The politics in the middle management level of most organizations is designed to make sure executives don’t really know what the culture is really like. The only way to get past it is to dive into the weeds.
When approaching a problem or assessing a new idea, we think of all the ways that something can go wrong, blow up in our faces, or just plain fail. We are too busy trying to predict doom to even see that there is a path to success. It turns out, when we change the question from "Can we...?" to "How do we...?" nothing is impossible. Things can be difficult, inadvisable, or even unreasonable but not impossible. Don't wait for the next crisis to shift your mindset--start now.
The hardest part of planning for the long-term is seeing past the giant dollar sign directly in front of your face. It's huge. It's right there. It says everything is going just fine. It is also blocking your view of the cliff just ahead. COVID's business impact shows us why this is important.
I can hear the eyes rolling now. How can a complicated system of surveys—developed at a time when tight rolled jeans, permed hair, and BUM equipment sweaters were in style—possibly help an agile 201x startup stay agile? Well, it can’t. However, the final capability rating is a quick way to evaluate any part of any company on the fly.
Efficiency is only part of the equation when determining the effectiveness of a process. In fact, I submit, efficiency is the least important part of this equation. The ultimate determination of the effectiveness of a process improvement is how that improvement affects the competitive position of the firm.
