Business Inertia and Technology

Overcoming the Lack of Momentum

 

Drive Me Crazy

We see it in our everyday lives each and every single day. How many of you drive a different way to work occasionally just to experience something new or order that caramel macchiato frappuccino instead of your usual regular drip with room at your favorite coffee establishment? Never?

Yet when it comes to business and change those of us who promote new technology to prospective customers just become frustrated over the obvious need to do something different and improve – if nothing else simply because it is the right thing to do.

People are Businesses – Businesses are People

It seems that in the corporate world more decisions should be driven by economics rather than intuition and gut instinct. If this were the case then they would operate at an efficiency level that would be accelerating at an alarming rate.

The reality is that this is not reality so we collectively plod along in our safe and familiar worlds rarely venturing into anything that remotely resembles the unknown. This is never truer than in the adoption of new technologies.

Continuous Improvement without Change?

 

LEAN, Six Sigma and Kaizen (kai “change” zen “good”) are all part of our corporate cultures. Imbedded and ingrained in our companies’ DNA is this drive to always look for better ways to do our jobs. Or is it?

It appears that this Yen and Yang, push and pull exercise that we encounter in business with these improvement programs is what, ultimately, gives us heartburn and results in inertia. It somewhat reminds me of the old Chinese finger trap. Insert your two index fingers into the tube and now try pulling them apart. Result? Inertia.

The Shameless Plug for Consultants

Outsiders see what is not so blatantly evident to those people who have held the same or a similar job for several decades. If you can remember when you were first hired you probably thought to yourself (you wouldn’t want to rock the boat on your first days) “why do they do it like that?” Over time you become accustomed to the way things work and become part of the problem.

I have heard it all before; “Consultants are people who look at YOUR watch and tell you what time it is.” “Consultants are people to tell you where you need to go but can’t really describe how you should go about getting there.”

Here is the thing. Many of them will tell you the truth. The good ones are trying to work themselves out of a job rather than work their way into the next one. Bringing someone in to tell you what is broken can be a path towards continuous improvement. Hey, I tried one of those sweet dessert drinks once. It was terrible. But at least I tried it.