Too many organizations attempt to carry out a new strategy with an old structure.
It’s the end of the year and time to start all over again. But, Inc. magazine’s article Consumer Confidence Rises in December, gives us much to anticipate in 2005.
So from all of us to all of you, have a safe, healthy and prosperous New Year!
Helpful and IRS are not usually used in the same sentence, but the often maligned government agency has a web resources site Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource, with helpful links and information for starting, operating and yes, closing a small business. Of course you can find all the tax implications, forms and regulations, but also information about tax scams and identity theft, and links to all kinds of small business/self-employed resources. At this website, the IRS is being helpful.
And in a related story…Seventy-five percent of all employees are looking for new employment opportunities, according to the 2004 U.S. Job Recovery and Retention Survey released by the Society for Human Resource Management and CareerJournal.com. Thirty-eight percent of the human resource professionals surveyed said they have noticed an increase in turnover since the beginning of 2004. The top three reasons employees say they are looking to leave their current positions, according to the survey, are:
“As the economy improves, interest in jumping ship rises dramatically among employees who are ready to earn more money and find enhanced opportunities for advancement.”
According to Executive Leadership, a newsletter from the National Institute of Business Management, the five biggest complaints employees have about their bosses are:
1. Threats
They don’t like to work in an environment of fear. They say they’d rather be told that they are making mistakes and given the chance to correct them than live with the idea that they could be fired “out of the blue.”
2. Inconsistency
They are happy to follow your vision. Just tell them what it is, and don’t change it every time the wind blows in a different direction.
3. Wasting their time
Making them wait for meetings. Preaching to them when they already know the gospel. Asking them to do jobs that aren’t necessary. Employees don’t like it when you waste their time.
4. Micromanaging them
Tell them what they need to accomplish. Give them the tools they need to get the job done right. Set standards and review them. But don’t require them to check in with you every step of the way.
5. Hypocrisy
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Don’t expect them to do anything you are not doing yourself.
An organization, be it a business, a school, a non-profit agency, is a collection of processes. These processes are the natural activities you perform that produce value, serve customers and generate income. Managing these processes is the key to the success of your organization.
Unfortunately, most organizations are not set up to manage processes. Instead they manage tasks. Think about it. Isn’t your company organized around functions. . .the accounting department, the engineering department, the sales department, the customer service department?
As a result, people tend to focus on departmental concerns instead of the company-wide needs of customers. Sub-processes evolve within departments without consideration of other functional areas. Layers of communication and management are created to ensure desired outcomes, thereby adding to costs and lengthening cycle and customer response times.
Inefficiency and waste become part of the system. They rob your organization of profits, productivity and its competitive advantage. But, there is a way out.
Process mapping is a simple yet powerful method of looking beyond functional activities and rediscovering your core processes. Process maps enable you to peel away the complexity of your organizational structure (and internal politics) and focus on the processes that are truly the heart of your business. Armed with a thorough understanding of the inputs, outputs and interrelationships of each process, you and your organization can:
Properly used, process maps can change your entire approach to process improvement and business management. . .and greatly reduce the cost of your operations by eliminating as much as 50% of the steps in most processes as well as the root causes of systemic quality problems.
As you put your plans and goals for 2005 together, re-invent your business.
In my latest issue of The Value Manager I did a short book review of Google Hacks, a great book to help you reap the power of Google. Now I find a site that has many of the tips and tricks already pre-scripted, just fill in the blanks. Soople is a site that softens all the fantastic, advanced functions Google offers. The site is meant for all those who are not yet familiar with all the functions and required syntaxes. Oh, by the way, Soople is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.
Brainstorming is a tool we all use for problem solving. It doesn’t require you to be logical with the ideas you come up with, and a little craziness may even help.
When you come up with ideas or solutions that defy logic, reason or break the rules, you give yourself the freedom to be creative. And you will be surprised with what you come up with.
But, when your ideas start to get mundane or you’re stuck and can’t storm anymore — start arguing — with yourself or with other members of your group. Arguing with your associates isn’t the kind where you pick a fight with him or her. In this context, it’s bouncing off ideas with someone else until you’ve exhausted all possibilities, no matter how silly or illogical they seem to be. Or if you’ve just come up with an idea and you hear that little devil inside saying, “That’s not gonna work,” or “That’s no good,” start to argue with it. Tell that contrarian you’re right. Then come up with reasons why you believe you are right, and even better, write them down on a whiteboard or a piece of paper.
The next step is to switch sides — take your peer’s or inner devil’s point of view and start arguing for that view. And keep writing them down. Remember that the purpose of brainstorming is not to come up with only one solution, but to come up with all possible solutions to your problem. And when you’re done, you can choose which you want to pursue.
This whole idea comes from the Wright Brothers, yes, Wilbur and Orville. When they had problems of flight, they argued. After cooling down, they would switch sides and take the other’s point of view and argue again. The result? They were able to come up with ideas and solutions from all angles, and then they both bought into the ideas, passionately and objectively.
So next time you brainstorm, don’t forget to argue.
P.S. And if you’re going to argue with yourself, may I suggest IdeaFisher.
I’ve managed projects in various industries, but most have been in either building construction or information technology. While not every construction project has been on time and on budget, the percentage that do come in closer to being on time and budget are more frequent in construction than in IT. Both, if not all, industries have to deal with unreasonable expectations, difficult customers, and personnel problems. But with these issues, the opportunity for project success in construction is greater than in IT. Why is this?
Well first of all, project management has been going on for many more years in construction than IT. There are many stories of massive IT projects going sour, mostly relative to their estimates. While much of the costs in a construction project are materials, ie., steel and concrete, IT software development cost is mostly people’s time.
And why is a construction estimate better? A construction project is designed prior to estimating the costs, much less actually building it. Sure there are changes in design, but estimating in construction, both materials and labor, are easier with design documents rather than “I want it to do this.” Not only do IT projects start before design, some even start before all functions and goals are known!
One of the bigger differences between the two is that a construction project is designed by engineers and architects who are contractually separate from the tradesmen and contractors that will do the actual building. The designers (architects & engineers) are obligated to be the owner’s agents and oversee that changes are not made to the original design, and if changes are required that they be well documented and completely analyzed and costed prior to implementing. Yes you have design-build firms now that combine the designers with the contractors, but I’ve seen some precarious litigation there.
This separation of power, so to speak, is a plus for any project, and I believe gives construction the advantage. Now sure, not all construction projects are successful and not all IT projects are failures. I’m generalizing. But I think technology PMs can learn more from construction managers than the other way around.