Business Management - Productivity/Process Improvement

Set your own “sequester” and have some fun with it. We all get too serious as managers, and if we create some fun around serious issues, they can become more manageable.

It's strange, that every owner or manager knows when a system stops running, but they fail to ask, "WHY?" For example, why DO people stop using systems such for Quality Control, Preventative Maintenance, Request for Leave, and for Orientation, etc.?

What was the inflation in your cost structure last year and what will it be this year? How much have your rent, utilities, payroll, supplies and delivery costs gone up? Have the courage to always build inflation into your pricing, or it will eventually put you out of business. It’s happened to many of your competitors.

Have you heard of The Deadly Law of Attrition? If not, I may shock you with this statement: You are going to lose your best customer. It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when.

If you're a salesperson and your sales are down, there is an infinite amount of material out there that can be read or listen to for inspiration and encouragement. If you are a business owner, dealing with tighter margins and other business hurdles, resources abound to help you deal with those issues and many others.

The good criminals are good—they spend their lives honing their skills. They know how to falsify references, make you feel good about working hard to win the business, and they know how to disappear the moment you realize their snake oil. They don’t think like you and I, and they don’t play by the same rules. They enjoy their ill-gotten gains on a daily basis. They enjoy today because they’re not in jail—they’ll deal with their problems of tomorrow when tomorrow turns into today.

Business is a race. We’re all given the same 24 hours and the same 52 weeks. What we do with them determines whether we’ll eat someone’s lunch or vice versa. We just sent a New Year’s card to our customers.

If I have learned anything about organizing and systemizing a company, it’s to never surprised by where the “how-to” answers come from. There’s a great story in the Torah (Exodus 18) about a man named Jethro, the Sheik of Midian, and how he taught a great prophet about organizing and delegating in order to be a more effective leader.

Sometimes, when talking to or training owners/managers, I get the sense that no one is really IN CHARGE or willing to exercise their authority to require that quality-control and other systems be used properly. For those who GET the fact that great quality and service through systemization will win in the end, failure is not an option—resistance is futile.

The Printing Industries of America (PIA) announced the recipients of its 2012 Best Workplace in the Americas Awards. A total of 36 graphic arts companies, both PIA and non-PIA members, were selected by a committee of human resource experts from within the industry.