Looks Spontaneous, But It’s Not

Wes was mulling over his role as a manager. “But, my days always seem to be filled with problems, some internal, some external, you know, with customers. In fact, we pride ourselves on prompt customer response. We are in a high demand, time is of the essence business. Yet, you say that a manager’s most important tasks have time spans of months. There are times when I have to respond, as a manager, within minutes. And we’re talking critical customer stuff.”

“It appears that way,” I replied. “But if you spend all your time responding to customer emergencies within minutes, then your life, your organization will be in constant and total chaos.”

Wes nodded. “Sometimes, no, most times, it seems like that.”

“How do you take the chaos out, and still respond to emergencies within minutes? Look at an organization whose life actually is emergencies, EMS. I will guarantee that when first responders show up on a medical scene, their actions are carefully designed into consistent systems that have been repetitively trained. Those systems are not ad hoc, but were created over long periods of time (time span) and are constantly reviewed and improved.

“What happens may appear rapid and spontaneous, but it is a system. When you think of the most important role of a manager, think system.” -TF

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