From: John Yost
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2003 10:59 PM
To: Business Leader
Subject: ProCompass Newsletter - Issue 3

Issue 3 June 1, 2003

ProCompass is dedicated to business improvement through leadership development and operations improvement. I will use this newsletter to publish short article concerning these topics. To keep the newsletter brief I shall typically publish only one such article per issue and alternate between to two major topics (Leadership and Operations Improvement). I shall also provide useful information regarding website changes or upcoming workshops, seminars or discussion offered by ProCompass or other business associates.

I have started posting past issues of the CompassPoint newsletter on the ProCompass Website. To view past issues go to the Resources tab found on the top Navigation bar of the website. Use can also use this link http://www.procompass-ms.com/resources.html

If you have questions or inputs regarding this newsletter please contact us at mailto:Contact@ProCompass-ms.com

In this Issue:

Don’t Confuse Speed with Haste

In the world of Highway Safety, Speed Kills. In the world of business, “Lack of Speed” kills. For many years business seemed to try to heed both ideas. Obviously, it is critically important to do things quickly, but, the old adage “haste makes waste” is certainly also true. In today’s business environment, speed, or the rate at which we accomplish our business objectives is of utmost importance. But how do we balance that requirement for speed against the concepts of Haste and Waste. Perhaps it is good idea to review some definitions first:

� Speed is the effective and efficient execution of our business objectives

� Haste is the ineffective pursuit of speed beyond our capabilities

� Waste is anything more that the minimum use of resources to achieve our objectives

Examples:

Speed – A bullet train traveling at 200 mph on a track designed for that speed.

Haste – A Standard diesel train traveling at 100 mph on tracks designed for 60 mph

Waste – A bullet train traveling at 50 mph on a track designed for 200 mph

– A train wreck caused by the result of the Haste example above

The problem with haste is that is has the appearance of speed. We often hurry to get something done, only to find out that we’ve made mistakes, which require a lot of time to correct. The problem wasn’t our desire to get something done quickly; the problem was that we exceeded our limitations for the amount of time allowed.

Many of our processes are filled with waste, and this waste is often hidden or disguised. We may have a highly efficient production process but the business processes that move product and materials through the production process are often filled with waste. The common answer to such a situation is to try to rush or shortcut the process often with results that create even more waste.

The answer to wasteful processes is not to find new ways to short cut or rush the process, but to find ways to eliminate the wasteful practices. These wasteful practices were often created for very good reasons that are not longer applicable, yet we continue to apply these practices to our processes because they have become the standard way of operating. They appear to be beneficial and we follow them as habit. If we are going to overcome the waste in our processes we need to identify the sources of waste (the wasteful practices and processes) and eliminate or change them.

This process of identifying and changing wasteful practices and processes is not highly complicated or difficult, but it does require a high degree of dedication, leadership and management support. The best news is that once a company begins to take steps toward reducing waste they usually begin to see results immediately. Reduced waste means reduced costs, which results in increased profits. Now everyone likes that!

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