Tag: #change

#change is the tag associated with Change Management, or as we prefer, Change Leadership, which is an essential part of any business transformation.

Welcome To The Supply Chain Game Changer ™ Blog!

The Supply Chain Game Changer ™ Blog!

Welcome to the Supply Chain Game Changer ™ blog.

The Supply Chain touches all of our lives whether it be in business or personally.  No matter what industry you are in or are touched by, all involve the movement of goods, services, and information.  So the most efficient functioning of the Supply Chain affects us all.  And it affects us in every aspect of our lives whether we are consumers, employees, or business leaders.

With a career spent in Supply Chain I’ve seen many ways of performing the processes involved in managing the Supply Chain.  Many of these processes are highly efficient.  Yet many more are highly inefficient.  Regardless, everyone strives to improve the way things are done.  And every experience has been an opportunity for growth.

Supply Chain Management

In this blog I’d like to share my experiences, and those of others, in improving, working in, managing in and being managed by the Supply Chain.  

There have been some remarkable achievements and there have been some missteps along the way.  However there are lessons to be learned and experiences to be shared in every case.  And I hope that this learning and shared experience will be of value as you seek to improve the Supply Chain you are a part of.

On top of that we want to share anything and everything related to Leadership, Change Management, Technology, Procurement, Purchasing, Distribution, Logistics, and much, much more.

Overall Supply Chain Game Changer can serve you as a guide as you do your jobs and as you progress through your career.  The issues and challenges that you face will be different for everyone on any given day.  There is something for everyone in Supply Chain Game Changer.

Additionally I invite you to comment and send me content.  By learning, not only from successes but from failures, we will all be better going forward.  There is a wonderful world of people and experiences that we can all learn from.

So again I welcome you to the Supply Chain Game Changer™ blog.

Let’s go!

What Exactly Is Supply Chain Management? 10 Different Definitions!

Naming Your Project Will Rally Everyone To Your Cause!

Naming a Product or Company? It’s Not That Easy!
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“I’d like you to join our company.  One of the Projects you will lead is our ‘Productivity Initiative’ unless you will be naming your project. We need to transform all of our business processes and culture and improve our efficiencies everywhere.”

Wow!  What a great challenge and opportunity to make a difference.  But calling it the “Productivity Initiative”?  That was as inspiring as watching paint dry or grass grow.

“I’ll do it!  But we need to give this Project a NAME.  A NAME that will inspire people, motivate people, and capture the essence of the change and cultural transformation that we are looking for.  And this can’t be an ‘Initiative” … it has to be an ‘Imperative’ … this is not optional … we have to transform the business and we need everyone to rally around our cause!

Continue reading “Naming Your Project Will Rally Everyone To Your Cause!”

Driving the Need for Culture Change!

Creating the Culture to Break Barriers!
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You have determined that something has to change in your company! Customer satisfaction may be low.  Employee morale may be in the dumps.  Financial results and operating performance may be falling far short of your objectives. You need culture change!

Or maybe you don’t have any of these problems. But you view that your company is performing well now yet it is not well positioned to go to the next level and be successful in the future.

Or it could be any combination of these pressures.  Whatever the reason, you have come to the realization that the culture of your company must change to get the results you need!

Continue reading “Driving the Need for Culture Change!”

Want Success? Integrate a Change Work Stream in your Transformation!

Change Leadership Success: Attack on all Fronts!
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The nature of the results you are trying to achieve will determine the type of change you need to create and the work stream to make it happen.

If you are making changes to a very small part of your job then your focus is very localized.  If you are leading a project solely aimed at achieving a specific result then your change management focus is somewhat larger.   But if you are leading a business-wide long term transformation then you need a comprehensive Change Leadership work stream and strategy.

While there are similar elements in driving change at any of these levels, the broader transformation requires a well thought out, well articulated Change Leadership program to be in place to lay the foundation for, and govern, your transformation.

Continue reading “Want Success? Integrate a Change Work Stream in your Transformation!”

Global Process Excellence ™ : A Journey From Disarray To Best In Class!

Global Process Excellence: Defining the Roadmap to Achieve Best In Class Results
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My first Management job was on the Manufacturing floor on 3rd shift.  It was company policy … anyone’s first Management job was in Manufacturing.  The principle was sound: to really understand how the business operated you needed to be at the very core of what it did, which in this case was Manufacturing.  Only then could you really learn the business and how to work with people.

So as I started a new job further along in my career, with responsibility for Distribution Centres around the world, I knew that I was not going to learn what I needed to know from behind a desk looking at Powerpoint slides with pictures and statistics.  I needed to go to each and every facility and learn about the operation right from the floor.

Continue reading “Global Process Excellence ™ : A Journey From Disarray To Best In Class!”

Change Leadership Success: Attack on all Fronts!

The Change Leadership Process … And Guide!
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Have you ever tried to make large improvements for some aspect of your business only to find that after a period of time you feel like you are  pushing on a balloon?

Have you ever lead, or participated in, a project with some very lofty targets only to find that you come up short of your goal because of unforeseen circumstances or unaddressed factors?

Have you ever got into a project only to find that someone else’s objectives seem to be in conflict with yours, and these competing objectives ensure that you will not succeed?

Stuff happens!

Continue reading “Change Leadership Success: Attack on all Fronts!”

Procurement Transformation Delays – The Role of Personality!

Manage Procurement Spend Like It’s Your Own Business!

We’ve all heard of the need for Procurement to embrace the Digital Procurement transformation for many years. 

So why are so many organizations still in the beginning of this process?  

Why are industry projections failing to materialize despite ample technological advancements in Procurement?

Continue reading “Procurement Transformation Delays – The Role of Personality!”

Executive Sponsorship to Enable Change!

The Future of the Chief Procurement Officer … Is Already Here!
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Anyone who is trying to make changes will be met with a variety of reactions and responses.  This will happen regardless of how important the change is to your Job, your Department, your Function or your Company.  But what if you had Executive Sponsorship?

Certainly there will be people who will happily, and openly, be willing to support you and help in any way they can.  While this is critical, it is more important to understand that there are those who will aggressively oppose you.  They may put obstacles in your way or they will be passive aggressive in their lack of support.

There may be many good reasons that you will be faced with this kind of opposition.  However it is incumbent upon you, as the leader, to take all necessary steps to address these issues head on.  One technique that can help you and your Company is to solicit and acquire visible and active Executive Sponsorship!

Continue reading “Executive Sponsorship to Enable Change!”

Struggling with Process Ownership? Is it a Failure to Communicate?

Never Automate a Bad Process!

Does your business struggle with process ownership? Are your process improvements not “sticking”? The failure of an organization to have in place well-functioning process owners is a common occurrence these days.

The root causes (if anyone cares to do a full postmortem) are numerous. We’ve heard it all before; “the organizational structure won’t allow for it”, “incentives are misaligned”, “leaders don’t understand what it takes to be a process owner” etc. I’m sure we can all relate to some or all of these statements.

Continue reading “Struggling with Process Ownership? Is it a Failure to Communicate?”

Digital Transformation of SCM and Change Management!

What is a Digital Transformation?

Ah yes, the sweet smell of change is in the air. The digital transformation of SCM (supply chain management), more specifically procurement and sourcing functions, is becoming a part of the new normal in business.

Organizations are beginning to hop aboard the technology train en route to their end destination: Innovation City and Top-Line Value Ave. .

Along the way, there will be barriers to a smooth journey, but taking incremental steps towards change will allow organizations to overcome challenges.

Continue reading “Digital Transformation of SCM and Change Management!”

Lean in the Back Office … Why is it so difficult?

A “Don’t Touch” Strategy will Dramatically Lean out your Supply Chain!
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Implementing a Lean program on the Manufacturing floor, in a Warehouse operation, or in a Distribution Centre is challenging enough.  There are a series of process steps in which materials are transformed or moved in some fashion.  Try implementing Lean in the Back Office.

And your Lean program has at its core the objective of making these operations as efficient as possible. But when you try to apply these same Lean principles to the support organizations, or the back office, you are likely to experience a wide range of reactions.

So why is it so difficult to implement, and sustain, a Lean program in the Back Office of your organization?

Continue reading “Lean in the Back Office … Why is it so difficult?”

Value Stream Mapping the Future State Process!

Unchaining Change Leadership

We had completed value stream mapping the current state processes across some very significant business processes in the company.  It took a fair amount of time even though we had the active involvement of subject matter experts and leaders from every functional organization.

When all was said and done the current state involved hundreds of process steps, almost 200 pain points, and dozens of iterative, repetitive loops.  The company was just being introduced to Lean process improvement techniques.  And as challenging as it was to reach a common understanding of what the current processes were the difficult part was about to start.

How were we going to define and map the Future State process?

Continue reading “Value Stream Mapping the Future State Process!”

Ground Rules for Creating a High Performance Organization (HPO)!

Creating a High Performance Organization! (Infographic)
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A High Performance Organization is one in which there is tremendous alignment among and commitment by the team members. And as a result this motivated team is able to achieve superior results. The level of collaboration and innovation they demonstrate is remarkable.  But what are the ground rules?

There are many characteristics of the culture which allows such teams to be high performing. And when they set out to drive change and make improvements it is those cultural characteristics which allow them to succeed.

Continue reading “Ground Rules for Creating a High Performance Organization (HPO)!”

Project Prioritization Simplified!

Are you a Game Changer? Tell us your Story!

We had the “Call To Action” from the CEO.  The business needed to be transformed to support growth.  And the business needed to be financially stronger and much more productive.

With the mandate established we had named the change initiative that we were about to launch.  We had enlisted leaders from every functional organization.  And we had began to roll out our communication strategy.

This project involved every employee, every function, and every process in the company.  We needed a simple way to prioritize all of the projects that we were about to undertake.

Continue reading “Project Prioritization Simplified!”

The Call To Action … Where It All Begins!

The Change Leadership Process … And Guide!

“The Board is REALLY upset.  They want a plan to dramatically improve our Supply Chain inventory turnover performance and they want it now.  Will you lead this for me?”  That was a call to action.

My boss had just got out of the Board meeting and these were his words to me.  The company had historically performed very poorly in managing inventory.  And it was not only consuming a lot of cash but it was impacting our profitability with the high carrying charges and write-offs.  Also it impacted  our competitive position as customers and competitors didn’t believe we knew how to manage inventory, and Supply Chain, very well.

This was a Call To Action!

Continue reading “The Call To Action … Where It All Begins!”