Our survey of over 400 managers from large firms across Europe provides some key insights into the sources and impacts of harmful complexity. 63% of managers in our survey reported that complexity was responsible for over 5% of productivity loss in their business. 10% of managers claimed that over 30% of productivity losses were due to complexity.
From Complexity to Simplicity will equip you and your business with the understanding, tools and inspiration you need to identify and eradicate harmful complexity from your company or organisation. Based on cutting-edge research, it takes you through real business case studies and offers a practical ‘how to’ approach to tackling this growing problem.
We just can’t resist developing and improving ourselves and our surroundings, even if this ‘progress’ is eventually harmful to ourselves and others. Add to this the collective effects of many individuals in a firm, all seeking personal progress, and we can see that companies quickly become highly complex, adaptive systems. So complexity increases largely unconsciously as we seek to improve things, to learn and progress and to satisfy our own needs.
Base your organization on mutual trust, shared understanding, and purpose. The British Military calls this Mission Command and the best leaders in business have been doing it for years.
When Jack Welch was boss of GE, the giant American conglomerate, he extolled the virtues of “speed, simplicity and self-confidence”. Businesses are now realising why he put such an emphasis on encouraging simplicity.
Addressing crippling complexity issues is the key to survival for insurance companies. We help companies understand the causes and outline the practical steps they can take to remove this destructive complexity.