When new systems and processes can't trump discipline

Most of my working life revolves around developing new processes and embedding systems for my clients.

Sometimes, however, I find that these requests for new ways of working are masking a deeper issue - a lack of discipline amongst the senior management team and staff.

Have you experienced this in your place of work?

The logical extreme of this conversation is to automate your processes and take the human component out of the equation. But, if you want people in your business (as they are usually the source of good ideas and innovation, as well as problems...), how do you develop the right kinds of habits and discipline into your daily operations?

There are lots of good ways to consider, including:

Developing an effective business routine.
Linking performance to appropriate KPIs.
Driving behaviour through short team meetings, with fixed agendas.
Describing 'what good looks like' and sharing this vision with your team.
Leading by example and rewarding disciplined behaviour.
Setting up your processes so that it is easier to do it right than it is wrong.

The above isn't a definitive list, but a good starter for ten. If you are struggling with discipline within your business then you could use the above as a checklist and see what opportunities you have to improve.

Great processes and discipline go hand in hand. The warning from this post is that if you don't address discipline issues in your business (defined loosely as doing the right things at the right time in the right way) then no matter how much you embrace continuous improvement you just won't get the results that you want.

Something to mull over?

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.

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