Cargo cults, and connecting tools to outcomes

Have you heard the term cargo cult?

The story, usually quite oversimplified, goes like this:

Certain indigenous people in the South Pacific islands, having once experienced the sudden arrival of thousands of World War II combatants and their seemingly endless supplies of food and manufactured goods — followed by their sudden departure at the end of the war — seemed very interested in regaining access to that wealth.

Not fully understanding who these visitors were, where their wealth came from, or why they had left, some began doing what they could to mimic the visitors’ actions, apparently hoping that such actions would cause the the cargo deliveries to resume:

Building mock radios from coconuts and straw, lighting torches along the abandoned airstrips, marching in drill formation with mock wooden rifles.

From their limited experience, it seemed reasonable that doing all these things should once again cause large quantities of luxurious goods and supplies to be brought to their island.

It had worked for the soldiers and sailors, why shouldn't it work for them?

Not entirely unreasonable:

The disconnect here may be obvious to you and me, but we've probably all done something similar.

You may know someone who's seen others play the stock market successfully and decided that they too should start making investments. It doesn't always turn out like they hoped.

I've had clients and prospective clients try the same approach with CRM systems:

If we're going to be a real organization, don't we need a real professional CRM package? Big successful organization X uses fancy CRM system Y — shouldn't we use that too?

Two things might be connected, but not necessarily in the way you think. Correlation does not equal causation.

Here's the thing:

Yes, if you're going to run a successful organization, you do need some system for managing relationships with your people.

But the system itself will not be the cause of your success.

It will be the people, and the relationships, and your ability to use whatever tools and resources you have available to mobilize those people toward specific goals that further your mission.

Tools matter. But what matters more is understanding how those tools will actually support your measurable business and mission goals.

What goals are you aiming for?

All the best,
A.