Adopting a personal perspective for business improvement

Have you ever compared your own personal life to that of the organisation you work in? I know it's a bit weird...why would you..

Sometimes taking a personal perspective is a useful tool for understanding complexities. Questions such as 'If it were me what would I think?', 'what would be in it for me?', and 'how would my approach compare to theirs?' are useful ways to crystalise your view of certain situations.

When it comes to business performance it's actually very similar conceptually to your own personal life...think health, wealth and wellbeing for example. We are a system too after all.

If income and outgoings aren't tracked and managed your disposable income will suffer, if you don't watch your diet/consider your calories and keep active your health may suffer and if you don't manage your calendar your wellbeing may suffer. And if all of these things are out of sync it can feel like a chaotic downward spiral.

What's behind all of this? Metrics. Sometimes loose and sometimes focussed - how much money do I need/want, what weight do I want to be, how fast do I want to run, how do I want to spend my time and come across to others. Often we are viewing data related to these to help us make decisions e.g. banking data, calorie trackers, food packets, scales, calendars to name a few.

A business is no different but different terms are used such as profit, operational efficiency, resilience, adaptability etc. The problem with business is the complexity of the system, the people involved, the technology and data, the noise...

The concept is simple, we all do it, but who is accountable and responsible for ensuring the health, wealth and wellbeing of your business? Is it using the right data and metrics and making good decisions? If it is work life, like personal life, should feel focussed and progressive, if not it will probably feel chaotic..