Are You Giving in to Status Quo?

Its 6:45PM and dinner’s on the table back home and your family is waiting, but you’re still at the office working on four different projects. Two of those projects need to be finished by Noon tomorrow. Sound familiar? That’s the business environment we live in today. Do more with less. 60+ hour work weeks. Lean initiatives. And let’s not forget the proverbial if it’s not broke don’t fix it. How do you make improvements in your business if you simply don’t have any time?

In a recent conversation with a General Manager of a large firm, he explained it was his job to work on the million dollar projects. His CFO’s job to work on the hundred thousand dollar projects, and his Operations Manager’s job to work on the tens of thousands of dollar projects. I said, “Great, I’m really looking forward to working with you.” The General Manager looked shocked. I proceeded to point out to him that his company was spending almost $4 million a month on diesel fuel. After talking through the Fuel Analysis project, the General Manager agreed that it did, in fact, require his attention. He could see the results that could be achieved and he wanted that outcome. This GM would be the champion of the project and make sure the objectives were met. How many times does an expense of that amount get overlooked because it doesn’t seem like its “broken”? Before leaving our meeting we had laid out a 5-point plan to wrap our hands around his diesel program:

1. Delegate the task of compiling the fuel data to internal stakeholders with time lines
2. Produce a memo to the company and vendors that the fuel purchase program is under review
3. Sokolis would provide a complete Analysis of their fuel buying programs
4. A list of action step would be generated and assigned for implementation
5. Follow up and measurement of success after 4 months

Let’s do the math:

2 meetings @ 1 hour each 6 e-mail messages @ 5 minutes each 1 internal memo/communication @ 5 minutes Total time invested = 2.35 hours

Monthly savings from this project = $40,000 ROI = $17,021/hour

Whether you’re the General Manager, CFO or the Operations Manager, tasks such as this may seem like they’re time consuming and overwhelming. When broken down, these tasks are simple ways to improve your company’s bottom line. Sokolis can help move you from Status Quo to Status Go!