Monday, 9.23pm
Sheffield, U.K.
If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack. – Winston Churchill
The most important people in your organization are the ones that directly serve customers.
And that’s that.
Okay, let’s spend a little more time on this as I continue working through John Seddon’s “Freedom from command and control”.
Imagine an organization chart – one from any business.
At the top is the top management, the CEO, the CFO.
On one branch sit the support services, Finance, HR, IT. They’re supposed to enable business. Sometimes they prevent it.
On the other branch sit managers, from big managers to little managers.
At the bottom are the people that do the work.
And that’s how they are seen, as the lowest on the ladder, the bottom of the food chain.
Now, this may not be reality, things have changed on the ground.
But the pictures in our heads are from a hundred years ago so if you set out now to build your own business it’s possible that your mental models need updating.
When you first start out you serve customers yourself – and as the most experienced person on the staff and the one that cares the most about your customers – they get a brilliant service from you.
But how do you step back and bring in a team that still keeps customers happy – what’s going to stop the lazy buggers from doing as little as possible?
Well, you have to stop thinking of them in that way, to start with.
Your job is to get better at hiring. Finding the people that are going to be part of your team.
That’s not easy. It requires overcoming biases and taking considered decisions.
Hire slowly. Build great training systems. Support your team.
There will be problematic hires. Things won’t always work out. Make tough decisions quickly. It’s better for everyone that way.
Above all, don’t try and manage by targets and timesheets.
It’s going to be tempting, but you will create more problems.
Instead, do exactly what clients need. No less. And no more.
You will find that your operations run more smoothly, your team is happier, and your customers satisfied.
Cheers,
Karthik Suresh
Handcrafted insight 