100-day plans are typically focused on delivering new business, growing revenues and improving profitability. So it’s no surprise that they usually have a strong focus on sales and marketing, but how much consideration is placed on the operation areas? Given it’s your operation that underpins the promises made by sales and marketing, It is your operations that make sustainable growth possible, so shouldn’t they feature more predominantly?
So to be able to say at the end of your first three months, this is where the business is today, this is where I’m going to take it, and this is what I’m going to do to make it happen, it’s essential to have clear insight into your operational capabilities.
Fit for the future?
Whatever your 100-day plan looks like, there are a number of important considerations that will reveal your ability to deliver.
- Are your operations agile enough?
- Can they react quickly to changes in the marketplace?
- Do you have the capacity to manage increased work volumes?
- Could you sustain customer service levels if business volumes increased inline with your plan or more?
- Where are your financials heading? Do you need to reduce operational costs and could you process additional business without adding to them?
- What investments have been made in the management capability of your front line team managers
- Are you confident that if you were audited, the key foundation frameworks are in place?
We have a choice: to plow new ground or let the weeds grow.
Aligning operations with customer needs
Operational efficiency for one firm may look very different to operational efficiency at another.That’s because your operations should deliver an experience to match your customers’ requirements. Your Operation maybe processing high volumes at low margins, which requires a very lean operation. Or you’re selling a high-value, high-margin product, then service excellence is a given. In fact, it may even be your USP. So your operational capabilities need to match your service proposition.
The question is how is the operation shaping up. What guaranteed activity is needed to deliver your medium to long term plans?
Exceed your customer’s expectations. If you do, they’ll come back over and over. Give them what they want – and a little more.
Efficiency, security and peace of mind
A major breach of regulations and the subsequent severe or even life-changing sanctions are every CEO’s worst nightmare. So when you take up a new role it’s natural that you want to ensure your operations have a clean bill of health where compliance is concerned. The last thing you need are skeletons in your operations closet being revealed after you have set the strategic direction.
Over the past 10 years dhp has helped many CEOs to incorporate operations into their 100-day plan, providing clarity and security, and enabling them to make sound, well-informed decisions. Using specialists to carry out a diagnostic will give you a clear picture of your operational strengths and weaknesses. It will uncover the challenges that inhibit your growth, and identify opportunities to reduce costs, eliminate waste and optimise efficiency and perhaps most importantly, it can reveal, address and remove the skeletons that currently lie hidden in the closet. We’ll make sure there are no nasty surprises waiting to happen on your watch.
If you are currently creating your 100 day plan or if you are in your first 200 – 300 days is operations featuring predominantly enough now you have read this?
If you are in your 2nd year and things aren’t going in the right direction you have the opportunity to put things right.
