Mail Center--'A Vital Role'

You must not only manage an efficient distribution center, but you must broadcast your capabilities and successes to the organization.

Ever hear the phrase "It must have gotten lost in the mail"? Quite a blow to mailroom folks, isn't it? It implies they just toss the mail around willy-nilly—and if it gets to its destination, great!

In truth, today's distribution centers—as mailrooms prefer to be called—take their work very seriously. They play a vital role in corporate success. In larger corporations, the person in charge of distribution is sometimes even a vice president of the company.

But a distribution manager can be competent and hard-working and still not get much recognition if he or she doesn't continually "sell" the department and its capabilities.

Services offered by distribution centers go beyond sorting and delivering mail. They include designing and managing Web pages and providing high-speed data and graphics printing. By managing an efficient distribution center for your organization, you are meeting that critical need, putting you right on track for that promotion.

The following tips and techniques that have yielded tremendous success. But beware: these tips only work in companies that strive to be the best in their industries.

• Sell yourself. Never stop communicating what your department does well. Have an open house, create a user guide, give tours, meet regularly with your departmental customers—and don't forget tell your boss and the entire company about your successes. When you are able to command the level of respect that you deserve, climbing mountains of bureaucratic red tape gets much easier.

• Be financially savvy. Never present an idea or request for capital without doing a complete cost/benefit analysis. Not only will doing the analysis show your boss the return on investment (ROI), but it will also help you make a wise decision about continuing with the project. Executives like nothing more than seeing a positive ROI and there are many opportunities within the distribution center to achieve some incredible ROIs. Having a good handle on department finances also makes justification against outsourcing fun to do.

• Establish service standards. Set service standards for every service you offer, communicate these standards to your customers and report your performance results every month to the company. Nothing takes the wind out of your competitors sails quicker than factual data. Track statistical data on everything your department does, and share reports with your management and customers. My boss has a great saying: "Liars figure, but figures don't lie."

• Explore synergetic activities with other departments. It is becoming very common for graphic printing, data printing, fulfillment and mailing departments to merge into one large service center. Combining resources is a great way to expand your operation and to more easily justify your operation against cutbacks and outsourcing trends. Don't be afraid of the team management concept and feeling that you may not come out the "winner" if your department merges with another. If you're a proactive manager and seeking out synergetic relationships, you're halfway there already.

• Provide leadership, demand excellence. Train your staff well, give clear expectations, treat them with respect, teach them how to respect themselves and reward your staff well when it is deserved. If you live by this, you can demand excellence from your staff without ever asking them to perform at a level of excellence. You will know when you reach this point: they will truly feel worse about an error or service failure than you do.

• Be impartial, congratulate and defer credit. Never accept blame on the behalf of the department without researching the details. This is a guaranteed way to make your department an easy scapegoat. At the same time, immediately accepting responsibility and correcting problems when errors occur is important. Congratulate your staff when things go well or when you receive a compliment on behalf of your staff. Always give your department the credit for a job well done. Take the credit once, and your staff will ensure that you don't get another compliment from a customer. Pass the credit on, and your staff will continue to make you look like a genius.

• Buy the right tools. Far too often, many departments remain inefficient because they lack the tools they need. It is sometimes common for managers to avoid buying the tools that they need to run an efficient department. This is generally not because they don't know what they need, but because they elect not to research and request the tools they need.

• And last but not least, have fun. You will never provide your company with the value that you are capable of if you are not passionate about your job. Many aspects of your job fall easily into place if you love your work and are proud of it. How can your company respect your department if you don't?

Life is too short to not enjoy your job. You are only making it easier for the rest of us look good if you don't.

by Tim Steenhoek

Tim Steenhoek, CMM, CGCM, has served as director of printing & distribution at Equitable of Iowa since January, 1995. Currently the chapter treasurer for the Des Moines chapter, he's been an IPMA member since 1991. You can contact him at (515) 245-6746 or at tzsteenhoek@equitable-of-iowa.com.