Make it a little better each day

I don't know about you, but I'm a big results guy. I love walking into a situation, doing a quick assessment and finding some low hanging fruit that changes my client's world. But what if the easy stuff isn't there? What if issues are deeply entrenched within the organization, their core processes, or philosophy?

In these cases, I like to approach the problem differently. I'm not even going to attempt to find the low hanging fruit. Fixing the easy stuff sometimes leads to the perception that the "problem" is fixed. In these instances, I want to sit down and really dig deep into the company's behavior, and that of its operators. I want to find that core thing which they do well, and re-define it for them. Then, we can start working on peeling away the chaff to get to the wheat.

Once we have defined that thing they do well, it is time to "...make it a little better each day..." In this instance, things aren't going to get better overnight. In fact, there will be lots of days where things get worse. My job is to help the business leaders, first see, and then move toward a better way of operating. They are not going to want to change; even though they have hired me to institute one. They are going to put undue power into the hands of the very people they don't see as the future of the company, simply because in the day-to-day operations, the leaders of the company have lost touch with their vision and are afraid to "interrupt" what is going on.

This is where the outside consultant can provide the most value. We have the ability to stand on the floor with the operators and remind them and the leaders where we are going, and how we need to behave in order to get there. And, that is how we make it "... a little better each day..."