Management Information |
The Dripping Faucet in Every Organization
Each day millions of workers spend 8 hours or more at their respective jobs with many contributing to the dripping faucet within every organization. This faucet much like the leaking kitchen or bathroom faucet's steadily waste drops of a previous resource - water - every minute of every day until fixed. Yet, the dripping faucet is considered a minor annoyance until the drips become steadier. During this time, thousands of gallons of water are wasted costing the owner probably more money than it took to correct the problem. Organizations also have dripping faucets not only in their physical plants, but within their people's productivity. During the last 5 years, I have surveyed thousands of individuals who all believe that their plates are full, but admit to wasting a minimum of 12 minutes each day. For employees who are paid $30,000 not including benefits, this amounts to $14.42 each week for the one lost hour of work or $721.12 annually. If you have a facility with 50 people, the annual cost is at least $35,056. For organizations with at least 1,400 employees, the annual cost rises a minimum of $1,000,000. Dripping faucets are very expensive! How can you repair this expensive drain on your limited resources? First, consider that most people don't intentionally come to work to waste your resources. Their performance in many cases is a result of lack of knowledge and skills supported by negative attitudes and habits. These negative attitudes and habits probably contribute much more to their performance. Second, begin to ask questions about how the organization is communicating its message. If you were to survey 10% of your employees from upper, middle and front line levels and asked them to name the top 3 goals of the organization, would you receive the EXACT SAME ANSWER from each individual. Different responses contribute to people not knowing what they may need to do next and contribute to that ongoing dripping faucet. Third, determine if your employees truly understand how to plan and achieve their personal goals. If your employees are achieving their personal goals, the likelihood of them achieving corporate goals has been greatly enhanced. Time management is the apex of goal planning and achievement. If individuals don't have goals, then why worry about time? Fourth, as you train your employees include interpersonal development along with the job specific skills. If your company promotes from within, the individual is recognized for her or his job specific skills. However, as these individuals moved up through the organization, job specific skills become less while interpersonal skills become greater. Yet, much of the training fails to develop these individuals and the result is that these individuals leave which increases bottom line costs or return to their original position again increasing bottom line costs. Five, finally, think about the words that you select. For example, ask your employees how they are investing their time instead of spending their time? Frame your questions and statements using positive words that generate powerful mental images. People hear words, but they think in pictures. Six, align your systems, strategies and people to create loyal internal customers that discover those "moments of truth" leading to external customers. Southwest Airlines understands the power of alignment. These are just 6 ideas that will help you begin to repair your dripping faucets. So, grab the toolbox and begin to create a culture that does not support wasting your resources, but instead looks to invest them. Remember, the faucet continues to drip and this is very expensive. Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. President of ADVANCED SYSTEMS, is the Process Specialist. With over 25 years of business and education experience, she implements and realigns processes to build sustainable change for individuals and organizations and delivers ROI solutions within a variety of industries. As co-author of M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential:Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement due for August 2005 release, Leanne speaks nationally to a variety of audiences. If you desire AMAZING RESULTS, please call Leanne a call at 219.759.5601 or leanne@processspecialist.com. Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smithhttp://www.processspecialist.com/organizations.htm Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Training is in the Eye of the Beholder This article relates to the Training competency, commonly evaluated in employee surveys. It comments on the value of training to both the company and its workforce. Unveiling the Value of Your Expertise All of us have knowledge, expertise, and experience that others can benefit from. This is one of the reasons we play some of the roles in life that we play: leader, trainer, teacher, coach, mentor, and more. Guidelines For Conducting A Good Meeting Okay, so you've figured out what kind of meeting is needed, you've planned well and you have all the right materials. How about the meeting itself? How can you be sure the meeting you've so carefully planned and prepared actually comes off as expected?The checklist below can help you through the process. You Cant Afford the Luxury of Disengaged Employees In today's business environment with increases in staff reductions and rapidly changing roles and responsibilities, it is crucial that all of your team members be fully engaged in the tasks at hand. According to a Gallup survey, 350 billion dollars are lost each year in American companies due to disengaged employees. Effective Email Communication Email, when used properly, can generate additional direct sales and leads; can be used as a tool to communicate with your existing client base to let them know of upcoming events which may affect them; and as a means of ongoing promotion for your business.The following is a list of simple guidelines and tips that will help you become an effective email communicator. Management Procedures Usability - How to Improve Are your people consistently following your procedures? Each year, organizations lose thousands of dollars through common mistakes and lapses in usability. But what does that mean for business owners and executives?Ask yourself: ? Are your required actions described thoroughly and accurately, or are the details left open to interpretation?? Is your content consistent and complete, or are your writers leaving gaps no one has noticed?? Are revisions controlled, or are different people using different versions?? Are your procedures compliant with regulations? Are you sure?? Are all documents written to produce clear, measurable results?If you're unsure about any of the answers to these questions, there is good news: you can make your procedures clear and complete without combing through all of them yourself line by line. Setting Direction Within an Organization FINDING DIRECTION: An organization can't succeed without direction. Direction means having clear goals and guidelines; set goals and guidelines for staff to follow. Hows Your Company RQ (Reputation Quotient)? In light of recent corporate scandals, from Enron and Global Crossing to those of once trustworthy mutual funds, is it any wonder that more people are asking, "Can I trust this company enough to do business with them?" But the trust issue isn't just relative to the buyers of your products and services, its vitally important to employees as well. Impacting their retention and performance in very real ways. Close the Performance Gap One of the most difficult and emotionally draining situations you face as business owners or executives is employees not meeting your expectations. How can you handle it if they are not keeping up their end of the employee contract?Begin by taking a look at your team. The Few & the Many: Free Trade, Outsourcing, & Communication Have you noticed that some sound ideas get bad publicity? Two Ihave in mind are outsourcing and free trade.No doubt you could name others, but looking at these two initiatives helps us understand a communication challenge for many companies and not-for-profit organizations. Performance Evaluations Can Be Beneficial THE PERFORMANCE REVIEW MEETING: It's a fact - most supervisors and employees have negative feelings toward performance appraisals and appraisal interviews. It's often necessary to shift people's thinking from the perception that the interview is a time of judgment to the perspective that supervisors can provide support and direction to employees who want to improve their productivity and be involved in the process. Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges and Solutions Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between people in an organization. That sounds simple, but diversity encompasses race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, education, background and more. Avoiding The Sheep Dip It is a sad fact that many employees are still being subjected to the age old training ritual of "sheep dipping". This is a process by which employees are "refreshed", "cleansed" and "re-invigorated" by ensuring they attend set training courses or, perhaps, are placed on the ubiquitous "refresher" course. Quick Tips On Bringing Out The Best In People Want to bring out the best in people?Edward W. Smith, motivational speaker, author and TV show host, who specializes in quick tips on how to move your life ahead even faster, offers the following advice. Are You A B.O.S.S. -- Boisterous, Omnipotent, Self Indulgent, Sociopath Boisterous, Omnipotent, Self- indulgent Sociopath. Avoid the B. Having Your Phil February 2nd, at approximately 7:30 a.m. Project Managment: Land the Plane Stop Doing and Start Succeeding We all spend time on planning vacations. If it's not you then it's probably your significant other or travel agent. Seeking Help Where does the time go? Billable time. As a consultant, your practice may be doing reasonably well; you're charging $100-150 an hour. Tales From the Corporate Frontlines: Managerial Influence This article relates to the Manager/Supervisor competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. This competency evaluates an employee's feelings regarding their direct manager or supervisor. 30 Ways to be a Butt-Head Boss 1. Trust no one. |
home | site map | contact us |