Which side of your brain is in overdrive?
The left side of your brain is the logical, sequential, process driven and analytical side of your thinking. The right side of your brain provides context, empathy, synthesis and innovation. Both sides are necessary in business, but the left side is no longer sufficient and the right side is increasing in importance.
Most of the routine (left brain) work is being outsourced to the world’s lowest cost and sufficiently capable centers. This type of work is no longer a core competency or strategic imperative for most organizations. Accenture, the Information Technology Consulting giant, has 30,000 employees in the US and over 35,000 in India. Routine and sequential process work is increasingly performed easily by software and web applications. Don’t be frightened. You should feel liberated that your brain and your firm’s resources can be freed up to dream of new applications, new products and services and new uses for existing products and services.
Putting It Into Action:
Break down what you and your staff do and how much time you spend doing each task by keeping a diary for the week. Decide which of those activities are not strategic in nature. Next determine which of those non strategic activities can be better performed by an outsource partner or software application. Thereafter, determine what you can do instead of those tasks that have been off loaded. Put a dollar and intrinsic value on this new innovative work. Finally, if necessary, get buy in from your superiors and share your results to others in the organization.
With you along the path towards success,
Joseph