We are very busy people ... ...

by Daniel Kwok,
Managing Director Asia Pacific,
Philip Crosby Associates II

Without an exception, every management team I have met in the past few years tells me they are extremely stretched for time. There is always that overload of projects, initiatives and HQ requests on top of doing the normal day-to-day work.

This has partly to do with the delayering of organisations over the last decade; partly to do with the speed of change in our increasingly compacting world. The Asian crisis has made many realise that sudden, multi-region disruptions do happen. All that is familiar and predictable can dissipate overnight. So, while there is cheer at the performance in major markets, there is also the accompanying threat of the next meltdown.

The question I like to ask of our clients is: "What are you busy with?" They could be busy redoing things; putting out fires; unscrambling miscommunications or getting tangled up in useless red tape. A quarter to a third of human resource could be wasted because people are not doing the right things or are not doing things correctly the first time round. Imagine the cost of a CEO apologising to a disappointed customer. One organisation calls its IT centre the "House of Pain". Their IT professionals go in every weekend so that things don't crash on Monday morning.

A lot of energy is also given to improvement campaigns that are doomed to a short life because they are fashionable, ill-conceived, or poorly led. There is a devastating sense of weariness whenever a new three-letter acronym is put together to trumpet the adoption of the latest magic bullet. To many, all this means is another burden to be cheerfully borne or cleverly side-stepped without losing political ground.

Of course, if people were busy with doing useful things reliably, then they would be performing wonderfully. For this to occur throughout an organisation, everyone must be clear about what the organisation is there for, and what his or her role is to contribute to it. Everyone must know exactly what outputs and outcomes to chase, and the processes to achieve them. Then they achieve them.

This means that a policy asking for everyone to do the correct things correctly every time is necessary. Such a policy is not just a bunch of words but expressed in action and example by leaders.

The right requirements must be thought out and communicated for every task (so that we don't become captives in activity traps). Requirements originate from the needs of those using our services or products. These needs are turned into descriptions of the outputs of our jobs, descriptions of how we do perform our jobs and descriptions of the inputs we need to do our jobs. These requirements must be respected and met. Actions must be taken to prevent non-conformances. Spilled milk is expensive and can be avoided.

There must be a common, no end-date psychological subscription to the mind-set of "do it right the first time". This means that we have to insist on conformance to requirements at every instance. Leaders must insist on the sanctity of requirements. Whenever we agree to meet a requirement, it is a promise. Keeping promises is what gives us a reputation for integrity.

Of course, leaders can destroy the integrity of their organisation by making it OK to not meet requirements. Seemingly logical waivers for small things gone wrong can lead to space shuttles blowing up. Accepting a slightly incomplete proof means making a million Coke cans in the wrong red. A cheaper, but not quite right, spring means recalling thousands of home appliances.

Most people want to be busy. But they want to be busy for a purpose. A clear policy; a common understanding of what makes integrity; requirements established for every task; and leaders' insistence on conformance to every requirement – these are the ingredients for a useful and reliable organisation.

© 1999 Philip Crosby Associates II, All rights reserved