(2018-08-03) Cutler Your Org Problems Are Not Unique

John Cutler: Your Org Problems Are Not Unique. My friend works at a public company with a “15 year old, industry lagging approach to production”. The solution (to get from a 2 to 7.5) is out there for everyone to see, but progress has been held up for five years because “the head of engineering and the head of product have very different views on how to solve this.”

At this point, admitting the problem is easy to fix is too politically difficult. It has become about winning, and finger pointing. They both battle to get the CEOs ear. He knows they’re both at fault, but he can’t exactly fire them both. That would cause a major disruption and somehow we keep hitting our numbers. The longer we wait, the more entrenched the problem becomes.

Of course, the naive me suggested a large-scale kaizen event to bring together the front-liners and chart out a way forward. Common sense. Let the people closest to the problem work it out. “Not going to happen! We’re too siloed, and that’s manager work, not worker work!” Doh.

If they haven’t been fixed yet…well, there’s something deep and dark holding the problem in place. The problem is not the problem.

When teams approach continuous improvement, they are advised to “focus on what the team can control or influence” In today’s complex org structures, there is often very little that a team can completely control.

I find that change agents are often too rational.

Instead, consider creating a non-threatening positive attractor that effectively neutralizes the conflict, while providing an avenue for everyone to participate in the progress/success.