are you really making changes?
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Having been involved in the implementation of change over the past 20 years, it is clear to me that there is a problem. Please consider and reflect on my ideas.
Over the years many diverse attempts have been devised to improve business performance. However, in many cases people simply do not go the distance or even apply suggested principles appropriately. Some never even get started understanding what is to be done, I know all about that - I’m too busy. Get your head out of the box!
Throughout many corporate and government offices are manuals and systems that have never been read. Consultants have been retained, studies have been conducted, reports written, and operational documents published. Sadly, implementation is evasive.
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Far too often leadership suffers an inability to lead. This is nothing new; it was pointed out by Sir William Slim, Australia’s Governor General in 1957. Although his Australian Institute of Management William Queale Lecture (4 April 1957), entitled Leadership in Management has been distributed from time to time, there is little evidence that anyone took his ideas seriously.
Far too often people without capacity to perform in their assigned roles simply benefit from the gaze of their profession, but they have no idea about what they do does.
Deming told us, survival is not compulsory and our standard of living can decline. It is up to you to lead within the sphere of your authority. Intergon can help..
Please Consider These Ideas
- “That’s Just Common Sense.” When people say that our ideas are just common sense, we reply:
Intellectual laziness and common sense are the same thing. Common sense is just the trade name of the firm. Robert Anton Wilson
- Hollow Words. Do your words translate into deeds? Do your words work against you?
- Speech Acts. Intergon can help you to use language rituals that build trust between yourself and those you deal with. We show you how to go beyond simply saying what comes into your mind; speak with intention and act accordingly.
- Soft Issues are Hard Issues. Your problems come because you don’t know about people. It is about integrity and compassion versus robotic professionalism. It is about exquisite care - once all the processes have been optimised and products perfected, customer intimacy is king.
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Relying on Mythology. Are your customers fooled by a facade that your products and services are better than they really are? When will they wake up?
- Not Personal. Those businesses Intergon has helped have ensured that victimisation of groups and individuals do not occur. Rather, problems are identified as opportunities for improvement.
- Listening vs Rules. Do you listen to what is really happening or do you blindly apply rules - the band played as the ship went down.
- We all have More to do. What makes you think Japan is standing still? Is how Dr Deming replied to, How long will it take for us to catch up to Japan?
- Trust Improves. Intergon has helped groups open communications, work better as a team, and improve performance.
Get in touch with us. We can help you to lead your organisation to success. Read what our clients have said.
The Australian Financial Review seems to agree with our ideas, as they published yet another or our comments in their Letters section on 1 Feb 99 (p 18):
Be responsible with cost cutting
Christopher Jay in "Private sector on parade" (AFR Special Report, January 27) raises the important issue of operational effectiveness. While he is commenting on the defence of Australia, there are similar concerns facing business. We have seen recent examples in economically-rationalised utilities (both gas and electricity.) Ten years ago, privatised government manufacturing plants were crippled after severe cuts in the wrong areas. The blind application of numbers leads to mistakes. In some cases, people have been killed as a result of the faulty products produced by these organisations.
If Australia is to become truly competitive in the global economy, those with the authority to slash expenses need to understand the difference between operational effectiveness and blind cost-cutting. Far too often those who make decisions do so based on the input of a very unpatriotic, disconnected and selfish segment of society.
Our business has travelled in the wake of people who have made dreadful errors through blind cost cutting. In some cases, we have been kept employed rebuilding destroyed companies. For that I am grateful, but I would rather be helping companies do it right the first time.
Lionel Boxer
Managing Director
Intergon
East Melbourne, Vic
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