When "We've Always Done It This Way" Won't Cut It Anymore

We've all heard it at least a hundred times and most of us have said it at least once, "We've always done it this way." It's a phenomenon that exists in businesses of all sizes. It's prevalent in government and large businesses and people call it red tape. It's prevalent in medium and small business too and it's what sets apart a mediocre business from a great' business. It's an excuse and it's not good enough anymore.

"We've always done it this way" is a pathetic answer to the question "Why do we do it this way?" Great businesses never utter those words.

Here's an example, someone, it could be an employee or it could be a customer, complains about something or expresses dissatisfaction with an experience:

• "Why can't you do this faster?"
• "Why do I have to go through this every time?"
• "This is taking forever, there must be another way."
• "Why do you have to do this three times before it works?"

There is obviously a recurring problem and no one wants to fix it or knows why it should be fixed until it's almost too late.

When the pain to change is less than the pain to solve the problem, people will choose change.

For a business to be great, they have to embrace change and always seek the better way to do business. If you want an excellent business, and you're aware of flaws in your business, the answer, "We've always done it this way" just won't cut it anymore. It's time to find new and better ways to do things.

Most businesses will wait till it's almost too late to fix things. Many close up shop because they feel they can't compete any longer. They feel there's no point in continuing with their business since it's not providing them with enough value (money) to keep their doors open. At that point it's almost too late, almost.

It's time for a full scale business audit and time to answer some serious questions like:

• Who are we?
• What do we do best?
• What are our core competencies?
• How do we get things done?
• Why do we do things the way we do?
• Where can we improve?
• What can we outsource?
• Where do we make the most profit?
• Where do we lose the most?
• What do our customers care about most?
• Why do they keep choosing us?
• Where do we add the most value?

Once you've mapped out your business and have answered the questions above, it's time to make a plan to change. You know why you need to change and now you'll need to figure out how.

Usually it's best to hire an outsider, like a business process expert or a business operations consultant to help you see what you've trained yourself to ignore for years. An operations expert can help you. It's time for a change - stop saying, "We've always done it this way,'' and start saying, "We're constantly improving the way we do things."
 

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