Resolution: Conflict

The top executives at LexJet, a $40 million Sarasota-based digital printing and software firm, knew they had a large problem earlier this year — one that wasn't recession related.

It turns out a large portion of the senior executives at the 80-employee company got along so well with each other that there were rarely any disagreements on business issues.

While everyone playing so nice together made for a picturesque Christmas card, it also meant that the company was suffering from a lack of creativity and inspiration, says John Lane, one of LexJet's agreeable executives.

Art Lambet, who co-founded LexJet in 1994, decided to do something about the company's overly compatible culture a few months ago. He started by leading the company's top executives on a two-day retreat at a Boca Grande resort. “It was a workshop,” says Lambert. “It wasn't a love fest.”

No fisticuffs broke out at the retreat. But something else did, a factor that had been lacking in the company's day-to-day operations for years: conflict.

“What we have come to understand is that conflict should be promoted,” says Lane. “Because what comes out of conflict is ideas and innovation.”

Promoting conflict was just one aspect of LexJet's 2009 recession survival plan. The company, which sells hundreds of digital printing related products, made some other counterintuitive moves this year, starting with spending more than $100,000 to revamp its main consumer Web site.

Moreover, LexJet recently began printing hardbound glossy catalogs of some of its products, which costs about $25,000 per run. The company is also seeking to add up to 11 employees to the payroll, mostly in sales positions.

The investments, in people and in company infrastructure, haven't had an immediate impact on revenues. Indeed, sales are down about 15% so far in 2009, from $47 million in 2008 to about $40 million through October of this year. The company has a history of rapid growth — it made the Inc. 500 list of the nation's fastest-growing companies in the country in 1998 and 2001.

“The company didn't need a major turnaround, we just needed to get better,” says Art Lambert, a runner-up for the Review's Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2008. “Everything we have done this year has been to position us for when the economy rebounds.”

Lambert played a key role in the conflict-facilitation effort. One of his best moves, he says, was having LexJet's seven top executives read “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable,” by Patrick Lencioni. The book details how an organization's politics and lack of communication can lead to a system-wide failure.

Lambert says a close friend gave him the book and he saw his own company within some of the pages. Since reading the book, the company's top executives say they have since learned how to disagree with each other in a way that promotes what's best for the company.

Lambert says one aspect of LexJet didn't need much tinkering: The company's constant check on what its competitors are doing and what it can do better than the others. For example, LexJet, in an effort led by Lane and the company's Internet department, is getting ready to launch a “widget” program, where repeat customers will be able to place orders from their desktop.

“We are always doing a competitive analysis,” says Lambert. “We are always looking for ways to leapfrog the competition.”

— Mark Gordon