How Dan Snyder Can Fix His Problem
January 2, 2020
By Noone from Tampa
Back in October I wrote a column called “Dan Snyder Has a Problem” (click here to read) . I will now tell Dan Snyder how he can fix his problem. It is actually fairly simple: run the organization like a business and not a fantasy football team. But in order to bring the fans back, he needs to be more transparent in how the organization is run. In the business world, a classic tool for that is the balanced scorecard (BSC), developed by Robert Kaplan and David Norton in 1992 (click here to learn more about the BSC). A balanced scorecard integrates a strategy with goals and metrics to measure success. Adapting the Kaplan-Norton model to the on-field goals of a professional football team could look something like this:
The business side of an NFL franchise might have an entirely different set of goals, of course, depending on the emphasis of the owner, which might require a wholly different model. Instead of responding to the crisis of the moment, the owner could set expectations for the different parts of the organization and measure how well the achieve their goals. Mr. Snyder would probably have to engage a professional consulting firm to help develop the various metrics to measure the goals, but at the end of the day he would have an objective way to see how the entire organization is performing. A much-improved process to guiding the franchise back to a successful path Is far better than relying on a fan-based hashtag campaign.
Engaging the fanbase with transparency by explaining what some of the key metrics are and regularly publishing the results would develop enhanced trust between the fans and the franchise. It would also make the Redskins franchise a leader in the NFL. I’m not asking for the organization to publish its draft board, but some customer satisfaction metrics would be nice.
The only flaw in all this is that in order for it to work, the owner must act like a businessman and not so much like a fan, and for Dan Snyder, based on his prior history, that may be a very difficult task indeed. Brian Lafemina tried being open and honest with the fans and he got fired as a result of his effort. For a short time though, he did improve the fan-team engagement.