You’re probably getting the results your processes are designed to deliver.

I see it every day, in all walks of life – good people giving their all but not producing the kind of outcomes they, or anyone else, wants. Are they happy in their work? Of course not, most carry on and do their best simply because they care; they achieve what they do in spite of, not because of “the system”.

Adding insult to injury are those who, when looking for changes, focus on people – often by adding more targets and measures and then castigating those who “fail” to achieve them. The system is sacrosanct, “we have always done it this way” or “that is the way it has been decided”. People, however, are not responsible for the system in which they work, if the system is not fit for purpose then they cannot succeed. Deming1 summed it up nicely;

“A bad system will beat a good person every time”

Try my new game, find the leadership!

I have spoken to a number of people recently where the term ‘change management’ has been mentioned. I found the image above on Google and it is consistent with a number of such images.

In my 10 year corporate life at DuPont I was on the receiving end of three change programmes. They were much the same thing, new name, new consultants, and none of them delivered the results. All were process lead and while culture and leadership got a mention no fundamental behavioural changes were noticeable amongst the leadership teams so nothing really changed.