Updates
How is your company really performing?
Employees don’t know . . . they could care less, AND to add insult to injury, that is how we as managers designed it.
Crisis Management…many if not most manufacturers are facing some of
the most difficult business and market challenges ever faced by
American industry. These challenges are not temporary or short
term, but rather permanent changes in business fundamentals. Prices
that companies sell their goods or services for are being forced down
every year by international market place yet the cost of domestic
payroll (hourly, salaried and fringe benefits) continue to climb. In
short, if selling prices fall five percent and payroll costs climb five
percent and you do not respond with significant productivity, quality
and cost improvement, you are out of business. It is as simple as that.
The news gets worse…in addition to the external challenges above, we
are faced with difficult internal challenges as well. The Gallup
Organization reports the following from large and comprehensive
employee surveys – 19% of US employees (one in five) are “actively
disengaged” costing their employers over 300 billion dollars a year in
lost productivity…88% of employees said they wanted to do their best,
however 50% also said they “do just enough to get by”.
The good news…75% of employees (salaried and hourly) did respond they could be “significantly more effective”…. if… If what?
The Challenge…selling prices are under tremendous pressure, quality and
delivery demands go up every day and costs must come down. Yet
employees are drifting further and further away from this reality. They
are exchanging time for money. Unfortunately your financial
statements do not measure time, but rather results. To add insult
to injury, we got what we asked for. The typical organization has
a cultural divide between senior management and everyone else that is
reminiscent of the Grand Canyon. There are those “in the know” and
those that know nothing. There are those who have their thumb on the
pulse of the business and there are those who have “no pulse”. There
are those who have a vested financial interest in results and there are
those who are “invested elsewhere”. That’s not what we
want, but that’s what we’ve got.
The fundamental questions are - do employees truly know every
day/week/month what the key business objectives are? Do they
care? What does it take to get their employees to perform as
though they owned the company?
The EquiShare System – is an organizational strategy to clearly and
intentionally deploy six core disciplines into the business
environment:
- Define organizational performance. Not some wimpy vision or mission statement, but rather on a macro basis it must include key desired financial outcomes…... defining Winning. However, we progress from simply defining winning to identifying the key components of winning.
- Identify key components or drivers of key financial outcomes. Vince Lombardi when asked to identify the “essence of winning” had a very effective yet unsophisticated answer. He said “running, passing, blocking and tackling. If we do those four things well, we’ll win more then we lose”. Sound business advise to. What is running, passing, blocking and tackling in your business?
- Measure these critical factors that drive winning- constantly, visually, and energetically. What is the score, how much time is left, how close are we to scoring, are we winning or losing? Employees need to know and see business outcomes real time.
- Create and Communicate the operating game plan every week, every month to every person. Answer the questions, Who, What, When, Where?
- Gain employee commitment and most importantly a desire to perform at a higher level. Create an atmosphere and culture of performance, where employees truly understand the game, the objectives, the strategy, and the essence of winning. Employees need emotion in the game; they need to change the way they think and work.
- Share in the success of winning - real time, real
money, based on real results. The “equitable sharing of the
gains” between the company and it’s associates is the centerpiece of
the EquiShare System.
The Results - this comprehensive, disciplined approach to
organizational performance has typically reduced total manufacturing
costs 4 to 8 cents on the dollar (net to the company); specifically
through cost reductions associated with payroll, raw material (waste
and utilization), quality improvements and increased productivity. In
the last twelve months, organizations in Kansas City, Columbus,
Philadelphia, Akron, Tri-Cities, Winnipeg, Chicago, Scranton, Cedar
Rapids, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Peoria, Hartford, Norfolk, and others
have all benefited from their utilization of EquiShare.
In the past you have expressed an interest in the opportunities an
EquiShare Gainsharing System could provide your business. Now may be an
excellent time to have us conduct an Assessment of the specific
improvements, cost reductions and savings available to your business.
In the words of President Kennedy, “ the best time to fix the roof is
when the sun is shining”.
The Options – we can conduct a thorough and dynamic EquiShare
Overview for your senior management team in a two to four hour session
OR combine the overview with the EquiShare Value Assessment to put real
teeth into the presentation. The Assessment would utilize your
financials and other data to take us out of the realm of theory and to
apply your data and circumstances to identify the specific
opportunities for your facility(s).
Assessment, overview or both, there is no better time then now to
explore the possibilities. To discuss this process further or
request a complete Assessment Description, please contact me directly
at 1-800-835-2681 or visit our comprehensive website at
www.equishare.com.
The Muller Group, Inc.
Karl F. Muller,
President