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initely not easy, because it involves
human beings at a visceral level and
is not just pushing pieces around on
a chessboard. It is logical, at least in
the abstract. And it is definitely powerful, if only it could be put into
practice.
News flash! It can be put into
practice, but not if people aren’t will-
ing. Logic will hardly ever trump
stubborn opposition. Our take is
that the payback makes the difficult
effort worth the work, but it is by no
means a walk in the park.
The foundational challenge is that
these different kinds of people, left
to their own devices, shun—or worse yet,
kill—the others. The dreamers and
visionaries have zero tolerance for the
micromanagers. The “show me the
money” team thinks that the dreamers are
breathing valuable air that might be put
to better use by others. The microman-
agers distrust all others, but especially the
rule-breakers and those who would take
short cuts. And the ninth circle of a very
bad place has, in their view, been reserved
for those who decide that some control
process steps are either optional or inap-
propriate to the circumstances. Further,
almost everyone else thinks that the care-
givers are a bunch of crybabies who
would not last 24 hours on their own.
TO RECAP THE DIFFERENCE …
OK, we get it. This is hard work, very
hard. It’s tough to convince flinty-eyed
managers, and even somewhat enlightened leaders, that this is the way to go for
the future. But with each passing day,
there are more examples of how enterprises can thrive by integrating initiatives
to put disparate high-achieving teams
together with traditional efforts to transform, improve, elevate, and energize supply chain planning and execution. At the
same time, the pressures to collaborate
more intelligently with customers, suppliers, and organizational peers are growing.
The horizon must extend beyond the next
deal and the next contract extension.
Buckle up. Your choices involving adoption of this more integrated perspective
involve some risk. Simply being along for
the ride opens up the possibility of being
thrown from the shotgun seat when the
stage careens off the first big rock. But surviving that bump in the trail can leave you
alone and vulnerable in hostile territory, as
the rest of the riders extend the frontier.
You’ll thank a manager if your pack
includes a map and a list of survival tips,
along with enough rations to get you
through burning sun and frigid nights. ;
Art van Bodegraven may be reached at (614) 336-0346 or
avan@columbus.rr.com. You can read his blog at
http://blogs.dcvelocity.com/the_art_of_art/. Kenneth B.
Ackerman, president of The Ackerman Company, can be
reached at (614) 488-3165 or ken@warehousing-forum.com.
