Accountable Leadership:   The Key to Organizational Success

Have you ever asked yourself why some companies are more successful than others? I ask myself that question a lot. I must not be alone, given how many books are written on the topic. Good to Great comes to mind by Jim Collins, as does In Search of Excellence: America’s Best-Run Companies by Tom Peters, or Management Challenges for the 21st Century by Peter Drucker. The list goes on and on. I do not claim to have a better “mouse trap” on the concept of management theory and managerial science.  However, I have had the privilege of working with top executives from both domestic and international companies across many industries, and multiple companies within the same industry. From what I have observed, there are five key distinctions and attributes that make some companies more successful than others.

1. It starts with Trust. Intimate trust is required among the Executive Leadership team. By intimate, I mean an almost family-like, brother/sisterhood quality to the team dynamics. I have noticed that successful organizations have a bond between the Executive Leaders whereby no one is afraid to avoid conflict, speak up, and say what is on their mind. The Executive Team members are passionate about the company’s goals versus their own personal goals. Another way to state this is that the executives give more of themselves then they actually receive…they demonstrate selfless action.
   
   Time and time again I have seen unsuccessful companies run by dogmatic leaders, who take the “air out of the room,” who deem themselves more important than the rest of the team, and consequently surround themselves with “yes” people. I once participated in a meeting where a CEO of a large automotive retail chain asked how his company should realign his national sales team. He was given direct feedback from his team - and then ignored it. I refer to this as “DNBI” – the ‘duly noted, but ignored’ syndrome. Now ask yourself if you think his team will provide objective facts and data and openly share their thoughts. I highly doubt it. When there is intimate trust, company politics vanish. Why? Because politics are created in organizations when one individual places his or her priorities and agenda above everyone else’s. This fosters manipulative behavior, which is detrimental to any company.

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In today’s competitive marketplace, companies in need of an ERP system must carefully navigate the congested roadway of software and vendor options available. Once implemented, however, the right system can enhance productivity, encourage growth and increase ROI. But first, you must undertake the daunting task of choosing the best ERP system for your business. That can be both complicated and costly. The following guidelines will help clarify the selection process and should be considered when evaluating your options.

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Supervising on the Line, authored by Labor Management Pioneer Gene Gagnon and updated by enVista CEO Jim Barnes, has recently been republished... 

The front line supervisor is directly responsible for managing a very important asset – the company’s labor force.

Companies benefit from offering the Supervising on the Line handbook to supervisors as part of their professional training. Exceptionally powerful results are achieved by providing the book in tandem with enVista’s Supervising on the Line enRichment training, delivered on site at the client facility.

Supervising on the Line is available for $12.95 per book, plus shipping, or for $8.99 on Kindle. Bulk orders are available upon request.

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For more information, or to learn about enVista’s related enRichment training and education course, please contact Denise Wager.

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With broad experience as a consultant and integrator on many complex supply-chain projects, enVista senior partner Ken Mullen offers valuable insights on how to ensure a project’s success. Much of the most important work needs to be done before a single dollar is spent, he says...

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Let’s face it; most e-tailers’ shipping profiles look much different than non-e-tailers’. Shipping costs are usually distributed much differently. E-tailers typically ship a large percentage of packages to customers at residential addresses. Sometimes those customers live in densely populated cities or suburbs and sometimes they live in sparsely populated rural areas. The fact of the matter is, e-tailers don’t have a lot of control over who buys their product, where they are located, or what shipping services they choose. Since most e-tailers pass their shipping costs through to the customer and rely on the customer’s information to ship a package, when the information is inaccurate, the shipper ends up eating the additional costs due to inaccuracies. However, shippers are not totally without recourse. There are some actions they can take to eliminate, or at least mitigate some of these costs.

A sizable portion of parcel cost for any e-tailer is the residential surcharge. FedEx and UPS apply a residential surcharge to packages destined for residential addresses. Per the 2011 service guides, the surcharge amount is $2.45 for ground packages or $2.75 for air packages. It is important for shippers to identify their residential packages before pickup for three reasons...

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