I’m sharing this image that I love because it perfectly describes what for me is one of the biggest difficulties we encounter when making process improvements in businesses and companies.
You can find the same image in many different formats (there’s a very funny one with Lego figures), but they are all equally true.
The image is quite self-explanatory. All companies have, to a greater or lesser extent, a logical interest in improving their processes, increasing their efficiency, and reducing their costs.
At least, this is what any person or company will firmly state, but reality is not as simple as theory. When it comes to implementing improvements or solutions, what we often actually encounter are phrases like:
- “I haven’t been able to test that, I’ve been very busy”
- “We should improve the processes, but there’s never any time”
- “I don’t know why it needs to be changed, we’ve always done it this way”
It’s true that we all always have a lot of work and it’s hard to find time to try new things. It’s also true that certain people show a predisposition against changes, which can cause reluctance and discomfort.
However, we must get used to the idea that every improvement is necessarily a change, and the only way to improve is to embrace changes, even if it means leaving our comfort zone. On the other hand, your job and daily tasks will never give you time to test and make improvements if you don’t make the effort to find it.
So now you know, neither lack of time, nor being too busy, nor being afraid to leave your comfort zone are valid excuses for not trying to improve. Precisely, the greater the workload, the greater the need to try new methods and improve processes.
