If you know anyone struggling to sell a business:
(maybe a baby boomer hoping to retire)
If you are the CEO of a company with at least 10 people:
(You probably cannot see your biggest problem)
Who is your business designed for?
Not the people using it.
This makes best results impossible to achieve.
You either crush intrinsic motivation, or leverage it.
The company learns from its mistakes. Or it repeats them.
It is user-friendly. Or system blind.
Every organization has an espoused theory (what it says it does) and a theory-in-use (what it actually does).
Have you ever formally checked whether the two match?
Here is what I recommend:
Is your view of reality valid?
Are you deluded into thinking everything is just right?
Most the choices you make are based on your experience, values and personality.
It is easier (and safer for others) to support the status quo, rather than adapt. The problem is,
This keeps you from learning anything other than a direct extension of what you already know. We call this Wooden-headedness:
The habit of relying on preconceived notions while completely ignoring or rejecting any contrary facts, signs or sides.
In his book Why Smart Executives Fail: And What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes, Sydney Finkelstein illustrates how:
“Error denial increases as you go up the pecking order. Ironically enough, the higher people are in the management hierarchy, the more they tend to substitute their perfectionism with blanket excuses. CEOs are usually the worst of all.”
Finkelstein and I want to help ensure your company’s view of reality is valid.
Ask yourself these 10 questions:
Strategic Misintent:
- Are you in danger of focusing on one principle or model to the neglect of all others? (Magic Answer)
- Is it possible that you are pursuing a strategy that is not attainable? (Holy Grail)
- Could you be using an inappropriate barometer for success? (Wrong Scoreboard)
Negative Transfer:
- Are you assuming what worked in the past is what you still need today? (Yesterday’s Answer)
- Has your company moved into area that requires a different approach than the one it used successfully elsewhere? (Different Game)
- Is it possible you have an inaccurate idea of your own competencies relative to the competition? (False Self-Image)
- Are you in danger of incorrectly attributing your past success, or the success of your competitors? (Film Producer Error)
One Tract Mindsets:
- Are your ideas of what your clients need, based on limited models or experience? (Small World)
- Are you trying to operate in a culture where you might not understand all the unspoken conventions? (Home Field Rules)
- Have you slipped into pursuing rapid expansion at the expense of real profitability? (Expansion Fever)
Lesson in Quality:
UXD (user experience design) POV:
1940s: WWII: Perfect performance by U.S. military is crucial! However,
Pilots were crashing new aircraft at alarming rates. People were suggesting technology had become too advanced for humans. The Air Force studied 4063 pilots. The shocking truth they discovered:
The cockpit, designed for the “average” pilot,
Fit Exactly NO ONE.
Not a single pilot.
Fast forward to today:
Most CEOs think a dashboard of easily manipulated aggregates and blended averages is helping them. But the truth is, it may be blinding them to the real problem (in Quality).
There is a good chance; your organization is NOT user friendly.
There is a better chance; you don’t even know who the real user is.
In other words:
1940s aircraft design was mechanistic. It gave consideration to every working part of the system – except the biological! To the engineers focusing on the jet, the cockpit was an afterthought: Aircraft was NOT user-friendly.
Much like 94% of companies here in the entrepreneurial capital of the world.
(Including aviation service still today – some people say)
Can you imagine flying at the speed of sound, maneuvering 9 Gs: Unable to adjust the helmet straps or seat (belt)?
User error was designer error!
Out of the 4063 pilots measured, don’t you think at least 406 of them tried saying something prior? Or 41? At least 4 for Pete’s sake? All to no avail. Why?
It is the system. Not the people.
Quality has to be designed into your process.
Where do we begin?
Do you know what sparked the American Quality Revolution of the 1980s?
The U.S. had to combat Japanese competition and improve our manufacturing precision. The person leading the charge, was also responsible for the Japanese Economic Miracle:
W. Edwards Deming
In his bookThe New Economics, For Industry, Government, Education; he shares a quote from Paul Batalden, M.D., 13 November 1990:
“The first step in any organization is to draw a flow diagram. To show how every component depends on others. Then, everyone may understand what his job is. If people do not see the process, they cannot improve it. Anyone needs to see the process as a catwalk, a flow diagram.”
Our Journey Begins:
With a 8.5 hour workshop, live or virtual, 1 – 6 sessions.
M4 method: map, measure, manage, mobilize
80% of our time, is process mapping.
For a quick Action/Result demo, play full screen:
Founders and Chief Executives:
Is this the right course of action for you?
Risk just 5 minutes to find out.
I have 10 quick questions only you can answer.
This live diagnostic is gratis.
It is also designed to see if deeper work would actually help.
M4 only works if…
Only you have the power to implement a foolproof plan.
Make the company user-friendly.
UX or bust!
Ridicule me. Oppose this. Or accept it as self-evident.
Employees are treated like garbage. This is the greatest problem/ irony/ opportunity in America:
We have poorly designed systems working against their own goals.
If your business is not user-friendly, guess what?
The chain of congruence is broken.
Odds are, you suffer a lot of headaches producing poor outcomes for end users — and don’t even know it.
In general, we stigmatize errors. So, we hide our mistakes. Instead of learning from them, we repeat them. This is a vicious cycle. A downward spiral jeopardizing your vision/ long-term goal.
Another form of system blindness plays out wherever we allow employees to train other employees. This unfolds exactly like the telephone game.
The irony: It is in this throughput where value is realized and converted into results.
Tragically, many companies cannot picture their throughput.
If this true for your company, your most expeditious path to progress may be M4:
A method for jumpstarting your new system in just one (1) day.
Can you see your system or do you suffer system blindness?
Start with the System Check.
You cannot improve what you cannot see.
SEE YOUR BUSINESS AS IT REALLY IS.
Better decisions begin with better visibility.
See clearly. Think systemically. Improve deliberately.
If you enjoy reading and want a bit more nuanced detail,