People, Processes and Products

Is your company losing its edge because products and services are slow getting to your customers? On the other hand, maybe not developing leading edge products to keep up with purchasing habits and market trends is the issue. Either way this is a major survival concern for organizations in the early stages of growth and a profitability concern for more mature organizations. In addition, other contributing factors can help bog down this process.

 

Communication:

• Is leadership sending a clear, concise and consistent message that product and process improvements are part of your organization’s culture?
• Is it clear that problem solving is everyone’s problem?
• Do teams have sufficient training in how to communicate within their teams, with vendors and customers?
• How do you share success stories?
• Do your employees understand the sense of urgency it requires to get products and services delivered in a timely fashion while maintaining quality?
• What quality control measures are in place?
• Are there reward systems in place to encourage such improvements?
• Are performance programs in place to hold employees accountable?
• Well-functioning processes and systems are essential for product/service delivery. These processes include physical, financial and operating systems.
• How often do leaders evaluate processes and system to ensure they are still working?

Establishing Expectations:

 

• Do your employees understand the sense of urgency it requires to get products and services delivered in a timely fashion while maintaining quality?
• What quality control measures are in place?
• Are there reward systems in place to encourage such improvements?
• Are performance programs in place to hold employees accountable?

 

Processes:

• Well-functioning processes and systems are essential for product/service delivery. These processes include physical, financial and operating systems.
• How often do leaders evaluate processes and system to ensure they are still working?

Sometimes an organization grows so large or rapidly that logjams develop. Long-time customers may begin to question your ability to provide them the quality of service they want. The lack of efficiency in the areas of people, processes and products will cause your company to lose its edge. Be sure to train your employees on operations. They will not figure it out on their own. Leadership must constantly be at the forefront in identifying new and unique opportunities to refresh value to the customer in order to maintain momentum. Keep your edge sharp.