As we initiate our final article of this series, I want to congratulate those of you who have made a commitment to strive for operational improvement in paying attention to and completing the first four steps of our model: Creating Rules of the Game Developing a System for Capturing and Organizing Ideas Deciding and Prioritizing What Initiatives to Pursue Determining Who Owns the Process for Initiatives … [Read more...]

Now that you and your team have decided what initiatives are to be prioritized, implemented or further explored, how do you determine who will be involved in the process? Who will own and manage the task(s), monitor the success (or failure) of the initiative(s) and make recommendations for the future? We suggest assigning an “initiative manager” as well as interested team members to each task. … [Read more...]

Welcome back to our series exploring the introduction of Operational Efficiencies to your business. In our first three installments, we discussed: The need for implementing efficiencies to thrive and create competitive advantage in a rapidly changing environment. “Rules of the Game” to encourage ideas and promote participation of all team members. Capturing and organizing ideas and opportunities for improvement. … [Read more...]

Remember the old “suggestions box?” Input from all levels of the company drives success by bringing ideas and opportunities to the forefront that otherwise would not be considered. Including everyone in the suggestion loop promotes comradery, encourages ownership in the process and rewards good ideas and follow-thru with recognition. … [Read more...]

In Part I of our Operational Efficiencies series: Getting Business Owners in the Driver's Seat, we described the importance of including all of your team members in the Operational Efficiencies Improvement process in order to fully capture ideas that come from differing perspectives, drive improvements throughout the company and promote contributions, buy-in and ownership. Further, we discussed setting criteria in order to prioritize which suggestions, ideas and initiatives to pursue. … [Read more...]

In order to remain competitive in an increasingly crowded and changing environment, businesses must take control and drive operational efficiency or risk being pushed off the road. “Operational efficiency” is defined by Wikipedia as the ratio between input to run a business operation and the output gained from the business. … [Read more...]