Are Your Systems Obsolete?

Recently, following a request made by a client, I compiled a list of the 25  most important lessons I’ve learned in my 30 + years of working with over 500 organizations as a B2B  sales expert  and Christian business thought leader.  In no particular order, here’s one of the 25:

            If we are going to succeed in these rapidly changing times, we need to adapt new strategies and disciplines that keep us and our organizations changing along with the pace of change around us.

           It is unfortunately true that most of the policies and procedures that dictate our activities on a day-to-day basis are vestiges of days gone by, designed to be effective in a world that no longer exists. In other words, most business systems teeter on being obsolete.

           Let me illustrate.  I am often called on to examine a company’s sales compensation plan.  Almost invariably, when I ask why they have the plan they have, the answer is , “Because it’s the plan we have.” 

           In other words, the only reason for the plan is history.     At some point in the past, someone designed the plan to accomplish something. The rationale has been lost, the situation it was designed for has long since faded away, but the plan remains. Since then, it has been easier to deal with day-to-day issues than to redesign a piece of the company’s infrastructure. 

           While that is often the situation with sales compensation plans, it is not unique to them.  That’s just one example of a situation which impacts all kinds of organizational systems.  When I look at the other fundamental infrastructure elements in a business – the policies, the procedures the that dictate daily activity, almost all of them have the same history – they were created at some time in the past by other people for a long-gone situation.  As such, they can rarely be defended as effective.  They just are... CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE