4 Outdate Business Practices Limiting Growth

4 Outdate Business Practices Limiting Growth

Posted on 19. Sep, 2011 by in 1 Leadership

“Companies die because their managers focus on economic activity of producing goods and services, and they forget that their organization’s true nature is that of a community of humans.” Arie de Geus from “The Living Company”

Arie de Gues’s quote plants a newer way for us to look at a company — as a living organism that thrives because of its people, not the assets making up a company’s balance sheet.

Opposite the living company is the mechanistic company that maintains some degree of antiquated views on employees as replaceable labor who need to be controlled, and needs less important than executive’s. Outcomes of this are outdated practices and methods that choke a company’s ability to growth.

Riffing on de Geus’s view of the living company, I thought it be interesting to list some of the mechanistic practices, methods or beliefs needing reframing, or put in the compost pile.

We produce talent.
People aren’t widgets assembled like robots on a conveyor belt. Talent is not produced. Talent is grown, nurtured, coached, mentored. It’s not linear. People don’t come with instructions manuals.

Rank-and-File
This reeks of command-and-control management styles. It also dominates HR in government: State, federal, military. Hierarchies won’t go away. They do have a purpose. Rank-and-file cuts employees away from management. I envision troops of employees lining-up waiting to get their orders to dutifully complete. This goes to the compost pile.

Change Management
As a discipline, change management is important. Managing change, though, is like asking a politician to give a straight answer – not easy or possible. Leading change is a better choice of words. Change is rooted in relationships. As such, it’s organic and non-linear. Leading change demands incredible adaptability and patience. Leaders and employees must understand the organizational community, how people respond to change, and the nature in which information is spread in communities, for starters.

Human Resources
As a department, HR has not lived up to its potential. Mired in outdated, rigid HR policies and practices, the department’s name reflects its limitations. For financial reasons people are reduced to a resource making them countable, measurable. And easily reduced. We need a department that better advocates and unleashes a company’s people-talents. It’s time for radical change in areas of compensation, recruitment, training, even modernizing diversity policies and practices.

So what would you add to this list? What more human-focused business practices do you think needs to take root in companies today?

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7 Responses to “4 Outdate Business Practices Limiting Growth”

  1. Suchitra Mishra

    19. Sep, 2011

    Hello Shawn (yay ! I got the name right this time :) ),

    You hit the nail with above posts – would like to suggest a couple more :
    1) Hiding the bad news – we need to dump that one for sure – transparency and communication at all levels within the company has become very important more so because of the advent of social media. Your employees are your brand agents and they need to know first, the news, the messaging and the plans to push towards success of organization.
    2) Outdated Systems and processes – Every company needs to look at their systems and processes with a magnifying glass – are they still following a legacy from the Industrial Revolution – more inward focused than customer focused ? You can only elevate individual performance and hence of the company by elevating that of the entire system.
    What do you think ?
    Regards,
    Suchitra
    twitter : @suchimishra

    Reply to this comment

    • Shawn Murphy

      19. Sep, 2011

      Suchitra,
      I’m right there with you on hiding bad news. It’s a natural response to shield people from bad news. The problem with it is that employees usually have a good feel for what’s going on. Hiding bad news creates or deepens a rift in trust. And if the bad news would be a surprise, it’s best to treat employees as adults who can work through the bad news. I’m right there with you on the bad news.

      Outdated systems and processes are another area that suck out passion, as you mention above. They can easily waste employees’ and customers’ time. I would add that internal processes that are employee focused needs to be better balanced with the company’s needs and those of the customer. Does overhauling a process or a system help employees serve customers and create efficiencies for the business? As you mention, processes from the Industrial Revolution were created to benefit the profit and productivity of factories. If employees couldn’t follow the processes they were simply replaced. The thought behind this is too prevalent today, and as you point out, outdated.

      Good to see you again, Suchitra. Be well.
      Shawn

      Reply to this comment

  2. Suchitra Mishra

    19. Sep, 2011

    Thanks, Shawn – you captured the essence beautifully.
    Suchitra

    Reply to this comment

  3. Brian Hagman

    19. Sep, 2011

    Great post Shawn. I really enjoy reading your content!

    Reply to this comment

  4. Mike DeWolfe

    28. Dec, 2011

    Great post! I think the concept of “we produce talent” is on par with the “resources” element of human resources. Human resources implies that the staff are resources (ie. consumables). Nature doesn’t need a corporation or a government office to exist. These organizations are solely in place for the benefit of human beings, commonly the owners, but workers should also want the business to succeed, to continue to be there because of the effort of the workers. Instead, as you said, the human element is a raw material.

    Reply to this comment

  5. curtis

    29. Dec, 2011

    excellent post — thank you!

    Reply to this comment

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