Thought for the Day

A article in the Harvard Business Review by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras says this:

"Companies that enjoy enduring success have core values and a core purpose that remain fixed while their business strategies and practices endlessly adapt to a changing world."

Many of you know I'm a "fan" of Jim Collins...mainly because he just makes SENSE. My opinion of what he writes about is that it is just common sense. It amazes me how foreign that is to some folks....guess that should tell me something, huh?

Anyway, the point he makes in the quote is so relevant to the work we do. We, at MDC, have a core value and a core purpose...WE ALL KNOW THAT...right? The challenge before us today is to alter some of our strategies and practices to meet demand and in his words "a changing world." Do these words just seem like worthless gibberish....or do they ring true and hit home with you?

Technology is all over the "change" part....that happens for (to) us and as a result we must react to it or be left behind. Sometimes we are forced into that change by our customers within Conservation, primarily I would offer because we have failed to recognize the technology opportunity for them. Regardless, the important task is that we can implement the solution effectively for them. The challenge continues to mount for IT workers in Conservation....the daily grind of maintaining systems is eroding a significant portion of our day. We find little time to perform any real Research and Development tasks....and yet I believe, that is where our true value lies in moving Conservation forward.

We must develop ways to alter our Modus Operandi for increased efficiencies. In many cases, the very act of freeing up time will provide significant value to this group. We must find ways to reduce our time commitments assigned to "maintenance" tasks....perhaps we can automate some feature of the work we do....perhaps we can offload the task....perhaps we don't even NEED to be doing the task any longer!! Ask yourself THAT question for sure. Many times I believe as humans we fall into a routine of just performing a function without even questioning if the task needs to be done at all any longer.

Allow some time this week to ponder this: Are you trying to to adapt any of your work, strategies, and/or practices to our changing world? I hope you can answer yes to that question, because that IS our future and that IS our job.

TAFN