小點(diǎn)子也能省大錢
????《輕松摘取的果實(shí):提高生產(chǎn)力和利潤的77種新方式》(Low-Hanging Fruit: 77 Eye-Opening Ways to Improve Productivity and Profits)的合著者杰里米?艾登和特瑞?龍?jiān)陂_篇之初就援引了沃倫?巴菲特的話:“我不指望能夠跳過7英尺高的圍欄。我四處尋找那些我抬腳就可以邁過的只有1英尺高的圍欄?!?/p> ????這兩位作者主張,這些提高效率與利潤的小步伐就是任何公司都可以輕松摘取的果實(shí)。他們寫道:“很多經(jīng)理深信,經(jīng)過多年的壓縮成本之后,他們很早就已經(jīng)摘光了那些容易摘到的果實(shí)?!边z憾的是,通常情況并非如此:“壓縮成本通常漏掉了那些容易摘取的果實(shí),相反,它只是裁枝剪杈,完全不管樹上留下了些什么。 ????曾任麥肯錫(McKinsey)顧問的艾登和曾任銀行客戶服務(wù)高管的特瑞?龍現(xiàn)擔(dān)任芝加哥咨詢公司Harvest Earnings Group的聯(lián)席CEO。過去二十年中,他們一直在服務(wù)《財(cái)富》(Fortune)美國100強(qiáng)公司客戶,這本鮮活的著作就是他們對這些公司成功經(jīng)驗(yàn)的濃縮和提煉。他們推翻了一些不容質(zhì)疑的清規(guī)戒律。 ????比方說,這兩位作者就認(rèn)為標(biāo)桿學(xué)習(xí)“完全是浪費(fèi)時(shí)間”,因?yàn)榫退銉杉夜镜臉I(yè)務(wù)看起來完全一樣,將其中一家公司與另外一家公司做比較更多情況下也是“在為現(xiàn)狀辯護(hù)”,而不是促進(jìn)改變或創(chuàng)新。 ????艾登和龍指出的另一個(gè)錯(cuò)誤觀念是,在一個(gè)問題投入更多技術(shù),問題總能得到解決。他們提供咨詢服務(wù)的一家公用事業(yè)公司曾經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備上馬一款價(jià)格不菲的軟件,為公司修剪電力線周邊樹枝的團(tuán)隊(duì)安排時(shí)間表。而一名線路主管建議了一種“簡單且無需技術(shù)”的解決方案:直接讓現(xiàn)場員工在需要剪枝時(shí)進(jìn)行匯報(bào),因?yàn)椋ㄋ麄儯┠鼙饶切┸浖绦蚋玫卦u判狀況?!叭∠惭b軟件和只在需要時(shí)派遣樹木修剪人員所產(chǎn)生的直接節(jié)約就達(dá):100,000美元。 ????兩位作者寫到,這樣的解決方案不太可能來自于會(huì)議商討。實(shí)際上,他們建議,公司讓那些最接近問題的人們探討那些你很可能都不知道的問題,然后設(shè)定截止日期,找出解決方案。 ????舉例來說,PNC Financial不只是鼓勵(lì)提建議,還要求員工尋找和解決效率低下的問題。結(jié)果是,他們?nèi)〉昧?,400項(xiàng)小改進(jìn),綜合起來每年新增4億美元的利潤。2008年,PNC與National City合并后,兩家公司對合并后的新實(shí)體實(shí)施了“相同的、建立在事實(shí)基礎(chǔ)上的高速響應(yīng),又實(shí)現(xiàn)了另外20億美元的運(yùn)營效率——約為銀行分析師預(yù)計(jì)值的兩倍。 ????矛盾的是,有些時(shí)候,人們應(yīng)對這些每天面對的低效行為方式太習(xí)慣于“一直以來的老規(guī)矩”,沒有注意到就在我們眼前的那些容易摘到的果實(shí)。應(yīng)對這種慣例的一種新方法是:要求人力資源部門提供最近12個(gè)月新聘用人員的名單,“包括從大老板到收發(fā)室人員的每個(gè)人”,然后讓這些新人指出,他們注意到任何可以做得更聰明、更迅速或成本更低的方式。 ????供應(yīng)商也是通常被忽視的可以提供深入見解的資源。因?yàn)椋麄兺ǔMūP了解你所處的行業(yè)——包括你的競爭對手可能比你做得更為高效——供應(yīng)商通常是“完美的外部觀察員大軍”。 ????想讓員工放松自在地指出需要改進(jìn)的方面嗎?請注意你的身體語言。艾登和龍發(fā)現(xiàn),一些經(jīng)理在時(shí)間壓力下無意之間發(fā)出了明顯的信號,抑制了好主意的提出?!暗谝粭l規(guī)則是注意姿態(tài)、轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)眼球、(和)明顯的漫不經(jīng)心,”他們寫道?!皢T工們通常會(huì)留心潛臺(tái)詞,肢體語言跟大家嘴里說的話一樣重要。”(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)) |
????Early on in Low-Hanging Fruit: 77 Eye-Opening Ways to Improve Productivity and Profits, co-authors Jeremy Eden and Terri Long quote Warren Buffett: "I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars. I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over." ????Those small steps to greater efficiency, and fatter profits, are low-hanging fruit that any company can pluck, the authors argue. "Many managers are convinced that, after years of cost cutting, they picked their low-hanging fruit long ago," they write. Alas, that's often not the case: "Cost cutting often leaves the low-hanging fruit and instead lops off branches without regard to what is left of the tree." ????Eden, an erstwhile McKinsey consultant, and former bank customer-service executive Long are now co-CEOs of Chicago consulting firm Harvest Earnings Group. Their lively book distills what has worked for their Fortune 100 clients over the past 20 years. They knock over a few sacred cows along the way. ????Take, for example, benchmarking, which the authors contend is "a complete waste of time," since comparing one company to any other, even in what may look like the exact same business, is more often used to "justify the status quo" than to spark change or innovation. ????Another wrongheaded notion, by Eden and Long's lights, is that throwing more technology at a problem will always solve it. One utility company they had advised was ready to put in a pricey software program to schedule teams to trim tree branches away from power lines. Instead, a line supervisor suggested a "simple, no-tech solution: Have crews in the field report when trimming is necessary, because [they] are better at assessing the situation than software programs are." Immediate savings from skipping the software and dispatching tree-trimmers only when needed: $100,000. ????Fixes like that are unlikely to spring from getting people together in a room and asking them to come up with problem-solving ideas, the authors write. Instead, they suggest that companies get the people closest to the work to talk about problems you probably don't even know about, and then following up by setting a deadline for solutions. ????PNC Financial, for instance, didn't just encourage suggestions but required employees to find and fix inefficiencies. The result: about 2,400 small improvements in the way things were done that added up to $400 million a year in extra profits. After PNC merged with National City in 2008, the companies applied "the same fact-based high-speed rigor" to the new entity, which gave rise to another $2 billion in operating efficiencies -- about double what bank analysts predicted. ????Sometimes, of course, the people dealing with small inefficiencies every day are, paradoxically, too accustomed to "the way we've always done it" to spot the low-hanging fruit that's right in front of them. One way to get a fresh take on long-established habits: Ask human resources for a list of everybody who's been hired in the past 12 months, "anyone from the corner office to the mail room," and then ask those newcomers to point out anything they've noticed that you could be doing smarter, faster, or cheaper. ????Vendors are another frequently overlooked source of insight. Because they usually know your industry inside out -- including what your competition may be doing more efficiently than you are -- vendors are often "the perfect army of outside observers." ????Want to make sure your employees feel comfortable pointing out areas of improvement? Watch your body language. Eden and Long have observed that some managers, pressed for time, inadvertently send not-so-subtle signals that squelch good ideas. "The first rule is to be careful about gestures, eye-rolling, [and] apparent inattention," they write. "Employees are often looking to read the tea leaves, and body language becomes just as important as the words that are said." |
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