Hating the hierarchy or demanding change?
Authority is not so fashionable anymore. It’s true at school. It’s true in business. Some young and not-so-young managers tend to blow the doors off traditional, slow and complex management practices. This can often be an individual sharp and impulsive reaction that reflects unease with bosses. This is generally not too difficult to handle. If the rules are correct and proven to be efficient, either the person becomes convinced or he/she leaves.
But what should be done when efficiency in policies, systems and processes are more and more questioned? Well, provided the criticism is repetitive and internal evaluation confirms the weaknesses, it’s inevitably about changing habits and attitudes. Change management is a fashionable topic, and for good reasons. Since the man started doing business, success has never been eternal. Success fades with the years. System efficiencies erode and corrode. Success stories evaporate. Market leaders change rapidly in our economy. Faster than ever before.
Practically speaking, you could (should) start by analyzing and rating the efficiency of your business where excellence is critical for the perennity of your company success. For example: project management systems would be an appropriate area of focus.
Get started with a select group of employees and managers. Set out below is a draft mindmap on this topic. It’s not complete. Remember, you are reading a post on a blog here; we only scratch the surface and cannot be comprehensive. Here is the mindmap. Click on it to enlarge it; press backspace to go back to this page:
→ What to do? Of course, your company is changing. Piloting change is no easy mission. Change touches a wide range of business areas. Which ones are critical -meaning essential for your business success?
They are not difficult to identify. List them.
Specify why they are critical.
Specify how they perform.
If they perform poorly, write down the top five reasons why.
If change is required, set a priority ranking.
Move ahead.
Need a hand? I have done this more than 100 times with many teams. ◊Use my skills◊.
© Nick Paulus, 2008
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PS: I have used mindmapping for 10 years now. It’s highly efficient and flexible to draw up action plans, organize your thoughts, and radiate out your creativity in a workshop on new product development, lead complex projects, and so on. I learned the technique of mindmapping from Tony Buzan. If you are either skeptical or just curious, have a look at the video ◊here◊.
