Stop Stalling: Authors suggest way to save your company from procrastination From the Washington Times March 29, 1999 First page Business Times Section "Be honest. Are you reading this column to pick up some kernel of knowledge, some new piece of information from the vast body of business books out there that may improve your work? Or are you just avoiding a project, delaying a meeting, or finding one more reason not to tackle a growing mound of paperwork on your desk? In other words, are you procrastinating? If you are, or are frustrated because you think the people you are in charge of are, or if you want to procrastinate further, read The 2,000 Percent Solution: Free Your Organization from "Stalled Thinking to Achieve Exponential Success (AMACOM, 258 pages, $24.95). The authors, consultants Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles and New York Times columnist Robert Metz, have a handle on the issue of complacency. They have come up with eight bad habits or "stalls" as the authors call them, commonly used by employees, and eight solutions on how to bust through these production inhibitors. 'No matter how successful your organization is, it is performing way below its easily achievable potential,' they write. 'If your organization is like mot, it is probably functioning well below average in many important activities.' And not just a little below. Mitchell, Coles and Metz suggest that your operations can run as much as 20 times, or 2,000 percent, more efficiently if the general haze of indifference is lifted from employees' eyes. Hence the title of the book. 'In your own organization, there may be dozens of powerful ideas or bits of knowledge that could create exponential future success,' they write. 'But many of these ideas are not pursued because people are pressed for time. Imagine what you and your company could accomplish if only you could stop the clock.' But the grip of the most common forms of procrastination are not always easy to see, warn Mitchell, Coles and Metz. 'The trickiest part about overcoming stalls is to recognize them as such, both in your personal habits and in organizational culture,' they write. 'Habits become ingrained so that you may forfeit your ability to make the best use of your time.' This list of the most common bad habits in the work place include: The tradition stall: In this stall, new ideas can't come forward because it's always been done one way. This is the most powerful form of complacency, the authors suggest, and they provide numerous case studies of companies that have overcome this problem. The disbelief stall. Many employees have trouble accepting new information, technology, or ways of operating, especially if it makes the old ways of doing it obsolete. The authors suggest watching for blind spots, such as what your competition may be working on, to bust through this stall. The misconception stall. This stall suggests that some company beliefs may be based on few facts that are not true. When a bright employee uncovers this, he or she becomes disillusioned and then complacent. The authors offer a number of questions to help employees identify whether this is true about their company. The unattractiveness stall. If an idea deals with boring, mundane or even dirty parts of the company, it may not be looked at, the authors suggest. Yet Wal-mart made a fortune capitalizing on improvements in a retail distribution system, something other retailers didn't want to bother with. The communications stall. Never assume that the message you're communicating is always perfectly understood, the authors warn. Often ideas are lost or not implemented correctly because of poor communication. The bureaucratic stall. Streamline paperwork required and levels of approval before an idea can be implemented, the authors suggest. The procrastination stall. Procrastinators believe that problems will either solve themselves or go away. Generally, neither is true, and any action is better than none, the authors write. Mitchell, Coles and Metz, provide a clear and concise look at the many road blocks that good ideas must overcome in most companies. By identifying and offering other directions, they show how companies can avoid these blocks and find some other roads to travel." Quotes / Reviews || Excerpt || About Us || Speaking for You || Services || Buy the Book || Master Process || Stall Reports || Newsletter || Job Search || E-Mail a Friend || Contact Us || Mitchell On Tour || 2000 Percent Puns || Home Copyright 1999, 2000 Mitchell and Company Mitchell and Company Developed and maintained by Interactive Media Advertising Group, Inc.