Hello and welcome to TimeMaker’s next tip for efficiency and effectiveness.
Today we will be covering the silent killer of any organization – cancer.
Much like a body, the “organizational cancer” is silent. But what is cancer in the body really and what is the organizational cancer?
Most people cringe just at hearing the word “cancer”, but most people also don’t really know what it is…Cancer is a belief by a part of the body that it has no future. Therefore, that part of the body goes into an insane effort to survive and recreate itself and hence, like any insane action, this brings about destruction.
Cancer happens in a body due to long-term nutrition disturbance that causes an incomplete operation of one or more parts of the body.
The body is an organization (like any other) that is composed of “anchor” points. An anchor point is any vital point on which a foundation is built. The body has anchor points like the head, arms, elbows etc. The body also has a communication system and a mind. The body gets its commands from the spirit.
To have cancer, one or more parts of the body does not PRODUCE what it is supposed to produce – or it does not produce properly in some way. That part stopped being part of the team – –the body.
Now, let’s look at an organization.
An organization is composed of anchor points (like people, phones, computers, etc.). An organization has a communication system (the lines by which information flows); and an organization has a mind (the organizational data). This is all controlled by its executives (the spirit behind the activity).
To have cancer, like in the body, one or more parts of the organization does not PRODUCE what it is supposed to produce – or it does not produce properly in some way. That part stopped being part of the team – the company.
The results can be seen as DELAYS.
DELAYS ARE THE ORGANIZATIONAL CANCER.
The key indications by which one can tell an organization (or life) is experiencing the Organizational Cancer are as follows:
- It seems the day is over before one managed to do what one needed to do.
- One continuously confronted with bad news and situations which need handling.
- One feels overworked.
- One’s inbox is full, things get delayed and one experience backlog.
- The more one’s pushes the harder it is.
- The income simply refuses to go up despite all efforts.
- The profit drops.
- The atmosphere is tense.
- Work is no fun – you feel sick.
Familiar with this? Read on…
Delays happen for the following reasons:
Unknown Workload: The work load (how much work one allocates, by the hour, for actual productive activity in a given day) of employees is unknown to staff and executives. LOOK over your post (job) and your juniors’ posts and check – can you tell yourself clearly what you have to do every hour in the next week versus what you planned, wanted or needed to do? If you do not have a tool that SHOWS you the full picture at a glance, then you do not know what is the workload and you will develop the organizational cancer sooner or later… if you haven’t already.
Inability to Demand Results: Inability to demand compliance comes about due to the fact that you cannot see what needs to be done. When you cannot see what needs to be done you can not demand compliance… You need to be able to SEE and therefore demand productivity where due.
Unknown Results: If you do not have a way to compare past results to what was supposed to have been done, you will manage by rumors and so will inevitably make mistakes.
Lack of Workflows: Assuming you have a product to sell, the basic barrier to expansion will be a lack of administrative systems. Missing the needed, set out, and organized workflows will bring about major delays.
Injustice: Lack of the above knowledge will result in injustice. Justice is any action you take on a group member to ensure he operates on the agreements of the group. Sending a person to jail would be defined as justice because you are ensuring that person does not break group agreements any longer. Injustice is the opposite. It is enforcing agreements but wrongly or to the wrong person. It is sending an innocent person to jail. So, an inability to correctly see the above data and information will lead to injustice in your organization. Targeting the wrong people, etc. You need to be able to apply justice to the correct people and in correct situations. Injustice leads to an unwillingness to produce. Correct justice leads to increased morale for all.
The above five points are not opinions – they are proven facts.
The following do’s and don’ts will give you the basic handling so you no longer suffer, or will ever suffer, from this cancer:
Do Not:
- Assign work without a clear picture of the workload of the person who is supposed to perform the job.
- Manage without a clear picture of the overall plan – broken down to what needs to be done per day and per hour – yes PER HOUR.
- Handle work as unique. Work actions are not unique. 99% of all things in life repeat themselves, and it’s the same with work. Working without a specific workflow (set out steps in sequence to achieve a particular result) for the handling of most activities in your business will create delays that will eventually kill your organization.
Note: The difference between big successful companies and small companies, given the fact there is a product to sell, is one thing: Big companies have most of their activities work flowed (see McDonald, Starbucks, AT&T etc.), while small companies handle most of their activities as unique.
Organizational skills, believe it or not, define your success. - Manage without statistics that show exactly what were the results of the person’s activities.
- Penalize productive people – regardless of the situation.
Do:
- Establish a TOOL that will show you, in real time, all delays and all current and future workloads.
- Plan exactly what needs to be done – breaking the actions down to daily and hourly actions.
- Figure out the workflows in your organization and establish a SYSTEM that will put most actions in the organization on workflows – this is the key for success.
- Establish a way to collect and analyze ALL people’s results in the organization and reward and penalize people ONLY based on their results. An ideal system, in fact, would pay all people in the organization based on their results and not based on time.
And that’s it! Read the above a couple of times if needed because the information is KEY.
It is clear that to operate as described above one would need the help of technology – a software.
After years of research I have found that NO SOFTWARE actually takes care of the above. In fact, the software designers did not understand the problem (funny enough) and therefore did not create the correct solution.
TimeMaker developed the only software that is the cure for the organizational cancer!
I invite you to contact me for a free presentation. I guarantee it will be the start of a new life for you and your organization.
Contacting me by the 22nd of June will make you eligible for TimeMaker’s special 15% discount. E-mail me NOW at Sales@TimeMaker.org.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon!
This week, cure cancer! And have the best week yet!
Best Regards,
Meir Ezra
