You’ve probably heard me say and write about this before, and it bears repeating, many times… I read in an article about the countries that are attractive to talent in the labor market. Sweden is in good shape with a fourth place. The winner by a wide margin is Switzerland. That’s funny. There was also a mention of Switzerland in the article that makes me wince. It’s a reference to a completely different article written in 2018. It compared Switzerland and Sweden 45 years back in time and its development since then. Back then, in the late 70s, we were both at the same GDP level. The population is similar. Geographically, however, we are different. We have oceans and ports, and we are landlocked. They are in the middle of the continent and are almost as wide as long. But otherwise much is similar. Now, after 45 years, Switzerland has almost twice the GDP of Sweden. They have a GDP per capita of just over USD 93,000, while we have a GDP per capita of just over USD 53,000. This means that they have developed more than we have during these 45 years. I won’t go into the details of why this has happened, but I just want to highlight it as a start to my thoughts on the importance of development. So what do Switzerland and Sweden have to do with improvement work in businesses?
We were similar, but no longer
Yes, we are transferring it to two businesses that many years ago were in the same place in terms of working environment, quality, customer satisfaction and finances. They were very similar between the operations. But then we can say that one business has focused and structured its development, while the other business has not. Let’s call the first business Positive and the second one Neutral. After a few years, Positive has gradually developed and improved. It has happened at such a slow pace that it is almost hard to see, both from the inside and the outside. The employees of Positiv have felt a, as their name reveals, positive development. It feels “in the air” that something positive is happening. This has made it easier for Positiv to find the right staff. And it has also meant that they are getting more positive feedback from their customers, whatever they may be called. To concretely see that Positiv is on the right track, you need to see the development over time, and then it is clear what has happened. Those who work in Neutral do not have the same feeling. They have also developed over the years, but not at all at the same rate as Positive. Their development has been more about the general development in society. For example, they don’t write by hand now, but use computers. An improvement, sure, but who hasn’t taken that step? Neutral doesn’t have nearly the same ability to get the right staff. They have short-term contracts and high rates of sick leave.
Their customers are not nearly as satisfied as those dealing with Positiv. Their finances are not as strong as they would like, as they constantly have high quality shortage costs. These include costs for temporary staff and having to redo things that were not done correctly in the first place. While Positiv is sailing on a wave of success, which they themselves created, Neutral is struggling in a headwind, a headwind that they also created themselves. The Neutral team takes their condition for granted:
- It thinks that this is how it is to work here, not much to do about it.
- It’s a bit tough, but who isn’t?
- Finances are a bit difficult, but times are tough now.
- We’re not doing so well, but who can do that in the general world situation?
It is also the case that the people at Neutral do not feel that they are generally doing badly. They are not doing great, but still pretty good. Sure, it’s hard, but it’s not a total loss. And hard, it’s something you’ve told yourself it should be. It is a normal state. This perception means that people don’t take on the task of actually working on improvements.
It’s easy to get carried away
I think the lesson is that it’s so easy to plod along at your own pace. Then the years have passed and you have stood quite still in development, or perhaps even gone backwards. You don’t see that it’s your own lack of focused and organized improvement work that has put you in this situation. They blame someone else: the market, customers, politicians, the boss, the EU, the economy, and so on. However, it is not the fault of all of them, it is Neutral’s own fault. Now, if you recognize yourself working in a business like Neutral, it might not actually be your fault. Because you may be new to your organization and cannot be blamed for past events in the organization. But if you stay there for a while and there is no development, then it will be your fault. Because you did not take hold of the development. You slacked off too. And you waited for someone to do something. You think that the manager above you just has to go first… Those in IT just have to go first… And so on.
The call this week is to;
- You need to work in a focused and organized way to improve in a targeted manner.
- You need to question yourself and what you are doing, where you are also keen to challenge the constants that exist in the business. There are things that are just there, but no one thinks it can be done about. It is possible, as long as someone starts.
- You need to be open to seeing alternatives to how you do things. Put aside counter-arguments like “it doesn’t work for us”, “it sounds good but…”, “it might work for them, but we have…that makes it impossible”, or similar.
- You need to be the one to take charge of improvement. If not you, then who? If not now, then when?
Keep in mind that there are only two options: either you evolve, or you dismantle. The latter may take time, but if you do not develop, the day will surely come when you are no longer needed. If you want to discuss your situation in your business and talk about the options, opportunities and get some pep, then I think you should email me again on this email and let me know. Then we can fix an online meeting where we talk. No cost, no obligation on your part. Email me directly via matts.rehnstrom@cleanstream.se.
