In the early 1980s, the Ford Motor Company was not enjoying its previously heady success. It was losing money – $3.3 billion over three years – to its cheaper and more efficient Japanese competitors. But Ford didn’t panic. In 1983 they set about restoring the fortunes of the 80 year old motor company.
The first step made by the management team was to clarify exactly what it was that Ford Motor Company stood for; they began redefining the mission, values and guiding principles (a document that later become known as MVGP).
However, during this process they discovered something that had been overlooked by the organisation. Something which had been at the heart of Henry Ford’s founding vision. Don Peterson, the former CEO, recalls that “there was a great deal of talk about the sequence of the three Ps – people, products and profits. It was decided that people should absolutely come first.”
Getting the right people “on the bus”, as Jim Collins puts it, is vitally important to the success of your organisation. Often, even a slight change in the composition of your team can make a radical difference in its ability to perform.
Whether good or bad, people will impact your organisation’s ability to execute its mission and it’s imperative to get the right people.
“Any strategy, no matter how smart, is dead on arrival unless a company brings it to life with people – the right people.”
But who are the right people?