Progress Shouldn’t Slow You Down
How can making progress…slow you down?
It sounds like it shouldn’t make sense – progress is suppose to mean things are getting better, faster, stronger, more effective, more fulfilling, more powerful. Yes?
For companies though, progress can carry with it some extra weight:
##As a company grows it slows.
Often, progress starts to really manifest after a company gets its around effective systemization. Things can start moving faster in the direction it set out on.
The risk here, is turning that vehicle into a train – very powerful at going where it was designed to go, but not very good at finding new routes should its path become less effective.
In that instance, the system made the mistake of forgetting the genius behind masters who designed it.
##Team members must be freed, for speed.
Companies can’t just stay the same forever.
Industries change. Customer habits change. The problems people are trying to solve, change.
The locomotive that systemized away the steering wheel can’t react to such obstacles in its path.
When creating progress – when scaling your operation – remember that what works today, will need relentless ongoing optimization and even occasional pivoting in order to keep the machine on track.
That means enabling the genius trapped in your team free to refine the machine, and steer when necessary. That’s what will keep you nimble, relevant, effective.
The fastest on the buzzer still wins.