An article by Scott Williams
published on 26 Aug 2023
Transforming how your organisation works is all about the people…and how you distribute the money.
In this OPS:Innovator podcast episode, I spoke with James Morris about transforming ways of working. This kind of conversation often becomes fluffy, with the whole thing staying focused on high-level principles instead of getting practical roadblocks and recommendations. So, it was nice to get into the meat of it, after a quick detour to talk about coffee and tea, of course.
Here’s the tl;dr:
- To get better at how you work, you have to keep practising.
- Certifications are helpful but are no replacement for practical experience.
- How you measure people has a significant impact on where they focus.
- Think differently about how you fund your entire business to make the whole organisation work better.
In this inaugural show, James talks about how, just like with any hobby, constantly improving how you work takes practice too. It’s a fascinating point and not a view most people think to take. But what’s the difference between getting better at football and getting better at delivering? Nothing, really…other than the team you are practising with. With repetition, you learn which moves to make and which slow you down. You uncover the best times to take the lead and run with it (whatever “it” is) or pass it to someone else who might be in a better position to move things in the right direction.
And just like with any activity, a set of fundamentals, or a particular foundation, is assumed when any group of professionals come together and strive towards a specific outcome. So, despite people like me not putting much stock in formalised certifications, there is value in what you get from them. The common language, shared understanding, and baseline comprehension mean everyone can get going with what matters instead of haggling over terms and techniques.
If James is correct, then it follows that we should be finding ways to creatively invest in our people’s professional development and growth as much as possible and in whatever ways are available to us.
He talks about “the work taking care of itself”. Now, before you have a meltdown, no one is recommending that we ignore good, appropriate governance. The “lean” in Lean Governance isn’t synonymous with “skinny”.
What it really comes down to is high-performing teams. In most cases, if you put talented people into the right environment with the appropriate context, support and empowerment, they tend to get good work done. Yes, that is a generalisation, but you will find that, more often than not, it turns out to be true. It comes down to this: Investing in your people IS investing in your business, so take it just as seriously and consider it in the priorities for your operational effort.
And, when it comes to solving crucial operational problems, James was clear on where to focus. Despite what formed as a recurring “get rid of the board” statement (which was just a joke, by the way), he recommends thinking differently about how you distribute funding inside your organisation.
The interesting part was that he’s not talking about a more streamlined process for costing and allocating budget to projects. In fact, this part of the conversation focused on how you could treat everything that happens in your organisation as business as usual. We can’t pretend that this kind of approach is easy, and it will take a significant re-evaluation of how you organise and operate (which are two different things). Depending on the size of your business, it can also be “expensive” if all you look at is the raw people cost in isolation. However, when you look at the bigger picture, including the overall reduction in overhead and other non-value-delivering activity, you are likely to find that the totals are not all that different.
To hear more of this conversation or those with any of our other notable guests, check out OPS:Innovator wherever you get your podcasts or find all our shows on YouTube.
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