There are many ideas, plenty of ideas for improvement of almost every process in every organization. But, what to do first, second, last?
The deployment of an efficient social mediated environment, properly implemented can add to the flow of projects, just as well as the implementation of a robust and efficient IT architecture, or, a new ERP system….
Allthough, this may be necessary, it may not be suficient. Or maybe other improvement projects should be executed first, to remove the more urgent blockages. What blockage would an efficient and properly deployed idea/technology/initiative remove, which currently keeps organizations (both for profit and non-profit) from achieving more of their global intentions, goals?
Once it is clearly identified which blockage it removes one can decide to implement this improvement project when no other improvement project is needed first or, adresses better, with less risk and the least investment possible a more imminent deeper lying root cause.
Many times, in all kinds of organizations there are a lot of ideas that all improve something. The real question is whether the something will really add to achieving the company’s goal units. Shouldn’t we first make sure that we know what is blocking us right now from doing better? When we know what is blocking us, we can go out and look for different ideas that tackle the blocking factor. This may, or may not be one or many of the suggested ideas, or not.
It may also be the prioritization of projects (to maximize the ROI, ROA of the project portfolio), and the removal of deeply ingrained behaviors induced by either a physical blocking factor (like the capacity of a machine or the lack of humans with a certain capability), or it may be contradicting policies, rules or metrics that have once been put in place but that have become obsolete during time. Often we find that ‘old’ companies and organizations are a coral reef of policies, rules, procedures and metrics that were once valid, but have never been questioned again.
Could the result be, more and more contradictory policies, procedures, rules and metrics that drive behavior to tackle with the ‘fires’, the symptoms, local issues, of deeper underlying common root causes?
What would happen if we would decide which improvement project to implement before we have a good enough understanding of the general structure and interdepencies of the various functions as well as the current policies and procedures?
Could we be ever confident in our decision, that the change project will really be a sustainable improvement to the organization’s goals?
Based on our experiencesthe most succes and most confidence in implementing any improvement project is achieved when one has found the few blocking factors and the appropriate improvement project(s) are withheld by the sponsors (governance board) while they be implemented in the most appropriate, necessary logical sequence (eg. when the blocking factor is not enough market demand, the first focus should be on fulfilling the market’s (customers) needs more).
What would a change project bring to the company when it does not directly address what is imminent, necessary and sufficient, right now?
