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Sinbad Got Fired!

Doug Schust - Wednesday, March 24, 2010
My wife and I big fans of The Celebrity Apprentice. Sunday night Donald Trump fired Sinbad, the comedian. It was one of the few bad Apprentice shows we’ve seen. The reason it was a bad show is because the outcome was so predictable to anyone who has worked on a project team.

Sinbad was the project manager for ‘Men’s” team’s and he made several lethal mistakes. Here are the big ones:

  1. He did not unite his team around a common goal or a common vision. They had a general direction but nothing concrete to guide them on a decision-by-decision basis. They could not operate confidently and effectively without Sinbad, or even with him for that matter. A good project manager gets everyone on the same page at the beginning of the project and assign roles, responsibilities, and specific tasks.
  2. Bret Michaels is clearly a high strung guy. He became agitated by Sinbad’s lack of direction, poor communication and fuzzy goals during the team's first meeting. Bret had a point but he handled it poorly by getting angry. Sinbad decided to ignore Bret instead of confronting the petulant Poison frontman. That proved to be a mistake since, Bret, had no choice but to (reluctantly) share his concerns with Mr. Trump in the Boardroom, where the firings take place. Sinbad enabled his poorest performer by not addressing his concerns and taking positive corrective action, that could later be used to deflect an attack.
  3. Every project, no matter how small, has milestones and communication checkpoints. That’s how you know progress is being made and the team is still aligned. Project timelines are lost at the beginning of projects, not at the end. Sinbad took his responsibility too lightly. He was responsible for everything. He was responsible for the process and the outcome.  He forgot he had to answer for A-Z to Mr. Trump.
  4. So where was his “team?” Coming off the drubbing the Men's team gave the “Women” in week one, the Men were a little cocky and, apparently, unwilling to step up in a positive way for one another. They let their leader die. Shame on them. They all knew the project wasn’t going to magically come together at the end, that Sinbad was a poor leader, and that he would probably take the fall. Why didn’t one of them warn him? Because the Celebrity Apprentice is a competition, a game.

I guess that means that none of these things, these fatal flaws, could happen in real life? Nonsense, these same team dynamics happen in real life all the time. If you see them happening on one of your team's, do the right thing. Step up and help correct the situation. Don't get mad and pout, bring the team together, objectively define the issues, and take corrective actions.

Now we know why Sinbad got fired.

Steve

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