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Keeping Your Electrical Project On Track

Nov 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By David Brown, D. Brown Management

Systematic success

One thing many managers overlook in the quest for more effective project management is the fact that improving company performance levels is not about improving the work of top performers. Instead, it's about creating processes and systems that can help narrow the gap between top employees and the worst performers.

Most people do not think of the work they do in terms of a process with a series of individual, discrete steps. Star performers always have their own set of systems that work well, even if they cannot articulate them as a process. So when presented with a different system, their reaction is typically negative, because it does not have all the features or flexibility they are used to.

Unfortunately, many standardized project management system implementations have failed because of this very thought process. Don't let your company be one of these casualties. Contrary to what you may think, a company is generally better off if its top performers suffer a slight loss of productivity by adapting to a standardized system, because in the end this move will significantly improve the performance of everyone else on the team.

Brown is the founder/president of D. Brown Management, a consulting firm located in Lodi, Calif. He can be reached at david@dbrownmanagement.com.

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