For many organizations, profit and charity, the “backend” of their organization is often overlooked. The exciting things like “sales” and “events” tend to be everyone’s focus; however, the key to your success in for-profits’ and the continued operation for charities is how well you execute the every day “nuts and bolts” of your operation.
Organizational vulnerabilities are blind spots; they are the systems/processes/and sometimes people that are taken for granted or are not on the organizations radar. Whether you are an owner, manager, or associate; are these statements true for you?
Owners and their associates should trust managers and supervisors.
Leaders should be effective and earn the respect of their people and their supervisors. This might seem obvious, but I have seen multi-million-dollar companies employ “family” types who only got the job because of their last name or because of an “outside” connection.
In addition, these people need to be focused on the success of the organization, not simply on the success of themselves. Too often some managers are more interested in protecting or covering their ass and benefits than they are in doing what is right for the organization.
Whomever you hire, they should have the following abilities:
- Leadership skills set the example, and their associates need to know they have this skill from day 1. They should foster, encourage, and nurture fresh ideas and build their people.
- Above-average organizational skills.
- Training ability, from the most senior person to the newest student, having a “living” training program that is inclusive and focused on providing great service. Cross-train your associates.
- They help drive “the organization”, they look for ways to “get more done”; they are not overly bureaucratic or so egotistical that they get in the way of the business.
- They are willing to do every job in the organization when help is needed or when their associates are under stress.
Pay your people at least 10% better.
Money is not usually the prime motivating factor when finding and retaining key managers and associates; however, it is still important. If your organization lags behind your competitors in wages and benefits, you will lose your key people; it is just a matter of time.
Take the time to know your people.
Learn about what they are proud of, what is bothering them, what they want to learn, and what they do outside of your organization. For whatever time you spend learning about them, you will be rewarded much more back in loyalty, reduced staff turnover, and more satisfied clients/customers.
Watch the things nobody thinks are being watched.
Trust is important, but no function in any organization should be completed without scrutiny. All functions should be audited and double-checked so that all functions have a backup.
For example, merchants should always be doing rolling inventory counts as a daily job, not a once-a-year burden. Having what you think you have in inventory is important especially since being able to find those “one of a kind items” when they are sold is important. As well, your good associates will appreciate the value of knowing your inventory is reliable and any associates that are tempted to pilfer will know they will be caught.
Public and private areas of your organization should be as clean and well organized as possible.
Build this as a competitive advantage, plus it fosters building pride in your organization.
All client/customer/and supplier interactions should be professional, helpful, and friendly.
Disney treats everyone as a guest, they are not wrong. The tone, attitude, and desire to be helpful is the hallmark of great organizations. Some managers consider their tasks to be a burden, instead, they should remember their tasks are important and contribute to the success of the entire organization. For example, warehouse managers and associates who treat their delivery drivers well, help them unload, don’t make them wait; are rewarded usually by drivers that are much more helpful and with fewer damaged products. Clients/customers will respond better when each is greeted with a genuine smile; they are acknowledged and waits are kept to a minimum, that someone is always ready to help even at breaktime, that language is always professional; and that the atmosphere is pleasant and respectful.
Review your procedures constantly.
For any organization, constantly be looking for procedures that are out-of-date or that hinder the delivery of your products or services. How do your associates greet clients/customers, do your associates return inquiries completely and promptly, are all of your processes delivering the result they were intended to do? For example, a merchant with a great sales team can be undercut if the warehouse team is rude when the item is picked up or if customers are being given the wrong or damaged items.
Train your people continuously.
Interactive training is key. Write out all of your procedures, laminate them, and post them. On-going training can be a key competitive advantage for your organization. Dedicate at least 60 minutes per week to either team training or individual training for your associates.
Mitigate Issues.
Liability issues are a fact of life for all organizations. Find ways, get legal advice, to ensure that the fear of lawsuits doesn’t handcuff your organization. Use waivers and safety checklists to anticipate issues and minimize the opportunity for accidents.
Work Smart and study flow.
Take the time to speak to your associates. What are their ideas and concerns for improving workplace flow, for example, in a warehouse situation:
- Keeping receiving separate from normal products until it is completely processed and tagged,
- Have the fastest moving items the most accessible to staging areas,
- Store small, high-value items securely and not easily accessible to visitors,
- Have product identification tags stored so the vendor numbers and your sku numbers are easily visible,
- Minimize the amount of extra handling to prevent damage,
- Train your associates to recognize potential damage, for example, boxes that have crushed corners,
- Have separate areas for staging, receiving, assembly, service issues, and layout paths for equipment and picking, even if it is just with tape initially.
Have a “what if” book for procedures.
Reduce your associate’s stress level by having thought-out processes for when things don’t follow normal operations. For example, in a warehouse when something is lost and a customer is waiting; train your associates to look for the shape of the box that it should be in, if it is a pickup, communicate with the customer and keep everyone cool.
Other examples include: what if the server crashes; what if the power goes off; what if an associate needs to go to the hospital; what if someone is injured at work after hours, and ask your associates what are the situations they worry about.
Build connections.
Foster a sense of teamwork and comradery between your associates and your departments. Build your organization’s culture by ensuring that everyone appreciates that their contribution is vital to the success of the entire organization.
A famous racecar driver once said that races are won by how fast you get through the corners, not how fast you go in a straight line. Many organizations focus on the flash and sizzle of their worlds, ignoring at their peril the routine and perceived “basic” things. Failure to acknowledge and overcome Organizational Vulnerabilities are the things that will cause your team to fail.
Good luck,
Paul.