I don’t want to be a Market Leader….I want to be a Market Driver! (This is our vision here at the Supply Chain Academy)

How about you? Are you wanting to become a Market Leader or a Market Driver?

Offering an excellent customer experience must be paramount for the success of your business. Staff need to be fully engaged to ensure they look after your customers at every level.

I Don’t Want to be a Market Leader, I want to be a Market Driver!

But this logic doesn’t resonate with many businesses. It surprises me; I hear about grand plans for world domination in their respective businesses. Their leadership in first gear….everyone apparently focused in the business…but then I ask the questions below and I get blank faces:

How does your supply chain fit into your plans? Your supply chain can have major impact on your customer experience and profitability.

Does your business;
• understand the impact your supply chain has on your bottom line?
• understand the impact of its decisions upon your supply chain?

How can you become a market driver if you haven’t addressed these questions?

Doing well in business today relies on the companies a firm works with and buys it’s products and services from – it’s supply chain – doing well too. A car manufacturer for example, can make more cars more quickly, if it’s suppliers are providing them with enough of the components they need and on time.

What should be done across your supply chain to deal with this?

1, Create a Learning culture in your business and across your supply chain
Meet them more often!
Create a more structured approach to learning, comprising Supply Chain Thought leadership, management skills training and softer skills development.
Truly motivate, inspire and engage all people at every level.
The Supply Chain Academy was established to enable best practices within the supply chain to be created and shared across and within the sector. Attend some of our events and learn some cutting edge techniques!

2, Empower people
Be honest – Do your staff still follow routine processes without really thinking each step through? Do they always have a need to go back to their manager or team leader for advice?
Human beings are not robots. We have personalities. We are all different. A little encouragement goes a long way to help people feel free and valued. Coach them to be thinkers and passionate about the service they offer your customers.

3, Start at the top
Your aspirations would not become a reality without skilful leaders, so a good place to start is with them.

The kinds of projects we work with our clients on:
– A need for the strategic direction to be more visible at all levels;
– Some inter-departmental inefficiencies: conflicting success measures.
– An historical link between process and pay which detracts from having honest and frank conversations.
– A lack of behavioral indicators, so it’s difficult for managers to assess how people are delivering

We can help you focus on all aspects of employee engagement.

4, Give outstanding feedback to your supply chain

Feedback to how people are growing is essential. Your supply chain should be a partnership.

It is important to help them:
– Reflect on their practice
– Understand your values
– Become aware of the wider strategy