The term “Business Improvement” is doing the rounds, as if once a business is seen to have this activity in its portfolio, everything is ok, and everyone can now breath easy. Remember these buzzwords: game changer; hit the ground running; paradigm shift; pivot; going forward; growth hack; strategic; to name but a few. In business, surely everything done should be well thought out and part of an overall plan. So calling something “strategic” shouldn’t even be necessary, because it should be a given. ‘Going forward’ should be a given, because everything discussed or done should have an impact on its future, so no need to say it, right. I’m sure you can think of many, some of which may even drive you crazy when you hear them used in your own work places. The reality is there is no business out there that starts with the aspiration to fail. Surely most businesses aspire to get better, continually improve, grow and increase profits. Also most businesses that succeed have a clear vision and well documented strategic intent. This is further supported by good quality assistance to ensure business goals are met efficiently and effectively.
Improvement comes in may guises. There is personal Improvement; business improvement; home improvement; etc.. Whether it’s non business focused improvement, such as that promise you made to yourself, that you would start going to the gym three times a week, and two months later, you’ve not even been one. Or starting that decorating job you said you’d start and complete in two weeks, three months ago. Or perhaps, changing your diet so you can start eating healthier, a promise you make to yourself every new year. So for any change to be a success, there has to be an unequivocal need for change. For organisations, drivers for change can be many and varied, such as: a crisis that impacts companies and even industries; new technology that can improve how an organisation performs work; closing performance gaps because the organisational needs are not being satisfied; copy cat changes because other organisations are implementing changes which look good; change for the sake of change, maybe because a new CEO has been appointed and they want to make their mark; mergers and acquisitions, new opportunities identified; or perhaps a reaction to internal and external pressures like, unions, customers, competition, change in government regulations, shareholders, financial markets, and other organisational environmental changes. When faced with these realities / needs and not wishes, change will always happen. Its success however, depends on many other factors.
Perhaps we can make the assumption that, just like people, businesses suffer from similar human failings. After all, businesses exist and live because of the people who work in them. So if businesses are what they are because of the people in them, why would they not suffer from the same issues that people individually suffer with. If you agree with this ideology, maybe we can also say businesses suffer from ‘procrastination’. So, for any business to improve, we have to look at businesses in terms of the people that make up the business, right? That includes every one, who is an employee of that business, no matter what level you are at. After all, for a resource balanced, efficient, and productive business, the impact of each person’s day to day actions should be felt (whether positive or negative) right? So perhaps we can make another leap and say businesses could also be said to be alive or dead, right?
If you agree with the above, there are therefore many aspects involved with improving a business’s performance, all primarily people focused. “Not really” I hear you say. I also hear you say, “What about leadership?”; “What about quality assurance?”; “What about organisation design?”; “What about organisation complexity?”; “What about …..?”. The list goes on, right? Even so, none of these is devoid of the human element, and neither can it be. Therefore, for any business improvement effort to yield positive results, it has to focus on people. Simply because all activity in business whether good or bad is driven by its people. Management Systems and Processes in any business are designed by its people, including its choice of Tools it uses. The people who work in a business are also selected by other people. “That’s stating the obvious”, some of you may be saying to yourselves. Maybe, but it’s surprising how we can make simple things become so complicated in business.
If you’ve agreed that, ‘Business Improvement is primarily people focused, we now need to appreciate the impact of organisational culture to the success or failure of improving a business. The bigger the organisation the greater the number of cultures that exist, therefore the greater the change challenge. In big organisations the multiple leadership styles add to this complexity, as they help form and in some cases reinforce this mini cultures. So working closely with the business senior leadership of any organisation will ensure organisational wide engagement and successful business improvements implementation. Whether it be a Management System, Process, Tool or People Improvement, engaging the business senior leadership is essential. There is nothing I appreciate more in business than seeing all business employees pulling together to deliver a common goal. It’s a thing of beauty and always succeeds.
So to conclude, businesses are very much like people and they are alive or dead. They suffer from procrastination, and behaviour (culture) issues that may negatively or positively affect a business’s improvement activity. Therefore, people at all levels in a business are one of the very key factors to implementing successful business improvements. However, it is unwise to neglect the other key factors.
At Nisus Management we understand the value of everyone in your organisation and as such, work sympathetically with you to help you achieve your goals https://nisusmanagement.com/our-approach/.
