Stop the daily emergencies

How many times have you been tasked with improving one measurement to avoid further scrutiny from higher levels of management?  If your experience is like that of most people working in the post-pandemic workplace, you have experienced this too many times.  An emergency has materialized, and the topic was never a matter of discussion in prior meetings.  You have been instructed to drop everything and make this emergency your top priority.  Sudden emergencies do happen; however, genuine emergencies in a company with effective measurements are infrequent.  They are random.  This reactive response is often indicative of a company that does not have effective measurements in place.

  Not sure if this applies to you?  It is simple to determine if it does.  Does your organization have chronic turnover, or consistently struggle to staff its workforce at appropriate levels?  If you answered yes, you have a core problem that is not being addressed.  Has your company been caught off-guard, and now has to handle excess inventory (this can be piles of finished goods, or millions of square feet of vacant office space)?  If yes, you have a core problem that is not being addressed. 

  Any company, or non-profit, that is consistently caught off guard does not have effective measurements.  Firefighting is an ineffective means of operating, and it guarantees a high level of turnover in the work force.  Effective measurements go beyond the corporate strategy, which is still important, and they address the core problems facing a company.  Any company, in any industry, is going to have core problems.  The problems will change over time, but every company will have one or two core problems.  Effective measurements prompt decisions and actions to address them.  They stop management from being handed a new daily fire to fight. 

  Fighting fires is a clear indication that a company is busy focusing their time handling the symptoms of a core problem.  It is the result of a company that did not take the time to properly distinguish between the core problem it had, and the symptoms the core problem created.  Take the time to properly identify what your core problems are right now (hint – you never have more than two).  It will save you time and money in the future.  It will keep your team of the firefighting mentality, so they can focus on the goal.  It will get your team out of the firefighting mode if it is currently stuck in this downward spiral. 

Stop treating the symptoms and focus on actions that address your core problem.  Every company has one core problem, or two at the most.  No matter the company, or the industry, every core problem has one thing in common.  It can be solved if you take the time to properly identify it.