8 Signs You Are Part Of An Organization With Little To No Chance For Success

The USA Today is reporting on Christmas morning, Armonty Bryant and De’Ante Saunders of the Cleveland Browns, were arrested after being stopped on an area highway.  It is just another example of the team’s almost two decades of futility.

Things have been so bad for so long the USA Today ran an article two weeks earlier on December 11th stating the team should be rebuilt from the ground up – players, coaches, front office and perhaps even ownership.

What I found interesting about the article was the reasons the club needs to begin its rebuild.  These lessons apply to any church, business, athletic, or non-profit organization and will help you know when it is past time to begin making hard decisions.

The following are 8 Signs You Are Part Of An Organization With Little To No Chance For Success:

1. You Have Little To No Chance For Success When You Are Continually Losing To The Competition – As of the December 11th article, the Browns had lost 15 of their previous 17 games.  Worse yet, they have had only one play-off appearance in 17 years.  For churches, the competition is not other churches.  It is anything which competes for the attention of your community on Sunday mornings.
2. You Have Little To No Chance For Success When Not Only Are You Losing To The Competition, You Are Losing Badly – In those 15 losses, the Browns lost by an average of close to two touchdowns.
3. You Have Little To No Chance For Success When Your Most Highly Paid Talent Is Past Their Prime – Eight of the Browns’ top 10 paid players are 30 years of age or older.  Not only are they past their prime, they are no longer producing the results their compensation demands.
4. You Have Little To No Chance For Success When You Lack Unified Leadership – Head coach Mike Pettine said, “I can’t sit and say, ‘Absolutely, we are all on board 100%.’  No, that is not reality.”
5. You Have Little To No Chance For Success When You Are Continually Make Bad Hires – The Browns roster contains no players from the 2011 draft and only three from 2012, none from the first three rounds.  These players should now be developed and the core of the team.
6. You Have Little To No Chance For Success When You Are Not Developing Young Talent – Closely tied to point #5, the team lacks quality depth.  Over-priced aging veterans are taking much-needed reps from younger players who need to develop. Also, with their salary dollars tied up, there are limited resources for acquiring talented young athletes.  Successful organizations are green and growing.
7. You Have Little To No Chance For Success When You Are Not Willing To Admit Reality – This is the fundamental responsibility of leadership.  Pettine continues, “When things don’t go well, everybody has their opinions and their reasons why.  It is going to come down to a brutal self-assessment.”
8. You Have Little To No Chance For Success When You Are Not Willing To Make Hard Choices – Pettine concludes, “(We have) to be able to have the strength to make touch decisions and trust them and move forward.”

What is one area from this list you can improve on today?