Ask Andi: How do we focus operations? Our manager proposes we work on what we need two years from now. What we need to focus on the next six months is more hands-on. I might have the wrong person for the job. Does he need to tune into immediate priorities?
Thoughts of the day: To focus operations, make sure there’s an overall game plan. Define all the priorities together and then identify immediate needs. Work out a budget and payoff. Consider it an advantage that you have someone who can look at the big picture; now develop her skills at tackling the short-term issues that can interrupt long-term progress.
Focus on operations needs
Bring everyone together by writing an overall set of goals. Make sure there’s a point on the horizon toward which everyone is headed. Go through an annual review of the long-term goals to be sure they are still on point for the company and relevant to where the marketplace is going.
Ask your head of operations to lay out the short- and long-term priorities. Be sure to measure customer satisfaction, innovation, quality of assembly, and delivery standards. Ask her to rate how your company is doing with the same performance measures right now and how she’d like the company to be doing two years from now.
Discuss the immediate gaps between performance goals and actual. What are the issues that are cropping up now and getting in the way of meeting current standards? Why are they happening? What can be done immediately in order to improve performance? Identify actions and priorities as short-term or long-term based upon their immediate vs. long-term impact on performance measures.
Solicit input to the short- and long-term goals and plans by asking for feedback from the bottom up. Start with the shop floor. Ask them what they think needs to be fixed. Ask them to distinguish between nice to have and need to have.
Focus on improving processes rather than outcomes
Figure out the cost/value of fixing immediate problems. What will be the cost savings? What expenses need to be incurred in order to implement immediate fixes? Which short-term fixes will be of no value once it’s time to implement long-term solutions? What’s the cost of long-term changes? How long until that budget is available?
Work with your manager to determine the difference in profitability with short-term fixes vs. long-term solutions. Make sure that you’re not being penny wise and pound foolish by focusing on short-term issues and holding off on longer-term solutions. Focus operations.
Value the contribution your manager can make to help you think big picture. It’s common to get caught focusing on what’s immediate and overlooking the long term. If this manager can help you see the longer term, use her insight to plan, debate, and compare options.
At the same time, the discussion of key measures – immediate gaps in performance and cost/payoff ratios related to implementing change – help her learn about the challenges of running a fiscally sound business. Fix the problems and improve profits short term, in order to fund longer-term changes. Keep a list of short- and long-term changes in front of both of you at all times. Agree on what has to be fixed short term and what can wait. Define the long-term timetable. Figure out how long the short-term solutions have to work before you can afford to implement the master change plan.
