Breaking Glass Ceilings and Walls

As owners and members of senior leadership we can often become too complacent with the level of review and scrutiny that we apply to our businesses.  I call this the “glass ceiling “ syndrome where we ease into an attitude of believing we have done all we can do and there is nothing else that can be done.

Definition
A glass ceiling or wall is something that we have allowed to be a barrier to growth, cost effectiveness, performance and/or efficiency.  These barriers get established because we get too busy, distracted by reacting to crisis, or worse, we run out of steam and energy that we should be injecting into our organization.

Examples
Even in organizations that considered themselves in good shape it is surprising what I “discover” just walking around and talking to staff and listening to their responses.  What do I find?

This is a short list of opportunities to cut cost and improve performance by:

It is always more fun to look ahead and convince we are doing the right thing by working on the crisis of the moment.  However, that gives us a false feeling of self worth and managing the company effectively.

As a result the company moves forward inefficiently and over time glass ceilings and walls evolve (ala the frog in the kettle) that consume expenses unnecessarily, create communication barriers between operations that slow down responses to customers and create inefficiencies that result in higher operating costs than necessary.

Solution
Subject your organization to regular assessment and review.  These assessments can be done using internal resources – management and/or staff – who are tasked to take a constructive (not critical) look at other operations in the company.  This will sharpen everyone’s attitude to how they are operating, using valuable financial resources, personnel, productivity, and efficiency and serving the customer.  This process done in a positive atmosphere will create significant dividends to develop the healthy cost and quality management culture in the company.

Internal reviews are very healthy and productive but do not overlook using an outside consultant or third party organization to come in to review your business and challenge how you are operating.  This approach is particularly effective when you are going through a significant transition – either up or down – where there will be a substantial change in what you will be asking your employees to do.

Bottom line; look for the glass ceilings and walls that by human nature we are prone to introduce to what we are doing.  Removing them and unleashing constraints will produce significant dividends to how your company operates and the attitude of those who are working in it.