New ways of doing things

I'm thinking that problems which my company is currently experiencing at work could also provide opportunties for finding innvoative solutions ...

1. Over the last week there have been lots of different people doing very standard jobs that are normally done by others. Sometimes despite thinking that directions on how to do a task are clear, people are finding different ways of doing the task. Where they think they can improve on the instructions then they are doing so, and where they need to improvise, they do - it's great to observe this and it's also a real team building experience as people work together to really help each other. Maybe if I look carefully enough over the next few days some of our "new recruits" to the operation will come up with better solutions than the usual team can see

And if they can, how can I try and get the normal team to look for ways to do the same old jobs differently or better rather than just "doing it the way we always do it"

2. These same problems also mean that some days the "demand" in production terms (amount of work to do) is double the normal level yet the supply hasn't changed (of people to do the work). To get back on track everyone is being challenged to find ways to up production as quickly as possible (without changing the supply levels). Some of this is about people working harder, but there must also be a bit of people working smarter .... it will/would be great if we can carry this on when all gets back to normal.

Test

Test message to see if emailing direct to my blog works ......

New shop

Driving along a road I go along regularly, a splash a pink paint drew my attention to a new shop called "auction for you" ..... the notice in the window explained that they would auction items on a customers behalf on e-bay.

It will be interesting to see whether this becomes a thriving business ... what are the limiting factors to people just selling goods on ebay themselves? is it access to the internet? is it the time to do this (although you still have to find the time to take your item to the shop) .. or is it something else?

Back to innovation

Not so long ago Tesco used to be very much in second place (at best) in the supermarket world with Mr Sainsbury leading the way. I heard yesterday that their range of services now includes an "estate agency" service and even the opportunity to sell your house privately using their web facilities.

Now that's got to be some innovation ... from tins of beans, to books, CDs, electrical goods, insurance, finanical services and now houses. I guess the bottom line is that they are selling something there is a demand for.

What will be next?

This seems to be a winning strategy for Tesco. Should our organisation be doing more, and more quickly to broaden our business? After all we're not so different from any production plant or logisitics company. Or should we stick with what we know best?

I actually don't really like Tesco having so much buying power - I don't like the way they will take others out of business (and it can't be right that you can buy a roast chicken for a pound!). Could there become such of strength of feeling about this that it actually impacts on Tesco's success? What innovative strategies will they come up with to get round this?

First day back

Just back to work after a week's leave so here are a few of my thoughts for the day ...

- I quite like my job so was reasonably glad to be back this morning - although I would rather have had a lie in after my busy weekend! Ten hours after getting here I'm still here catching up. What is it about my job that gets me out of bed in the morning and makes me be able to justify giving up so much of my precious time to it?

- I'm sure it's good to have a break from work, even if it doesn't involve going away on a holiday - last week gave me time to catch up with myself, to stop spinning quite so many plates at the same time, to recharge my work batteries and make sure my priorities are right .. what's the optimuim gap between these times away from work in terms of performing best at work? what affects how long we can carry on at full steam without a break?

- I feel like was missed a bit by my colleagues and probably a bit (less) by my team. It is nice to feel that I'm at least a little bit missed ... we are all replaceable but it's important to feel a part of things. Do my team and colleagues feel enough a part of things that they are missed? should I be investing more time in individuals to make sure of this?

- Members of my team often tell me that when I'm away that things are quite the same - action points aren't always done for meetings and people sometimes don't do things as they know they maybe can "get away with it". I left a "to do" list to my top team before I went, why is it that people will choose to behave differently? what is it about my leadership style that means I haven't motivated and empowered them to just get on with things?

Anyway .. better get back to catching up with my emails!