Last February 23, a few of us attended a forum entitled "Leading at the Speed of Trust" by Stephen M.R. Covey in Makati Shangri-la. (Stephen M.R. Covey is the eldest son of Stephen R. Covey, author of the immensely popular Seven Habits book.) It was a sort of synopsis to his book "The Speed of Trust". We were seated in a table right before the big projector screen at the right side of the Rizal Ballroom. While our seats left much to desire, everyone of us had something to take home from the forum, not just a bag, a book, and a deck of cards, but also insights, new ideas, and blooming plans. And breakfast was good.
Trust is normally thought an intangible relation between parties. It's in the spectrum of abstract values like love, care, faith, etc. It is so basic to life that we don't actually delve on it often or deeply.
One key realization that is at the core of Covey's book and forum is that when we really think about it, trust is an economic metric. As an economic metric, trust is given a very visible importance to businesses and leaders.
Lack of trust creates layers upon layers of bureaucracy and paperwork. It often leads to unnecessary checks, replication of work or even throwing work out. With loss of trust, decisions stall, business is hampered, and the world slows down. It's a tax.
When we build a good trust relation, we are able to streamline processes. We can work based on the spirit of good will and laws rather than follow everything to the letter and trust nobody. With trust, we are able to do our work much faster, build on the trusted works of others, and elevate our combined effectiveness.
There are apparently two aspects of trust: trust as an integrity concern, and trust as a competency concern. Gaining the speed of trust needs both.
When we say we trust a friend, we mean that we believe our friend to know and act in accordance to our common interest.
When we say we trust a report, we believe that the report is accurate or good enough for our needs. We trust that the output of the person who made the report was competently made.
Somewhat ironically, checks and balances are integral in creating high trust. Checks and balances work to build a baseline level of assurance, that either removes doubts or guaranties particular assumptions.
The value of trust is present perhaps in all relations a company may hold over its lifetime. Even a comprehensive system of checks and balances require trust in the system, for it to to work.
As a company determined to excel in and out, Amici must find a good balance in its evolving system of checks and balances, that can foster greater trust, and eventually accelerated growth. We look to improve relationships with customers and with vendors, as well as between employees.
Showing posts with label Editorial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Editorial. Show all posts
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Purchasing
As a business making daily purchasing decisions, we are sometimes overwhelmed with the systemic complexity of the products we acquire and the schedules we abide to provide good service to our customers.
Ill-planned project schedules as well as highly technical products we have no idea about but are tasked to purchase lead overall to more expensive or subpar purchases. In those cases, we only have so little time to canvass for well-priced items, or we are unable to make good judgment about product specifications because we do not know what are defined good or even good enough.
To obtain better results at purchasing, we first must cover the basics, an honest pro-company Purchasing Unit. Such would have a sense of ownership to the company and be accountable to purchasing decisions, so that choices are made to minimize cost and maximize value, while serving the company's requirements promptly and adequately, and all the while promoting a company's mission and values.
We have heard too often the stories of the dishonest purchasing officer who insists that the company they work for, the company that provides his salary, be overcharged to compensate for commissions. Philippines is rife with such. It may be for this matter that we do not strongly engage the government as a customer. But it may come as a surprise that the graft and corruption we gripe about in our government are just as unavoidable in the private business industry. So when we are designing our Purchasing Unit, we must take special care to foster honesty in our personnel, implement checks and balances, and do frequent attentive reviews.
Our purchaser must also be pro-company. She has a sense of ownership of the company in that her choices must have the company's best interests at heart. Purchases are qualified based on their contribution to the company's performance. We do not shop impulsively for unnecessary toys or expensive gadgets that have marginal benefits. This, even if the items considered are actually good values to companies with the right requirements. If we are not qualified to make sound judgment on need purchases, we must consult with trustworthy people who are.
Resourcefulness is trait we cannot overlook, especially during canvassing. For obscure or highly niche products, it takes more effort to find the best deals. We might have to go through tens of entries from the yellow pages or do a lot of googling to get to the top of the chain. And we shouldn't forget that, sometimes, we just need to ask our more knowledgeable colleagues.
Finding good purchasers is necessarily difficult. This is true for most any jobs. Resumes and tests are not indicators of the values we espouse. But we start with the basics -- capable people working in a competitive company that values, practices, and trains integrity and professionalism.
Ill-planned project schedules as well as highly technical products we have no idea about but are tasked to purchase lead overall to more expensive or subpar purchases. In those cases, we only have so little time to canvass for well-priced items, or we are unable to make good judgment about product specifications because we do not know what are defined good or even good enough.
To obtain better results at purchasing, we first must cover the basics, an honest pro-company Purchasing Unit. Such would have a sense of ownership to the company and be accountable to purchasing decisions, so that choices are made to minimize cost and maximize value, while serving the company's requirements promptly and adequately, and all the while promoting a company's mission and values.
We have heard too often the stories of the dishonest purchasing officer who insists that the company they work for, the company that provides his salary, be overcharged to compensate for commissions. Philippines is rife with such. It may be for this matter that we do not strongly engage the government as a customer. But it may come as a surprise that the graft and corruption we gripe about in our government are just as unavoidable in the private business industry. So when we are designing our Purchasing Unit, we must take special care to foster honesty in our personnel, implement checks and balances, and do frequent attentive reviews.
Our purchaser must also be pro-company. She has a sense of ownership of the company in that her choices must have the company's best interests at heart. Purchases are qualified based on their contribution to the company's performance. We do not shop impulsively for unnecessary toys or expensive gadgets that have marginal benefits. This, even if the items considered are actually good values to companies with the right requirements. If we are not qualified to make sound judgment on need purchases, we must consult with trustworthy people who are.
Resourcefulness is trait we cannot overlook, especially during canvassing. For obscure or highly niche products, it takes more effort to find the best deals. We might have to go through tens of entries from the yellow pages or do a lot of googling to get to the top of the chain. And we shouldn't forget that, sometimes, we just need to ask our more knowledgeable colleagues.
Finding good purchasers is necessarily difficult. This is true for most any jobs. Resumes and tests are not indicators of the values we espouse. But we start with the basics -- capable people working in a competitive company that values, practices, and trains integrity and professionalism.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Traditions
Our company as organizations do grows its traditions with age. Though our company history is more than 30 years already, more than half the average lifespan of a corporation, our company in its current form is very young.
The first five years have been about products. With a small office for three people, our company grew slowly but steadily, selling good products at fair prices while maintaining low overhead. Tradition has been opening at day and closing at night, and the year-end inventory.
The next years after up to now however have brought dramatic changes. Leadership developed and luck blessed our company. Now, it's really about the people, good people, selling good products. More social traditions followed.
Some of our major company events such as Christmas parties and Team-building are recent traditions. They do not make much sense in a company of 3 or 4 persons.
Some haven't earned their keep to be called traditions. This new year's company outlook missed this year (Or I missed it somehow.) Last year's sportsfest and moon cake festival were unceremoniously aborted after typhoon Ondoy. Nevertheless, this year holds promise for the sportsfest's continuation with an already scheduled chess tournament.
These recent company traditions arose from normal progressions of relationships. As our company focused on people, relationships among develop to form cohesive groupings. Working with more people preludes socializing with more people. When there's stability, social interaction in and out of office contribute to each other's growth and group cohesiveness. Lack of maintenance on the other hand brings about apathy and division.
It would have been lacklustre if traditions were to arise only for its own, as a pure business decision without magic of innovation and communication, with a goal first and foremost to promote bonding as if it can be plasticized so conveniently. (But one can still grow from there, giving probably adaptation and creativity.)
Our sportsfest (or the idea of) have been borne in part from common sports played by fellow officemates. Our weekly basketball have been quite steady for the past year. Badminton, though it hasn't caught on, has fans such as yours truly. Chess? Table tennis? People among are finding common grounds of activities, on which to share and find unity.
As an young, agile company, we can expect traditions to come to show the Amici way. More people coming in means more possibilities of formation. When people go out, we expect changes. We must be alive to maintain the best traditions and let bad traditions die quietly.
The first five years have been about products. With a small office for three people, our company grew slowly but steadily, selling good products at fair prices while maintaining low overhead. Tradition has been opening at day and closing at night, and the year-end inventory.
The next years after up to now however have brought dramatic changes. Leadership developed and luck blessed our company. Now, it's really about the people, good people, selling good products. More social traditions followed.
Some of our major company events such as Christmas parties and Team-building are recent traditions. They do not make much sense in a company of 3 or 4 persons.
Some haven't earned their keep to be called traditions. This new year's company outlook missed this year (Or I missed it somehow.) Last year's sportsfest and moon cake festival were unceremoniously aborted after typhoon Ondoy. Nevertheless, this year holds promise for the sportsfest's continuation with an already scheduled chess tournament.
These recent company traditions arose from normal progressions of relationships. As our company focused on people, relationships among develop to form cohesive groupings. Working with more people preludes socializing with more people. When there's stability, social interaction in and out of office contribute to each other's growth and group cohesiveness. Lack of maintenance on the other hand brings about apathy and division.
It would have been lacklustre if traditions were to arise only for its own, as a pure business decision without magic of innovation and communication, with a goal first and foremost to promote bonding as if it can be plasticized so conveniently. (But one can still grow from there, giving probably adaptation and creativity.)
Our sportsfest (or the idea of) have been borne in part from common sports played by fellow officemates. Our weekly basketball have been quite steady for the past year. Badminton, though it hasn't caught on, has fans such as yours truly. Chess? Table tennis? People among are finding common grounds of activities, on which to share and find unity.
As an young, agile company, we can expect traditions to come to show the Amici way. More people coming in means more possibilities of formation. When people go out, we expect changes. We must be alive to maintain the best traditions and let bad traditions die quietly.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
December
The much feared year of 2009, introduced as a harbinger of bank closures and economic downturn, is finally at its end. Never mind that the economic and political challenges are all very much alive to welcome us in 2010. For a moment, stop thinking that after two months, we are still rearing from the ebbing throes of Ondoy, still feeling the consequences of the mighty deluge that fell towns and cities and brought people not to their knees but struggling painfully, gasping, grasping for air. It's December.
Car parking is just a bit more difficult in the the malls bustling with families gifts-a-hunting. The up scale villages impress with proportionally impressive decors. People flocking at festive bazaars jumping all around town every 3 days. The church adorned with more colors and symbols than ever before. It's Christmas season.
And our office is in dire need of renovations. Just a few days ago, one of the office light gave up on us and brought Amici nights a dingy mood. Since the Florida bus (who have conveniently forgotten us) wrecked our only signage of 7 years, a wall painted blue with the letters a-m-i-c-i, our office gate has been uncooperative to less energetic tugs. Population growth remains unabated, and tables grow smaller. Our garage is yet again teeming with junk and a family of cats (much better than those days of rodents and roaches).
But there's hope. Always. There's the security guard cleaning the front, hopefully with a smile to greet you. And a bundy clock showing some premature aging. The repaint of a year back is still the vibrant blue, albeit now accompanied by cozy corner webs. An emergency light hangs by the center clock glowing pristine antiquity. And then, there are the smiles. People. MWF still bring imagined terrors and then some actually terrifying moods. But with a little help from cuddly babies, a lighter, springier surround can still be had, if we can wait the while.
We still have our problems. I mean challenges. Let's not hope for more scammers from the side of the government. Let's not make too many faces, wondering where to get funds for the Christmas spirits of our customers. We hope they can be more forthcoming with our receivables. We still have our own little party at the haunted house to prepare. And we still have an office to shade green and red. And white and gold and all the colors of Christmas be.
It's December.
Car parking is just a bit more difficult in the the malls bustling with families gifts-a-hunting. The up scale villages impress with proportionally impressive decors. People flocking at festive bazaars jumping all around town every 3 days. The church adorned with more colors and symbols than ever before. It's Christmas season.
And our office is in dire need of renovations. Just a few days ago, one of the office light gave up on us and brought Amici nights a dingy mood. Since the Florida bus (who have conveniently forgotten us) wrecked our only signage of 7 years, a wall painted blue with the letters a-m-i-c-i, our office gate has been uncooperative to less energetic tugs. Population growth remains unabated, and tables grow smaller. Our garage is yet again teeming with junk and a family of cats (much better than those days of rodents and roaches).
But there's hope. Always. There's the security guard cleaning the front, hopefully with a smile to greet you. And a bundy clock showing some premature aging. The repaint of a year back is still the vibrant blue, albeit now accompanied by cozy corner webs. An emergency light hangs by the center clock glowing pristine antiquity. And then, there are the smiles. People. MWF still bring imagined terrors and then some actually terrifying moods. But with a little help from cuddly babies, a lighter, springier surround can still be had, if we can wait the while.
We still have our problems. I mean challenges. Let's not hope for more scammers from the side of the government. Let's not make too many faces, wondering where to get funds for the Christmas spirits of our customers. We hope they can be more forthcoming with our receivables. We still have our own little party at the haunted house to prepare. And we still have an office to shade green and red. And white and gold and all the colors of Christmas be.
It's December.
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