Process vs. People: Create a Culture of Discipline and Flexibility

Featured Article:

Autonomy or Compliance? Navigating the Balance, HBR Blog Network; Copyright 2012 Harvard Business School Publishing, 8/12/2012 by Brad Power.http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/08/how_do_you_enable_people.html.

Article Summary:

The article above raises the apprehension caused by enabling employees to use their individual judgments for customer service (autonomy) vs. restricting them to tight processing requirements (compliance). The author states that “the answer isn’t obvious” and Executive Thought Partners, LLC agrees. There is an inherent trade-off in choosing autonomy or compliance that effectively requires managers to sacrifice cost-savings or customer loyalty. The article references and quotes the work of W. Edwards Deming – the father of quality – by stating “A bad process will beat a good person every time.” This quote is very true and very sad. The author sums up the article by asking if there are “new ways” of seeing the choice of autonomy vs. compliance that can lead to better, more innovative solutions. Yes! Executive Thought Partners believes that the answer is to choose both compliance and autonomy. We call it “being both disciplined and flexible.”

Executive Thoughts as Takeaways:

1. There is an intrinsic value-added impact on cost and service by balancing both discipline and flexibility.
2. The human condition seeks certain freedoms and value-added activities to help us continue to self-actualize.
3. Leadership is the key to unlocking the balance of employee empowerment, creating highly effective performance, and realizing sustained strategic results.

Before you Kamagra kaufen better consult the doctor for complete information about the medicine and also about the precautions you need to take when using Kamagra Oral Jelly. online cialis canada Note that certain medications are not suitable commander cialis http://deeprootsmag.org/2014/02/20/right-woman-right-man/ for splitting. The availability of sample viagra prescription pills amongst others are the readily available solution to tackle this globally burning problem. The cells capacity is improved to order cialis online http://deeprootsmag.org/2018/01/22/orpheus-dont-look-back/ fill blood in the arteries and veins to energize the organs.

Significance of Takeaways:

The article references Starbucks as one of the few examples where the “tradeoff between standard procedures and individual discretion has been finessed successfully; where both together have made a better solution than either on its own.” There may be more instances than a “few” where employee empowerment created financial improvement and loyal customers. In fact, there is a report – High-Impact Learning Culture: The 40 Best Practices for Creating an Empowered Enterprise – that names several companies that created and benefited from employee empowered cultures. The report listed Aetna, Bank of New York Mellon, The Boeing Company, ING Direct, Infosys, Keller Williams Realty, Qualcomm, Telus, and Vestas. Some of these companies are market leaders and help make the case that choosing both discipline and flexibility can be profitable.

If humans were expected to comply solely, without autonomy, it could challenge the human need for freedom of choice, expression, and thought as well as the desire to add value.  Being restricted may cause employees to question their willingness to remain with an organization that does not appear to value the contributions of people over the procedure. Conversely, total freedom may lead to a lack of structure, waste, or chaos, which is not good for business either.  The struggle is similar to that of doing what is “right” vs. “good.”  In this case, “right” or being disciplined would mean following the established agreed-upon procedure, but “good” or flexibility would mean reasonably breaking said procedure to satisfy a particular customer’s need. Both flexibility and discipline are needed and fit within the human condition.

Executive Thought Partners, LLC believes – as the aforementioned companies do – superior strategic results are attainable by delivering the whole firm.   However, the organization’s business unit leaders and their managers of people are on the front-line. They are required to understand the delicate balance of discipline and flexibility and for creating an environment where the two capabilities can be delivered always.  Some well-known strategies and tactics for creating a well-balanced culture of discipline and flexibility are providing many learning and collaboration opportunities at all levels; encouraging mentoring and coaching up, down and across the organization, inviting employees into the contiguous improvement process, and rewarding them for their results.

Executive Thought Partners, LLC believes both individual discretion (flexibility) and standard procedures (discipline) are what lead to more robust solutions, not either.

We invite you to visit our site at https://executivethoughtpartners.com/ or contact us at info@executivethoughtpartners.com about this article and how our company can serve you!