When focus on a single outcome impedes progress

As the old adage goes: stay focused on your goal. That is how you stay on track. A very practical example is when kayaking, you should focus on path between the obstacles, not on the obstacles.

Although there is definitely some wisdom here, should one always have a laser sharp focus on one’s goal?

The answer is a clear ‘No’. There are many situations in life where you should not focus too strong. Getting asleep. No-mind state meditation. Happiness. Too much focus results in frustration rather than getting to your goal.

Another example: couples having difficulties getting pregnant for their first baby. A very good remedy seems to be to take off for some holidays. You relax, taking out the stress, which influences the hormones, which increases your chances to get pregnant. If the second baby comes within 18 months from the first, chances are high that it took long to create the 1st baby. The couple probably skipped anti-conception thinking it might take equally long the 2nd time. Guess what happens? As the stress is gone, the second child comes faster than expected.

The same applies to a business environment: you have to be financially healthy at least. And hence a focus on cost is most common in an operational environment. There is nothing wrong having a healthy ambition to improve costs, as long as it goes together with value creation, throughput & your license to operate (see The Operational True North). Obviously, for every decision, one should be very mindful about the impact on cost. Unfortunately, if you are too obsessed with costs only, you might cut cost where it might hurt you. Companies who excel in low operational cost on the long run, have often focused on different dimensions, such as safety, quality, lean or culture and got the low cost as a bonus.

In my own experience, specific projects that mostly focus on a cost reduction (e.g. cheaper material, cheaper equipment or lower labour cost) often under-deliver because of some indirect disadvantage (e.g. lower overall equipment efficiency or decreased motivation). These might still be ok projects. Projects focusing on lean, reducing variation or simplification often over-deliver as there are indirect spin-offs (e.g. better quality, better safety, increased morale & improved base for future projects). These are far greater projects.

And what about the several companies that have been very successful radically decreasing delivery cost such as Ford model T, Ikea Lack coffee table or GE ultrasound devices for rural areas in china? These companies created an end-to-end strategy to deliver the low price through simplification and making smart choices. Such approach encompasses the full organisation (not just operations).

So before making cost reduction your top priority, think twice.

In your organisations, what are goals you try to achieve via an indirect approach? And what is your direct focus?

(Adapted from the original article on LinkedIn published Sept 25th 2016)