Success Lessons From The World Of NASCAR

A recent edition of USA Today (November 6, 2009) ran an article about the consistent success of Hendrick Motorsports’ NASCAR teams. Some would say domination is a better word than consistent success, given that they are closing in on their fourth consecutive NASCAR championship (perhaps taking 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd). The article is titled, “Happy in the Workplace - Hendricks Motorsports’ people skills key success,” and it provides some lessons that any organization, whether in sport or the business world, can learn from.

General Manager, Marshall Carlson says there are four keys to their success: “Talent, unity, speed, and focus, and all four are about people, not technology or widgets.” Where some teams look to cut costs on hotels and food for their traveling teams (consider that these teams are on the road for at least 36 weekends per year), Hendrick Motorsport “views booking quality hotels and catering healthy meals as essential as top-notch equipment.” In other words, looking after their people.

While most race team managers come from within the sport, Carlson came from Hendrick’s auto dealership empire. He views the running of the race teams no different from running of a car dealership. “They’re a lot less different than you’d think, because the culture is very much aligned.”

“A lot of car dealers put the customer first. At Hendrick Automotive Group, the employee is No. 1 and they’ll take care of the customers because happy customers keep the manufacturers happy. It’s same with the team. We feel if we have smart and talented people happy to be there, we’ll run well. If we run well, the sponsors will be happy. Even in a sport where the technology is very important, the difference is the human capital.”

“Anything that touches people takes precedent, whether it’s food, travel, uniforms, working conditions or health insurance,” he said. “That’s contrary to how some organizations work.”

Hmmm… Happy employees. Ensuring employees are happy is the number one priority, assuming that if they are, they will make sure the customer is happy.

How many companies claim that people are their number one resource, and yet don’t back that up with their actions. In fact, having facilitated strategic planning sessions for companies, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard senior management make that claim, and yet heard from employees that it’s not true. Leaders claiming that employees are most important, and yet acting as though they are really a distant second – or third, fourth, or worse – to anything that leads to short-term financial results seems to be the norm and not the exception.

Let’s go back to what Carlson said were the four keys to their success:

1.     Talent – A happy employee who does not have the skills and knowledge to do the job will not lead to consistent success. What he doesn’t say is that, for the most part, skills and knowledge can be acquired.

2.     Unity – This is all about teamwork, all about people working together as a unit.

3.     Speed – When one hears a person in motorsport talk about speed, you can’t help but think he’s talking about the car. But in this case, Carlson is talking about people. Having spent years around high-performing race teams (and some low-performing ones), I know that he’s talking about how having the right systems and processes in place, good people will perform quickly and efficiently.

4.     Focus – Happy, talented employees, working together within great systems will not perform well if they’re headed in the wrong direction. Well, duh. Focus is critical.

But here’s the point: Talented employees, working together as a team with great systems, and focused in the right direction will not perform consistently well if they’re unhappy. I can think of one specific race team that I was involved with where this was the case. They had incredibly talented people. They worked well together, as a team. They had fantastic, well-designed systems and processes in place. And they were very focused on what was important and what needed to be done. But it was not a “happy workplace.” And they under-performed.

Lesson learned.

 

Comments

[twitter.com/rlavigne42]

Great Post Ross.

@rlavigne42

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1111711952]

I think all too often the employees are viewed as an expense item and often times are treated that way. (Caveat: some employees will also warrant being treated as such, I might add!) Everyone wants to feel included and that their input is a valued resource for the team as a whole. Company leaders who think the opposite will suffer from a weak foundation (low morale among the employees).

Employers like Google have fostered the idea of a happy worker is a productive worker and although that rings true, it must also be emphasised that the whole reason the company exists is for business. Translating that "go team!" mantra into foward momentum to success for the company as a whole is the important next step.

A very relavent post, Ross!

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1111711952]

Not being one to post anon; my ID didn't show for some reason...

M. Olsen
(posted at 0738 above)

[Frank Greif]

In an earlier installment you examined two kinds of coaching: Phil Jackson and Bobby Knight. The conclusion was that the Phil Jackson style is probably going to be more successful in the long run. I think your observations about Marshall Carlson validate your conclusion. As Mike points out in his post, there are times when leaders have to push really hard. The key to success is how they do it. A Bobby Knight style (I call them "ranters") might enjoy very short term success. But the subtle damage they do is distructive over the long term. When confronted by a ranter the question to ask is "How can you say that in a way that inspires me?" Clearly Carlson has learned how to inspire. He can show both urgency and respect. That's the mark of a strong leader focused on the individual before the result.

Nice job Ross. Keep it up.