USE PRODUCTION CORE DRIVERS TO CALCULATE RESOURCE CAPACITIES

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urces are always limited and in demand. Most employees believe in two universal truths; 1. They are underpaid and 2. They don’t have the resources they need to do the job. So resource allocation decisions can get tricky and cause heartburn.

An alternative to never ending negotiations and conflict is to dig a bit deeper into the resource question by focusing on the unit drivers of work: phone call, customer visit, widget, report, etc. By concentrating on the driver you can use simple arithmetic to build your needed capacity and then allocate resources accordingly.

Determine the root causes of work activities.

Don’t just concentrate on the output. Determine the source of the work itself. What generates the work? The idea here is to focus on the why and not the what. Once you determine the root cause, you can link it directly to other activities that lead to improvements.

Ensure that drivers form the basis for improvement projects.

Don’t waste time on money by working harder, but on the wrong things. If you can simplify your world into a handful of key items that really drive your business results and work activities, you can easily engage your employees to make things better. It is in their interest for thigs to go well so alignment is easy. More, you can improve your competitive advantage, productivity or customer retention rates (to name a few) by focusing your resources on the right things.

Make sure they are easy to explain.

This will take some real work because a natural tendency, when you are really busy (as all entrepreneurs are), is to be superficial and move on to the next thing. Avoid that pitfall by ripping away as many layers as possible until you find the simplest idea. The simpler the better. Simple is easy to communicate and act on. And you will need buy-in from your team to set and achieve your goals.