Articles
The Elephant in the Room
When you confront a problem you begin to solve it. ~ Rudy Giuliani I’ve noticed during my years as a business consultant that many organizations have become masters at ignoring the elephant in the room. These companies have one or more employees who perform poorly – and in many cases they’ve been under performing for years. Management tolerates it and completely ignores the tremendous cost to the organization. The direct costs of bad performance are pretty obvious. For example, say that you’re paying an executive $100,000 a year and he/she is performing at about a 50% level vs. the 80% [...]
Building a Culture of Accountability
"Accountability breeds response-ability." – Stephen R. Covey The importance of strategic planning is a frequent topic of these articles because it’s essential to business success. Especially in challenging economic times such as the past year, the businesses that are driven by a strong strategic plan are the businesses that not only survive, but thrive. I’ve focused in recent columns on the One Page Plan as an efficient strategic planning tool. It’s a deceptively simple system that helps business leaders develop measurable goals, engage the entire organization and establish accountability for results. Whatever planning tool you use, make sure it is [...]
Adding Value through Differentiation
"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get." – Warren Buffett In these economically challenged times when customers are watching every penny, smart business leaders step back and look at their products or services through the eyes of the consumer. Part of this assessment is to determine what value their products or services bring to the consumer. For example, let’s say you manufacture and sell shovels. If your customers can get similar shovels at any number of stores in the area, then the primary decision factor for the customer is price, which makes the product a commodity. Some [...]
How Can You Grow Your Business without an Engaged Workforce?
"Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning." – Warren G. Bennis Today’s economy threatens businesses of all sizes in every industry. If you’re a business owner or leader, you’re probably losing sleep over declining sales, shrinking profits, the prospect of laying off employees, and perhaps even the very survival of your business. One thing you may not be worried about is retaining your [...]
Survival of the Fittest
“Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt. Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your talent.” – Nolan Ryan Smith Manufacturing is an 40-year-old manufacturing company that is deep into its second generation of ownership. They have a solid product, excellent service and a very loyal long-term workforce. Smith is known as a good place to work, which leads to good customer service, brand loyalty, customer retention, and good long-term profitability. In short, it is one of those quiet, well-run companies that doesn’t make big splashes, but just contributes quietly [...]
The “Soft-Side” of Lean Manufacturing: Ignore it at Your Own Peril!
Attempting to implement lean manufacturing principles without investigating whether the organization's structure, culture and design can and will support them is much like throwing grass seed on hard-pan soil; you may get some growth but the roots will not sink deeply and the lawn will not be lush. Not only that but you will need to pour extensive resources into the process to keep it going thereby reducing much of the benefits gained by the effort. As an organizational consultant with numerous manufacturing clients and no technical background, I quickly discovered that I needed to have a rudimentary understanding of [...]