Analytical Minds Create Mischief
Aren’t people who ask questions irritating? Ask an analyst and people who don’t are. Why? It’s the desire to work out the logic so that it is understood. This desire peeks its head around the corner when you start shifting from theory, concept, and vision to execution and implementation.
For many people in business, this is one reason IT looks like an alien and is so irritating. The reason is that normally individual business people see their own domain of work and usually don’t get into the details with what they are doing. So when IT comes around and starts asking questions, like why something is done or a particular way, there is resistance.
This is one of the areas projects go downhill and great company friction towards progress occurs. Why? How would you like a person “snooping” around asking question like “why are you doing X vs. Y when Y can be done in 10 minutes versus several days?” Part of the natural drive is to be as efficient as possible. However, most jobs address an area of work originally believed to be manual…hence requiring an employee/consultant. Trying to make things more efficient, and oftentimes automated, results in a very unsettling feeling in the general workforce. Sometimes you’ll get a complete lack of cooperation to just answering questions, or worse someone maliciously leading you down the wrong path. Eventually the truth will come out, but they can buy time or cause havoc just because they are afraid.
This is where business leadership and management needs to be heavily involved. They need to identify what they are going to do and answer a critical question: Invest or Save. The gut call and view from most companies is to save. Saving is simply the focus on less…reducing expenses given the new efficiencies. Investing focuses on saying “now that we have this pocket of people, resources, and time…how can we use that opportunity to positively transform the organization.” Investing can be a bit harder a call. Even with efficiencies, some base expense usually remains which makes what was automated an extra cost. They also have to know what those areas are to invest in or spend the time figuring it out. Assuming you have quality employees, you can endure the cost burden temporarily, and you want your org to grow…you should almost always be looking to invest.
If, in the unfortunate circumstances, savings is the right outcome…management needs to do two things. First, a thoughtful off-boarding program should be put into place. Second, every single role that is targeted to be reduced should be told and the program covered. This is a complicated call because you still need/want their assistance until the efficiencies are put into place. However, if you surprise them a month away from letting them go you will suffer a bad reputation for how you handled it all. Help them out so that they get a job at another company immediately after the project is done. If you are upfront with them and work with them, you will have given them the lead time needed to find a job that works well for them and not a last minute job because they need the cash and are in a panic. It is definitely up to your own good judgment because even though you might be very thoughtful to those roles being reduced, the people in the roles might not reciprocate and simply move on.
If your employees know that you are of the investing mindset or just how reasonable/thoughtful your “savings program” is you’ll have far less friction towards progress. Employees that can’t deal with the realities of that style may leave. If they do, wish them well and let them go. Most companies have struggles to find people that fully jive with their own culture, let alone needed skillets. You are rarely going to make someone fit with your company. They either do or don’t.
Invest or Save……your choice.
Originally published: 12/4/2013
