On the Importance of Systems

“Your System is perfectly designed to get the results that you get.”

This was a comment made by a consultant in 1996 when I was working as a manufacturing engineer at Mayville Metal Products in Mayville, Wisconsin. I was a shiny new engineer, fresh out of college, and their comment generated a clarity that 4 years of instruction never did: Any activity, whether it’s a process, a culture, a strategic plan, or development program, is based on the system you used to generate it. It’s been a long time since then, but that phrase has stuck with me for the past 28 years. (As an aside, MMP closed years ago last time I checked…)

Another good one I heard lately is that “People don’t rise to the level of their goals, they fall to the performance of their systems.” This too suggests that a successful business is much more than just setting and hitting a target. It’s one thing to set a goal of running 10 miles once, it’s completely different to establish a training system that allows you to run 10 miles day after day.?

Your business is a system. Stuff goes in, and stuff comes out. Picture a grouping of gears all working together to move a part on a conveyor. If all the gears are in sync, you have success. If anything is out of alignment, things go wrong. Systems are much the same - interlocked and dependent - all needing to work together to produce an outcome.

The stuff going in: Scheduling, planning, people, engineering, materials, production & quality, marketing, sales & countless strategies. And all of these have sub-systems that make them operate exactly how they are operating.

The stuff coming out: profits (hopefully), reputation, employee retention, satisfied customers, growth, success!?

When there is something that is not working in your business, in your area of responsibility, it is of critical importance to review the system that generated the result. This can often lead to uncomfortable realities, “This happened because I allowed it to happen!” Many people struggle with this process because often as a leader the solution is self-improvement. Like it or not, PEOPLE are the highest generators of positive or negative performance in any business. As you move up in the leadership ranks, your ability to manage, motivate, and connect with people becomes more important. Your ability to know the technical side of things, put information into a spreadsheet and make pretty charts less so. If you are a leader of any sort, your business is people. And every system contains people, doing what they are doing based on the inputs they get within the system. Every Leadership team needs to understand this.?

Let’s say Joe is a guy in your engineering group who is not performing well. He’s arrogant, doesn’t listen to people, is constantly behind, but at the same time is the only person around who knows how to operate the super special thingamabob. The simple truth is that Joe needs to go. And this is where many people stop. Because exploring how this situation happened reveals weaknesses within the system, themselves and others.

Let’s use 5-whys from Root Cause Corrective Action methods to drill down into this example:?

1. Why did we get into a situation where Joe was so difficult and so critical at the same time? Joe knew how to operate the thingamabob and no one wanted to work with him to learn it because of his attitude. Maybe the manager didn’t force the issue for the same reasons and didn't want to deal with Joe.
2. Why was Joe allowed to be on the team with the attitude he had??The idea of dealing with Joe for the improvement of the business was overruled by the anticipated anxiety of having the conversation with someone so difficult.?
3. Why was the idea of this conversation so daunting? You could say it was Joe’s fault, but this is the hard truth - the manager was not prepared, or lacked the confidence to have that conversation and avoided the issue. Citing the importance of the thingamabob as a “get out of the conversation” free card. The manager didn’t understand they were in the People Business.
4. Why was the manager unprepared, or unwilling to have the conversation? We’d have to break this out into a number of potential causes; (1) Perhaps they lack training? How strong is our EDP? (2) Perhaps they didn't have upper management support? Maybe someone was supporting Joe? (3) Perhaps the manager is not the right fit? How would the hiring process capture that?
5. Why do the existing business systems allow this sort of situation to develop? Ultimately this is the heart of the matter and the path to a true solution. How solid is the management training program? How interested is the manager in their own development so they don’t wind up in this situation again? How vested is top management in their own development and the development of their teams? And how committed are they to holding the line with their values and vision for the company?

In many companies, the example above is all too relevant. So many places finally face their immediate issues and release that person to find another path, but very few actually look at how the situation developed. Instead it’s “Whew! Glad that’s over!” and they haven’t changed anything. It’s only a matter of time until the same situation develops in another part of the business.?

The point of this is to recognize that the result generated by the system - in this case an employee who was not desired but was in a critical position - is the perfect outcome for the system that is in place. The system allowed someone like this to get into a key position. The system allowed for a manager to be unprepared to address issues. The system allowed for all of these variables to happen, which generated the outcome.

If there is true desire to “fix” the system so this doesn’t happen, things can change. But everyone has to be willing to change, even you. Do we update our interview process? Do we teach our managers how to be more accountable with their teams? Do we find better ways to support our management team so they are confident having these conversations? How do we find people that will be good managers in the new system? How are we encouraging behaviors we want, while discouraging behaviors we don’t?

These are great issues to address during your Strategic Planning meetings. Along with plans for higher revenue, increased capacity and profitability, how are you updating your “people” systems? I challenge you to have tough conversations with your leadership team! If they are willing to admit weaknesses, pursue improvement, and strive to be better, you are well on your way to creating an effective system for your business.?

As always, I am more than happy to talk with you in more detail about your particular situation! I’ve spent 30 years in manufacturing and plan on many more. I love developing teams and systems that support your dreams for the future! Drop me a DM and let’s talk!

MJ