06/05/2020
It's been a while since I posted but that's because the melee of performance improvement rhetoric has again raised its ugly head and I do not want to be just another voice in the crowd.
Now, post-pandemic businesses are going to get inundated with tons of "performance improvement" strategies and tools ( such as 5 step this and that, and software promising to improve business performance,etc.). This is hyperbole if marketed as a panacea for performance improvement.
It is more important for your organization and you as a leader or organizational stakeholder (employees, etc.) to embrace a performance-driven mindset.
Performance-driven mindset - What's that?
Let's start with what it is not. No, it's not just faster, better, and more competitive operations, it is not just doing things cheaper. And I'm not going to even talk about quality here because many leaders define quality as the "nots" I just listed.
Having a performance-driven mindset means aligning your behaviors and practices with value creation through continuous learning and improving. Starting at the individual level and then scaling outward. Investing in the well being and performance of people.
Now that is tough! And why is that so?
Because this may seem like a significant cost especially under the circumstances. But the only cost is embedded in behavioral economics. There is no real cost if done innovatively. For example, diversity and inclusion at the problem-solving table and two-way communication that leaders actually act on are not that costly to implement. In the business world cost is not the focus, it is ROI.
And because organizations exist to produce value which is determined by people, they need people (both as customers and organizational stakeholders). People are not machines, they do not simply turn on and off. People are complex and in many instances, simple approaches to addressing the human complexity fail to deliver the desired outcomes.
Yet, as many institutions try to use automation as a human resource solution, machines cannot deliver soft skills, and most significantly machines do not align with the customer. Think about that for a moment. Alignment! Mission, vision, values, processes, policies, behaviors, and desired outcomes aligned with value creation. That's the secret sauce for success. But is the juice worth the squeeze?
Every organization needs to understand the soft skill performance criteria such as integrity, ethics, effective communication, emotional intelligence, etc. because customers are people. Every organization's success is determined by the complex alignment discussed above. However, many organizations fall well below their value-creating potential. In the end, this lack of alignment simply drives up operating costs.
Here's why. What many fail to realize is that alignment is a continuous function of all organizations. The ability to continuously adapt and respond to change must become standard. Successful organizations are those who tend to respond faster and more effectively. The problem is that most leaders believe the success in responsiveness is in resources. And they are correct in theory, but wrong in interpretation because the resources they tend to think about is money, not people.
And the first thing to go for many organizations is the resource they claim to be their most valuable, the people. That is not performance improvement. That's cost-cutting. So we have come full circle sort of. Do not get entangled in the web of performance improvement hyperbole. Before doing things the right way, know the right things that need to be done. Establish value, align your entire organization systematically to creating value, and continuously improve.
