Love What You Do

This does not mean make the best of a bad situation...although that might be sage advice. Find what it is that you love to do then do it. I have never seen someone rise above the crowd in their field of endeavour who did not love what they do. Scientifically and spiritually I would not expect it to be any other way.

Similarly, when seeking help it would be wise to seek the help of people who love what they do in the area of help you need. A pool of candidates who will "take anything" when between jobs does not stack up to those who love what they do.

Ron Lutka

The Greatest Depression

Doing so is wise in good times, and essential in bad times.

I am sure one thing we can agree on is that organizations should be operating at least up to the level management believes the organization is operating. Often failures of basic activities cause this to not be the case.

Speaking from on-site experience, I believe if the damage such failures cause were broadly known boards of directors would make locating and eradicating failures of basic activities mandatory for every organization of size. Locating and eradicating failures of basic activities can be a significant competitive advantage for many organizations, and a matter of survival for others.

Which organizations will seize the day?

And the winner is...Ron Lutka

(New York/March 2, 2009) - Financial leadership, measuring board performance, and managing strategic risk are among the topics covered in a new publication, Articles of Merit, released by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). This publication includes 11 previously published articles that were selected by IFAC's Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee as part of its annual Articles of Merit Award Program for Distinguished Contribution to the Roles and Domain of Professional Accountants in Business.

The winning article for 2008 is "Black Holes in Accounting" by Ron Lutka. First published in CMA Canada's monthly members' magazine, CMA Management, the article focuses on how professional accountants may better identify and address areas within their organizations that may be negatively impacting performance. It also aims to assist professional accountants in recognizing and preventing the causes of the problems within these areas.

For the first time in the history of the award program, professional accountants were invited to participate in the selection process. The PAIB Committee took into account these views when selecting the winning articles. Votes were collected through an online public voting process.

Although the articles were originally published before the extent of the financial crisis was fully known, many of the articles promote financial leadership and better practices for professional accountants in business, which are relevant in today's financial and economic climate. Other articles of merit cover topics and issues that have been highlighted as challenges for improving organizational performance and achieving sustainable growth.

The 2008 Articles of Merit, together with past issues, can be downloaded free-of-charge from the IFAC online bookstore (www.ifac.org/store). The 11 articles in the 2008 publication may also be individually downloaded from the IFAC bookstore.

About IFAC

IFAC (www.ifac.org) is the worldwide organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is currently comprised of 157 professional accountancy bodies in 122 countries and jurisdictions, representing more than 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce. IFAC, through its independent standard-setting boards, sets international standards of ethics, auditing and assurance, education, and public sector accounting. It also issues guidance to encourage high-quality performance by professional accountants in business.

'Bravery' and the Executive

Executives as a group are a mix of all the personalities that can be found - ­good, bad, and indifferent. Within that mix are the brave.

It takes someone who is brave to be willing to have his or her long held beliefs and understandings discovered to be faulty. Acknowledging a fault means one has been wrong, and being wrong is unsettling.

Ironically, acknowledging a fault can make one far more right than wrong. An executive who is willing to look 'under the rocks' and who is willing to have his foundation shaken also has the potential to halt decline in the organization, and then turn the organization on an upward trajectory.

Such executives, however, are few. They are rare because familiarity, even if it is flawed, is a powerful comfort zone. Acknowledging faults, on the other hand, can shake one's reality, and that is not so comforting.

1. Top notch executives want to know the bad news, as well as the good, so they can act on the bad news for the sake of the organization, and at times themselves.

2. Lesser executives will listen to the bad news only when pushed to do so.

3. Poor executives will never listen to the bad news, let alone confront the problem. Some day their organizations will pay the price for their inaction.

The above scale also breaks down as a confidence scale:

1. Top notch executives are confident in their own abilities to handle what comes up.

2. Lesser executives are not so confident in their own abilities.

3. Poor executives have no confidence in their own abilities.

Conclusion

More brave executives mean more companies, organizations and people can win.

Ron Lutka

An Investment in Tomorrow

1. not bothering to maintain an orderly accounting ledger

2. appeasing an upset customer to encourage him to pay, without finding and terminating the root cause of the upset

3. failing to properly maintain equipment.

These are just a few examples of the corners that businesses and organizations cut today, at the expense of tomorrow.

Most organizations are not going to disappear tomorrow. They are going to exist for some time. Therefore, those of us within organizations must make daily decisions that take this reality into account. We must make decisions that help sustain and nurture the organization, rather than decisions that will lead to its demise.

Locating and then eradicating black hole-creating items gives any organization almost immediate returns. In addition, doing so is an investment in the future. It is, in fact, such an important investment that one can argue the costs required to locate and eradicate black hole-creating items should be capitalized and then amortized over twenty years – as is done with a piece of heavy machinery.

When the functionality wheels are greased and the organization is made more transparent, the organization makes better "go, no-go" decisions and the need to borrow to cover wasteful expenses can diminish greatly. In addition to these and other gains, staff morale and customer satisfaction improves. The organization arrives at an enviable position – fruits born from the efforts of an earlier time.

Unfortunately, many organizations act like they are not going to be around for too long. This can become quite visible to a streamliner slogging through the belly of an organization, finding tracks and fossils that indicate the many decisions that were made without the future in mind.

In any organization, the people who have passed before have left their marks. Some of those who have come before had insightful minds; some were geniuses; some had larger than life personalities. Others had limited abilities, were bright people who could not do it all alone, or worked to suppress the solid works of underlings. No matter who came before, the marks they left all add up and equal the organization as it is today.

What kind of future organization are the minds and personalities within your organization creating today? How can you ensure employees are doing the job as management intended?

Doing the job right today is an investment in tomorrow.

Ron Lutka

Anatomy of 'Decline'

The courses deteriorating organizations take can vary. However, typically the course looks something like this:

1. Organization is prospering, with no insurmountable problems

2. Underlying problems develop, but there are no visible manifestations

3. Underlying problems start to aggravate customers and suppliers

4. Underlying problems start to manifest on operating reports and financial statements, but cause is misunderstood

5. Cash flow, competition, narrowing margins are blamed for company woes

6. "end of the wisp" solutions are applied because true root causes of problems are not known

7. Organization becomes increasingly dysfunctional on many fronts

8. Numerous desperate meetings occur in an attempt to hold the organization together

9. Problems continue to compound

10. Good people leave the organization; morale drops

11. Management is replaced

12. Perceived cash flow problems become real cash flow problems

13. Creditors pull back; customers find new suppliers

14. New management quits or is replaced

15. Costs are reduced via widespread layoffs; production and service quality diminishes

16. Assets are sold off under a reorganization

17. A white knight steals the company for a song or the receivers shut the door

Organizations have a lot to contend with externally. However, it is ironic that some organizations are excellent at overcoming external forces – reading market trends and capitalizing on them, for instance – only to implode internally.

Corporate Streamlining Technology® a process developed by Corporate Streamlining Technology Inc. and applied by Corporate Streamlining Company Inc., is not a "silver bullet". It is an "in-the-trenches" methodical approach to locating and eradicating black hole-creating items, giving organizations a fighting chance to survive, then prosper.

Ron Lutka

Self Repair: A Valuable Attribute

In fact, most people think so little of it that sparse attention is paid to facilitating this coveted ability. The ability to self-repair, as distinct from continuously bringing in outside help for diagnosis and treatment, is one of the most valuable, yet under-nourished, attributes of organizations.

When a black hole has been chewing away within an organization for a while it can demoralize employees. Like servers in a restaurant who say "that's not my section" when you request a glass of water, demoralized employees often withdraw and take responsibility only for the work in front of them. They no longer make an effort to understand and improve the flow of materials, documents, communications and the like that streams into their work area. Likewise, they no longer make an effort to understand and improve the flow of their completed tasks as work moves to the next station or user. In the presence of black holes, employees grow isolated and uncooperative. They put on blinders and work to rule – even if it is on a subconscious level. On the other hand, motivated, cooperative employees understand the functions prior to and subsequent to their own work. If they see a problem outside their job description, they get involved and work to solve it. If this attitude existed across all departments within an organization, then at least three employees would have a view of each function, four if we include the supervisor. When such an environment of understanding and cooperation exists, the organization possesses the ability to self-repair.

How can a beaten-down, withdrawn employee or department regain the interest and ability to help repair the organization? A tremendous survival instinct is unleashed within an organization when black holes are identified and eradicated. As a matter of course, employees once again become willing to help repair the organization.

Regaining the ability to self-repair is just one of the many benefits your organization would reap if you were to eradicate black holes. In short, eradicating black holes is powerful medicine that can improve the health of any organization.

Ron Lutka

What Are Black Holes in Organizations?

The Oxford Dictionary of Current English, third edition, defines a black hole as "a region of space having a gravitational field so intense that no matter or radiation can escape." [footnotes omitted]

Whereas astronomical black holes suck up matter and energy, black holes in organizations suck up valuable resources, including human energy, time, space, materials, and money. A black hole is a significant entity, not something to be ignored. One ignores black holes in an organization at his or her peril and, unfortunately, at the peril of many innocent people.

Definition of a Black Hole

A black hole in an organization can be defined as follows:

An area of an organization where there is, unbeknownst to management, an abundance of undesirable activities or a lack of desirable activities, both of which destroy organizations.

Three Basic Components

A black hole in an organization includes the following components:

1. Destruction in some form occurs within the organization, whether in the form of undesirable activity or a lack of desirable activity.

2. There is an abundance of undesirable activity, or a lack of abundance of desirable activity, not merely an occasional occurrence.

3. Management might or might not be aware of the destruction, but management definitely has an absence of awareness of the root cause of the destruction.

Ron Lutka

Long Before Visible

Before margins fall, customers complain, cash flow becomes threatened and employee moral drops, black holes lay the ground-work for negative situations and failure. For example, failing to fully complete tasks before passing documents or plant materials to the next person or neglecting to respond to a co-worker's query both sow the seeds for a choked organization.

After choked comes frustration. After frustration comes blame. After blame comes apathy and a decline in productivity. Somewhere along this emotional chain comes a deteriorated financial situation...including write-offs.

Gaining control over black holes is something management could benefit from; however, to do so management must consider:

- What black holes are

- The possibility black holes exist in the organization

- The damage black holes can cause to the organization, to executives and to staff

Once management acknowledges the possibility of the existence of black holes in the organization, the full support of management can be harnessed and focused on eradicating black holes. This action can even be built into management's strategic plans.

The eradication of black holes can strengthen an organization, leading to improved margins, happier customers who become repeat customers, increased cash flow and better employee morale. No management team would consciously seek the alternative - ongoing damage that can lead to the failure of the organization.

When damage caused by black holes is visible, the black holes have been active for a long time. But initially, the damage is out of sight. It should not be out of mind.

Must the bridge collapse because of unseen structural defects before an engineer acknowledges that it might have weak spots? Must the damage caused by black holes be seen before the black holes are tackled?

Ron Lutka

The Reality of Black Holes

What keeps me awake at night is trying to resolve this riddle: How can I wake the world to the reality of black holes, their pervasiveness, and the destruction they cause, and encourage management to become passionate about the identification and eradication of them, especially when we have a solution at hand? The writing of the book Black Holes in Organizations is one small step in that direction. Creating this website is another. The occasional talk to small groups is a third. Banging on doors is a fourth¡ªso please allow me to enter when the shutters rattle.

Whether you are already feeling the pain of a black hole manifesting itself on financial statements or in operations, or you want to identify and resolve as many black hole-creating items as possible before they create visible problems, this book will get you started.

You can make substantial gains by applying some of the thoughts in the book; however, for many reasons, the services of specialists in this area are required in order to make a significant impact. Corporate Streamlining Company Inc. was established for that purpose. First, let's get up to the level of understanding black holes and recognizing some of their symptoms. Perhaps removing a few black hole-creating items from your organization in-house will not only give you a win, but will also show you the reality of the situation. The book can help you accomplish this.

Like ailments and diseases, one is wise to treat the problem very early rather than wait until the only "solution" is amputation – or heroic surgery that might or might not work.

Ron Lutka

Adam Smith, Hammer and Champy Still Have a 'Monkey'

However, both carry a 'monkey' on their back – both require a system to hold the form of the organization moving forward.

Syntropy and entropy remain in constant battle within organizations regardless of what organizational model is constructed: the division of labour model or the process model. Syntropy is building the organization up, aligning the organization, making it function as desired by management – while entropy is hard at work breaking the organization down.

Entropy is at work when workloads become unbalanced, incomplete work stacks up, people err, people become complacent or lazy, people forget, people become overwhelmed, people are competitive and compete against one another, organizations compete against organizations, and people with unrelated interests somehow or other impinge upon organizations in varying ways: creditors wanting payment; and governments wanting tax money, statistics, and compliance to regulations are two such examples.

For all of these reasons, and many more, black holes form in organizations therefore organizations need a system for locating black hole-creating items that can then be eradicated. Doing so will go a long way to lifting the 'monkey' off the back of both the 'division of labour' structured organization and the reengineered 'process' organization.

The above will help you understand where black holes in organizations and Corporate Streamlining Technology® (that helps locate and eradicate black hole-creating items) fit into the organizational betterment landscape.

Ron Lutka

Let's Get Specific

A. Specifically, what are you as an executive trying to achieve?

Simple yet essential basic activities of an organization support the goals of the organization, and all the desires and dreams and passions executives derive from it, including financial gain, prestige, and personal satisfaction.

If mops were delivered to customers late, well after the flood, and if the handles snapped during use because purchasing acquired the wrong wood, customers would flee and an objective of the organization would not be realized. If an executive wanted to help the organization realize its objectives then black holes could cause the executive disappointment in this way. Similarly, the embarrassment of snapping handles was not what the director of purchasing wanted to achieve and so he suffered a personal loss in the face of his peers. Finally, the marketing vice-president who was about to launch a marketing campaign promoting the high quality and reliability of the company's products retracted the program.

What harm does a flat tire cause to the driver of the car? That depends on who is the driver. If he were a race car driver trying to win a race it could cost him the race, or possibly his life, or the life of another driver. If he were a taxi cab driver it could cost him money in lost business plus repair costs. If he were a young man on his way to pick up a pretty date it could cost him a kiss.

What are you trying to achieve both professionally and personally?

"Specifically, what harm do black holes cause?" You tell me.

Ron Lutka

As Management Intended

I know it would be great for management. It would likely be great for shareholders and creditors, and it would probably be great for most employees also. Customers would likely be happy too.

What prohibits organizations from functioning as management intended? Not much except lack of reinforcement, lack of attention to details, and inattention to simple yet essential basic activities of the organization.

Over time, the inattention to basic activities allows black hole-creating items to develop and propagate. A simple procedure that was not put in place here, an established procedure that fell out of use there, common sense left at the front door, creeping mediocrity: these seemingly innocent failings derail management's good intentions. A few simple breaks can be absorbed. Simple breaks in volume cause a drag on performance of many kinds. Left unattended, an organization can make the news.

The concept of black holes in organizations is new, therefore I understand the difficulty executives may have directing much attention to simple activities. I must tell you, I have trouble encouraging executives to look down into the "trenches" and "weeds". It is my great hope the book Black Holes in Organizations will change that. Executives stop at "business processes". However, there are levels below business processes that if not functioning properly can harm organizations: activity is one, and there are others lower still...much lower. Maybe they fear what is down there. Maybe they do not know how to look in this area. Maybe they think they cannot control what they find. Maybe it is as simple as not wanting to get one's hands dirty.

This brings us back to "as management intended."

"Intention" is thought. The realization of "intention" requires action.

Ron Lutka