‘Designing Strategies’ eNewsletter
November-December 2010 Volume 7 — Issue 37
Welcome to our new newsletter!
Welcome to the new, electronic version of the ‘Designing Strategies’ newsletter brought to you bi-monthly by Maurer Consulting Group. Our newsletter came to your Inbox as an e-mail attachment for the past five years. We decided it was time for us to get with the times and create a better mousetrap to better serve you, our readers. The publication will continue as a one-page, bi-monthly piece with content on topics ranging from strategic planning to business management and marketing.
I enjoy watching ‘Undercover Boss’ on television to see just how well members of the C-Suite of well-known organizations do when they are down in the trenches with their front line staff — incognito, of course. This past Sunday evening, Subway sent their chief deployment officer, Don Fertman behind the counter in several of their stores to bake bread, make cookies and put together more than a few foot-longs for customers. The experience proved to be an eye-opener for Fertman. He had the opportunity to see how decisions made at the top affect those working on the front line on a daily basis. What better way to analyze your systems than to get down in the trenches and try them out?
Fertman had the opportunity to learn how policies and rules made in the boardroom affect employees on the front lines. He learned that it’s not all that easy to separate those thin slices of cheese and meat wearing those gloves. He learned that everything headquarters decides to add as an ‘improvement’ affects the way employees need to work. First hand, he realized how time and efforts need changed to be incorporated into their work day. Another eye-opener for him was understanding the need for thinking through all decisions from that front line perspective. Additionally, he saw the need to involve front line feedback into corporate planning processes.
How You Can Analyze Your Systems
How do you go about gaining these types of insights for your firm? Do you participate in little covert, undercover projects of your own? When you analyze your systems, there is much to be learned from looking at your operations from a different perspective. It’s a little more difficult to go undercover when you are a one stop shop where you will be easily recognized. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be a bit covert in looking outside your own company for new ideas.
From a slightly different point of view, where can you find ideas to innovate your operations, streamline them and make them more productive? How can you improve your processes, systems and policies? There are always networking events with your peers where ideas are exchanged, or industry conferences you can attend for insights and ideas. Certainly learning best practices from industry leaders has value, as does reading industry journals and attending seminars.
I challenge you to look outside your own industry to see what others are doing. Doing what everyone else in your industry does may not be the best approach. See what you can learn from an entirely different industry that can innovate your own. Take notes and incorporate a couple of new, innovative ideas into your plan for 2011.
