TALKING

Put simply : You need to know exactly what you ’ re working with to know where you can improve .

The temptation to under-promise and over-deliver may produce a version of ‘ good ’ that falls short of internal capabilities , building in a margin for error or disappointment . It may also lead to passive commitments like ‘ best effort ’ or ‘ up to ’, which are not objectively ‘ good ’ standards to aspire to .

A visible solution

Similarly , organizations that display a lack of vision to strive for continuous improvement – to become ‘ better ’ or the ‘ best ’ – may also be suffering from a lack of visibility . Executives may not be confident to set higher standards if they ’ re unsure these standards are achievable .

Put simply : You need to know exactly what you ’ re working with to know where you can improve . That visibility will also help you measure the relative success of uplift measures and provide rolling feedback on how you can constantly improve and keep raising the bar .

Think of it in an e-commerce context . With constant visibility , teams and organizations can understand how often they can push new features or changes and the impact this has on customer behavior . When the customer experience improves , they sell more and that creates revenue and competitive advantage .

The common denominator among organizations and teams that set too low a bar for ‘ what good looks like ’ is a lack of visibility into their operations .

Being ‘ good ’ is no longer good enough . Visibility is the gateway to continuous improvement and ultimately to becoming best-in-class . p

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