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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 →

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In: Change Management, Operations Best Practices, Operations Humor

When business processes don’t work the way that we expect them to, we often blame the employees who are responsible for the process. We assume that they aren’t working hard enough or need more training. However, we are often wrong – and there are six others reasons that processes fail, which inspired today’s cartoon. Enjoy!    (Click on the image to view a full screen version.)  Read More →

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In: Operations Best Practices, Operations Leadership

To close out 2011, I surveyed top operations experts across the globe and asked them to share their most impactful learning or most important piece of advice for The Operations Blog’s audience. Read on for interesting commentary on service operations, sales operations, leadership and operational excellence. Please add your own advice in the comments section. 1) Developing Leadership Skills Must Be Intentional “This past year I’ve learned the value of continuous learning for the development of leadership skills. Far too may business executives believe leadership skills stem from some sort of wondrous epiphany or other such flash of insight. Sure, great ideas can come to anyRead More →