INJELITITIS: WHY GOOD BUSINESSES STILL FAIL - 1

Businesses fail, whether they are conglomerates, micro, small and medium enterprises or startups. Statistics have established that eighty to ninety percent of startups will fail within their first two years. For startups, the attrition rate may be understandable especially when one considers issues like; the promoters’ lack of experience, inadequate or inappropriate market exposure for the value proposition, bad financial/resource management, inadequacy of capital, manpower, executive greed through bogus compensations, government policies and many other factors. Understandable? Then how does one explain the collapse of corporate giants like Enron, Worldcom, Arthur Anderson, Compaq, Woolworths, Toys R us, Blockbuster and many like them that went burst? The Nigerian landscape is filled with several examples of banks like Oceanic Bank, Intercontinental Bank, Habib, Skye Bank, that used to be household names but which still went into liquidation.

Surprisingly, the reasons for the failure of small businesses are not too dissimilar when it comes to corporate behemoths.

Organizations do not collapse overnight. The decline follows an unchecked process that, over time, spirals into an unstoppable end in an abyss. When any business organization goes bankrupt or collapses, various reasons are adduced for the failure. They usually range from, negatively impacting government regulations, dearth of working capital, competition (local or foreign), loss of market equity, manpower gaps, to lack of innovation resulting in stagnation in product development or branding, executive recklessness in corporate governance, etc.

Unfortunately, as germane as these things may be, they may be more of the consequences of a more grievous underlying factor, a human problem which Northcote Parkinson described as “injelititis”, a contagious situation that is largely responsible for the failure of several businesses. In the same way that people are responsible for the success and growth of a business, the failure of any business is largely traceable to people. Business failures are largely people failures.

Injelititis, also described as “palsied paralysis” begins in an organization in a subtle way and, left unnoticed or unchecked, gradually festers until it seizes control of the corporate ship when it has advanced into its leadership. The disease first manifests in the form of gross incompetence and petty jealousy demonstrated by individuals who are infected with these "viruses" . When their influence begins to percolate through the ranks, the disease simply moves to the next stage. At this second stage, according to Parkinson, “Higher officials are plodding and dull, those less senior are active only in intrigue against each other, and the junior men are frustrated or frivolous. Little is being attempted. Nothing is being achieved.”

Left unchecked, the disease, like cancer, begins to metastasize. By this time, insecure, self-centered and largely ignorant and incompetent people have risen high enough through the ranks to hijack leadership, thus making the workspace even more toxic. When such a team gains ascendancy, excellence, competence, innovation, creativity, and a highly motivated workforce become the first casualties of the new operating environment. Mediocrity, greed, and territory-carving are systemically enthroned. The message that the top echelon is tacitly sending out is described by Parkinson as “We rather distrust brilliance here. These clever people can be a dreadful nuisance, upsetting established routine and proposing all sorts of schemes that we have never tried.” ?By this time, apathy is on steroids and mediocrity takes the driver’s seat. At this point, the organization is to all intents and purposes dead! It is only a matter of time.

When an organization is in the throes of injelititis, the effects initially start showing through a lack of cohesion in the workforce; leading to palpable flaws in the operations and processes, which in turn begin to affect bottom-line. “Silo” performers begin to play the outshining game that does not hesitate to diminish collective efforts at the expense of the individual in the spotlight. Before long, competition begins to overshadow collaboration. The spinoff is an unrelenting internal politicking that throws collective values and vision overboard, subjugating both to the vicious individualistic drive to get ahead, even if it means sacrificing other team members.

The usual approach of leadership that either ignores or does not recognize the symptoms or the real cause, is to look for what they think may be the ‘silver bullet’, a solution that does little or nothing in interrogating the actual trouble. It is not unusual at this point for Management to throw machines or new technology at what is essentially a human attitude problem. Some of these interventions involve heavy capital outlays which only benefit the developers of software and the suppliers of the hardware as well as the attendant expertise deployed who reap a windfall through professional fees and other rolling out expenses like installation and manpower training to adapt to the new technology. These expenses can sometimes be very steep. Unfortunately, more often than not, most of the people in-house who are really the source of the problem ab-initio, don’t have a buy-in into the newly deployed technology. Thus, it is only a matter of time before the cycle repeats itself and Management is in search of another silver bullet, oblivious of the fact that technology can never substitute for a negative attitude which is a purely human factor!

Injelititis in an organization is easier identified and dealt with at its initial stages than trying to cure it when it has festered, especially when it sits pat in the driver’s seat via an infested leadership. Unfortunately, it is often ignored until injelitants practically overrun the system.

‘Injelitance’ describes the process of operation of this disease in any organization. The manifestation or evolution of injelitance follows three major processes. As we progress, I will examine the three-stage progression of the disease and how it affects any organization where it is left to fester.

But first, what are the symptoms of injelititis? Even when you do not physically see the injelitants in a system, you can see their influence and footprints in the conduct of operations. It begins with a cynical, almost fatalistic surrender to an inferiority complex that constantly underrates the establishment, especially when compared with what is perceived to be a more successful competitor. It can be detected in snide comments like, “We can never do what XYZ is doing. It would be foolish thinking that we could ever measure up to their level. But at least we are surviving and keeping our heads above water.” When they talk about staff who have moved to another establishment, it is not unlikely to hear comments like, “It is good for them that they left. At least they have escaped the rot we are in.” To the injelitant, the grass is always greener on the other side of the corporate fence. Injelitant citizens will jump at any opportunity to demean and demarket their nation. Every country is El Dorado, except their own...continued.

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

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