More Thoughts on Systems

System – A way of doing things.

Is your organization people driven or system driven?

Orchestration is the elimination of discretion, or choice, at the operating level of your organization.

Discretion is the enemy of order, standardization, and quality. If something works you do it every single time.

You can’t ask too many questions of the numbers.

The next time you want someone to do something for you, walk over and touch them softly on the back of the arm. People respond better to touch.

Documentation provides your people with the structure they need and a written account of how to “get the job done” in the most efficient and effective way. It communicates to new employees, as well as old, that there is a logic to the world in which they have chosen to work, that there is a technology by which results are produced.

An organizations operations manual is best described as their How-to-Do-It-Guide. It specifies the steps needed to be taken while doing that work, and summarizes the standards associated with both the process and results.

An organization that looks orderly says to your customers that your people know what they are doing. An organization that looks orderly says to your people that know what you are doing. An organization that looks orderly says that while the world may not work, some things can. An organization that looks orderly says to your customers that they can trust in the results delivered and assures your people that they can trust in their future with you.

You will be forced to find a system that leverages your “ordinary” people to the point where they can produce extraordinary results over and over again. You will be forced to invent innovative system solutions to the people problems that have plagued organizations since the beginning of time.

In an organization that relies on employee discretion “How do I motivate my people” becomes the constant question.