Worse than the outbreak of H1N1, Target Obsession Disorder (TOD) has been around a lot longer. There really is no cure for this disease, save one . . . stop doing it. The sad part is most don’t recognize TOD as a disease.
Where did it begin. In a public company probably the boardroom. In a private company or
public sector it began with the budget, filtering down the numbers by function (sales, operations, etc) and then monitoring the numbers in executive or functional meetings with performance against plan. Riches for those that make the numbers or unwanted attention (or worse) to those that don’t.
So, managers and workers alike are given targets and the discussion at most companies surrounds “making their numbers.” “Hey, Tony . . . what’s it gonna take this year to make the numbers?” Tony (in response) “cheat, well not cheating we will just manipulate the numbers. You know, early revenue recognition, shift some costs around, RIF . . . we’ll hit those numbers. And if I don’t, i have a list of excuses of why I couldn’t.” Is this really managing?
All this ingenuity to hit a target can be repurposed to understanding the work as it is delivered from and to the customer. Finding better ways to make the work work reaps enormous gains for service companies not preoccupied with targets.
For service organizations wallowing in the mediocrity of Target Obsession Disorder and the control it brings. There is a cure that will result in business improvement and business cost reduction. It is to realize greater control and cost reduction can be achieved through flow than targets, function or activity.
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Tripp Babbitt is a speaker, blogger and consultant to service industry (private and public). His organization helps executives find a better way to make the work work. Download free from www.newsystemsthinking.com “Understanding Your Organization as a System” and gain knowledge of systems thinking or contact us about our intervention services at [email protected]. Reach him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TriBabbitt or LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/trippbabbitt.
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increases them. My other posts have shown why standardization, scripts and best practices don’t allow the absorption of variety that customers give service organizations. The number of transaction increases in the form of failure demand (demand caused by the failure to do something or do something right for the customer) increases and the system works against itself to increase costs.
I have posted many times on this subject, yet as companies find ways to “save money” they turn to technology that increase costs, makes customers shake their heads and take actions that make companies more unprofitable and less competitive. Really, enough with the snake-oil and one of the worse technologies ever invented . . . the IVR.
I just finished an ezine management article about American arrogance and our collective inability to change thinking, especially management thinking. My belief is that we are still basking in the sun of our tremendous wealth that was produced between 1950-1968. All until the Japanese came along and ate our collective lunches. Bye! Bye! Manufacturing! But that’s OK we have service right?
OK, Labor Day and I’m looking for a picture of istock.com that depicts the cooperation between workers and management . . . none found. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised by the absence of such a picture. The management and the work have been separated for far too long . . . one of the reasons we have too many chiefs and not enough indians. You can either be counted as a manager that does something (command, control, edicts, policies, rules, etc.) to someone or be the someone and most people don’t like to be the someone. Because the someone gets coaching, appraisals, targets, carrots, sticks and when things really get bad blamed or reduced. If that isn’t enough, management gives the someone tools and technology that make the work harder. By the way, I am not talking about your company . . . I’m talking about the other company. Like Congress, it’s not MY representative it’s the other ones.
and the people in it actually understand the work being done between the customer and their organization and (2) that the boardroom actually understands how to run the organization as a system. Those are two items that would be a stretch for any service organization, but are needed to achieve business improvement.