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Improve Your Business by By Terry Bragg To err is human. When problems occur in business, people usually blame individuals first. They blame their coworkers, bosses, suppliers, or customers. They usually blame everyone except themselves. How often have you heard a business owner or manager complain that if they only had good people, they would solve all their problems? The reasoning goes that if someone hadn’t made a mistake, then the problem wouldn’t have occurred. If people had only done the right thing or done it the right way or hadn’t done something, then everything would be okay. The complainers don’t recognize that they will never have the right people if they have faulty work systems. To err is also systemic. Often the primary cause of the error is the system itself, not the people working within the system. Caution: This does not abdicate people of responsibility for their mistakes. Instead, it opens the potential for preventing human error by improving our work systems. According to W. Edwards Deming, the quality management guru, 85 percent of the problems we face in business are systems related, and only 15 percent are people related. People who blame people for mistakes are usually focusing on the wrong thing. Particularly if the mistakes are repetitive. Taking a systems approach to improving work processes has many advantages. First, it gets you out of the blaming mode. Instead of blaming people, you can look for ways to improve your work system. Second, it focuses you on creating or changing systems to reduce mistakes and problems. If the system causes the problem, then you can prevent the problem by changing the system. The goal becomes to design work systems so that it’s difficult to make mistakes. This is a radically different goal than finding the right people. Let’s get real. If your work processes are dependent upon having the "right people," you’re setting yourself up for failure because you’ll never have the "right people" to do everything perfectly. Remember, "to err is human." You can develop systems that reduce the probability of making mistakes, and reduce the cost of mistakes when they occur. Improve your work systems and you become less dependent upon people. When examining work processes, take a systems approach by analyzing and understanding four specific things: 1. The overall system. Examine the inputs, outputs, and feedback loops in the system. 2. The interconnectedness of the subsystems. Look at how work processes interrelate and affect each other. Look for interdependencies. 3. How the system fits into the environment. Work doesn’t take place in a vacuum. Look at the social and business environment and how your work system fits into that environment. 4. "What if" scenarios. Anticipate potential problems and determine their probable impact. Evaluate the consequences if someone did something incorrectly. Consider possible "what ifs"— what if a procedure failed, or what if a piece of equipment malfunctioned. Although you can’t prevent all problems, you can learn from them. After an error occurs, look for ways you can prevent the error in the future? Create checklists, protocols, procedures, and guidelines for preventing mistakes from recurring. Two types of errors occur in business: human error and systems error. You can prevent errors from recurring by redesigning your work processes to make the mistakes less likely to happen. Terry Bragg and Peacemakers Training offers a variety of tools for promoting, maintaining, and recognizing excellence in your workplace. We also offer tools for helping you achieve and maintain personal excellence. To learn more about these tools, click here: Tools for Workplace and Personal Excellence To find out more about Terry's book, 31 Days to High Self-Esteem, click here: 31 Days to High Self-Esteem To learn more about onsite seminars and workshops for improving interpersonal relationships, resolving conflict, and promoting and maintaining excellence in your workplace, click here: Seminars & Workshops ©2001 All rights reserved Terry Bragg•Peacemakers Training Terry Bragg runs a company called Peacemakers Training in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is the author of the book 31 Days to High Self-Esteem. He works with organizations to create a workplace where people want to work, and with managers who want their people to work together better. If you want your organization or your people to have more energy, more trust, more respect, and more meaning, please contact him at: Peacemakers Training Subscribe to our Free
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