Search this blog
Loading
1/12/2008 10:50:00 AM
It is imperative that owners and managers manage their available resources to produce optimum results. In business, results mean making money, consistently earning a profit and generating cash.
The manager's focus should be on results, not activities. The only activities that count are those that contribute to results, making money. Activities that cannot be linked even indirectly to results should be reduced or stopped altogether.
A thoughtful approach is required. It is generally agreed that happy, informed, motivated employees produce enhanced results. Therefore, activities that foster these kinds of employees likely produce a solid payback. So don't rush out and kill the company picnic or holiday party. Results might suffer.
The issue is the mind-set of the manager, who must always be thinking about the desired results, asking such questions as:
Mike Hulser
Source: The Biz MD
The manager's focus should be on results, not activities. The only activities that count are those that contribute to results, making money. Activities that cannot be linked even indirectly to results should be reduced or stopped altogether.
A thoughtful approach is required. It is generally agreed that happy, informed, motivated employees produce enhanced results. Therefore, activities that foster these kinds of employees likely produce a solid payback. So don't rush out and kill the company picnic or holiday party. Results might suffer.
The issue is the mind-set of the manager, who must always be thinking about the desired results, asking such questions as:
- Where do we stand? Do we have effective information flow that keeps us informed as to whether we are on track or not? If not, a critical effort is to get the information flow established to all who have a need to know.
- If we are on track, do we know why? Strange question, probably one of the toughest. Effort spent on attempting to answer it is not time wasted.
- If we are not on track, do we know why/where/how? If so, what new and different actions should we take to get back on track? There is an old adage that remains as true today as ever: "You can't expect new and improved results by continuing to take the same old actions." You must change something -- expectations, processes, rules, schedules, people, equipment, suppliers, etc. -- if you want different results.
- What activities, if any, could we simply stop doing and nobody would notice? Often, businesses put a process in place to address an issue. Unfortunately, all too often, long after the issue is gone, the resource-using process is still in place. If so, kill it.
- Are there any current practices that are justified by the old "We've always done it that way"? In today's business world of increasingly rapid change, that is not a valid justification for anything!
Mike Hulser
Source: The Biz MD
Posts
