Improve Your In-plant’s Performance and Results

THERE’S BEEN a lot of economic belt-tightening taking place during the past three years. How can your in-plant overcome the challenges of tight economic times and demonstrate improved results to your senior leadership? How do you take your organization from good to great?

One answer is to use the Five P’s to reposition yourself in the eyes of your major stakeholders. The Five P’s are part of CRI Global’s Reputation Leadership strategy that best-in-class organizations are using to win the hearts, minds and wallets of their stakeholders and customers. The Five P’s are: Purpose, Principles, People, Process and Performance. Let’s briefly examine each one to see how your in-plant can use them to achieve better results in 2008.

The Five P’s

PURPOSE — It’s interesting how many departments or business units within a major company have not developed their own “purpose statement” that complements their organization’s over-arching purpose. We define purpose as the organization’s mission/vision, goals and tasks. Purpose is also designed to give employees a sense of direction and ownership. So, it’s not enough for the parent organization to simply define its purpose and allow it to end there. Best-in-class organizations require every business unit to build upon the parent organization’s purpose statement and apply it to their daily operations through their own mission, goals and tasks. In essence, your purpose should tell employees and customers three things: Who are we? Where are we going? How will we get there?

For example, if your parent organization’s purpose is to “provide superior service and support to our valued customers while achieving our financial goals,” it would make sense that your in-plant would complement that statement by adopting a purpose statement that reads something like this: “Our mission is to provide superior printing that exceeds each customer’s expectations while using technology, innovation and efficiency to control costs and provide a financial return to our parent organization.” In turn, your goals and tasks would further support your purpose statement by defining exactly how you will achieve your mission.

When developing your purpose, it need not be a democratic process. While some senior managers may want to involve their people in developing the mission/vision statement, the ultimate decision rests with the senior manager in your in-plant. We encourage the senior manager to solicit employees’ ideas, but ultimately, it’s the senior manager who must craft the mission/vision.

PRINCIPLES — What does your organization really stand for? If you seriously weigh this question it will take you far beyond the platitudes and dull words that clutter most mission statements. Values are defined as those expressions of belief that guide you in good times and bad times. Your values should set the tone for how you deal with difficult and demanding customers, employees, quality issues pertaining to each job you produce and scheduling.

A brief example of values that frame a company’s guiding principles comes from General Electric. Its values, which transcend all business decisions, are: Imagination; Solving problems; Building the best products; Leading our industries.

I think this is one area where in-plants have the most room to grow. I also think that when your in-plant defines its principles, you should involve your employees for two reasons. First, two heads are better than one. Secondly, your employees are the ones who will be asked to live these values every day.

As you define your values, think in terms of the future, and answer the question, Where are we going? Consider all possibilities. For example, is your in-plant properly positioned for the future? Is it enough to be viewed as an “in-plant printing operation” or should you be transitioning into a communications resource given the changes in technology, the Internet and how people get their information? The best time to ponder these questions is when you perform your strategic planning process.

PEOPLE — People are the cornerstone of your in-plant’s success because people ultimately control your quality, customer relationships and innovation. While it’s true that people typically represent the single highest expenditure for an organization, it’s also true that employees differentiate you from your competitors. So it makes sense to view your people not only as a liability on the balance sheet, but more importantly, as your greatest asset.

Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, was fond of saying that “People are like bananas. They’re either green and ripening, or yellow and rotting.” This explains why Kroc believed in developing his people and making sure they were schooled in the company’s purpose and principles. The stories of Ray Kroc’s unannounced visits to a McDonald’s restaurant in remote towns became company folk lore. It was said that even three years after Kroc’s death, McDonald’s managers feared him walking through the door and firing them on the spot for untidy rest rooms or allowing a single fly in the restaurant.

Some in-plant managers have suggested that it’s easier to supervise a smaller printing operation than it is to manage such industry behemoths like the U.S. Government Printing Office or the Allstate Print and Communications Center, both of which employ several hundred people in their operations.

But best-in-class organizations succeed despite their size because managers follow three simple guidelines in dealing with people:

1) They treat all employees with dignity and respect.

2) They listen to their employees and see them as part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

3) They invest in their people through training, education, fair compensation, recognition and advancement.

There are two tell-tale signs you can use to determine whether or not your in-plant is doing all the right things through the eyes of your employees. The first is your turnover level and the second is your absenteeism rate. Rarely do employees quit best-in-class organizations. And if they enjoy their jobs, they show up and make things happen.

PROCESS — This is the one “P” that trips up most organizations because it’s the most difficult. Process asks tough questions like “how do we do what we do?” and “can we do it fast, better and more efficiently?” Best-in-class organizations are zealots when it comes to these two process-driven questions. Process calls into question such important items as the use of technology, strategic planning for future customer needs, the condition and use of your equipment, scheduling and innovation.

Best-in-class organizations focus their process efforts in two areas: work systems design and work process management and improvement. Here’s a brief tutorial.

• Work systems design focuses on your operation’s core competencies, your work systems, and how you design your key processes to deliver customer value.

• Work process management and improvement deals with the implementation aspect of your work. It also focuses on how you manage and improve your key work processes to ensure customer value.

This is heady stuff, and very few organizations take the time to analyze and improve their processes. But those in-plants that do will experience a significant return on investment.

PERFORMANCE — Executives typically quantify performance in terms of return on investment (ROI) and outcomes. They ask bottom-line questions like “Did you make budget or generate any money for the organization?” or “Did you hit your revenue goals?” or even “What have you done to enhance the value and worth of your operation to this organization?” If you’re not tracking your performance and outcomes in the language of senior management, you could be vulnerable.

Here are five metrics that every in-plant should include as part of its performance index.

• Product and service outcomes

• Customer-focused outcomes

• Financial and market outcomes

• Workforce outcomes

• Process effectiveness outcomes

In addition to your financial and market outcomes, senior management also pays close attention to your customer-focused outcomes. A loyal customer base can be a strong ally for your in-plant when it comes to budget showdowns with senior management. Executives will rarely make decisions that alienate customers or cause customer dissatisfaction within the organization.

Product and service outcomes speak to your work quality and efficiency. How quickly can you turn a job around and save the day for your customers?

Process outcomes and workforce outcomes deal with your people and how you effectively utilize your people to get the job done. Could you be more efficient with different equipment or by providing additional services that position your operation as a “communications solution provider” and not simply an in-plant printing operation? Is it more economical for your organization to have a high performance in-plant than it is to shut it down and farm out its printing and communication needs?

When executives debate the pros and cons of continuing to fund your in-plant, you want to be sure your performance index and key outcomes shout a resounding “Yes” up the corporate ladder.

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Tom Hinton is president of CRI Global, LLC, a training and consulting firm that helps its clients create a “culture of excellence” in the workplace. He will be the keynote speaker at the IPMA 2008 conference, delivering his presentation on June 6. To learn more, visit www.tomhinton.com or contact Tom at tom@criglobal.com