For years, Dan Kennedy has said “Money loves speed.” He’s usually referring to making decisions and implementing things quickly, rather than falling prey to “Good is the enemy of perfect” (among other things). This is not speed for the sake of speed, however. The benefits of speed in the right circumstances, under the right conditions, are worth examining. You may find that you can’t increase speed without negatively impacting quality or safety. In those situations, I’d pull back on efforts to increase speed. Below, I discuss a few situations and opportunities that I hope will spur some ideas that will help you find places to increase the speed of your business activities.
Military time… and yours
A tank that can be refueled in one hour is more effective against an enemy than a tank that can be refueled in two hours. The same can be said for equipment not used in battle, like your lawn service’s mowers, or a delivery truck – even though defeating an “enemy” is not your goal. Similar effectiveness can be gained from a mower that can run twice as long, either because it consumes less fuel per hour, or because it has twice the fuel capacity of a similar mower.
During World War II’s Battle of Britain, British pilots who survived being shot down in morning were frequently back in another plane and in the air defending England that afternoon. German recovery crews had to travel much longer distances to recover a pilot and get them back in action. In addition, they had to have long range fighters so that pilots could fly to England, attack, and return back to Germany. These speed, distance, and equipment requirements thankfully had them at a disadvantage.
Is there anyone who hasn’t been parked at a point of sale counter, hotel front desk, or similar as an employee waited on a computer to perform some task necessary to allow us to check in, complete a purchase, etc? Some companies seem to be on a never-ending quest to improve these experiences. They know that customers want the shorter wait times in line. They’ve seen customers get frustrated and leave a store due to long lines. Meanwhile, other companies seem to ignore these counterproductive point of sale speed and usability problems, much less the long lines they can cause.
Sometimes, you have to temporarily slow down in order to speed up. A wobbly wheel will shake a car (and its passengers) to pieces, make the car less safe to drive, and prevent the car from reaching higher speeds. Taking a few minutes to stop and tighten or change the wheel costs a few minutes, but pays off in safer, faster driving. A simple example, but it begs the question: What’s wobbly, sketchy, or less than dependable at your business?
Downtime
Downtime is a speed issue as well, since you can’t get much slower than zero. Every time you eliminate or reduce downtime, there’s a corresponding increase in speed. The great thing about downtime is that much of it is preventable, whether it relates to computers, processes, or boat trailers.
Downtime hides in places you might not expect. Electricity. Disk space. Oil. Anti-freeze. Drive belts. Spare drive belts. Tools in vehicles. Flashlights in vehicles. Better warehouse lighting. Better training. Prevention has a solid ROI. Ask your team about processes, situations, and equipment that fails. Remember – injuries count too. Your people know where the dangerous places in your business are. Ask them, not only for where these things are, but also for ideas on how to address them.
Supply chain problems have a way of creating downtime as well. When you run out of raw materials due to order errors, delays, mistakes, or really – any reason, production grinds to a halt. Zero speed, particularly in a production environment, has a high cost. If you send people home because you’re out of raw materials, you not only miss out on the work getting produced, you also risk losing skilled people who probably weren’t easy to find. Most supply chain errors are preventable. Your team can help identify ways to deal with these problems, so be sure to ask if they’ve seen these issues before and have been involved in resolving them. Either way, take advantage of their experience and insight.
There is one place where speed isn’t recommended: Hiring.
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