An interesting challenge was put on the table, a need to provide a specific piece of information each week to the Managing Director of a business.
The person responsible for the piece of information said that they could provide it.
After the meeting I asked the person how they would provide the information, I was unaware of what tools they had to provide the information and I was genuinely curious.
They told me what they intended to do, which they admitted was both time consuming and inaccurate.
I asked them some questions to see if there was a better way (which there was) and was told that they would do it a better way if they could, but that they didn't have the skills to make it happen.
That's an interesting approach isn't it?
And, it is also at the heart of what continuous improvement should be all about, finding ways in which to improve regardless of where or how it appears in our business.
To end the story, I made some low key suggestions as to how they might look at their lack of skills differently and they are now experimenting with options to create a simple and effective tool to support the Managing Director's request, and learning as they go.
Experimenting, playing, learning, improving... that's the way most of us embrace continuous improvement.
So, let's not worry about what skills we do and don't have, and let us focus on our ability to think, play, plan and progress.
Giles Johnston
Author of Business Process Re-Engineering
P.S. If you want some specific continuous improvement tools, check out my book on Amazon:
The person responsible for the piece of information said that they could provide it.
After the meeting I asked the person how they would provide the information, I was unaware of what tools they had to provide the information and I was genuinely curious.
They told me what they intended to do, which they admitted was both time consuming and inaccurate.
I asked them some questions to see if there was a better way (which there was) and was told that they would do it a better way if they could, but that they didn't have the skills to make it happen.
That's an interesting approach isn't it?
And, it is also at the heart of what continuous improvement should be all about, finding ways in which to improve regardless of where or how it appears in our business.
To end the story, I made some low key suggestions as to how they might look at their lack of skills differently and they are now experimenting with options to create a simple and effective tool to support the Managing Director's request, and learning as they go.
Experimenting, playing, learning, improving... that's the way most of us embrace continuous improvement.
So, let's not worry about what skills we do and don't have, and let us focus on our ability to think, play, plan and progress.
Giles Johnston
Author of Business Process Re-Engineering
P.S. If you want some specific continuous improvement tools, check out my book on Amazon:
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