A NEW Year approaches. For the sake of increasing productivity, consistent quality management, and just plain-old progress, the coming year, 2015 should be an improvement over 2014 and all previous years. It should be the ‘best year ever’ when compared with preparations over the past years.
As we bid farewell to the year 2014, we ought to reflect on the performance and outcomes of the past year. Was it a success? Did we accomplish our major goals? Were we being effective, or were we breathlessly “outing fires” instead of making strategic headway along our pre-planned course of action?
What concrete steps could we take to make these improvements? It all depends! It depends on your own internal assessments, and on quality assurance exercises you may have conducted. Truly, it is encouraging to hear the various statements being shared publicly about the folly of repeating the same actions but expecting a changed outcome. Equally, that the same thinking which has led to a problem ought not be used to forge a solution.
In other words, it is a new year, and it is time for some new thinking and some new action. Are you content to continue with the course of action that led you to the present? Was business such a success over the past year that there is no need for change to improve your business outcomes?
Now is a good time to leave the comfortable shadows of repetition, and dare into the dazzling sunshine of change and opportunity.
Above all, avoid change for the sake of change. Without some thoughtful adjustments or course corrections, we should only expect more of the same.
For those planning on making changes to system and operations, here are some suggestions to consider:
* Always make a backup;
* Test your plan: it may work or may fail;
* Small successes accumulate;
* Focus on utility and not technology.
Some of the best processes that I have seen are set up to use the feedback obtained from both good or bad events. Such attention to detail and quality management will inevitably lead to improvements in productivity and efficiency.
Notice, dear reader, none of the above refers to any specific technology. Just orgware and wetware.
Remember, the focus should be on the utility and not the technology.
Happy New Year!
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