Driving productivity by splitting up the problems in your business

I bet that you can think of three changes you want to make in your business, that would drive up your levels of productivity, as you read this.

How easy are these changes to make?

Are they new ideas, or are they items you are struggling with?

If they are new ideas that’s great.

If, on the other hand, they are ideas that have been floating around your business for a while I want to share an observation with you that might help you get your project(s) unstuck.

When I get to listen in to managers talking in a business about the problems that are stopping them from making a meaningful change happen I often find that they clump their problems together (often unconsciously). This makes it a big problem. I’m sure that you know what I am talking about.
However, when you study the problem it is often possible to tease out the individual problems. Once you identify these focused, smaller, problems it becomes easier to address the issues one by one.

So, today’s challenge for you is this:

Find one of your change projects that is stuck due to a known problem.
Study the problem and attempt to pull it apart to reveal the smaller issues that are tangled together.
Decide how you want to tackle the individual problems and start to make progress on those items.
Monitor your change project and see if it starts to get some momentum.

I accept that this approach will not work in every circumstance, but you might be surprised at just how many problems in your business are a collection of smaller problems just wrapped up together to give you that effect.

Here’s to gathering momentum with your changes,

Giles

About the author Giles Johnston is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in helping businesses to grow and improve through better business processes. Giles is also the author of Business Process Re-Engineering and creator of the 'Making It Happen' continuous improvement toolkit.

Discover practical improvement strategies to drive up productivity for both you and your business. Access the free tools section today by clicking here.

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