One of the issues raised time and time again is the disconnect between what some of us “know” we should do and the chains of existing legacy that continually wrap themselves around us when we actually try to go to a “new place.” It almost seems that many of the other people in the organization are actively resisting our desire to do the Right Things and that they do so through the use of legacy roadblocks.

Business Process Reengineering attempted to march boldly into this war zone by stating beforehand that entire processes would be redesigned. That didn’t work for two reasons; 1) it created immediate confrontation and 2) it was still based on existing assumptions.

These issues were the genesis of Business Process Management which came forth with the remit to use the process concept under an improvement umbrella rather than a wholesale rewrite. Yet for most but a small circle of enlightened people (the original cast of BPM’ers before the term BPM actually took hold) the assumptions are still the same.

BPR died a fast and furious death due to its confrontational nature while BPM chugs on banging its head against a glass ceiling (existing assumptions) and would already be floundering even more except for a twist.

It turns out that in BPM most of the momentum has now switched to software (modeling, workflow, and techie standards) in place of the purpose (and understanding) of the originating executives and gurus who were solving business problems.

So what is the answer?

Well, we can only start where we are and this improvement/business success stuff is an endless journey with points of interest to note along the way. So what we need is a way to unchain ourselves from existing assumptions while doing so in a way that avoids starting internal turf wars.

That is a fundamental part of CEMM – and one of the key reasons why it fills such a huge gap in existing practices. Sufficiently subtle enough to avoid triggering internal wars with the freedom to begin challenging those heretofore sacred assumptions, the structure of CEMM is specifically crafted to allow organizations to embark on an ongoing journey of continual change, evolution and revolution.

Woven into the fabric of CEMM are two other components that are all important in eliminating the glass-ceiling that is part and parcel in all the other approaches available to us. Reduction in complexity is a naturally occurring byproduct of CEMM and that is critical to enabling new steps on the evolutionary path. Focus (that outside-in customer stuff) is a different perception of reality – it’s that big of a difference – and each movement in that direction opens new doors and opportunities we couldn’t see or realize in the place we started out from.

This becomes a journey of natural creation and recreation that builds an environment (an organization) organically designed to make change simple, faster and more efficient. It’s the missing link in our approaches to date, giving us the ability to grow into whatever we need to be based on the context of the market at any given junction in the life cycle of the business.

It’s this approach that gives us the freedom to do radical change in an incremental manner – but one that can move as fast as we need it to. Context is everything, so the rate of change will be driven by the context of each organization.

The concept of context is the one area where people disconnect even from CEMM though. If the context of a given organization means that very few assumptions can be successfully challenged then change must be very slow. For some organizations the assumptions are so rigid that almost any attempt at doing the Right Thing will be snuffed out before it has the chance to bring new light into the dank dark halls of “we’ve always done it that way.”

Consultants have a very difficult time with this when they organize around their existing customers and those customers fall into this category. (oh, and trying to “sell” the CEMM concept into these dinosaurs is a very good way to get eaten alive!).

Yet the majority of organizations are not this locked into the past. There are almost always people on the look out for an opportunity to do the Right Thing and CEMM has already become a rallying point for these people.

While it may seem attractive to think about starting from scratch (clean slating or BPR) that just won’t work as a purist approach. What we must do is snapshot the current state as our starting point for identifying next steps. When those next steps follow the rules of CEMM they will always move us in the right direction while setting the stage for taking bigger, bolder steps the next pass through.

That’s how to change without hitting a glass ceiling or starting a war. That’s how to build the capability in an organization to uncover opportunities tomorrow that we can’t even think of today. That’s how to eclipse the possibilities of BPR, BPM and even starting from scratch with no restrictions. It’s a journey of success that is exciting, energizing, surprising, continually renewing and far more successful (personally and financially) than anything else we have ever done.

The only limit on ourselves and our results is - us. CEMM is the one approach that deals directly with reality by giving people the freedom to create the value they are capable of creating. You can become a BPM, BPR, Six Sigma, Lean, etc. expert and you will have a skill. You can use CEMM (you don’t need to be an expert) and you will embark on a journey of ongoing transformation that will impact your life and your organization in a strikingly positive way for the rest of your life.

Legacies are a part of that reality. Change what you can now so that you create the opportunity to make bigger changes tomorrow. Get your focus right and start whittling away at that complexity around you and see how quickly you start attracting the attention of others. It will happen and before you know it you will be part of the change that has taken the organization to a new place, a place that eclipses what we would have done in BPR or even with a clean slate. It will take however long it takes based on the context but the rate of change in even those stuck in the mud organization can at times be truly awe-inspiring. It’s the way to create the future we see as possible – and beyond.