From good to great. Part 2
We continue to read good books from this list from Milfgard and I continue to write extracts from them. In a previous article, I began writing the content of Jim Collins’s Good to Great book (from good to great). The book was simply amazing and exciting. I recommend to read immediately.
The first thing to start is to read the previous article . It contains the first five most important postulates and what you read below in this article will not work without these very first five elements.
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Usually, as the organization grows, so does the bureaucracy. It becomes more and more difficult to control all the processes, so they have to be formalized. In fact, the task of the bureaucracy is to compensate for the lack of competence and discipline. A similar problem will not arise if you immediately approached the selection of personnel correctly. When we create bureaucratic procedures, we try to manage undisciplined employees. This, in turn, makes good employees leave who are not ready to tolerate all these “unnecessary” procedures.
The alternative is a culture of discipline within three circles.
Many ordinary businesses chase technology. Every time something new comes out, they try to implement it as soon as possible in fear of falling behind competitors. Often there is a reverse situation, when everyone has already begun to apply some kind of technology, and some still do nothing.
In companies that achieved outstanding results, technology was applied with care. At the height of the online shopping boom, Walgreens said: "We are a company that first crawls, then it goes, and only then it runs." Walgreens management before investing in the Internet, seriously thought about how new technologies will be combined with their concept of convenient location of pharmacies. As a result, Walgreens customers were able to complete an online application, get into the car and pick up their order at the nearest pharmacy. By this time he was already completed. Before starting, they thoroughly thought out their website, delivery system and logistics. As a result, the quality of service is not inferior to Amazon. Meanwhile, the stock price of some competitors who acted spontaneously and “on the wave” fell 26 times.
The wise application of technology may be related to production. The company Gilette sells its machines around the world, because they have learned how to produce them cheaply and in a very high quality. To develop the Sensor, they spent $ 200 million, and most of this money went into developing the manufacturing process, where they received 29 patents. The secret of Gilette is in a unique production process, which they protect just like Coca Cola does with its formula.
Important: technology is an accelerator, not a cause of development.
First, great companies developed their own concept of three circles, and only then they called for the help of technology. Great companies have never started a transformation with the introduction of new technologies for the simple reason that you cannot really use technologists until you understand exactly which technologies you need.
Interestingly, 80% of executives did not mention technology among the top five key development factors.
Imagine a huge heavy flywheel that you need to shake. He cast iron and very heavy. You are trying in every way to move him, but he moves only a few centimeters. So you work for an hour. But after an hour, a transformation occurs: moving the flywheel is much easier. Its amplitude is already about two meters and you spend less effort on its buildup. Further, a completely unobvious thing happens: the flywheel continues to move, regardless of you, you simply support it with light movements, and it swings itself due to inertia and its own weight.
The question as to exactly which of your impulses led to success will be irrelevant. You will say that all the tremors were important.
The analogy is simple: first there is capacity building, and then rapid growth .
Companies that have achieved long-term success have achieved it through a long process - step by step, action by action, decision by decision. You can remember Angry Birds in this place, which are far from the first time hit the audience and, before the release of their bestseller, created a whole lot of other games.
By the way, if you read the press materials, it seems that everything is wrong. That, as if, "suddenly" something happened and the company went up the hill. As if the breakthrough came at the expense of some instant metamorphosis. This is simply because no one pays attention to small steps and gradual movement is less noticeable.
Vicious circle.
Companies that did not achieve outstanding results tried to find some kind of “magic medicine”, to introduce some one innovation that will change everything. When they fail, they seek another solution and start over. They spin the flywheel in one direction, but without achieving quick results, they stop and change direction.
Often companies change managers, however, together with the manager, the strategic vision of the situation often changes. The previous leader saw the development of the company in the production of toothbrushes, and the next leader sees the company's future in the production of vacuum cleaners. As a result, the company turns into a monster who takes on everything and brings nothing to the end.
The vicious circle looks like this:
Ordinary companies combine two characteristic actions. Namely: indiscriminate takeovers and the choice of a leader who negates the previous efforts.
That's all . Further, the author tells about the interrelation of the study “From Good to Great” with the study “Built for Eternity”, which tells about how eternal companies are created and maintained.
If someone has his own experience in implementing the principles listed above and in the previous article , write in the comments. Well, objections / reviews / complaints, too, write.
The first thing to start is to read the previous article . It contains the first five most important postulates and what you read below in this article will not work without these very first five elements.
')
Discipline culture
Usually, as the organization grows, so does the bureaucracy. It becomes more and more difficult to control all the processes, so they have to be formalized. In fact, the task of the bureaucracy is to compensate for the lack of competence and discipline. A similar problem will not arise if you immediately approached the selection of personnel correctly. When we create bureaucratic procedures, we try to manage undisciplined employees. This, in turn, makes good employees leave who are not ready to tolerate all these “unnecessary” procedures.
The alternative is a culture of discipline within three circles.
- Create an organization in which discipline and responsibility for the results will be honored.
Great companies created systems with clear limits, but they also gave people freedom and responsibility within this system. Attention: transformations do not begin with the fact that you start to instill discipline in undisciplined people, but with the fact that you hire people who have self-discipline. It is necessary to attract disciplined people with disciplined thinking, who then act in a disciplined manner. - Keep freedom, but within the basic concept. This means that there should be clear rules for which you can not go, but within these rules, complete freedom and responsibility.
- Make the subjects of this culture disciplined people.
- The culture of discipline should not become tyranny.
It is very important to recognize the difference between culture and tyranny. In companies that achieved outstanding long-term results, it was culture, while in ordinary companies there was tyranny. Yes, the company can "fly up" and on total control, but for a long time this growth will not last, because it rests mainly on a strong leader, with the departure of which the system begins to crumble. Such a leader is responsible for the whole result; he serves as a control tool, works 80 hours a week, expecting his managers to do the same. - Discard all superfluous. Create a list of what not to do.
When it was necessary to reduce expenses, great companies started with the expenses of management: they refused individual elevators, sold airplanes, refused dining rooms of the highest class, and stopped buying expensive folders. For example, the company Nucor, had only four levels of management and 25 people in the head office, which was located in a rented room, the size of a dental office. They rejected all the “blessings” that separated the leadership from the rest of the world. The leadership began with itself, thus creating a special corporate culture.
Companies that have achieved outstanding results, along with lists of what needs to be done, used a list of what should not be done. They refused to post signs, extra levels of hierarchy, left the useless business associations, sold factories ,. The question with the budget, they put it like this: "which activities should receive funding, and which should not receive it at all."
Technologies like accelerators
Many ordinary businesses chase technology. Every time something new comes out, they try to implement it as soon as possible in fear of falling behind competitors. Often there is a reverse situation, when everyone has already begun to apply some kind of technology, and some still do nothing.
In companies that achieved outstanding results, technology was applied with care. At the height of the online shopping boom, Walgreens said: "We are a company that first crawls, then it goes, and only then it runs." Walgreens management before investing in the Internet, seriously thought about how new technologies will be combined with their concept of convenient location of pharmacies. As a result, Walgreens customers were able to complete an online application, get into the car and pick up their order at the nearest pharmacy. By this time he was already completed. Before starting, they thoroughly thought out their website, delivery system and logistics. As a result, the quality of service is not inferior to Amazon. Meanwhile, the stock price of some competitors who acted spontaneously and “on the wave” fell 26 times.
The wise application of technology may be related to production. The company Gilette sells its machines around the world, because they have learned how to produce them cheaply and in a very high quality. To develop the Sensor, they spent $ 200 million, and most of this money went into developing the manufacturing process, where they received 29 patents. The secret of Gilette is in a unique production process, which they protect just like Coca Cola does with its formula.
Important: technology is an accelerator, not a cause of development.
First, great companies developed their own concept of three circles, and only then they called for the help of technology. Great companies have never started a transformation with the introduction of new technologies for the simple reason that you cannot really use technologists until you understand exactly which technologies you need.
Interestingly, 80% of executives did not mention technology among the top five key development factors.
Flywheel and vicious circle
Imagine a huge heavy flywheel that you need to shake. He cast iron and very heavy. You are trying in every way to move him, but he moves only a few centimeters. So you work for an hour. But after an hour, a transformation occurs: moving the flywheel is much easier. Its amplitude is already about two meters and you spend less effort on its buildup. Further, a completely unobvious thing happens: the flywheel continues to move, regardless of you, you simply support it with light movements, and it swings itself due to inertia and its own weight.
The question as to exactly which of your impulses led to success will be irrelevant. You will say that all the tremors were important.
The analogy is simple: first there is capacity building, and then rapid growth .
Companies that have achieved long-term success have achieved it through a long process - step by step, action by action, decision by decision. You can remember Angry Birds in this place, which are far from the first time hit the audience and, before the release of their bestseller, created a whole lot of other games.
By the way, if you read the press materials, it seems that everything is wrong. That, as if, "suddenly" something happened and the company went up the hill. As if the breakthrough came at the expense of some instant metamorphosis. This is simply because no one pays attention to small steps and gradual movement is less noticeable.
Vicious circle.
Companies that did not achieve outstanding results tried to find some kind of “magic medicine”, to introduce some one innovation that will change everything. When they fail, they seek another solution and start over. They spin the flywheel in one direction, but without achieving quick results, they stop and change direction.
Often companies change managers, however, together with the manager, the strategic vision of the situation often changes. The previous leader saw the development of the company in the production of toothbrushes, and the next leader sees the company's future in the production of vacuum cleaners. As a result, the company turns into a monster who takes on everything and brings nothing to the end.
The vicious circle looks like this:
- Choosing a new direction
- Lack of capacity building
- Unsatisfactory results
- Responding without understanding the situation
Ordinary companies combine two characteristic actions. Namely: indiscriminate takeovers and the choice of a leader who negates the previous efforts.
That's all . Further, the author tells about the interrelation of the study “From Good to Great” with the study “Built for Eternity”, which tells about how eternal companies are created and maintained.
If someone has his own experience in implementing the principles listed above and in the previous article , write in the comments. Well, objections / reviews / complaints, too, write.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/283798/
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