I had an email today from a client asking if we could postpone some activity we were going to start in early September because there was nervousness amongst the team that they would not have the time to invest in turning their lives around.
Most of them are swamped by work and cannot afford to lift their head up and therefore the thought of even giving up a WHOLE DAY (let alone the full programme of activity planned) was beyond them.
Instead, they wanted to replace the proposed focused and high impact programme with some work to create a PID (Project Initiation Document), recruit and appoint a Project Manager, develop an implementation plan and really look to get going 'sometime in Quarter 2 of 2008' with a series of bi-weekly hour long meetings.
Now, I know that this is natural reaction to stressful situations - we are so busy firefighting we have no time to turn off the gas - but there is also a lack of understanding implied by the response. They seem to forget that the investment of time in an appropriate, targeted and (most importantly) quick implementation will generate better returns (by several orders of magnitude) than 'death by a thousand cuts' (this being my latest term of weekly/monthly meetings that go nowhere!).
However, there is a lack of understanding implied by this (typical) response which is that the previous programmes have required lots of time investment (admittedly in hour long chunks) and achieved nothing so the thoughts of investing (maybe) 200 hours over several months would not seem a good return when compared against the old model of improvement.
Therefore, the art of bringing this programme back on track (which it now is) was to stress that the approach is different, the results are different and most importantly the returns are different.
What do you think?
http://www.amnis-uk.com/
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
When is the right time?
A common question I hear when dealing with clients is 'When is the right time to schedule in to do this project?'
The answer is simply that there is never a right time!
Some organisations know they need to make a difference to the way they deliver products and services but cannot or are unwilling to make the time investment required to make it happen.
There is always a reason not to do a project; a new building, service changes, a new contract, someone has left, someone has joined, someone has failed to join, a customer has complained etc etc etc
These are the realities of business - whether you are a Healthcare organisation or a Manufacturing business - there will always be something that makes this 'not the right time.'
In my former role running change programmes for the public sector we were often approached by organisations who were facing the abyss (they were about to close, go to jail or something similar). The common strand was that most realised there was a problem a long before the end came but were so tied up 'dealing with the critical issues' that they did not take time out to deal with the important issues that would have saved them pain, money or damage to customers.
If you truly believe that something needs to be done then it probably does need to be done, and if something needs improving then you had better get on with it.
There are two quotes that I think are great at this point, one is from Henry Ford and the other is from an unknown source:
Henry Ford - "I realised that when I needed a tool, if I did not get it I would end up paying for it anyway but not having it"
Anon - "Madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results each time"
I will close by challenging you to make the first step towards improving the long-term health of your organisation today. It may be disruptive, it may be unpopular, it may just save your organisation or the life of your customers. Delay it at your own peril!
What do you think?
http://www.amnis-uk.com/
The answer is simply that there is never a right time!
Some organisations know they need to make a difference to the way they deliver products and services but cannot or are unwilling to make the time investment required to make it happen.
There is always a reason not to do a project; a new building, service changes, a new contract, someone has left, someone has joined, someone has failed to join, a customer has complained etc etc etc
These are the realities of business - whether you are a Healthcare organisation or a Manufacturing business - there will always be something that makes this 'not the right time.'
In my former role running change programmes for the public sector we were often approached by organisations who were facing the abyss (they were about to close, go to jail or something similar). The common strand was that most realised there was a problem a long before the end came but were so tied up 'dealing with the critical issues' that they did not take time out to deal with the important issues that would have saved them pain, money or damage to customers.
If you truly believe that something needs to be done then it probably does need to be done, and if something needs improving then you had better get on with it.
There are two quotes that I think are great at this point, one is from Henry Ford and the other is from an unknown source:
Henry Ford - "I realised that when I needed a tool, if I did not get it I would end up paying for it anyway but not having it"
Anon - "Madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results each time"
I will close by challenging you to make the first step towards improving the long-term health of your organisation today. It may be disruptive, it may be unpopular, it may just save your organisation or the life of your customers. Delay it at your own peril!
What do you think?
http://www.amnis-uk.com/
Saturday, July 07, 2007
The inquisitiveness of children....
Have you ever noticed how children ask the 'daft' and obvious question that exposes gaps in your knowledge?
My six year old son was watching the news with me on the day that Gordon Brown became Prime Minister and he asked me what a Prime Minister was. I started to reply that the PM was the leader of the main parlimentary party when he interupted me and asked me why groups needed leaders and whether or not the people in the political party were capable of making decisions for themselves.
This was a slightly more complex issue and stopped me in my tracks for a few seconds. Of course, everyone in a group has intelligence and is capable of making decisions for themselves but they needed a guiding hand to set the overall direction of the party and to act as a mediator in the event of a dispute.
His questions set me thinking about the usefulness of asking questions from the viewpoint of a child and how it forces people to examine why things are they way they are, why certain decisions have been taken and whether there might be another way of doing things. You often find someone involved in an improvement project will ask what appears to be a simple (or even daft) question that unexpectedly exposes a real issue, threat, risk or opportunity.
Perhaps we should encourage child like questioning for our organisations as it will challenge whether the organisational paradigms are valid or could be improved.
Are you brave enough to try?
My six year old son was watching the news with me on the day that Gordon Brown became Prime Minister and he asked me what a Prime Minister was. I started to reply that the PM was the leader of the main parlimentary party when he interupted me and asked me why groups needed leaders and whether or not the people in the political party were capable of making decisions for themselves.
This was a slightly more complex issue and stopped me in my tracks for a few seconds. Of course, everyone in a group has intelligence and is capable of making decisions for themselves but they needed a guiding hand to set the overall direction of the party and to act as a mediator in the event of a dispute.
His questions set me thinking about the usefulness of asking questions from the viewpoint of a child and how it forces people to examine why things are they way they are, why certain decisions have been taken and whether there might be another way of doing things. You often find someone involved in an improvement project will ask what appears to be a simple (or even daft) question that unexpectedly exposes a real issue, threat, risk or opportunity.
Perhaps we should encourage child like questioning for our organisations as it will challenge whether the organisational paradigms are valid or could be improved.
Are you brave enough to try?
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