Dr. W. Edwards Deming used to say: “The only thing that does not require maintenance is obsolescence”. This is a fundamental truth: if we do not evolve, we regress. What makes everything more complicated is the pace at which we must evolve to survive. Technology speeds everything up, including the world of technology. We’ve been looking at […]
Digitalization Needs Cooperation: Start Transforming the Enterprise for the Digital Future
Digitalization will inevitably lead organizations to shift their way of working in radical ways. For example, according to Gartner senior VP Dale Kutnick in a recent article, digitalization will require: business development; the IT department and the product management or engineering team – to work together at an unprecedented level of cooperation”. How can that […]
How CIOs Can Break Free of the Silo Prison with Systemic Management
What if there were a way to break free of the silo prison? What if we could build an organization where the best qualified could fully contribute and unleash their potential, where there was engagement, transparency, efficient communication and sharing of information? Well, there is. And CIOs are perfectly poised to change the music and spearhead the transformation. […]
How to Grow the Whole Organization: Processes, Projects and the CIO are Key
“With digital strategies increasingly taking center stage in many businesses, more CIOs are reporting to the CEO.” So begins an article in this week’s CIO.com newsletter. Let’s say it again: the role of IT and the role of the CIO are central to creating a shift in how organizations operate, compete and thrive in this […]
Time is Money – Quit Busy and Get Productive Now
Being busy is considered by many to be a virtue. People may be giving their businesses 200% of effort. But in reality, being busy as you work through a shopping list of “to do” tasks can be the opposite of virtuous. How? Because it can lead to wasting time on the wrong things, unproductive multi-tasking […]
Silos vs Systems: Solving the CIO Conflict
Current organizations underperform due to silo thinking and CIOs seem to be constantly trapped in an uncomfortable conflict. But maybe CIOs can become the fulcrum for the success of the entire organization. In our last post, we looked at the 7 symptoms of “silo sickness”. In other words, these are the Undesirable Effects that […]
7 Symptoms of Silo Sickness that CIOs Must Cure
Most organizations are hierarchical. This way of managing means that responsibility gets divided up into functions and the ‘head’ of each function is responsible for the results of that function and the budget allocated. Isn’t this rational? After all, the notion of hierarchy is as old as the bible. Literally. Moses was introduced to it […]
You Say You Want a Revolution: Where Digital Transformation is Taking You
Change is happening fast and everywhere. The familiar is shifting from a physical, tangible world to a reality that is online and digital. Even some of our oldest, even ancient industries like printing and clothes manufacturing are becoming increasingly digitalized. What do these changes mean for the business world and where are they taking us? […]
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood: 5 Steps To Give Clear Instructions
You need people to do things and to do them in a certain way, but so often they just don’t get it. To paraphrase Nina Simone, the Animals, Elvis Costello and many others, you’re intentions may be good and you don’t want to be misunderstood. So how do you get people to do things? By telling […]
Operations Lessons from a Martian, or How to Give Clear Instructions
One of the major causes of unsatisfactory results in operations and dissatisfied employees in organizations is that we are unable to give clear instructions. We don’t know how to adequately communicate the knowledge required to carry out the task given. (This is answer number two to the question from our previous posts on Empowerment: “Why can’t people […]
