Problem maker or process improver

You can keep creating and fixing messy problems … or … focus on making better progress through improving processes. 

It’s costly when there’s no process, a process wasn’t followed or human error could have been easily picked up. 

The pursuit of improvement is a wise investment. 

But… *gulp* it can take a shift in your attitude and culture to be willing to learn and to receive feedback. 

No customer or client wants their experience to be flawed, delayed or full of problems. 

But if your business is a problem maker then you might be waiting for customers to alert you to problems. 

Not good PR. 

Better to be a process improver - making systems and processes work better. Then there’s less chance of things going wrong anyway. 😊

Try ‘Kaizen’, meaning ‘improvement’ in Japanese. It’s a truly brilliant philosophy and way of working for better progress … and customer experience. 

Read more in this Fast Company article by Molly Shea Shine. 

“Put simply, it’s the practice of thinking about what you’re doing, looking for ways to improve it, making those changes, then continuing to act upon them.”

Improvement. It’s is a much more worthy pursuit than having to make apologies for messing up. 

Bad systems beat good people

'A bad system will beat a good person every time' - so said W. Edwards Deming. 

You've got some great people in your team, on your project, in that meeting, attending the workshop. You really have. Great people.  

The thing is... the system - whatever system is at play in the project, meeting, workshop -often isn't working to support those great people. It may well be stifling them, stopping them, slowing them down or just slowly breaking their spirit, enthusiasm and sense that they can achieve something. 

Let those great people give the great ideas, suggestions, hunches, hopes and insights they have. Create a system that leverages the people and doesn't limit them. 

When you plan your next meeting, workshop, session, project, what systems will support the people to bring their greatness? That's the stuff to fix. Don't blame the people. Remedy the system or structure that's inhibiting them, hindering them or keeping them from doing their best.