Can A Minus Become A Plus?

Even on a great day at work there are so many things that can go badly. Any little glitch can become a negative, stress-inducing experience: the staff member who arrives late leaving the company short-handed, you placed an order for needed inventory in plenty of time but your vendor shipped to it to the wrong address which caused you to be out of stock, the customer who was told her order would be ready on Thursday but now needs it Wednesday, the invoice for “The Acme Company” that should have been filed under “A” for “Acme” instead of “T” for “The”, and on and on. Each of these small glitches caused problems, wasted time, added stress, and caused unhappy customers and staff. Even worse, while everyone runs around fixing problems, other crucial work does not get done. If you were keeping score, each glitch would earn a “minus” grade.

Wouldn’t it be better when, at the end of the day, you gave your company a grade and the daily report card was solidly on the “plus” side of the equation? It can be, if you document your expectations, systemize processes, and train everyone the art of execution to meet those expectations.

Start by listing your glitches and work backwards. As an example consider the filing error above. If, rather than just shrugging it off you analyzed the situation to develop a solution. Having a written filing policy posted on the filing cabinet along with an effective training program will result in far fewer errors. Or create a naming system which would print the company name as “Acme Company, The.” The error rate will drop close to zero, putting you solidly in the plus column, saving time, money, and stress.

There will be errors (a minus) made in any system or process. Each comes with emotional and monetary costs (another minus). Analyze each error they occur and develop methods of seeing they do not reoccur. Give your company a big plus for each one you overcome and one day all your minuses will be pluses!

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, "Front Lines with Larry Galler" For a free coaching session, email Larry for an appointment - Larry@larrygaller.com. Sign up for his free newsletter at www.larrygaller.com

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated