Personal Statement:Business and Management 13

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Business and Management Personal Statement

Aquent was in a perilous condition. The 1,800 sales representatives at the company had contracted far too many high-risk, low-profit project orders related to network construction. The resultant deficit at Aquent, one of the world's biggest communications companies, had swollen to nearly USD150 million and threatened to bring the company down. To combat this problem, I joined a sales reform taskforce that implemented "Project Forward," a new oversight committee that would investigate the profitability of project orders and decide whether or not to accept them. It was a huge responsibility, and I was given the task of formulating the procedures that Project Forward would recommend to all sales divisions

Despite a flurry of activity, two months went by with no results. The sales divisions failed to enact the new procedures I had designed, and the company amassed an alarming number of high-risk project orders

With implementation problems mounting, I knew it was up to me to find a solution

One executive manager, angry over the lack of sales cooperation, proposed putting Project Forward into operation by force. Believing that we needed to grasp the cause of Project Forward's failure before we could implement an adequate solution, I proposed a different approach. I suggested that we simply ask the sales representatives why they neglected to carry out the new measures. After interviewing thirty-six sales representatives from all sales departments, I discovered that, broadly speaking, sales representatives did not understand the goal of Project Forward. Two other Business Process Reengineering (BPR) projects were competing for their attention, and the sales representatives did not know which projects pertained to their work. Moreover, since the members administering Project Forward each had their own existing posts and roles, they were too busy to manage Project Forward effectively

Having identified the problem, I designed a solution. I created a task list that assigned roles to the project members. Then, I assimilated the other two BPR projects into our own, integrating all three into one, centrally-administered program. After creating an integrated process flow that was easy for sales representatives to understand, I held joint meetings to introduce the new measures to the sales people

In addition, resource managers were directed to assign two people to manage Project Forward full-time in each sales division

Finally, I used motivational techniques to ensure that Project Forward was executed with vigor. Since I observed that we could not successfully implement the measure without changing the sales representatives' minds about the council's usability, I enthusiastically discussed the purpose of Project Forward at the joint meetings and through our mailing list. I showed the sales division that they owned Project Forward and should share in its establishment

As a result, the motivation exhibited by these representatives grew more and more intense

Solving this problem taught me several essential traits that a leader must exhibit. A leader must clearly identify the problems that are hindering a project's success, and then he must address those issues by making every team member a stakeholder in the project's success. By raising awareness of a project's goals and purposes, a leader can then motivate his teammates to contribute. Leadership is centrally interactive, and only by working in harmony with an organization can a leader guarantee long-term success.

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