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In: Achieving Operations Goals

It’s become very clear that there is a big difference between activity and action. When you are involved in “activity” you or your team members are moving, chatting, planning and/or meeting about business impacting actions you plan to take in the future. You are catching up on your emails and reading your text messages. Activity has to happen and can be productive as long as it leads somewhere. I was chatting with a colleague recently and he said that he sometimes feels like he is spending his time “moving around air” but not actually getting results. His air moving is definitely an activity, and IRead More →

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In: Achieving Operations Goals

How we think about and talk about what we “do” significantly impacts the satisfaction we get from the activity and the value others feel from the activity. Ponder these 5 phrases: I have to do. I could do. I will do. I want to do. I get to do. I would refer to these as the “evolution of doing”. If we think about our activities as have to or could do, the perception is that the activities are chores, and not something we want to do. Once we “get to do” something, it sounds like we received a gift or something that we are veryRead More →

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In: Achieving Operations Goals, Customer Experience, Operations Best Practices

Sales wants to add as many customizations as possible, but operations wants sales to sell “what is on the truck” already. I have seen this natural conflict or push/pull relationship at every company I have worked for, from packaging supplies, to online advertising to software. Having worked in both sales and ops, I have been both the requester and the rejector. What causes this conflict? Sales people want to please customers and they often believe that providing custom options and/or all the bells and whistles that the customers ask for, is what’s best for everyone. Their perspective is often about the short term gratification andRead More →