From: John Yost [john.yost@procompass-ms.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2003 6:42 AM
To: Business Leader
Subject: ProCompass Newsletter - Issue 13

Issue 13 November 4, 2003

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In this Issue:

Improvement: Who needs it?

Business is pretty good right now. Our products and services are good and our customers seem to be pretty satisfied. Why should we bother with trying to make improvements? Things look pretty good the way are, so why upset things?

The above reasoning might seem appropriate for a business environment in which there is little change and no competition. But very few businesses can count on such an environment. Competition forces us to change to remain competitive. “If you stop on the highway to success, expect to get run over”.

Most business people recognize the need to constantly improve their basic products and services in order keep up with or get ahead of the competition. Yet very often the most needed improvements are in other areas of the business. Following are some example of areas of the business that are frequently overlooked when it comes to improvement:

Business Processes. Most businesses have a number of business processes that support their basic product or service. Procurement, Inventory Management, Order Entry, Distribution are some examples of business processes that support the basic product or service processes. But these process very often place demands or requirements on the basic product or services that cause delays in the delivery of the goods or service.

Customer Service. Much of what passes for Customer Service is actually “Lip Service”. Many companies put on an elaborate show of customer service without addressing what the customer really wants. As a customer you have probably experienced this if you have ever gotten trapped in one of the open-ended automated customer assistance phone systems.

Management and Leadership. Studies and surveys have found that fewer than 20% of managers at all levels have ever had any formal training in management or leadership. This means that most managers learn to manage by trial and error. Now, this is an effective way to learn if we have knowledge of our errors and a way to correct them to improve. The problem with managing and leading people is that our errors are not always readily apparent and often cause huge, costly problems before we are aware of them.

The secret to improvement is that it is not a one-time phenomenon. Real improvement is an on-going process that is planned, executed, evaluated and re-planned on a continuous basis. Without the dedication to continuously strive for improvement we run the risk of getting run over by the competition on our journey to success.

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