Think Long Term (Principle)

One of the problems that we face in business is impatience. We want quick results when we start a new initiative. We want new processes to pay off immediately. As a result, leaders often choose less effective options that provide some return on investment quickly rather than more effective ones that take a while to develop into greater fruition. In large part, this is a function of the pressures of the stock market.  Quarterly earnings reports force leaders to think in three month chunks of time.

There is also a trend for people to expect immediate results with very little work or commitment of time. There are a glut of reasons. Reality shows have convinced people that you can turn around a business in just a few days. Social media highlights all the big wins people have, while failing to address the work or risk or investment it took to get those wins. To top it off, there is a strong niche of self-help books that has focused on tricks, gimmicks, and quick changes that they promise can deliver monumental returns.  

This is a serious challenge to continuous improvement initiatives. It is true that some of the tools can have a quick payoff in specific situations. Applying the 5 Whys, for example, can eliminate a nagging problem in short order.

But many of the more powerful cultural changes—the ones that really impact a company—can take years to put in place. This principle, Think Long Term, keeps the leadership team focused on the potential greatness of the company rather than harvesting small, quick returns on improvement resources.

Prerequisites

Do a quick self-assessment of your company’s goal-setting history. Look for indications that short term decisions trump long term planning. You can see this when R&D is cut to hit quarterly earnings targets, or if you have had a series of initiatives that were abandoned within a year of starting. Also look at the turnover rate of key leaders. The key is to determine how ingrained short term thinking is in your company.

Section Details

Estimated Time for Section: Ongoing

Difficulty: High. This is difficult mindset to change, especially if the company is large and has stockholder pressures. Any perception of failure can undercut senior management and jeopardize continuity of leadership.

Risk: High. Short term thinking is a large contributor to the high percentage of failures in Lean initiatives. It takes significant time to lay the foundation for continuous improvement. There can be a large outlay of effort and resources (particularly time) before there will be a sustained impact on the bottom line.