Increase Productivity

The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business recently stated that “Canada is about to pay the price for its failure to address a productivity rate that is universally described as woeful”.

Wow – that’s huge!!!

They went on to say that the economy is expanding but is producing less than it did before the financial crisis. Today there are fewer jobs and people buying goods and services. The only way to generate more wealth for companies is to increase their productivity levels. But this isn’t just a Canadian issue. It is a reality facing most of the world’s advanced economies.

More importantly – what do we do? So many organizations have already implemented Lean and Six Sigma approaches to save money. But these have not always increased the levels of productivity expected. However, there is an opportunity to increase productivity that is fast, effective and will deliver bottom-line improvements.

There is no doubt that as organizations seek ways in which to increase productivity and save money they will reach the conclusion that they will continue to have to work with fewer resources. These organizations must use Business Process Management (BPM) to examine their key processes. BPM will also ensure that employee performance and morale are maintained. Otherwise, productivity will negatively be affected, staff motivation levels will decrease and the customers will feel the impact of these decisions.

Streamlining key business processes will increase productivity, reduce costs and optimize customer service levels. Our current situation may seem challenging but through these efforts you can identify new opportunities for managing these.

If your organization is facing any of these challenges below you can benefit from BPM:
•There is increased global competition.
•Constant price reduction demands from customers.
•Increased requirements for quality.
•Must remain competitive, innovative and profitable.
•Need to implement enhanced cost and cycle-time reduction.
•Customer satisfaction and loyalty levels need to be increased.
•Requirement to minimize all forms of waste and maximize value for the customer.
•Resources are stretched and not sure where to spend their time.
•Many key business processes are in crisis and there is lots of fire-fighting rather than looking into the root causes of the problems.
•There is blame and excuses for poor individual and group work practices.

Improving productivity growth will become an even more important component of economic growth in the future as labour forces continue to remain stagnant.

If you need advise on how to get started or want help to increase your operational effectiveness, let me know - mstanleigh@bia.ca

Operational Effectiveness Leaders

We all work to live. We don't live to work.

All the choices we make in our life are just that - our choices. no one makes these for us. We search for the guilty, blame the innocent and execute others for our own bad decisions.

Leadership is about leading - not doing.

Vision and strategies are not dictated. They are developed collaboratively. How else is it possible to create an operationally effective team that has a shared, common understanding and commitment to the future. One that has a clear direction on how to get there. That is what Operational Effective Leadership is all about.

Do you create your department's/branch's/group's/organization's vision and strategies? Or - do you engage the entire group to do this collaboratively. Though in the first instance, as leaders, we always insist that the final result was because of input from our team - this is not at all the same. The final will still be yours - not everyones. You have a choice. Make the choice of working collaboratively with your group. It will be more engaging, energizing and the result will be more powerful than anything you could have ever imagined before.

Let me know if you are unclear on how to proceed and I'd be happy to guide you through the process. You won't regret it.