After completing the diagnostic assessment, if Human Debt is the biggest Friction Point, you have a gap between the Tech Stack you are trying to operate and the Talent you have on the team. Your Platform and People Pillars are not aligned. This can create two potential situations: 1) You have a “Digital Graveyard” where you’ve bought the best tech money can buy, but your people are drowning in “Tool Fatigue,” or 2) You are paying “The Manual Tax,” meaning you have elite talent performing low-value, manual data entry. Your lack of platforms is an “anchor” on your human capital.
The Digital Graveyard
If you find that you have a Digital Graveyard in your organization, you will recognize that you are throwing software at a cultural problem. Your tech stack is a collection of expensive ‘magic bullets’ that your team either resents or ignores. You have built a digital museum of tools that no one has the capability or desire to actually wield. Often, we think people are just being obstinate, difficult, or untrainable, but the reality is that these problems create a hidden factory within your organization. You know the scenarios when the team reverts to spreadsheets and manual work because the software is too complex, poorly adopted, or simply isn’t easy to use?
The Manual Tax
Maybe you don’t have the Digital Graveyard problem but you are paying a heavy tax every single day your business operates, this is when you are forcing your highest-paid assets to act like low-cost algorithms. By failing to automate the mundane, you are ‘taxing’ your talent until they burn out or leave for an organization that actually respects their cognitive bandwidth. This tax also creates an additional tax on the bottom line of the organization where you are paying to constantly train new employees because you lack a solid plan for Talent Attrition. High-performers will leave to find an organization that provides the modern tools they need to excel. So you have to ask yourself, is it time to invest in a Tech Stack that honors the talent you have or are you content using that money to keep training and hiring new people?
The Path Forward
If you find yourself nodding your head to either of these scenarios or any of the other scenarios from the other Friction Points, I would highly recommend that you take the 4 Pillar Pulse Check. This free assessment will help you identify which Pillar in your organization is lagging behind the others. Although this isn’t the full 37 Point Kaizen Mastery System Diagnostic Assessment, it will give you some insights. If you would like to discuss having a full Diagnostic Assessment and have me come work with you and your team in a Fractional Strategy & Optimization Advisory role, please reach out to me directly steve@stevebeauchamp.com.
Steve Beauchamp 