"A Quick Fix" - view/print this page as a .pdf (Adobe Acrobat) document.
During discussions with an ad hoc panel of experienced reviewers, The Business System Lab has been variously described as...a primer on core fundamentals...a tutorial on basic essentials...an intensive overview of guiding principles and practices...a knowledge infusion at the heart of the enterprise...and a quick fix.
The key questions leading these reviews have been: Do they need to have it? Do they want to have it? Do they already have it? Can they get it rapidly?
The "they" we're talking about are the operating-level people in an organization. The "it" is "system savvy" – i.e., a basic understanding of how a business system really works: how the functions and people fit together to create value for customers and profit for the company.
It is customary to dismiss any "quick fix" as a short term, patched-on response that only temporarily relieves symptoms of a perceived problem, and which just as quickly dissipates, thus actually making things worse over the longer term, by ignoring underlying systemic or structural matters.
But the art of truly fixing things quickly is astute diagnosis and innovative design that leads to a timely, incisive response to the targeted problem or condition; or to unrecognized or unattended gaps that exist in a system, which when filled can elevate and advance the performance of the entire system – making that fix strategic.
The 'value proposition' underlying the innovative design and delivery of The Business System Lab is that system savvy improves strategy execution, the ultimate collective organizational task – and that this is nowhere more true than at the operating level, where the day-to-day work of the firm is accomplished – that is, 'where strategy gets done, or undone.'
This critically important group of employees is often underexposed to the 'larger picture' (whether through being silo-bound, specialty-focused, overlooked, or uninterested) – but our own experience, fortified by validated workplace research, convinces us that most employees want to know not only what they are supposed to do, and how they are supposed to do it, but also why they are supposed to do it, and that they and their companies will benefit if they gain this broader perspective.
The goal is not to become expert in any of the basic dimensions of the program, but rather to rapidly gain greater awareness and confidence about how all of the parts interact, and all of the people contribute – effectively, about the reasons their and their colleagues' departments and jobs exist.
The BSL brings 'just-enough, just-in-time' learning to the right people, in the right place. The cost per individual is modest – the benefit to the organization is exponential. Please call us for a good (no obligation) "business system conversation" about a strategic quick fix for your company!
Bill Hannon and Tom Buchner - Creators / Developers / Instructors of The Business System Lab [sm]
Site last updated March 1, 2009