Innovative Business Processes At Ford
Ford has announced a significant and positive change to its development processes. Basically, if you can't get rid of the leviathan of bureaucracy, make it powerless. What will all of those bureaucrats do now without meetings to attend? I suspect they had better focus on something productive or they'll be finding something less inviting in their mail box. Doing this is an attempt to refocus and empower innovation while giving development a fighting chance to succeed. A novel concept. Allow people to do what they were hired to do. Unfortunately, large companies are typically focused inward unless there is a core company principal against it.
Can you-yes you reading this-explain in clear terms what you do that is of benefit to your customer and if your job no longer existed how customer satisfaction would be adversely impacted? If not, you had better figure it out and refocus or start looking for a new job because you are expendable.
It might be amazing to hear but I know people at large companies that spend 20-40 hours a week in internal meetings. I have had similar experiences and eventually required a meeting questionnaire regarding objectives, if the pre-work was completed to allow the meeting meet the objective, etc be filled out before I attended. It is incumbent upon each person to transform their own piece of any business and do so in a positive fashion that is focused on the customer. That can be accomplished quite effectively by removing barriers around you. Be a positive agent for change before your competition forces you to change. When you've reached the point of being forced, the personal impact is typically less positive so be proactive. It is the best form of job security.
I have said repeatedly that Ford and GM were quite possibly the richest companies on earth as it pertains to intellectual capital and that a key to their turnaround was to unleash that ability on the market place. Empower the team. This isn't such a radical concept for a customer-centric company but it is terribly radical for a staid monolith like Ford. Continuing to facilitate free thinking, productivity and idea creation while maintaining focus on business results is key to the success of any business.
What have you done for you customer today?
Can you-yes you reading this-explain in clear terms what you do that is of benefit to your customer and if your job no longer existed how customer satisfaction would be adversely impacted? If not, you had better figure it out and refocus or start looking for a new job because you are expendable.
It might be amazing to hear but I know people at large companies that spend 20-40 hours a week in internal meetings. I have had similar experiences and eventually required a meeting questionnaire regarding objectives, if the pre-work was completed to allow the meeting meet the objective, etc be filled out before I attended. It is incumbent upon each person to transform their own piece of any business and do so in a positive fashion that is focused on the customer. That can be accomplished quite effectively by removing barriers around you. Be a positive agent for change before your competition forces you to change. When you've reached the point of being forced, the personal impact is typically less positive so be proactive. It is the best form of job security.
I have said repeatedly that Ford and GM were quite possibly the richest companies on earth as it pertains to intellectual capital and that a key to their turnaround was to unleash that ability on the market place. Empower the team. This isn't such a radical concept for a customer-centric company but it is terribly radical for a staid monolith like Ford. Continuing to facilitate free thinking, productivity and idea creation while maintaining focus on business results is key to the success of any business.
What have you done for you customer today?
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