I started writing this on the 25th of August at 35,000 feet somewhere above the Pacific Ocean. The day is a significant one – my Practice turns 9 and my older son 20! It was exactly 10 years ago, in 2014, while being overseas for work with my then employer, I had my moment of inspiration to do something different. I loved my job, but I was spending far too much time in hotels, planes and lounges which kept me away from my family.
I knew what I had to do – venture on my own where I can be with the family more, but I didn’t know exactly how. About 10 months later, an opportunity presented itself in the form of a redundancy option. I then waited for a few more weeks and registered the business on my son’s 11th b’day in 2015. His thoughtful little face with innocent eyes looking up and asking me if I could do less travelling, every time I was about go on a work trip, had been tugging at my heartstrings in the preceding years.
Here’s what I’ve learnt over the last 9 years, from two perspectives – mindset in general and Operational Excellence (OpEx) deployments:
Mindset: Purpose – When making major decisions, whether in life or in business, the ‘WHY’ needs to be strong, meaningful and clear (as emphasised by Simon Sinek). My first-born son’s b’day keeps my WHY fresh, strong and connected in my mind all the time.
Mindset: Coach – When doing anything significantly different, get a coach. It makes a massive difference to know that you’re on the right path and how to fast-track results. I’ve had three business coaches over the years, the current one since 2018.
Mindset: Gratitude – Practicing being grateful helps to stay grounded and connected to your journey. I’ve found it helpful to be grateful for the simple things we have in life that we take for granted. The perspectives you discern and the decisions you make will be very different when you practice gratitude daily.
OpEx: People – Operational Excellence journeys are more about the people in the business than the tools and techniques used. We, as leaders, often tend to fix the issues for the people rather than with the people. Get them involved and you will improve both productivity and engagement.
OpEx: Complexity – Businesses have over complicated processes and problem-solving techniques. OpEx in a nutshell is about how you: 1) Focus day-to-day through effective huddle meetings that tells you if you’re winning or losing, 2) Improve quarter-by-quarter with cross-functional teams following a structured problem-solving process and 3) Inspire Year-on-Year through a strategic plan that explains where the organisation will be in 3-5 years and how you will get there.
OpEx: Capability – A lot of organisations are operating sub-optimally. The leader is solving the problems that the leadership team should be solving, leadership team is solving the problems the managers should focus on, the managers are focusing on issues that the frontline leaders should deal with and finally, frontline leaders are fixing issuers that their teams should working on. This issue seriously hampers productivity.
When you’re on a journey to excellence leveraging Operational Excellence tools to improve productivity, engagement and culture, remember that slow is fast, less is more, and progress is better than perfection.
As I reflect upon myself and my journey at this ninth year mark, I am glad I did venture on this path.
