Stalls are bad habits that delay progress in accomplishing
20 times as much through the 2,000 percent solution process
for making breakthroughs. Stalls are harmful because they
drain time and attention away from more productive
activities and also set up barriers to improvements. In
this article, you’ll ask seven questions that will help you
identify and overcome your stalls.
You will be more successful in this activity if you prepare
yourself. If you are not familiar with all of the current
steps involved in the performance area or activity you want
to improve, be sure to take the time to observe and
participate in that performance area so your thinking is
influenced by the facts rather than by opinions or
out-of-date information. If possible, have those who work
in the area share their observations independently of your
own thinking. In addition, check your answers with those
who are involved in the performance area.
1. What are the causes of avoidable delays?
A good way to begin is to assume that you are personally
going to do all of the steps involved in the performance
area or activity you want to improve. Then, find the
resources, knowledge, skill and information to do that work
in the fastest, most effective way. After you have
identified how you would do the activity yourself with the
right resources, see what current delays can be eliminated.
Then, determine what would have to change in order to
eliminate those delays.
Here’s an example. Let’s look at the sales process of
finding and attracting a new customer. Many organizations
provide leads to help sales people focus their initial
contacts. In some organizations, these leads are only
provided every month or so. In between, the sales people
can follow up on old leads … but have no new ones to focus
on. Changing the lead generation process to provide leads
more often would allow salespeople the ability to make new
contacts daily. In addition, if the leads are received more
often, the leads are probably based on more recent
expressions of interest by potential customers. Sales
results are bound to improve in such a circumstance. If the
lead generation source is already adding leads daily, all
that has to change is to transmit those leads daily to your
company rather than less frequently. In many cases, the
cost of doing so will be lower because a report may be
eliminated in the process change.
2. Why haven’t the avoidable delays been eliminated in the
past?
You need to know the historical reason for the delays
continuing because otherwise you won’t know how to address
the change process.
In some cases, the source of a delay may relate to some
existing process that has not been changed recently. In
those instances, the delay may simply be a function of no
one having looked lately at how to make faster progress. In
other cases, your computer systems may be the source of the
delay, and no one wants to put in the time and effort to
change them except for a very good reason. Elsewhere, you
may find that there are differences of opinion about what
should be done, and no one wants to take on the political
challenges of advocating and leading a change. In some
other circumstances, you may find that the delay is
actually a defense mechanism that some people use to
diffuse pressure for higher performance. Be sure to keep
looking until you find some unconscious habits that are
reinforcing the continued delays.
3. How will customers, employees, suppliers, distributors,
partners, shareholders, lenders and the communities you
serve be affected by eliminating the delays?
You will find that solutions which obviously benefit each
stakeholder will be those that will be easiest to
implement. If eliminating delays is harmful to some of
these stockholder groups while being positive for others,
rethink the subject to consider how the delays could be
eliminated so that everyone would benefit. In some cases,
that may mean providing some of the economic benefit of the
change to those who will be somewhat harmed by it to more
than offset any harm.
4. Are there ways of eliminating delays that help with more
than one kind of delay?
Most organizations have a limited capacity for change that
is always being exceeded. In such circumstances, people may
just spin their wheels and feel frustrated. If you can find
ways to eliminate the delays that require fewer or easier
changes, you will be more likely to succeed in this and
other important initiatives that the organization is
pursuing.
5. What could go wrong when you eliminate delays?
Productivity often falls when an organization puts in a
productivity improving change. A common reason for such a
perverse result is that not enough preparation has been
done so that everyone knows what he or she needs to do.
With time, appropriate learning usually develops and
results improve. But with careful thinking in advance about
the downside risk, you can often eliminate these painful,
temporary setbacks that sap enthusiasm for the new
direction.
6. What are the least demanding ways to avoid the delays?
As you know from applying the 2,000 percent solution
process, great progress occurs each time you repeat the
eight step process. If you pursue these changes in less
demanding ways, you will finish putting this 2,000 percent
solution into practice sooner so that you can begin
repeating the process faster as well.
7. What other benefits will you gain from making these
changes?
When you aim to make a 2,000 percent solution, you will
often create improvements in other activities and areas
that you were not considering. As you begin to focus on
creating a 2,000 percent solution, the perspectives you
gain from this question will help point you in the most
effective direction.
Copyright 2007 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved
—————————————————-
Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a
strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is
coauthor of six books including The 2,000 Percent Squared
Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The Portable 2,000
Percent Solution, and The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook.
You can read about his work on improving effectiveness and
find free excerpts from The 2,000 Percent Solution at:
http://www.2000percentsolution.com .
Comments on this entry are closed.