Where are your bottlenecks?
If you’re planning a holiday outside the UK this year, then good luck!
Recent news reports of delays at seaports and airports sound horrendous and having experienced air travel recently I can first hand report that delays are likely.
Systems these days are subject to these issues, possibly because they are set up to be as lean as possible with little tolerance so that waste is kept to a minimum. It does mean however we must put up with occasional delays when issues arise. Having travelled extensively for business I can vouch for the fact that delays occurred before this year and quite frequently, not as high impact as these recent ones though.
These recent travel problems seem to have occurred because of a couple of changes that have occurred recently. Firstly, the processing time required to get through the system has increased. Secondly, there seems to be a shortage of people at various points that also slows things down.
Which got me thinking about my own processes and risk management around what happens when I go on holiday. A lot of my processes rely on me, I must do something to move my clients through my sales, operation and support systems. Some of these areas I’ve either automated or outsourced so it’s helped keep my system flowing.
But how about you?
Where are your process points? How do they work? Are they a single point of failure?
What affects them and what would be the impact if something happens to slow them down and is that something you can accept in your business.
It’s an important part of our value creation for our customers so worth thinking about.
So, we can go on holiday and rest up, recharge and come back invigorated.
Have a great time!
Russell has run numerous projects in the public and private sectors. He then turned his hand to training and consultancy. His core skill lies in helping people and organisations to make a positive change for real benefit.
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