THE 100% PRINCIPLE

Chris Byrnes

A few years ago one of my business partners in New Zealand came up with a simple, yet powerful principle to motivate the staff at the radio stations we operated. He called it the 100% Principle and it goes something like this:  If everyone at the radio station actually put 100% effort into their job during working hours, 100% of the time, we’d win.

His name is Doug Gold and he has gone on to build a successful worldwide sales marketing company that works with radio, newspaper and television. I recently had an old work colleague visit me and we reminisced about Doug’s famous 100% speech, which I’m told he still delivers from time to time around the world.

We worked hard on developing a winning culture at the radio stations, and after everyone had completed their work on a Friday afternoon we’d gather in the conference room for a weekly staff meeting and some social time together. The beer fridge would be opened, finger food would appear and the usual announcements would be made to keep everyone informed. Staff would be congratulated for specific successes and some would be gently encouraged to work harder if that was required.  On special occasions, Doug would deliver his famous speech.

A radio station works on the 100% principle. Every mistake made, no matter how small or seemingly unimportant, detracts from the possibility of 100% performance……..this applies to every position in the radio station. If the receptionist doesn’t answer the business line quickly, the station is operating at 95%. If the announcer trips over his words or forgets to sell the station name in a break we’re at 80%. If the production manager lets that small fumble in a spot go to air so he can get out the door before 5pm then the station is operating at 75%. The sales rep puts through a contract and does not fill out the order properly and we’re at 70%. The engineer rushes through his work and the signal is not as clean and loud as it could be and we’re at 65%. The GM tells a staffer that he is too busy to see him until sometime next week and we’re at 60%. The Program Director cancels an air check session with one of the talent because “something came up” and before you know it the radio station is functioning at only 55%. Each little error or mistake on its own is nothing major. However when you combine them you can see the negative impact this can have on the listeners, the clients, and what comes out of the speakers.

Doug would tell us that he did not expect 110% either, because that is giving too much and something will ultimately suffer.  He encouraged a balance between work, play and home life. These days with Blackberry’s, cell phones and 24/7 email communication it can be hard to “switch off.”  The Japanese actually have a word in their language for working oneself to death. The word is Karoshi, (pronounced Kah-roe-she). The situation in Japan got so bad that in 1998, a liaison council of attorneys was established to monitor deaths from overwork. They estimated in 1990 that over 10,000 people were dying each year from karoshi. This desire to over work came from peer pressure to keep up with co-workers, out-do competing groups and increase market-share at the expense of competitors.  Japanese managers are caught up in a vortex of psychological pressure that forces them to work at a frenzied pace. So keeping a balance is critical.

The challenge for a lot of us is that we need to learn to work smarter as well as harder. Sometimes we complicate our work because of poor procedures and systems. Most radio stations claim to have deadlines in place for sales contracts, but when push comes to shove they take the money and compromise themselves.  It happens at the expense of quality.

We take the 100% rule for granted in lots of other areas of our life. We expect pilots to get it right 100% of the time. After all who would want to fly with a pilot who only lands his plane 95% of the time? Who would want to go under the knife when the surgeon has only a 70% survival rate? Would you want to eat in a restaurant where 20% of diners contract food poisoning? So why should we accept anything less that 100% efficiency at a radio station? You need to perform at 100% . . . 100% of the time, to be successful.

We are paid 100% of an agreed upon salary and we owe it to our employer to give him 100% effort and 100% performance. Don’t punish your employer when you’re angry by lowering your performance to 95% or anything less than 100%. Don’t embarrass yourself by turning in a performance that’s inferior.

The philosophy revolves around eliminating mistakes and doing absolutely everything to the best of your ability. A radio station is not judged on its ability to do some things well; rather people get a collective impression of everything the station does. If the radio station has great news and information, but the music is off target, then the announcers are rude on the contest phone and the sales reps don’t follow through on commitments made to clients, the radio station reputation will quickly evaporate.

The 100% principle is something I try to live up to every day. If we could all operate at 100% efficiency and eliminate mistakes we would always win. It’s that simple. Try applying this principle and let me know if it works for you.

Special thanks to Doug Gold for allowing me to reproduce some of his word in this article.

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