I was invited to participate in a meeting yesterday of members of a division of a major employer. My overall impression was that it was nothing more than some staffers airing gripes, not only about the present administration but about the general history of the employer.
As I listened, I thought about why President Biden’s approval ratings are in the toilet — he’s trying to do everything, with the result that he’s doing nothing well.
Back in the 1950s, the Japanese government decided to adopt a 10-year plan, that focused on just one thing to change the economy over the next decade. I recollect that their first target was to modernize their steel industry. At the end of those 10 years, Japan had the most modern steel industry in the world and was the No. 1 steel-producing nation in the world. They then turned to autos in the 1960s, with the same result. Honda, Toyota, and Nissan all became world-class, world-respected companies. Then they turned to electronics, and you know (and use) the result of that effort — Sony, Hitachi, Panasonic, Canon.
A company facing trouble is tempted to try to fix everything at once, usually with the result that nothing gets solved. Perhaps the better approach is for each unit to ask its management to identify just one change management would like the unit to make in the next year to produce a stronger, more effective organization. It needs to be specific, and it needs to be measurable. And perhaps that unit should give the next level up in management the one thing — again, just one — that it would like him (or her) to focus on in the next year to help the unit make the company the best.
There is so much that needs to be done to improve how many organizations operate to benefit all stakeholders. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I have a suspicion that trying to do everything will result in a unit not achieving any of its goals.
Ask yourself this question: If you were to deliver a speech on the state of your unit today — regardless of whether it’s a department, division, or company — what would you say is the biggest change that was made for the better in the last year? What is your biggest disappointment? If this process is repeated annually throughout an organization, it is almost certain the organization will be stronger, more efficient, more effective, and more profitable.
As the preacher says, “not a sermon, just a thought.”
