THE NEW TENETS OF MANAGEMENT FROM JIM CHAMPY’S X-ENGINEERING THE CORPORATION

Old: See the world as you want it to be.
New: See the world as it truly is.

Today, managers must be brutally honest when they measure performance. X-engineering begins with a fair assessment of where a company stands. With the Internet making a company’s performance increasingly visible, honesty is imperative.

Old: Leave information technology to the technologists.
New: Information technology is everyone’s job.

Without an understanding of technology or the capacity to consider its potential, managers will be dependent on others for opinions and advice that are essential to their organization’s well-being. Managers must make sure all of their partners, too, are proficient with technology and have an infrastructure that will support X-engineering.

Old: Information is power; keep good ideas inside the company.
New: Share good ideas with customers and partners as you search nonstop for better ideas.

X-engineering challenges companies to do more than spread good ideas internally. In a world where information flows freely, managers must contribute to the collective intellect of customers, suppliers and partners.

Old: Exercise authority to gain control.
New: Gain control by relinquishing it.

Traditional managers may be daunted by the prospect of managing in a networked environment—one in which they have no direct authority over many of the people delivering their goods and services. Managers must recognize that authority comes from giving it up.

Old: Manage change as an event and appeal to intellect.
New: Manage change as a campaign and appeal to feelings.

The challenge here is to understand the concerns and even prejudices of the people who will be doing the real work involved in the change. Managers should be very public about what they are doing and sensitive to broadly held beliefs.

Old: A manager’s beliefs and values are his or her business.
New: A manager’s beliefs and values are everyone’s business.

X-engineering demands that ethics and standards operate harmoniously across linked organizations in the same way that processes do. Managers must be sure their company’s beliefs and values will work well with those of their partners.

Old: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
New: Relish change.

It’s not the strongest or most intelligent that survive, Darwin wrote, but those most responsive to change. A good manager makes a strong case for change and provides a heavy dose of inspiration. When change is well-executed, an appetite for it eventually develops.