How improvement can make things worse!

In many companies where I am involved as an advisor or consultant, managing improvement is an inherent part of running the business. A common mistake executives make while trying to manage improvement is that they localize their improvement focus and don’t connect their improvement efforts to the organization as a whole. The net effect of such an approach is that it lowers the performance of the organization as a whole. Ironically, making improvements, makes things worse!

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Can we have some safety please?

I was engaged by an industrial company to provide leadership courses for their junior and senior managers. About a month before one of the leadership courses, I was asked to meet with the HR director at the company’s head quarters and was told that the company had experienced quite a few industrial accidents that involved fatalities. The trend was disturbing and despite repeated ‘requests’ from top management, an onslaught of powerpoint presentations by safety officers and the leadership, not to mention intranet publications about the need for safe behaviors, the safety record was barely improving. I was told that something was wrong with the safety culture and it was imperative that I spent a morning on this subject in the course. “Please design a session so that our employees understand the importance of safety.” What to do?

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“Improvement must be focused on what you want, not on what you don’t want.” Russell Ackoff

Many executives who are engaged in leading improvement initiatives like lean six sigma or operational excellence, are focused on eliminating defects and waste. They mistakenly believe that removing defects and waste lead to improving the performance of their company. But removing defects and waste, does not automatically mean you get what you want!

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