For a time in the past, business consultants were spouting the phrase “management by walking around.” The basic premise of this management style was that business leaders needed to get out of their offices and meet with rank-and-file employees. The thought was that this would let the leaders know what was really going on in their company.
At Lily, one of our core operating philosophies is “Go & See — Inspect to Expectation.” And while that certainly includes managers leaving their offices, it involves much more than a casual stroll through our facilities and conversations with staff members.
To be effective, Go & See starts with understanding how various aspects of your business are performing today. What things are you doing well and what things do you need to improve in order to be more efficient and profitable? Consider looking at industry performance benchmarks to see how you measure up compared to other fleets.
Once you have identified areas that need improvement, set performance improvement goals. Make sure these goals are specific and measurable. Rather than saying you want to improve your on-time deliveries, set a goal of improving on-time deliveries by 5%, for example. Having a clear goal allows staff members to gauge progress toward achieving that goal. Also let employees know what needs to be done differently in order to reach it. Continuing business as usual does not typically lead to improvement.
Setting a performance goal is just the first step in the process of improving your operation. You also need to have a system in place that measures how you are progressing toward achieving the goal. Depending on the goal, this could mean a weekly or monthly review of data to gauge progress. The point is that if you are serious about improving an aspect of your operation, you need to regularly check to see whether the operational changes you made are working. Once you have achieved your goal, you can change your monitoring frequency, but don’t completely stop checking in to make sure you are still performing at a high level. Or you can change the goal to further improve in a given area.
During the regular review of data, managers should also take time to talk to employees who are responsible for achieving the goal. Ask them what is going well and what obstacles are getting in the way of the goal being met. The folks in the trenches are best able to tell you what is working and what isn’t, so make sure to include these conversations as part of your Go & See activities.
Adopting a Go & See policy where you inspect to ensure your expectations are being met is a great way to continually improve your business. It also helps to keep managers in touch with the realities of your operation, allowing them to better identify and address areas that need improvement.
