Archive for May, 2010

Changes Can Ruin Efficiency

May 24th, 2010

When unex­pected events occur, orga­ni­za­tions often respond by hastily putting new pro­ce­dures into place. These changes may be log­i­cal in the short term, but ulti­mately these added steps can slow down the over­all process. They may get in the way of serv­ing cus­tomers, impact pro­duc­tiv­ity, and hin­der finan­cial performance.

This is espe­cially prob­lem­atic when processes are not fre­quently eval­u­ated, stream­lined, or even elim­i­nated. Unchecked processes bloat vir­tu­ally every organization.

Spring clean­ing applies to busi­nesses, too!

(more…)

Think Big, Execute Small

May 17th, 2010

It’s impor­tant to dream big, to cre­ate a vision that causes you to reach for some­thing greater. But once that vision is cast, you need to take action if you’re ever going to see it fulfilled.

Too often, big pic­ture think­ing and strate­gies are trans­lated into projects that become too cum­ber­some and com­pli­cated to ever be com­pleted. Actions may be vague and unde­liv­er­able, or time­frames may be ill-defined.

When tack­ling large projects, break them down into man­age­able pieces, with a clear plan for account­abil­ity and mea­sur­ing results. Think in 100 day or quar­terly time­frames, and stay focused on get­ting these actions done on time. You’ll find that more gets accom­plished at less cost.

(more…)

Take Action

May 10th, 2010

Most busi­ness envi­ron­ments are chal­leng­ing. Whether you are work­ing in an expand­ing or con­tract­ing mar­ket, there will always be crit­i­cal deci­sions that need to be made. How you respond can be a com­pet­i­tive advan­tage, or a stum­bling block. A leader’s inde­ci­sive­ness can par­a­lyze an organization.

Estab­lish the expec­ta­tion that all issues, chal­lenges, and oppor­tu­ni­ties will be clearly thought out, using all avail­able infor­ma­tion, and that your deci­sions will then be made quickly.

Take action. Then, if you are proven to be wrong, admit it, adjust, and move on.

(more…)

Accept Change and Make it Work for You

May 3rd, 2010

Market con­di­tions and com­peti­tor chal­lenges often cause change. Don’t fight it. Instead, embrace change and fig­ure out how to take advan­tage of it.

Dis­rup­tions in the mar­ket almost always cre­ate busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties. While your com­peti­tors may be con­fused and inde­ci­sive, you want your team to respond quickly and pos­i­tively to change.

Hes­i­ta­tion by com­peti­tors can cre­ate big oppor­tu­ni­ties for the team that is nim­ble and respon­sive. Make sure you are that team.

(more…)