What are the Best Business Conditions for an Improvement Program?
Creating an improvement culture is one that many have done or attempted — usually at the need or dire need of business conditions. I once was contacted by a company who mass-produces the credit card strip — this was a dying product as the chip and virtual pay options were taking over — and worst of all, they had no plans for a future product. This the exact wrong way to go about the process.
Realize that an improvement culture is an investment philosophy — exactly like preventive healthcare or preventive maintenance or software architecture — if you wait until you are sick, or the machine is broken, or the user’s critical need for functionality to do something, you have waited too long. Yes, it is possible to turn-around an organization, back into a healthy business state and many have done so. But what most people do not realize is often, business conditions are so broken, leaders have reduced their options to ones such as layoff (wordsmithed as Business Restructuring), forced early retirement, or facility closing — mandating massive decreases in people, machinery / equipment, process, or resources due to critical need — unpleasantly forcing change. This model only proves a leader’s inability to lead change in their organization. And their people know it.
The best leaders start immediately — when an organization is growing. Yes, there is the early business startup conditions of 2-5-people in a garage, somehow producing a functional business model, where the question of business life or death hangs by the minute. However, the moment you need to hire a duplicate person / role, or purchasing a second piece of equipment, or opening a second location — the team and conditions are big enough that communication, personnel development, and process standardization become important for business success. The wise leader recognizes the importance of high quality organizational growth — this is the time to begin.
Growth Organization
In this scenario, the team can be leveraged in a healthy, inspirational change approach — where the reduction of people, equipment, or material is felt by reduced hiring, purchasing, or storage. It is a double win as a positive to the team and the organization — creating less work in the process. A sharp leader recognizes the critical need of efficient and effective growth for long-term success and organizational stability. It is the person who eats healthy foods, exercises, heals their body, and lives a healthy, positive lifestyle — age mystifying others around them as they appear younger through time. Or the machine, carefully maintained, upgraded, reconditioned, and parts replaced — yielding years of near cost-free service and still producing high quality results. Or the software developer who coded for the immediate need, using a structure with the flexibility to adapt to evolving user needs — making an easy transition into new functionality.
If you are on the organizational growth curve, give us a call. Now is the time to become built to last.
Chris
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