Imagine that there are so many people with different solutions on how to improve a business. Many see from their perspective that if you just did what they suggested, “everything” would be solved. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
That’s certainly what I think and what we at Clean Stream think. That is, we see that we have a solution for how to really improve as a business. What sets many others apart from us is that we are right…haha. Jokes aside, let me briefly explain why I can actually say that.
Many are working on solutions to;
- make the management team work better,
- develop leadership skills,
- improve group dynamics,
- introduce balanced management or other financial monitoring,
- introduce a smart technical solution,
- new business system,
- or something else.
For the above to really work, the foundation must be there. That everything is based on a solid structure of how the business works.
The management team might get better at solving the wrong problems
It is certainly good that the management team is improving the way it works together and makes decisions. But it doesn’t help the business as well as it could, if you still have a business that doesn’t see its natural flow of creating value.
A departmental management team can only achieve so much because they are not mandated to act outside their assigned domain, nor do they see the big picture.
You will certainly be much better after a programme to develop the management team at dealing with issues that should not even need to be dealt with at all. Issues that would be non-existent if they were to look at their value-creating flows instead.
Check out the last few weeks’ weekly newsletters and you’ll see the link to the management team getting good at making decisions that shouldn’t even be on their agenda.
Digital tools also solve the wrong problems
The same goes for our digitalisation. We identify needs based on our defined field of vision and then procure the new digital aid. The system or solution is certainly excellent, but what good is it if it doesn’t satisfy the whole, but only a part of the business which might not even be needed.
It’s like paving cobblestones, increasingly cementing the inefficient structure that is our business.
First the foundation then the improvement
The various improvements are needed, absolutely, but only after we have a clear picture of how we create value for customers, whatever you call them.
In a series of training courses on digitisation, we have talked about the above elements. This is to ensure that digitisation does not become yet another sub-optimal part where we spend limited resources on solving the wrong problems.
In this case, the very definition of waste is spending limited resources on solving problems that should not even be a problem. If only we thought differently, we would solve the root causes instead.
So before you go ahead with another programme in, for example, one of the areas listed above, make sure you have a clear picture of the flow that creates value. It is only when you see this flow that you can take the next step.
Wrong way to create an operational structure
When it comes to creating this flow for an entire business, I see that many are called to do the job. But few are chosen to really achieve this in a truly natural way.
The common mistake is to translate the natural flow into a model with three levels; management processes, main processes and support processes.
This way does not work.
I worked on it myself 20-30 years ago and we never managed to make an impact in business. It becomes no more than a technocratic approach to how business works.
And is there anything we absolutely do not need right now is another false image of our business. (The first false image is the organizational chart, which almost never reflects the ways we actually create value.)
Solution exists and I can show you
Are you interested in knowing how to create a so-called business structure for real? And I mean in a way that will really change the way you look at your business.
Then email me, and we’ll find a time to talk online.
I can show you examples for both the public sector and businesses. The basic idea is the same, with additions for a municipality, where we also have the “municipality map” developed together with SKL (now SKR).
With kind regards,
Matts
