Almost everyone you talk to complains about how “some things are done here”. But, try to change something and suddenly you become a Grim Reaper.
So why is it so hard? What are the barriers that prevent us from improving the way we work?
1. It’s not my job
How wrong is this? No one is more capable of identifying opportunities to make the process better and faster than the current operator of that process, and no one is more likely to benefit from the improvement.
2. Fear of offending
Let’s not bother our prima donna, the best programmer, Stewart, by asking her to document the client’s requirements. Let’s not bother our functional expert, Indira, by asking her to justify her assumptions in a business case. Watch out for Dez. He is likely to go off on an angry defensive tirade if asked to change anything.
We’ve known for 40 years that the irony here is that the manager who is too afraid to challenge the status quo because of the ‘pinch’ will likely face the ‘crunch’ of having to fire people when his department doesn’t. to carry out. *Sherwood and Glidewell (1973, 1975)
3. Worried the change will cause delays
“I don’t have time for continuous improvement. I’m too busy to change the way I do things.”
Don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of time to think about it when the company downsizes its product line or moves it to another state or country because it’s no longer competitive here.
4. Not wanting to be delegated the task of fixing it
I’ve known a senior manager who responded to every improvement idea with, “Great idea. Form a task force and report back when you’re done.” People stopped suggesting changes because they always brought more work.
5. You can’t change anyway
For whatever reason, we feel powerless to make changes. These might include that we know it’s not working but don’t know how to improve it, we’re new here, we’ve tried to change it before, or the problem is in an earlier or later department. These are all just escapes because it will take some effort.
6. Blame game
Many of us fear being singled out and blamed for failure or poor performance if we call attention to process failures that affect our work. This is really a failure of management to differentiate the failure of the system or process from the failure of the individuals within that process. I hope you don’t work in a place like this.
7. Fear of movement that limits the race
Higher up the chain, expensive programs are often implemented at the whim of a powerful senior executive. No one wants the black mark to suggest that the matrix isn’t working, or that the new HR bonus system isn’t motivating, or that the new dog perfume won’t sell.
This type of resistance is probably the only one with credibility. You normally have very little power on stage. Fortunately, many companies offer an anonymous suggestion box. Unfortunately, few employees believe that it is truly anonymous and most will not use it.
8. Past success
Perhaps the most insidious of all is past success. The more successful a person has been in the past at doing something, the harder it is to convince them that they should be doing something else. Think for a moment about how this turned out for Kodak when digital photography overtook film and they failed to adapt.
9. Strategy is a secret
God help the manager who shares the plan with the implementers. Too many people are treated as part of the problem instead of the answer to whatever challenge the company is facing. Make staff feel like soldiers and they can move mountains. Make them feel like victims and that’s what they become.
10. Fear of losing your job
People fear that if we become 5% more efficient, we could lose 5% of the jobs. Well, that might be true, but the opposite thought rarely applies. If we don’t improve, we will lose our competitiveness and potentially lose 100% of our jobs. Another way to look at it is that we can do 5% more work than customers are willing to pay for, innovate more, respond to threats and opportunities, and therefore make our jobs more secure.
We have to improve at the same rate or faster than our competitors or we will lose our market share to these more agile adversaries. How do we overcome these barriers to even suggest improvements so that we can create a culture of continuous improvement?
*Sherwood J. and Glidewell J. (1973, 1975) Planned renegotiation and the Pinch model
