Category: Operations

Often, it’s not until things aren’t getting done that it suddenly becomes very clear: Employees are being asked to do more than they can actually do. That’s also the time when many managers will decide to start prioritizing their initiatives. Other managers will prioritize initiatives at the beginning of the year, looking at what they...
You’ve heard about EOS. You’ve done some research. But still, you’re not convinced. Is it really going to help me achieve what I want with my business? That skepticism is healthy. Whenever someone promises you something, you should be somewhat skeptical. After all, it’s the job of sales and marketing people to promote seemingly unbelievable...
We all have managed or worked with them. That certain type of team member who says they finished a task when the reality is they didn’t. The “i”s weren’t dotted and the “t”s weren’t crossed. They finished 80%, 90%, 99% of the work, but not 100% of it. These team members end up slowing progress...
How do you achieve your organizational goals? Lots of leaders get stuck here. They communicate their goals to their organization at a meeting and think everyone will grab hold of the goals and take it from there. But, this rarely happens. It’s not that the goals are unreasonable or that there aren’t qualified people in...
Annual revenue forecasting is a part of every business’s process. Company leaders perform the exercise as a way of predicting next year’s revenue, but most of the time, it’s just straight out guessing and hoping. Here’s how it typically goes. When presidents or CEOs think about forecasting, they tend to start with what the company...
In the corporate world, efficiency is a hot topic. Organizations are always striving to produce the most value for the least amount of effort. They attempt to embed it in their business models, strategy, and day-to-day operations. Unfortunately, they do not always succeed. The major reason for this is that organizations don’t instill routine in...
Most people have many opinions on the way things should be. They ask questions like, “why can’t it be like this?” “Why aren’t we able to do that?” “Can’t they deliver it to me like this?” It is a great thing to ask questions, everyone has an opinion. In fact, this kind of thinking is...
broken process
Every organizational leader wishes they had ten more employees just like them . . . the consensus worker who really cares about the organization’s customers and the quality of product and level of service they receive. These precious employees don’t focus on just their responsibilities; they are concerned about the whole value chain. They are...
managing expectations
It goes without saying that projects involve lots of expectations. Project manager and team members feel the heat from project stakeholders when it comes to task completions, deliverables, adherences to processes, and use of resources, just to name a few. Although it is an essential part of a project manager’s job, knowing how to manage...
customers before process
Most organizations are service oriented. Either they are serving external customers or internal customers. Serving customers involves lots of interactions in a variety of circumstances and situations. Individuals who are customer facing and handle customer issues need to be engaging and empathetic to do their job well. This is the first rule of customer service....