The Hindu Business Line : Focus on what you can control

To do business amidst the extreme challenges of the 21st century, you need ‘a new management system that supports your company’s need for speed, agility, quality, innovation, and growth,’ say Anand Sharma and Gary Hourselt, in The Antidote ( www.pqp.in).

Their ‘transformational management system’ involves everyone “in squeezing out waste, adding value to your processes, improving reliability and reducing variability in your processes, learning and responding to customer needs, and developing creative solutions to your – and your customers’ – most pressing problems.”

The new management system has a list of ‘critical characteristics’, beginning with focus.

“You can’t control customer demand or competitor ambitions. You can’t control how investors react to your plans and performance. You can’t control the cost of labour in China.”

So, what do we do? “If you focus on what you can control, the things you cannot will mean less,” assure Sharma and Hourselt.

“Your company can grow by doing more with less,” when you leverage for growth the quick results and operational excellence that flow from focus.

“People aren’t the most important asset an organisation has; good people are,” reads a sobering statement.

“Put them in the right positions, arm them with the training and tools they need, point them in the right direction, and your culture will change.”

That starts with leadership, the authors declare.

“The most effective leaders immerse themselves in the transformation. They spend more time talking to customers and employees than sitting in their offices… They lead by example, not by sending memos.”

It is not enough if the leader feels the urgent need for change; he has to make sure his employees understand it too. Potent prescription for bewildering business problems.

D. Murali

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com