyclist, the CEO will need to accelerate quickly to avoid a threat or seize an opportunity. Witness Microsoft's embrace of the Internet - after initially denying its power.
 
5. EXECUTE - the decision, based upon threats and opportunities. Too often, for many CEOs this is like going on a diet or getting into an exercise program - it is far easier to put off until tomorrow, rather than execute vital business decisions. But failure to execute key business decisions in a timely manner can slowly kill any possibility of a corporate turnaround.
 
Ultimately, what drivers learn in motorcycle safety training is that almost anyone can drive fast on a motorcycle travelling in a straight line. Likewise, most any CEO can run a company with a hot product to sell in a growing market. The challenge is learning to face the inevitable bumps and curves in the road. Using SCAN, IDENTIFY, PLAN, DECIDE AND EXECUTE, CEOs gain a problem-solving methodology to aid in resolving current crises and putting the company "back on track" to accelerating revenue and profits. With practice, CEOs may even find the best techniques for dealing with one type of problem come from the solution to an entirely different challenge.
 
Bottom line: Hang on, and try to enjoy the ride!
 
Richard Brock is the founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Firstwave Technologies, Inc. (formerly known as Brock International, Inc.). Named one the "10 Most Influential People in CRM" by Sales and Marketing Automation magazine, Richard founded Firstwave in 1984 to answer the call of businesses needing a solution to automate their sales, marketing and customer service processes.