Latest Articles
- Information – an Office’s Gold
As America moves to service based industries the raw materials needed to bring a service or product to market is information. This is the “gold” in an office. With today’s technology we are able to collect, measure and quantify our leads and customers. The question then becomes what do we do with that information?
- BPs Lack of Seeing the Big Picture
No matter what side of the political fence you fall, BP failed to take the proper quality control measures. As the weeks pass more information is coming to light how the organization cut corners with safety to keep costs down. Safety is not the place to take short cuts. In the long run this can cost you thousands of dollars and possibly your business. In BP’s case it is running in the billions not to mention what it is doing for their stock value. The ramification of poor quality control is costly. So how could a corporation
- Make Your Bottom Line Grow
No matter what size your organization doing things as efficiently as possible is not only ideal it is necessary in the new world economy. One area that can be significantly improved is the office. In fact, 60 to 80% of costs associated with providing a service or product to market is administrative. If you were able to reduce these by one third how much could you increase your cash flow?
- Proper Planning Can Ensure Success
Planning is the backbone of success. Not doing it can cost thousands of dollars, man hours and resources. Proper planning can save you money, increase your cash flow and help fulfill your mission. Here is a simple tool to aid in ensuring your success.
- Working Between Departments Means Faster Cash Flow
When you look at a traditional organizational chart it has silos which contain various departments and the people overseeing and working in those departments. In today’s business climate where information is your company’s gold this can be troublesome. Why, because the right hand may not know what the left hand is doing. We have all [...]
Capacity Building
This has become a very important topic for non-profits all over the country. As budgets shrink and donations decrease our non-profits are expected to do more with less. The disconcerting part is no one is telling them how.
In the new economy our non-profits are essential to bridging the gap between eliminated federal and state funded programs. As a result, non-profits are needed even more.
Creating a lean environment in your office will give you the ability to increase your services to the community all while adjusting to reduced resources. How does having a lean office do this? You reduce your costs by eliminating waste in your procedures and achieve better utilization of staff and resources. This is significant because 60 to 80% of all costs associated with providing a product or service is administrative. This has an affect on your available cash flow when these costs were reduced.
Therefore, having a lean office allows you fulfill your role as leadership by freeing up time to create strategic alliances and educate potential board and community sponsors why they should support your mission. For you to do your job well, your staff needs the ability to make good routine decisions independently and know when to ask for help. To support your mission you must have a clear line of communication across departments, thus making the right impression with recipients and potential resources. Lean Office principles enable your organization to do this well.
Below is a diagram of how a lean office operates in a profit environment. This also applies to the non-profit in terms of available cash flow. By having a lean office you can positively impact the cash flow available for funding services.
- Diagram provided by The Lean Store - Lean Office Training Set
There are many organizations that help non-profits with grants to fund different projects. Below are a few local non-profit who may have funds to increase productivity and as a result increase capacity. Each organization has their own set of criteria for grants. In some instances a project with Croll Productive Synergy may be eligible for grant money. This is an area that we are actively researching.