In my last column I wrote about the seven perspectives that pollute customers and culture. These perspectives rule the design of our organizations. They are inherent to our work cultures and thinking. They put us on autopilot as we toil in our everyday work. The first step to change that is to awaken from slumber.

We need to be aware of how the seven perspectives influence the performance of our systems. How do customers interact with them? How do these perspectives affect culture? Where does management spend its time?

Improvement efforts seem to focus management’s attention on process and efficiency, even though it’s the assumptions and beliefs in our organizational and work designs that make us effective. Not many dare challenge our assumptions and beliefs. You would be labeled a troublemaker.

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