It seems like the world is spinning faster every year. The demands on our business are increasing by the day. The challenges come quicker. We need to change with it, and we better do it fast. You cannot afford to sit around and wait to adapt. The only way is onward and upward.
I understand that it is a lot that need to be done in a business. Many things are competing for your time. At the same time as you need to improve yourself and you business, you also need to take care of the day-to-day business. But if you do not improve now, today, in this moment, you will have a harder time doing it in the future.
The things that you do in your business will be harder and harder to accomplish, as the demands have increased. It might not only be a single task that gets harder, but as a total you will find yourself in a tougher situation. Things will go ballistic around you as the demands change and your business is not adapting.
Then when it is time for you to make the improvement, then you will find that you have even more to take care of in the day-to-day business, and the step to catch up is even higher. It is like pushing snow in front of you with a flat blade, where the snow represent the amount of work you need to take care of. You will only be able to do so much, before everything will stop.
That stop might affect you physically as an individual, which I really do not hope it will. You might end up sick, or just sick of the situation. In the latter you, as a valued member of the team, leaves the situation, leaving the business in an even worst predicament.
But the stop can also be that the business is no longer working and you go out of business, or you might find that someone else is taking over your market, giving you even more hardship.
I worked with organizations that are in really huge need for improvement. They know it and they start up their improvement work with enthusiasm. Then they are struck by the “calendar paralysis”. Workshops need to be booked and work need to be done. The problem is “just” that there is not time left in the calendar. Under large frustration they try to get people that need to be a part of the work, into the same conference room at the same time. As people already have a lot to do and have filled their calendars for weeks or month ahead of today, it is nearly impossible to get anything done.
Then the improvement project, that is so important for the business future, take much more time than expected, and also much longer than the organization can afford. In the end of the project the resources have spent month on the project without getting the effect out of it. The enthusiasm that existed in the beginning is suddenly gone, and replaced with wonder and disbelief. “Is this ever going to succeed”, and “I’m not so sure anymore about us getting something out of this”.
I have also experienced that the team work very hard for a long time and still are enthusiastic about what they have accomplished. But when it is time for them to present it to the management, they are met by low priority. That takes the enthusiasm out of anyone.
Therefore it is so important for you as a leader in the organization to make sure that everyone understands the importance of your improvement work. And that goes for you and the rest of management as well. It is much better to keep a high pace throughout the project. Make sure that the team are focused, and that time not just fly by. Relieve them of as much day-to-day work as possible. Make sure that their calendar is cleared out, and that they know the priorities. Both you and your business will gain from that approach.
To you and to your business excellence.
Matts
