De-Hassling

You've read and heard the recent reports that last year one million people switched from PC to MAC. This is not a post about PC versus Mac. But that news got me thinking, because I switched from PC to Mac about a year ago. What drove me to do that, when the vast majority of people I communicate with are still using PCs?

One word - Hassle. For me, using Dell and Microsoft had become such a hassle that I switched.

Hassle is a powerful force of change and not in the way you want.

Companies lose employees and customers every day because dealing with the company is too much of a hassle. Want a competitive edge in aobtaining and keeping talent and customers? Take the hassle ou!

Way back in the TQM days, Phil Crosby used the term de-hassling in his book Quality Without Tears: Teh Art of Hassle-Free Management. I don't know if he was the first, but that's where I first heard the term and it stuck with me.

In what ways do you make work a hassle? What small but annoying and dumb  roadblocks do you impose? I have written about hassled before:

Hassles related to applying for a job.
Hassles related to rules.
Hassles related to meetings.
Hassles called mucky muck.

As we head into the holidays and the new year, take some time to de-hassle the organization. Here's a suggestion: At your next staff meeting, ask everyone to come prepared with a list of the top ten hassles they face at work. Collect all the hassles and obliterate all that you can.

Then, look at your customer's expereince and try to determine the ways in which you make doing business with you a hassle. Obliterate the hassles.

"It's not that simple," you say.

Yes, yes, I know. Obliterate all that you can and challenge yourself when you say it can't be done.

Comments

[Rob Brooks]

A great tip, Lisa - I like the focus on the customer, that can really help when you're locked in a personal struggle to find 'the one true way'.

I've come to the conclusion that you should aim to empower, not educate (although that can be a side-effect!).

"We've always done X, but now all our customers want Y" - in a case like that, do you send out a 5-page memo detailing the well-thought out and rational reasons why you set up X? Feel free to do so, but the first competition to come along and do Y will hit you hard.

[Lisa Haneberg]

Rob - I agree. Hassle often takes the form of obsolete ways, beliefs, and processes. When things don't quite fit any longer, they cause stress and slow thinking and work down.

[cheap computers]

I think Hassle is a powerful force of change and not in the way you want.