Get R Done

Get R Done
Get R Done!

You most likely have seen this slogan on license plates,
bumper stickers, T-Shirts, or at roping contests and
rodeos. It is a pretty popular saying right now and it
certainly calls for one to take action.

Over the past nine months I've been intimately involved in
coaching the world's largest supplier of a product on their
journey to being a "Lean Manufacturing" organization. They
have several plants around the world and it seems that each
works a bit different then the other.

One would think that such a large supplier of this product
would have systems in place that could be duplicated in
each of their faculties. But, no, they let each run
independent. Oh, they have a central financial and HR
procedure, and their sale force and support services are
more align than the manufacturing operations. But, each
plant functions independent of the other. This
decentralization is now standard operating practices in
many industries and organizations and has helped get things
done.

What becomes interesting and something for you to think
about this month is that while this plant that I am working
with opening buy into this slogan of "Get R Done!" they
struggle each month to make it happen. They fail to hit
their daily target numbers on the production line. They
have production meetings each morning to review what
happened the last 24 hours. They take immediate action
when a support function needs to come into play with
production. Yet, each day they look at their outcomes and
they remain in the 55%-65% range. Once in a while they hit
100% or 105% of target, but more often than not they sit at
the lower numbers.

Now, you might ask the same question I did..."What's
getting in the way?" People are certainly working hard.
The supervisors and line leads are putting in long hours.
They have endless meetings. Upper management comes out to
watch the lines operate. Maintenance has re-aligned their
working hours. Results continue to fall short...and have
for the past six months.

So what is the issue? What truly is getting in the way?
Why can they on occasion hit above their production target
but most days fall disappointedly short?

Before we can jump on the fact that they just are not
"getting r done" we need to look at the SR2P factor. What
in blazes is the SR2P factor? Well, I'm glad you asked
because every business and organization that is serious
about "getting r done" needs to have these elements aligned
in order to ensure their success.

Strategy...that's the S! You would be surprised at the
number of organizations I work with who don't have a
clearly defined strategy on how they intend to accomplish
what they want to achieve. When I get down into an
organization it becomes even more obvious that individual
leaders, managers and supervisors have no specific strategy
developed as to how they are going to tackle the
organization's plan.

Now one would think that coming up with a strategy is not a
big deal. It should take only a few moments of clear
thinking to come up with one and to begin following it.
However, you and I have both gotten caught in just doing
something to get some problem off of our plate. We are
like zombies trained to take action right away so we don't
stop and think about a strategy. Besides, isn't a strategy
something for bigger problems....longer term goals,
positioning of the organization in the market place?

Well, you better have a strategy for that, but the
day-to-day activities we are engaged in require a strategy
too, regardless of how simple the task or outcome might
appear. See a strategy has to incorporate the R2Ps in order
to be successful to move you to the outcomes you desire or
need.

R is for resource(s). What resources are going to be
needed to execute your strategy? I remember when a large
international company wanting to go head-to-head with a
firm in Germany that had the majority share of the market.
The head of Germany's operations forecasted a strategy that
showed a significant level of growth, penetrating the share
held by its competitor. This certainly looked great on
paper. However, when the deeper question was asked by
senior management as how they were going to do this the
answer was to increase the sales force. The next question
was by how many? The answer, by a dozen or so. When asked
how big the competitor's sales force is the answer was 300.
Almost ten times the number they were projecting as having
to penetrate this market. Clearly there was a need to
either reconsider the over all strategy or put significant
resources behind this forecast to ensure its success. So
you know the end of the story the international firm
decided on a new strategy rather than going head-to-head
with their major competitor.

The 2 Ps stands for People and Process. Does your strategy
take into consideration where and how your people are
assigned? What they are capable of doing? What are their
skill levels? What have they demonstrated in the past that
can assure you that they can execute the strategy as
developed? Often the strategy is developed without linkage
to the capacity of the people who are expected to carry it
out. Assumptions are made that the people will and can
step up to the plate to fulfill the expectations.

And while this can happen, we find that when it does not,
the company has to back down from their strategy because
they had to re-train their people. So make certain you
take into consideration where your people are and their
capacity to deliver your strategy as you have it. Often,
when an organization does their strategic planning they
leave out what changes they have to make to their workforce
so that the workforce is capable of delivering the strategy.

The last P - process- is one that is just as critical as
all the rest, but again not looked at to the degree it
should. Under the standards of LEAN MANUFACTURING, your
processes are the key to eliminating waste and to increase
turn-over of inventory, maximizing people's efforts, and to
reduce handling of product so that it moves through its
cycle as fast as possible.

Like you and I, too often our organizations assume that the
way we are doing things today is the best way because it
has worked for us in the past. And, it doesn't need to
have any real changes made to it to fit our new strategy.

But as we are finding out in the company I am working with
now, that while the strategy is clearly defined they have
not taken the time to look closely at the R2Ps part of the
formula for "getting r done!"

Because they are doing that now, I am expecting to see
dramatic results over the next few weeks that show a
significant upward trend towards hitting their production
number. But, here is a kicker that you and I need to be
aware of. And one that I'll address in a future article.
What we need to watch out for is the execution of the SR2P
formula. If we can't "get r done" the best plans stay on
the shelf. We don't learn anything about what we have to
change to remain competitive. We fall into blaming the
economy, sales, customers not buying, etc. Failure to
execute keeps your best from coming out. So as the slogan
says....step up and "Get R Done!

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More information on J. David Magistrelli and his unique and
comprehensive approach to Organizational Change, Lean
Thinking, Development of Your People - including sales
force, managers, supervisors, and Joining Business and
Marketing Strategies Together can be found at
http://www.strategies-unlimitiednc.com ,
http://www.operatingbeliefs.com and at
http://www.increasecustomercontact.com