The Mindset

Sometimes you hear managers use magic arguments, which seem to rebut any argument about the need for improvement. The beauty of these arguments is in their generality: they seem to fit any discussion on any issue and always explain why things should stay as they are.

As a service to the new generation of managers, here are a few examples from the manager’s book of quotations. As a service to everyone else, I offer a more realistic approach as well. If you are going to use it to refute these all-time favorites, do it at your own risk.

“We are doing a great job! Our customers are highly satisfied!”

Good for you! However, improvement is not only about satisfying your customers. You are part of a business. And a business is all about reducing costs and increasing profit. Optimizing the way you create your products, for example, might not concern your customers, but it will reduce your development costs.

If, for example, you can reduce the amount of resources needed for each maintenance task, you can invest the same resources in developing new products. Wouldn’t that improve your business?

And then, there are always your employees. They would love doing some meaningful work instead of spending a couple of weeks on what should have been a simple maintenance task. Maybe, just may maybe, this time could have been shortened if you had managed to do things better the first time.

I guess this brings us to the second argument…

“What’s all that ‘people would love…’ stuff? People are getting paid for their work aren’t they?”

Well, they are. But that does not mean they will be happy no matter which conditions they are working under. When people are multitasking they are more likely to burn out. When people are doing tasks that they do not consider intellectually rewarding, they are more likely to become frustrated. When people work under stress for a long period of time they start to believe that what they do is not that urgent.

When people are burnt out, when they are frustrated, and when they feel that what they do is meaningless, they become less creative and less productive. Your best assets are at risk.

Your human assets are your most valuable assets. They have to be part of your equation. Improving their working conditions will help them grow and improve themselves. This is the best you, as a manager, can wish for.

Which brings us to the third argument….

“Yeah, Yeah… but we are a business. In business the next quarter is all that counts!”

I have to admit: I don’t know much about running a business. But I know this: you can’t run a business without a long-term vision. Running a business is not about making arbitrary decisions on a daily basis just because they seem to maximize your profit today. You must have a long-term strategy.

A long-term strategy might mean doing something that doesn’t seem to have benefit today. It means sowing the seeds today and reaping the fruits in the future. Without some long-term investment, you might succeed as a business in the short-term, but you will most likely fail in the long run.

This rule is true in making acquisitions, in hiring people and in planning the next line of products. It is also true in improving the way you develop your products, and in the way that you manage your people.