In real estate, almost everyone knows that location, location, location is the name of the game. The best house in the wrong location will not sell.
It is imperative to pay attention to location. The same holds true in business success – it is all about people, people, and people. Who do you have on your team?
Lately, in today’s Amazon-impacted business environment, we’ve been working with a few clients to rapidly increase service levels – to maintain happy customers, to grow the business, to gain a competitive advantage and for many more reasons. The degree and speed of success stems directly back to people. Of course, processes matter, skills development matters, systems and organizations matter; however, the 80/20 of success goes to people.
For example, in one case, we were making progress but not nearly as quickly as desired. A new leader showed up on the scene and suddenly progress kicked into high gear – and success started to follow.
Similarly, one of the key factors of our new proprietary process, TST for driving supply chain performance is torque. In our example above, the leader kicked up the torque, and we kept an eye on speed and traction. Results followed. Knowing which lever to pull – and when to pull it – is the key to success. And, that goes straight back to people.
Although this example related to a new leader, we find that success doesn’t always require new leaders. For example, we can provide countless examples of empowering already-existing leaders in driving success. Identifying exceptional people – and leaders – is cornerstone to achieving success. Of course, identifying them is not enough. Similarly to identifying a root cause to a problem, the identification alone will achieve nothing.
We cannot tell you how many clients we’ve worked with that know their problems and understand their opportunities yet made little to no progress when it came to the rubber hitting the road. Thus, once you’ve identified high potential people, empower them and get out of their way. Provide tools, training and support for roadblocks. Success will follow.
The bottom line is that PEOPLE will ensure that your bottom line hits your objectives.