Often, we’re away from the workplace, I’m talking about the place where all the work actually gets done. Not your office, but your front line. As leaders we play a significant part in defining how the work gets done. But what plays an even larger part is the things that we don’t see, everything we didn’t consider when we delegated the task to other people.
I’m not talking about people slacking off when you’re not there. I’m referring to all the small, well intentioned actions that contribute to screwing the job up. These small screw-ups eat away at our efficiency and margin and keep us from getting on top of things.
Getting up and going to look at the work being done is a total game changer. You’ll find stupid thing, simply amazing things and amazingly simple things! You’ll find out what’s really going on, bad and good! Work to eliminate the bad methods and replace them with the good methods you find.
I find team members have cranky or odd ways of working because they don’t have a full understanding of the whole job or the customers’ needs. Equally, you may not have a full understanding of the challenges your team members have in delivering elements of your products and services. You don’t need to come up with all the answers. With a simple discussion with your team, together you’ll complete each other’s view of the whole job. You’ll find that the best way of doing something will present itself!