The butterfly effect is something
that has fascinated me since I started in a leadership position several years
ago. I remember making a small change to my daily routine and seeing the impact
it had on employee satisfaction and organizational culture. Because of this, I
am a firm believer in testing small changes in the workplace to prove their overall
effectiveness.
In a recent experience with the
butterfly effect, the team that I work within posted a tracker on one of the
organization’s folders to hold managers accountable to certain routines and
practices. This was never posted to a public place before, and before it was posted
the building was being scored “red” in several areas of operational
effectiveness. Since posting it to a place where the results are pronounced and
made public, performance has improved by 8% in the last 8 weeks and engagement
and performance with the building’s compliance practices have improved by 5%. The
small change will continue to help in these areas and also help with
accountability.
In another recent example our
team initiated a new process that would help with quality within our building.
It represented a small change for those actually doing it, taking an extra
15-30 minutes of their time throughout the day to help complete the process
with the help of someone else from another department. This small change has
helped decrease the amount of defects per million by 9% in just one week,
without the team members ever really thinking about the small amount of extra
work put into it every day.
The complexity theory represents competition
and progress within my organization. For example, the routines we build, the
processes we establish, the culture we maintain, and the reputation that we
have all stems from the complexity theory. What appears to be chaos and
complexity to some is actually everything the company wants it to be with order
to it. This complexity is what helps with strategy within our organization as
it forces us to take necessary steps to stay competitive. The complexity of our
industry and the customers we cater to causes us to think outside the box to
maintain our success. If we use the complexity theory as a gauge of how to
drive performance, we will constantly be looking to evolve and change into
something better, through culture, processes, practices, and strategy.
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