If it ain't broken, don't fix it. This is the way we used to work. So why bother?

A young man started his career with a bright outlook at one of the Fortune 500 company. After the first couple of years there, he felt he got stuck because he was passed any promotion one after one, and thought it must be something wrong about his performance. In order to find out why, he started eagerly seeking wisdom from anyone, especially from the senior level of leadership. He felt it is the best way to learn from a more experienced and knowledgeable person so he could fit in this company better and hopefully got promoted in the next year. He finally had a chance to talk to the Vice President of Information Technology over a lunch break after his repeatedly requests

The older man, VP of IT, said to him. “Young man, I am glad to show you what I have learned and known in my 20 plus years here. So tell me what you have in mind?” The young man thanked him and started laying out what his problem was. After listened carefully to what the young man had to say, the VP cleared his throat and said in a very clam voice to this confused young man. “Yes, I understand completely what your problem is and actually I had the exactly same problem years ago until I met my monitor, who taught me the secrete of success”. The young man anxiously asked “Could you please tell me that? I promise I won't tell anyone else”. The VP laughed at him and said “That won't be necessary. Everyone knows this secrete here. It is just no one taking about it, and whoever followed it better who got promoted to a higher position. The secrete is “If it ain't broken, don't fix it.”. The young man thanked the wise older man again and started practicing what he learned from that very same day. This confused young man got promoted to a manager in a year later, in a note thanking to the wise man, who is the Sr. VP of IT now, by saying “Thank you, Sir, so much for the secrete. Without knowing this I would remain in my previous position today.”

Is there anything wrong in this picture? It is a happy ending for both men, Right? Not really at all because...

An enterprise likes any living organ has life of its own. When its people start saying “This is how we used to work”, “If it is not broken, don't fix it.” over and over again, the company stops its growth, and so its death follows. There have been numerous examples of this phenomena across any place and any time in the history. As living organs require nutrition to grow, so do enterprises need resources, time and efforts. The appetite of seeking better ways creates effective and efficiency within an organization and it generates advantages.

What is advantage then? Advantage is “any state, circumstance, opportunity, or means specially favorable to success, interest, or any desired end:”(1) So you may think now I will success once I possess an advantage, right? Well, you may be wrong. If your competitors are good copycats, then your advantage will disappear in no time. Only armed with continuous advantages, an organization will be able to sustain its growth over time.
So will you say “Nope. If it ain't broken, don't fix it. This is how we used to work”?
Let's think about it.
Next time we shall look at how to look for advantages.
(1) http://dictionary.reference.com

Alex’s Angle:優勢指的是……

如果不打破既有思維，不解決這個已經存在的不成功的方式，而只是想「這是我們既有的工作方式，何必呢？」那會怎麼樣？

一名年輕男子開始了他的職業生涯，在財富500強公司之一任職，具有光明的前景。經過幾年工作時間，他覺得他有了工作障礙，因為他使用了很多的行銷活動，不間斷地一個接一個，可是結果都不令人滿意，似乎他的專業有了問題。為了找出原因及最好的解決方式，他開始急切地從任何人那裡尋求智慧的解答，尤其是較資深的高層。他覺得這是最好的學習方式：向經驗豐富、知識淵博的人學習。如此一來他可以更融入這家公司，也比較有希望在來年得到晉升。終於在他再三請求下，公司的資訊副總裁在午休後和他聊聊了。

年長的IT副總裁，他說：「年輕人，我很樂意用我20多年的經驗來為你解答。所以，告訴我你有什麼疑問？」年輕人謝過他，並開始說明問題是什麼。仔細聆聽年輕人所說的，副總裁清了清嗓子，告訴這困惑的年輕人：「是的，我完全明白你的問題是什麼，其實幾年前我也是和你一樣的，直到我遇到了我的引導者。」這位年輕男子焦急地問：「能否請你告訴我？我保證，我不會告訴任何人。」副總裁微笑，他說：「這沒有必要。大家都知道這個祕密，只是沒有人提及它。擁有祕密而不說出的人，會被提升到一個更高的位置。這個祕密就是：「如果它不出差錯，就不解決它。」年輕的男子再次感謝聰明的老男人，並開始練習他在這天所學到的東西。這位困惑的年輕男子在一年內獲得晉升經理後，在一張字條中表示感謝這位聰明的人，而他就是現在IT的高級副總裁。字條說：「謝謝你，如果不知道這祕密。我想會我只能留在我以前位置上而已。」

這故事有什麼錯嗎？，這是一個皆大歡喜的結局，不是嗎？然而其實不是真的美滿結束的，因為在所有企業中……

任何企業都有它自己的生命力。當人們開始說「這是我們以前如何使用工作的方式。」、「如果它不出差錯，就不用解決它。」一遍又一遍，企業將停止其成長，接著將是死亡。歷史上已經有無數的例子，而且這種現象發生在任何地方和任何時間的歷史。就如生物為了成長需要營養，企業成長需要資源、時間和精力，創建有效的組織和效率來尋求並使用更好的方法，這樣才能產生優勢。

優勢是什麼呢？優勢是任何國家中、任何情況下，在機會或方法中特別有利於成功、興趣、慾望的因子。所以你可能認為我會成功，我擁有優勢嗎？那麼，你可能是錯誤的。如果你的競爭對手是很好的模仿者，那麼你的優勢就會消失在任何時間。優勢沒有時間性。你想擁有持續性的成長，只有順應時間的推移變化，以不斷的優勢維持企業的成長。

所以你還會說「只要它不出差錯，就不用解決它。這是我們既有工作方式」而已嗎？

大家想想吧！

下一次，我們來看看如何尋找優勢。