How many of you have heard, “This [shiny new object] will make things easier [better, faster, more efficient, insert adjective],” come down from corporate headquarters? In a smaller company, a similar directive is issued when a manager returns from an industry event or webinar. The message is the same, X-item is going to immediately impact Y-issue and everyone better get on board; it’s going to be awesome. In this article, we will review some of the foundational elements that will help your team better incorporate technology and software to improve your organizational systems.

The funny thing about being a person in a position of leadership is that once you get there you often find yourself repeating those same mindset and habits that frustrated you when you were on the “lower” rungs of the management ladder. The issue is not whether X-item is good or not, it’s often the haphazard implementation associated with the quest to quickly solve Y-issue. Innovation and technology are helpful elements in improving systems by making them more efficient, but if you do not do the hard work of identifying issues and testing creative solutions from within, you will constantly be chasing the more-better-er next thing.