Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.
I have always been amused by this comment from Henry Ford. But that was not why I read the article about the turnaround at Ford - Turnaround delivered, focus on succession at Ford. I guess in this day and age, where companies are struggling to keep costs low and increase their market share, such news is rare.
When I read about the 5 steps crucial to the turnaround, I wasn't surprised. Right there, at the top was the single-most important thing - PEOPLE. Yes, people who come to work every day and spend a better part of the day at office. People, who sweep aside their personal worries and sorrows to concentrate on job at hand. People, who take pride in what they do and try to do it a little better every day. Well, if not all the people in the company, then at least a sizable chunk of them. Or else the recruitment process is so flawed that there is no point in talking about the turnaround.
And yet, sadly, in my career so far, I have seen people being pushed to the bottom of the ladder of priorities. This, despite the fact, that it is hard to find good, dedicated, honest people who know how to do their job. No wonder so many companies get into trouble.
No.2 and 3 are vision and strategy. Oh yes, the trio of VMS. Wonder what happened to the Mission bit. :-)
No. 4 is implementation. No two opinions about that. A project implemented efficiently, on time and with impeccable quality simply cannot be beaten as the best form of advertisement. And yet that's the area we continue to falter in.
Finally, step No. 5 - culture. I don't even want to go there. Seriously.
So my takeaway from this article - people and implementation. As a project manager, if I can keep my eyes glued on the two, I should be fine.
I have always been amused by this comment from Henry Ford. But that was not why I read the article about the turnaround at Ford - Turnaround delivered, focus on succession at Ford. I guess in this day and age, where companies are struggling to keep costs low and increase their market share, such news is rare.
When I read about the 5 steps crucial to the turnaround, I wasn't surprised. Right there, at the top was the single-most important thing - PEOPLE. Yes, people who come to work every day and spend a better part of the day at office. People, who sweep aside their personal worries and sorrows to concentrate on job at hand. People, who take pride in what they do and try to do it a little better every day. Well, if not all the people in the company, then at least a sizable chunk of them. Or else the recruitment process is so flawed that there is no point in talking about the turnaround.
And yet, sadly, in my career so far, I have seen people being pushed to the bottom of the ladder of priorities. This, despite the fact, that it is hard to find good, dedicated, honest people who know how to do their job. No wonder so many companies get into trouble.
No.2 and 3 are vision and strategy. Oh yes, the trio of VMS. Wonder what happened to the Mission bit. :-)
No. 4 is implementation. No two opinions about that. A project implemented efficiently, on time and with impeccable quality simply cannot be beaten as the best form of advertisement. And yet that's the area we continue to falter in.
Finally, step No. 5 - culture. I don't even want to go there. Seriously.
So my takeaway from this article - people and implementation. As a project manager, if I can keep my eyes glued on the two, I should be fine.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment