A Well-Run Organization

I remember when I first bought my 1969 Mustang in 2010. It was delivered on a trailer and needed some serious restoration. I imagined it could be brought back to its original glory and once again be a beautiful classic car. I spent the time and money to restore it and make it solid from the inside out.

Mustang-1I feel the same about Marco. It’s an asset that we are responsible for taking good care of and ensuring that it too is built to last.

While track records of strong growth are important, being a high-performing, well-run company requires every element under the hood to be taken care of – even pristine, when possible.

We want Marco to be a world-class company. That means becoming more efficient and being smarter about what we do and how we do it. Of course, this starts with leadership, but it takes everyone in the organization to make it happen. This will be a focus area of our strategic plan in 2020 and one that will make Marco a more resilient organization. (See our approach to strategic planning.)

Mustang-3 (1)What do well-run organizations do?

  • Go beyond revenue.
    Because we have a sales-driven culture, revenue has been important to us – and it likely always will be. But becoming well-run challenges organizations to evaluate how efficiently they deliver value to clients, rather than only how much they sell. Managing your fixed-cost structure is the foundation for being an efficient company.

  • Turn off autopilot.
    It’s easy to go on autopilot in any job in any industry and do what has always been done. Just because you’ve always done it that way doesn’t mean it’s the best way to do it.

    Gaining efficiencies means leaders need to look for ways to eliminate waste and optimize operations. Pay close attention to what is being done and why it is being done that way. It might be helpful to have a third party weigh in on the assessment.

  • Mustang-2Simplify processes.
    I’m a sales guy, not an operations guy. But I do recognize the importance of having solid – and simple – processes in place and improving them over time.

    Sometimes we overcomplicate our work and create inefficiencies. Being well-run requires us to step back and remove unnecessary complexities.

    I was reminded of this after I stood in a long checkout line while Christmas shopping at a retailer and then was easily and quickly served via an iPad at another retailer.

    There are many tasks we do as organizations every day that can be automated – to reduce resources, increase turnaround time and improve quality. The return far outweighs the initial investment and has an impact year after year. Having good systems in place allow organizations to scale effectively and be more profitable.

When it comes to efficiencies, organizations almost have a crisis of opportunities. Becoming a well-run organization takes planning, constant action and ongoing strategic thinking. We don’t have it all right; but we look forward to becoming higher-performing and a better-run organization in 2020.

 

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Topics: Vision, Customer Relationships, productivity, Leadership Team