Complicated Doesn't Mean Good
An amusing anecdote occasionally appears about how the US spent millions trying to develop a pen that would write in space, whereas the Russians used a pencil.
As with many such stories, this one isn’t based on fact, but it does serve to remind us of the human tendency to think that, because something is complicated, it must be good. In the course of a conversation on the complexity of certain processes, my French colleague quipped, ‘S’il est compliqué, c’est forcément bon’ (it must be good if it’s complex). Katrina Marçal wrote in The Guardian newspaper on 24 June 2021, ‘As humans, we strive for the difficult, grandiose and complex,’ the inference being ‘without questioning whether it’s really necessary.’
Our processes often reflect this tendency. In a previous article, I quoted the example of getting rid of ‘dumb rules’. Maybe we also need to get rid of overly complicated procedures.
The problem with complexity is… complexity. Something complex is harder to put into practice as well as to remember and has more chance of going wrong. In an emergency, will people remember multiple steps in complicated procedures? This is why we’ve developed checklists for so many events. Modern aircraft emergency checklists are all computerised so that the on-board computer analyses the problem and displays the correct checklist for pilots to follow. On QF32 outbound from Singapore to Sydney, one of the plane’s engines suffered an ‘uncontained failure’. Engine components and casings flew into other parts of the aircraft (disabling multiple systems), but the pilots still managed to land back at Singapore.
In this instance, so much was going wrong so quickly that the on-board computer ‘couldn’t keep up’ and kept churning out one checklist after another as fresh problems announced themselves. In the end, the (highly experienced) Captain decided that they were still flying, they had a measure of control and could land. He reverted to what some call ’seat of the pants’ flying and simplified the situation.
The losses of Boeing 737-Max aircraft also show the dangers of complex systems. In this case, the flight control programme caused unforeseen errors resulting in at least two attributable losses.
Complexity has its place, but a firm belief in the ‘KISS’ (Keep It Simple, Stupid’) principle is sometimes our better friend.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience 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: Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
Dump the 'Dumb Rules'
I recently came across a wake-up call for all leaders from Michele Romanow, Serial Entrepreneur. It went like this:
So every couple of months at [company], we'd have this thing called "an assault on dumb rules".
It's simple: if you brought forward a dumb rule, you were rewarded.
As organisations scale, politics & processes get in the way of efficiency.
It's mind-blowing how many informal rules had been established that slowed things down.
We actually managed to take things from EIGHT steps to ONE.
If you as a leader are not thinking critically of your organisation's rules, your team will start protecting things that are built instead of what the customer and organization truly needs.
Look at that penultimate sentence where they reduced one process form eight steps to one…. How much time did that free up, I wonder? What were the impacts on customer service? On costs?
Technology, new legislation, improved processes, better education and training all offer the opportunity to take a long hard look at ‘the rules’ and to ask ourselves whether certain processes really still have a place. If they revolve around safety in the workplace, they get looked at more seriously. If, however, they simply add ‘paperwork’ or process steps which distract us from more productive activities, we need to review them.
Every time we introduce a new process or rule, we need to ask, ‘How will this impact customers, service, costs or safety at work? If the impact is likely to be less time to deal with customer needs, slower service, increased costs and at best only a marginal increase in safety (or a combination of all the above), then we need to think twice about whether the benefits outweigh the impacts.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience 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, Financial, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
Consequences in Performance Management
When there’s no consequence for a poor work ethic, and no reward for a good work ethic, there is no motivation.
As leaders, our job is to motivate our teams and the individuals that comprise them. One of the more difficult aspects of this is what I call ‘management by consequences’. Essentially, this means that people are rewarded (or not) for the ‘right’ activity with some kind of ‘consequence’. Traditionally, these have been a simple mixture of ‘carrot and stick’. In other words, if you did well, you received a pay rise. If you did badly, you didn’t get a rise, or worse, you were sacked.
Then came studies that looked at what motivated different people. These concluded that different people are motivated by different things; for example, not everyone is motivated by money (if they were, we’d have no teachers, armed forces, police, nurses, or firemen).
Organisations started campaigns of ‘calling out’ good behaviour in front of others (of course, this also had the effect of demotivating those who never got mentioned or were ‘passed over’ for someone else), giving days off, vouchers for shopping, or other treats. All this veered towards the concept of ‘positive reinforcement’ (i.e. the ‘carrot’ more than the stick to reward ‘desired behaviour’).
It didn’t really address the issue of consequences for poor behaviour though. In this instance, there’s still more of a ‘stick’ approach. In the end, if an individual is a destructive force in the workplace and all else has failed (by which I mean remedial action plans, counselling, and warnings both verbal and written), then for the sake of continuing good morale, productivity of the team and customer service at large, that individual has to go.
I’ve been unfortunate enough to experience both and can say in all honesty that there’s nothing worse than being fully aware that we’re letting down our team (at times, through no fault of our own that we can see) or being part of a team of which one member acts like the proverbial millstone around everyone’s neck. In the end, there’s a sense of palpable relief on all sides when matters are ended, and the individual concerned parts ways with the team.
In short, effective motivation is one of the trickiest skills to learn and the goalposts are constantly shifting. Whatever happens, there must be consequences for the ‘wrong’ behaviour, or we stand to be the losers in an increasingly competitive world.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience 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, Teamwork
It’s OK to Quit
Corporate ‘culture’ doesn’t like failure. Quitting is seen as failure. I recently came across a selection of ‘failure words/phrases’ that weren’t recommended for use in CVs. These included (among others) ‘divorced’ and ‘self-employed’.
Why do we consider quitting as a sign of failure? If one quits too often, then there may be something wrong. It takes considerable courage, however, to admit that it’s time to withdraw from an unprofitable undertaking, especially if we’ve invested high levels of money, time and effort in it. To quit after this is seen as a ‘waste’ and a ‘mistaken use of resources’ – all the language that so-called ‘successful cultures’ employ. Studies have shown that the more effort we invest in something, the more reluctant we are to withdraw from it.
We should avoid going into something simply ‘on a whim’ – particularly if it involves large amounts of investment (time, effort, emotion). That just means we’re irresponsible. If, however, something that originally seemed to make sense turns out not to be working out, we should ask whether it’s worth the effort to continue. Businesses withdraw from markets all the time for any number of good reasons. I know one accountancy firm that always asked clients who were considering going into a particular country to do business what their ‘exit strategy’ was. To some, this was a rude shock - why consider quitting? It made sense to me (I knew the country in question), and the firm were making sure their clients understood that this was a market that required considerable care.
Before getting into or committing to anything, we need to do our research not only into the pros and cons, but also into what we see as the longer-term benefits to us and how this will help to achieve our goals. We also need ‘tell-tales’ that will tell us if we’re off course or that we’re not getting what we thought we would. It’s like a car fuel gauge. When the needle shows ‘full’, we don’t need to worry (so much) at the start of a long journey. If it shows a quarter full and we’re about to set off on a long road trip, we either fill up before the start or not long after. If the warning light comes on, we know we need to make a decision – fast.
By setting up an ‘early warning system’, we give ourselves the option of what we do next, including the option of quitting. We don’t go into something knowing we’re going to quit (that’s a waste of everyone’s time) but we make sure that the chances of quitting only occur in exceptional circumstances of some description. The word around us is changing faster almost daily, with events on one side of the world impacting the other side in very short order. We can’t predict everything, but we can react, change course, and minimise the number of times we ‘retire with honour’.
We need to make sure, though, that we learn from what went wrong, what mistakes we made and what we do to avoid them the next time.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience 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: Leadership, Strategy, Teamwork
