That’s a serious question – are YOU ready to face a honest look from the outside?
Yes, YOU, dear Reader, Owner, President, Director, Boss.
Or you live in a magical world and believe the way things are – everything is great, life is beautiful and you have “it” under control?
The more companies I visit with a maturity / performance review, an organizational audit or an ADMA pre-automation audit, the more it is crystal clear that in every company there are plenty of areas for improvement and growth, yet the main limitation and hinderance in starting to improve is its management.
Almost always during such a review / audit a proverbial skeleton falls out of the closet to show some beautiful examples.
These “skeletons in the closet” may vary – they can be in quality, logistics, efficiency, equipment, people, planning,… but most often they make life very difficult and cause serious hiccups either within the company or at its customers. Sometimes both.
When asked “Why aren’t you doing something about it?” management gives one of several answers:
- “This [the skeleton, editor’s note] is nothing serious – we can handle it”
- “You just happened to see it – it’s not usually like that…”
- “We have our ways to deal with this, and even an emergency procedure – it’s OK”
- “What do you think we could do about it? That’s the nature of this industry…”
- “We tried once, but it didn’t work out and it just stayed that way…”
- – But seriously, does it happen often❓ Doesn’t it bother you❓
- – It’s a nuisance, but… [here follows the litany on impossibility, other priorities, lack of desire]
In such a review / audit we look at a number of areas of the company’s strategic and operational functioning and assess its maturity. The example below shows how several recent companies have performed in this review.
Suffice it to say that it could easily be better.
And it was a shortened version of the audit, as they only wished to look at some of the areas.
The best part is that solutions to diagnosed problems not only exist, but are often quite simple if you know how to approach and implement them and how to ensure their durability. But “for reasons” the company has learned to ignore them and instead of flourishing – it limps…
Based on such a review / audit, we create a report including a diagnosis, priorities and recommendations for specific actions, solutions, and even a development path the company can work on either on its own or with our support, if needed.
Some are very surprised by how much we can see in such a short review.
But that’s years of experience.
And you, Dear Reader – do you also keep ignoring skeletons and potential for growth?
And have you taught your people to do so?
Or maybe you’d like to see what your reality looks like through the eyes of an Operational Excellence expert?
I’ll give you a hint – it’s worth it.
It is worth looking at your organization through the eyes of people who for years have been helping companies to diagnose actual problems, prioritize, create development plans and implement lasting, effective solutions.
We’ve already helped many companies get over saving the world every day.
We can help YOU, too.
If you’d like to have a chat about it just drop me a note or call me – I’ll be happy to help 😀