Six Steps to Simplifying Your Organization [PDF]

May 28, 2010 Volume 7, No. 5

Six Steps to Simplifying Your Organization By Ron Ashkenas

Are you frustrated with the complexity in your organization and how difficult it is to get things done? Do you worry that instead of creating value, you end up stuck in endless meetings; reviewing or creating presentations; consulting with different functions; and trying to align points of view? Are you inundated with e-mails, voicemails, and the constant need to respond to requests from multiple bosses, colleagues and customers? Are you working more hours than ever, but feel like you’re getting less and less accomplished? If any of these complexity symptoms applies to you, here are six steps that you can take. Step #1: Change Your Mindset Recognize that at least some of the complexity that you’re dealing with is caused by you – in the way you structure the organization; design and manage products; engineer processes; and provide direction. While that sounds like bad news, the flip side is that if you are a cause of complexity—even if it’s unintentional and unconscious—then you can do something about it. The key is to change your mindset from being a victim of complexity to being a driver of simplicity. Try saying the following: “My name is (use your name) and I cause complexity.” Step #2: Hold Up a Mirror Once you admit that you are part of the problem, the next step is to open your eyes to what you personally are doing to cause or perpetuate the situation, and do something about it. Since much of the complexity in organizations is unconscious, we tend to accept it as “normal” and don’t see our role. That’s why a mirror is a powerful tool — it helps people see things more honestly. So hold up a mirror and ask yourself and your colleagues questions such as these: •

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How often do you attend meetings that lack an agenda, objectives, clear outcomes and next steps, but don’t say anything? How many times have you led such a meeting? Have you sat through a presentation with too many slides and data without providing feedback? Are your presentations overly complex?

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Do you often receive unnecessary e-mails or reports without pushing back? How often do you send unnecessary e-mails? Do you accept new assignments without recalibrating your previous priorities? Do you foster initiative overload by continually giving new tasks to others?

Step #3: Present a Business Case While the complexity that you uncover is often annoying and uncomfortable, the real reason for attacking it has to be rooted in business results. That’s why the third step is to make the business case for simplicity. As you gain credibility and confidence by attacking some of your personal complexity-causing behaviors, also take a look at some broader issues. For example, conduct a quantitative time analysis of how long it takes to complete a key business process — and what could be saved by eliminating unnecessary steps. Conduct similar analyses of how you and your colleagues spend a typical day. Make the connection between the complexity you see in the mirror and the value that could be created by simplification. Step #4: Build in the Customers’ Views As you broaden your attack on complexity, include the customers’ perspective. Simplicity often correlates with your ability to align with what your customers want, and when and how they want it. So once you’ve gained some traction on internal issues, start to incorporate your customers’ views so that your simplification initiatives will be rooted in reality. For example, consider inviting a customer to one of your team meetings or taking your team to visit a customer site. Spend a couple of hours listening in on phone calls with your service representatives, either live or taped. Doing these things on a regular basis will spark fresh thinking about how to design your work (or your products or services) more simply. Step #5: Build a Coalition You certainly can have an impact on your organization by modeling simplification in your own area. But to have even greater impact you can build a coalition of likeminded executives to share ideas and best practices, and to jointly address systemic complexity. Building a coalition for simplification doesn’t need to be done through a series of oneon-one meetings. Social technologies can be powerful vehicles for creating interest in simplification, getting rapid feedback, testing ideas and propagating experiments.


Step #6: Demonstrate Simplicity – Again and Again Perhaps implicit in the previous steps is the idea that you actually have to do something. Simplicity is great to talk about. Most people find it cathartic to share their complexity war stories. But nothing builds momentum for simplification as much as real success. If you’re looking for one lesson to learn, consider this: The way to make things simpler in your organization is to start simplifying, and then do it again and again. Simplicity begins with you. ______________________ About the Author Ron Ashkenas is a managing partner of Robert H. Schaffer & Associates, a Stamford, Connecticut consulting firm, and the author of Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done (Harvard Business Press, December, 2009). Ron can be reached at [email protected]. http://businessedge.michcpa.org/issue/article.aspx?i=v7n5&a=453&s=MI
