Reengineer the Machine

I would like to begin this week answering an email I received from a friend who noted even though much of our topics are business related, he can as easily transfer and incorporate them within his personal life. Well, of course and isn’t that really the point? My greatest role is being Co-Chairman of my household and where much of the communications tools discussed here are first test-marketed.

I was recently called by the Chairman & CEO of a Fortune 1000 company seeking my council on the development of “Interpersonal Relationships” within an organization.

He was aware that our company has in the past 24 months, as James Champy wrote, “Reengineered the machine” and took a thriving multi-million dollar company and blew it up (money and lifestyle be dammed!) in order to build a company that would be more suited to the new world of business. (I will write about this in future blogs, in between my therapy sessions and meetings with my suicidal accountant.)

Although he was not looking for those types of extreme measures, he wisely determined that business has changed drastically in the past decade.

I pointed out that in the early 2000’s we began to see the business paradigm shifting from a top-down approach to a bottom-up approach. Employees, as well as customers and clients, were beginning to drive the direction of companies like never before. However, for the same reason, the first approach finally crumbled, we concluded that this is why the “new” approach was riddled with flaws and would soon follow suit.

As such, we created and implemented a different structure: “Circular Communications.” We determined that information had become extremely ubiquitous, speed to market in which businesses would be forced to operate in the future would be on hyper-drive, and why, for many without the benefit of proprietary products, they would become a commodity. As such, if the product playing field will soon become equaled, the way you communicate and deliver your product needs to be more efficient.

In Circular Communications, every person within the organism plays a vital role and is heard, they become an active participant and “ideas” shared and weighted equally. There is still a hierarchy and decisions can still be made at the top, but now with all understanding the process. You would be amazed at how much of a difference this structure will improve business, increase company moral, communication and loyalty. Most importantly, it positively impacts interpersonal relationships.

We determined to best implement long-term change, focus should begin on the following: broadening interpersonal relationships throughout the numerous department channels, sharing knowledge in an open forum, providing tools to encourage discussions, creating metrics to define successes and implementing key findings to guide the future growth of their business.

For my friend who emailed me, all of these are the same channels one can use to build a stronger family dynamic.

How are your current communications structured in your work, relationships and family? Are you operating on a linear or circular format? Are you encouraging, optimizing and empowering everyone within the system?

All my best,
Greg

Greg Salsburg
The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | New York | London
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: greg@STIR-Communications.com