Every company I talk to agrees that they do not have every manager and employee focused on business improvement in their business.
In a company of 100 people, how many do you think are actively engaged in identifying and solving problems? How many are coming up with more general ideas to improve the business? I will guarantee that it is a small number. At worst, not even the main board of executive managers will see it as a fundamental part of their role!
Businesses today have to realise that 100 brains are better than 10. If you foster a culture where everyone is engaged in business improvement, it can be the magic ingredient in ensuring that your organisation survives and thrives.
I have been a consultant, coach and trainer in business improvement for nearly 30 years. When I first speak to senior managers, they will claim they encourage everyone to improve the business. Following up with a request for specific examples is when things begin to unravel. Their answers get much more woolly and generic. In reality, most senior managers will find it almost impossible to identify how many of their people are actively engaged in improving the business.
Business improvement should be part of every job role in an organisation. It does not matter if you work on a shop floor or in a board room; your job is to improve the business for whom you work. You can suggest ways to do things quicker or easier, or pitch new ideas for products and services.
Employees live with the business every day and are therefore in the best position to know how to improve it. The more senior you become in an organisation, the more crucial your role in business improvement becomes. Ultimately, business improvement should be all the person at the top does.
At 100% Effective, we believe that if a manager cannot specify several ways that they have personally improved the organisation for whom they work, they do not deserve to keep their job.
We need to make business improvement a requirement for everyone. We need to help realise that an organisation will never thrive and is unlikely to survive without employee participation in improving the business.
During the past 30 years, I have talked to thousands of people from organisations of all shapes and sizes. Almost all have had ideas about how to improve the business for which they were working. Hardly anyone has been implementing solutions. Why not? Why are they not storming their manager’s office to demand that they listen to their ideas?
There is only one answer: a company must foster a culture where all its are employees encouraged to identify and solve problems and propose ideas to develop the business.
Start YOUR revolution today!
