Align organisation towards your goal
Changing organizations is in almost all cases a matter of many small steps . In many change processes are often, much smaller operational issues overlooked because people prefer dealing with major issues and ignore the goals of the organisation.
However, all these smaller operational issues are essential . Those are the things that bother your employees to act to the best of their performance and to carry out their work. The often one-sided focus on major issues leads to tunnel vision , making real change does not become effective . Your implementation is technically successful, but nobody acts upon it.
Visualization of the problem is often the best way to clarify the problem. In the figure below you can see a conceptual representation of the problem . The round figures are the sub-objectives of the organization , where the red box is the main objective . The diagonal stripes are the processes, systems and human competences in the organization that are not in line with the main objective .
The effect is obvious. The path that employees committed , is full of obstacles making them take the wrong direction with the ultimate result that they realize the wrong target .
In the second figure, the processes, systems and human competencies are aligned with the main objective . All possible obstacles are cleared so that employees have a clear view of the main objective , which they can also achieve .
These are just two simple figures , but do provide the core problem faced by many change projects . If you make a ishikawa analysis, you can make this clear to the organization using this simple concept . All issues you note down in your ishikawa can be put down as the diagonal stripes as were the red box is your main objective. This provides focus and motivation thereby solving and removing the barriers easier and faster.
And if you ask what the relation is with the title. A former television show in the eighties, used a similar bin in which at the base a marmot was placed. This marmot then ran as quickly as possible to the other side. Depending which round box it entered, a price was assigned. Of course the red box represented the main price. I won’t suggest that employees are like marmots. They are obviously much smarter then that. However, as the marmots, we are being mainly managed by the situation were in. If that situation is not optimal, it will drive us in the wrong direction. Even against our best intention.
