Sage News and Discussion

I'm not sure about anyone else but I think I'm over the Sage LinkedIN group. Unless it's a positive memory of Sage people seem reluctant to post much of value there. Is there value in starting another group on LiinkedIn or are people overall just happy to visit LinkedIn and salute Sage every day or two? I'm not implying that everything posted has to be negative about Sage but there's clearly a reluctance to speak honestly in the present group that has occurred on more than one occasion where partners have posted candid thoughts and then quickly deleted them for fear of reprisal by Sage.

I've always felt that the group was too sugary for my tastes. Too many cheerleaders and not enough people saying what they actually think. Not that you have to be negative to have valid point, but I agree with Wayne 100%. I applaud Blytheco for their comments on the branding issue. We just need a few more contrarian views.

I started thinking after I saw someone post about the cancelled (I mean postponed) President's Circle. She immediately went in and deleted it. What value does that type of participation bring to me if people are deleting their comments because they fear retaliation by Sage? (Answer: The discussions are one step above reading a press release).

I am happy to visit the Group sites here and forget LinkedIn.

I guess as one of the people guilty of being a cheerleader I might contribute to the problem. I will say that I don't think there is much value when some elements just get on there and bitch about how shitty of a job that Sage is doing. If stuff is messed up, then state specifics and possibly how you would like to see it improved. Then... strike the messed up stuff and just say how you would like to see it improved. The same message gets across but no one is put back on their heels. When one of my team f*cks something up, I've found it does no good (but sometimes harm) to go in with guns a blazin' criticizing them - particularly if I do it in front of the rest of the group. I'm sure most Sage partners wouldn't do that because they know: a) it won't acheive the desired results (change for the better) b) it destroys morale for everyone c) it makes the person doing the criticizing look like a tool If we want to learn as a team, I would bring up what happened and ask the team what we can do differently next time around to improve the situation. No one is put on the defensive, everyone contributes to the change, everything is one big happy family. I doubt that this is some sort of top secret formula that only Peter Wolf or Azamba knows. And yet I find it surprising when partners don't use the same consideration when talking about Sage's f*ck ups in the LinkedIn Group. They are hardly perfect there but I don't think any of them go to work thinking ""how can I make partners' lives miserable today?

That being said ... to me, the real problem is not fear of retribution but rather an apparent inability to hear and respond to the criticisms and suggestions levelled. The current m.o. seems to be 1. State some dramatic change 2. Listen to the uproar 3. Re-state the same dramatic change 4. Rinse and repeat starting with a new #1 To me, that's not a problem with LinkedIn but rather the current execs at Sage. And it's odd because when Pascal first started he toured North America and met with several partners. So on the surface it seems like they are interested in listening. But the same fundamental communication issue keeps rearing it's head. How can that be? I think more management (at Sage and other companies) needs to have children. You quickly learn that words that are inconsistent with actions lead to rotten kids and a rotten home life. That's Sage's biggest problem right now. And, unlike children, the partners can move to a different house pretty easily.

Listening at Sage? What an oxymoron!!! This is a major (if not THE) reason why I don't post a lot on LinkedIn. Sage doesn't have a good track record of listening. The Idea web site is an excellent example of this. Currently, there are 1,106 ideas generated and 17,107 votes. Currently ONLY 4 are in the planning stage and 33 have been completed. There is no indication of the four in the planning stage WHEN they will be implemented and the majority of the 33 completed ideas were actually suggested (planted) by Sage! About a year ago, I posted an idea (request) that Sage start providing active feedback on these request. Within a week, the post had been deleted!!!!! Yes, it doesn't help that someone had posted a negative comment (akin to ""when hell freezes over), but why delete all the threads? Sage has a LOT of problems to deal with. Having a ""my way or the highway"" attitude certainly doesn't make any of them go away.