Skip to main content

Size matters


Could it be that "best intentions" would not be enough to chip through the hardened exterior of this organizations habits, thought Frustrated Frank.  As the digital transformation honeymoon period slipped into the rear-view mirror, the burden of change seemed to settle into place. 



Frank, it is no longer about the tools, instead it is each person's rationalization of why these tools will make them stronger; habits are challenging, continued Andy.  On one hand, if it works why fix it, and the other hand growth requires continuous innovation.  The organizational structure has an impact, flat organizations require compelling reasons to change.  For instance, significant pain points within the business resulting in lost revenue, market or corporate dictated edicts.  Without these, change lacks a sense of urgency and is at the discretion of the local management, the larger the operation, the greater the number of management layers, the higher probability of lackluster adoption.



Often, larger branches; flush with sales and work are focused acutely on execution and elect to defer change.  Whereas the smaller branches are always seeking an edge, they do not have the momentum of the larger branch.  Thus, adoption and use of new tools are welcomed as clear differentiators, as opposed to perceived distractors.  The approach may also be different; those with high work volume may not want to see and assess options, instead simply receive training; small branches may want a stronger “consultative” approach, plant the seed and help it grow.  These behaviors may also be observed from department to department within a branch.  In 2018, the people component is the largest contributor or detractor influencing successful adoption.  Thanks, said Frank, your perspectives have provided me with fresh ideas.



Innovation flourishes in communities were individuals are encouraged to challenge the norm and direction.  At what point is it appropriate to say, we have chosen a path and will stick with it, where is the balance between empowerment and leadership?  Managing polarization and moving beyond the rhetorical simplicity of prioritizing one value over all others or a false-choice narrative that freezes action-oriented debate into prolonged indecision.  You are either on the gas or the brakes, winning has no room for those simply coasting.  How are you driving sustainable adoption?



-----

Next post:  assess me?

Thoughts?  feel free to leave replies or direct message

See all of the "last mile worker" posts here:  http://lastmileworkersolutions.com

-----
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Speaking AI (artifical intelligence)

You're talking but I can't hear you.   Everyone can certainly understand this condition; the "Peanuts" parents who sounded exactly like your own, your significant other while you watch your favorite game on TV, or most importantly a work colleague or partner which you are attempting to communicate a thought or vision.   All of these, and many other examples, have plagued our organizations long past the childhood game of telephone (passing your words to another, and on to another, etc.).   So what?   What has changed?   Besides the velocity of products hitting the market, the requirements that we have for our business now needs to be interpreted by data scientists, yet another abstraction layer from the field conditions.   Think about this example; TODAY :   we often think in binary terms, if "x" happens do "y" …   take a sales person seeking potential leads by searching a system for the last time we made contact TOMMOR...
Post a Comment
Read more

Are "mistakes" good or bad?

One of the attributes that make a great technician is the fact that they have made a lot of mistakes. Our biggest challenge is recalling those mistakes ourselves and as importantly sharing them with others on our team. Every single day we go out and fix things, many of them are routine and may not require any form of documentation or sharing; however, there are those instances where we have discovered gold. The trick is to make sure that we can learn from our mistakes in a systematic manner and have the ability to spread the information throughout our organization in a useful and relevant way. Corrective action, an integral part of a quality system, is the absolute best vehicle to put in place for your organization. Some of you may have been turned off by the words "quality system", don't worry you can still deploy a corrective culture without having to understand completely how corrective action and quality management systems work. The process is very straightf...
Post a Comment
Read more

months to aquire, moments to lose

It is just hard to imagine that one of the most common reasons maintenance contracts are lost is because people don't show up and don't pay attention to the details.   In many cases maintenance is an investment to keep the life of your asset running for a protracted period of time. However the length on many maintenance contracts is not even close to the life expectancy of that equipment, so if you don't really have any idea what maintenance is being performed then how do you really know if it's being done to your specification? Thus, it really boils down to business elements, assuming that you are actually performing the work, our focus needs to be on how you are differentiated. Let's take a look at a couple of the most common business-related reasons why people lose maintenance contracts. Not showing up ; managing contracts can be complicated between the sites, number of assets, and the frequencies at which items need to be maintained, can a...
Post a Comment
Read more