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Did You
Know...?
That Value Analysis Was Developed Back
In the 1940's After World War II as a Way to Find Lower Cost but Higher
Quality Alternative products and methods. This was Due to the
Lack of Material Resources At The End of The War.
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Savings Beyond Price -Weekly eNewsletter
- August 23, 2011
 A
Note from Robert T. Yokl,
President and Chief Value Strategist
I was surprised to hear that my daughter, who is a school
teacher, is back in her class room this week, so too are two
of my grandchildren, who are actually looking forward to the
new school year. Where did the summer go?
Well, to me this means you only have four more months to
meet or exceed your savings goals if you are on a calendar
year budget and ten more months to get the job done if you
are on a June to July fiscal year budget. Either way,
savings never stops in the supply chain business!
This is why I thought I would talk about “Why Supply Chain
Initiatives Go Wrong” in my feature article this week, since
saving money and meeting deadlines is all about having the
right people, processes and technology. If you get any
of these wrong, your initiatives will fail!
In my blog this week “How to Get Your Supply Chain Math
Right the First Time” I talk about the lessons we have
learned over the years to help you eliminate or at least
significantly reduce your supply chain math, spreadsheet and
calculation errors that are always embarrassing and
sometimes fatal.
That’s all for this week’s Savings Beyond Price™
E-Newsletter, but not the end of never-ending savings ideas
that you can use no matter what size or type healthcare
organization you work in.
Why Supply Chain Initiatives Go Wrong
My staff and I have been observing,
training or facilitating supply chain initiatives (big,
small and transformational) for 25-years and have learned a
few things about what makes them succeed, go off track or
downright fail.
For instance, it might be said that all initiatives involve
people, processes and technology to accomplish their stated
mission, but what isn’t well understood is that 20% to 25%
of the success of the initiative rests on how well a
healthcare organization follows these six guidelines for
optimizing the outcomes of their big, small or
transformational systems and processes:
1.
Alignment
Everyone (executive management, customers and stakeholders)
needs to be on the same page for any supply chain initiative
to succeed. A directive can’t be just e-mailed by someone on
high to all involved parties to ensure alignment. Alignment
can only be accomplished by a series of organized
educational sessions that build understanding, trust,
engagement, and commitment to the work at hand.
2.
Communications
Tepid, infrequent and unclear communications about your
initiative won’t get the job done. You will need to develop
a surefire communication strategy before launching your
initiative to guarantee that there are no miscommunications.
I’ve seen some healthcare organizations have a newsletter
for major initiatives sent to every employee at their
hospital, system or IDN to continuously inform their staff
of what’s happening on a monthly basis since
under-communicating can cause more harm than good.
3.
Team Approach
Most initiatives require teamwork of some sort to achieve
their goals and objectives, but leaving the “how-to’s” to
your teams’ own designs without providing them with a
defined structure, ground rules and training is a formula
for disaster. This goes back to getting everyone on the same
page and going in the right direction. This can’t be
achieved if everyone is going every which way -- but
forward.
4.
Engagement
This is all about getting everyone from your steering
committee (if you have one) to your individual team leaders
and team members involved, motivated and invested in the
work that they have been assigned. This can be accomplished
with clear communications about the importance of the work,
team building exercises and providing (monetary and
non-monetary) incentives for work that exceeds expectations.
5.
Empowerment
We have found that teams can be easily empowered, to do the
right things in the right sequence, if they aren’t required
to ask permission from their executive management on every
decision that they make. That’s why we insist on having a
senior level champion assigned to the teams we facilitate
for our clients to guide their teams in making the right
decisions for their healthcare organization.
6.
Accountability
A team has an obligation to accept responsibility for their
actions and outcomes. Otherwise, they would be just another
social network meeting to discuss common problems and
exchanging ideas. That’s why you must set concrete goals and
objectives for your teams and then hold them accountable for
their actions vs. hoping that everything will turn out all
right.
If you are looking for more successes than failures with
your supply chain initiatives then I would suggest that you
consider these six guidelines for success as a starting and
ending point for any and all ventures that you are
contemplating. Especially now that you know that 20% to 25%
of the success of your projects depends on how you
communicate, organize, train and then hold your team members
accountable for their actions.
Warmest Regards,
Robert T. Yokl
Chief Value Strategist
Strategic Value Analysis® In Healthcare
Bobpres@strategicva.com
1-800-220-4274
Your Partner In
Savings Beyond Price™,
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