Surface Ripples

Not Invented Here...

I’ve often caught myself “resenting” an idea generated by someone else. Why should that be, and who else has experienced similar feelings?

This is known as “Not-invented-here” syndrome where the dominant attitude is “My/our way of the highway”.  It’s very common in small businesses that have grown successfully and hired new staff from other organisations.  These people naturally have their own ideas and experiences of how things can be done well and are eager to share them to see if they will work in the new environment.

We all know what happens next: they propose the idea, and “the boss” slaps it down immediately.  Employee departs chastened and demotivated.  They may even find themselves demonised for “rocking the boat”.

In a worst-case scenario, the employee(s) leave(s) and set up their own businesses, either directly competing with their former boss (if their contract terms allow this), or in a different business sector.  The loss is still there, however: an energetic, motivated and bright employee leaves due to lack of appreciation.  The former employer is the only loser.  I’ve actually seen this happen.

However, even in large organisations, the same attitude is common.  Unlike smaller businesses, large ones find it much more difficult to change quickly.  There are procedures to map and change, staff to train, inspectors to brief, maybe new documentation to be printed and IT updates to implement…  

Result: customer complaints about cumbersome, out of date processes, perhaps a loss of business and reputation along with comments about being “slow to change”.  

Whenever someone comes to me with an idea, I need to force myself to look at it from several points of view:

• Why they thought of it.
• What problem(s) does it solve?
• Benefits to customers.
• How easy would it be to implement (processes, training, documentation, IT, costs, etc)?
• Why we didn’t think of it before.
• Benefits to business.

If there are good answers to two or more of these questions, maybe it’s time to think seriously about change!  If it ain’t invented here, it’ll be invented somewhere else…

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.

Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Selling, Teamwork

posted by William Martin @ 11:47