THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Time

“Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn. ” - Delmore Schwartz

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Process Management Improves the Horizontal Flow

A group of sailors were out in an old boat. The boat hit a rock and sprung a slow leak. The group began to fight over whose fault it was that they hit the rock. Then they argued over whose responsibility it was to fix the hole. Those on the starboard side shouted that those on the port side, where the hole was, should be responsible for fixing it. All the while, the boat filled with water and floundered in the increasing heavy seas. As the shouting and finger pointing grew, a large wave swamped the boat. Everyone drowned at sea.

Our traditional functional or vertically managed organizations force the people in them to act like those foolish sailors. Individual departments such as accounting, production, sales, service, or development and areas such as branch or field offices, work to optimize their own performance. Goals, objectives, performance measurements, and career paths move up and down within the narrow walls of these functional chimneys or silos. Managers and their teams focus on doing their own jobs or segment of the production, delivery, or support process. Everyone focuses on a narrow piece of the organization while losing sight of the big picture.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Shine: Using Brain Science To Get The Best From Your People by Edward M. Hallowell