From #Merchants to Marketing, #Creative to #Brand, #Site to #Engineers, #supplychain issues and inefficiencies that affect Production seem to be on the rise. Where and why are parts of this chain breaking? The disconnects sit in two immediate areas.
One is the connection, or lack there of, between strategic partners and #stakeholders across the chain, struggling to align efforts, streamline systems, and coordinate #SOPs to maximize efficiency, improve customer experience, manage funds responsibly, while being nimble and predictive to the ever-changing market.
The second is the challenge of modernizing processes, not only to keep up with technological improvements but to shorten lead times. If your company isn't focused on being technology-enabled, systems and processes across teams cannot communicate. If a company is promo driven instead of brand strategic, appropriate lead times across the chain must be a priority otherwise teams become reactive instead of proactive.
Both scenarios result in higher costs, lengthier #Production timelines, team burnout, errors, missed launch dates, and ultimately, reduced sales.
If #leaders don't have a solid understanding of the complex systems and SOPs in place, as well as the quality-versus-quantity balancing act of production, their ability to recognize the damage created by ineffective decisions is nil. This becomes the third part of what ultimately cannot connect the first two. I often equate it to an engine. If the owner wants to remove the carburetor without replacing it with another device to mix air and fuel, the engine will not operate properly. He/She must trust the mechanic to tell them this solution may make the car lighter, but it will eventually damage the vehicle in more ways than one. If leaders do not have the courage to owe their poor decisions, blame is often transferred to the Creative Ops staff.
The mark of an effective leader is to trust and empower employees to provide solutions, then link teams together to organize, improve, and connect resources, tools, and departments. Without deep knowledge of each process, and unless you assign a person to follow the supply chain start-to-finish, source-to-site, these broken sections will continue to be the Achilles heel of #marketing.
Comments