I talk a lot about driving continuous improvement, trying to develop game-changing processes and innovation. I believe continuous improvement separates and differentiates people and businesses, but it isn’t always required. Sometimes, there isn’t a need to reinvent the wheel and do something drastic or new. If you’ve heard the phrase, “if ain’t broken, don’t fix it” before, then you know what I mean. Sometimes, you should choose not to change anything.
When Doing Nothing Makes Sense
If you have achieved the results you want already or know the formula to succeed with a specific initiative, don’t reinvent the wheel. You only have so much time and energy, so why bother working harder than you need to? Doing so is a significant form of waste. For example, say your team has a goal of achieving an 85% customer satisfaction result. Each month, you consistently meet and sometimes exceed that target. Clearly, you have found the formula to successfully satisfying your customers. Why then would you re-engineer processes or disrupt what’s working well? I’m all for challenging the status quo and outdated methods, but I don’t think you should rock the boat to create additional work for you or your team unless you need to do so. Sometimes, evolving your management means that you choose to keep things as they are.
Instead of Reinventing the Wheel, Look for What’s Broken
To produce more value, look at what’s not working right. If you aren’t sure where to begin, ask your team. You might find value in holding a Start, Stop, Continue session with your team or cross-functional peers to identify areas of needed improvement. Whatever you do, sometimes you need to choose to leave well enough, alone. Plus, if you go after what’s broken, your more likely to have a team motivated to tackle such projects. Everyone knows what’s a waste of time. Many will hate trying to uncover ways to improve something that already works well enough.
Quick Wins
When you focus on fixing what’s broken, you’re likely to come across lots of quick wins. Ideally, you hunt for low effort and high reward initiatives as they bring the most value overall. If you choose to invest time and energy going after something that works well, you’ll find that the payoff will often be minimal. I think of these efforts as “time-wasters” and busy-work. Many ineffective leaders out there love to bog their team down with these types of tasks. Don’t let yourself become one of these leaders.
One Last Thought
Time is the one resource we can never get back once it’s gone. Use it wisely and prioritize the right things for you and your team to work on. Whatever you do, make sure you remember the wheel works perfectly fine, so there’s no need to reinvent it. Find something that is broken and improve that instead.
