Maybe it’s time to introduce Total Common Sense
Total Quality Management (TQM) is dead.
- What became of Quality, Kaizen, Business Excellence, Continuous Improvement, 7 Habits (in all its 7 versions!!) when the going got tough?
- Where did the leadership skills and challenging management theories run too and why?
- What can we do now, to get our businesses back on track?
Here is an old thought, with a new acronym for us to ponder. TCS.
TCS sets about doing what it says – managing businesses by applying some Total Common Sense. Seems obvious, but how many organizations are actually doing this right now, rather than looking to draconian cuts in the name of survival?
The businesses that we work with demonstrate the complexity that is inbuilt in every entity that has experienced considerable growth in the past 20 “good years”. Technology changes that tried to link with past legacy systems, processes that were bolted-on without any care for efficiency, and people that were seen more as a resource than an asset (in spite of more buzz word Corporate University initiatives). With the global economic crises, we know it is time to step back and look at just how businesses are structured and managed to ensure future survival, stability and growth.
Many of our clients claim to be customer centric or focused – or at least aware. They provide for internal and external customers who are, more often than not, neither measured nor continually assessed – a missed opportunity that should be blindingly obvious in any service or production industry. We also see many organizations that place analytical solutions as the determinant of customer selection and risk management – then during execution completely dislocate the decision engine from the outcome, resulting in poor acquisition, management and risk impaired losses.
A lack of vision, communication, and investment in people is a contributing factor to why western businesses have failed to deliver the dream. They simply became too arrogant, complex and wound up believing in their own rhetoric. These businesses need to rediscover their Competitive Edge, and how it may be delivered effectively and efficiently throughout the entire supply chain.
fasEo Consulting TCS has a simple ethos. “Seek first to understand client needs – and in turn their customer requirements. Then collaborate on effective processes to deliver the promise. Listen to the people”. We work with senior management groups to assist them in redefining the business vision – then finding every possible channel to disseminate and communicate to all stakeholder groups, including most importantly the workforce. We believe that the people who do the work at all levels can and should be accountable for making their business perform better. The management group has to support the improvement process across the whole enterprise. Everyone must embrace change.
Don’t get us wrong. We are not preaching anarchy in the workplace. Nor are we saying that sticking to the knitting and doing things in the old way is the best solution. Far from it. Not one company has the luxury to remain complacent – there is simply too much to lose and so much talent at risk. When global economies are placing many companies on a knife edge – it is a time that we could individually all do with a little TLC and our business leaders should embrace TCS.
fasEo Consulting have devised a common sense Health Check approach that runs a quick diagnostic on the enabling aspects of leadership, people management, policy, process alignment and effectiveness – to ensure that the stakeholders are optimizing the opportunities for sustained performance.
For more information about taking steps for rediscovery, visit www.faseo.com and download the briefing paper on “Business Health Check”.
FasEo LLC is a Business Experience Consulting firm, located in Connecticut US and London UK. It is managed by practitioners who have dynamic track records in business start-ups and development across Europe and North America.
