“When October Books, a small radical bookshop in Southampton, England, was moving to a new location down the street, it faced a problem. How could it move its entire stock to the new spot, without spending a lot of money or closing down for long?” writes Laurel Wamsley in their recent NPR article entitled “How Do You Move A Bookstore? With A Human Chain, Book By Book.”
“The shop came up with a clever solution: They put out a call for volunteers to act as a human conveyor belt,” shares Wamsley.
According to the article, “As they prepared to ‘lift and shift’ on Sunday, they expected perhaps 100 people to help.”
"But on the day, we had over 200 people turn out, which was a sight to behold,’ Amy Brown, one of the shop's five part-time staff members, told NPR,” explains Wamsley.
The NPR piece continues that “Shoulder to shoulder, community members formed a line 500 feet long: from the stockroom of the old shop, down the sidewalk, and onto the shop floor of the new store.”
“When the great book chain began, she was in the stockroom. ‘I was handing books to people without actually seeing the entire of it. So, it was only after about 20 minutes I actually go out into the road and saw the extent of the people,” Brown said later in Wamsley’s article.
We know it’s only on rare occasion that you’d be moving your operation to a new location.
Yes, it happens.
But, that’s not what grabbed our attention today.
The “book chain” process Brown shares in the last paragraph above got us thinking about the evolution of your operation.
- What do you need to put in place to run your high-performing operation for years to come?
Keep reading; we’re going to share the essential takeaways this article about a moving bookstore can offer your efforts.
Let’s do this.
A Disciplined Methodology You Can Trust
There’s one thing we love about Wamsley’s article.
October Books’ move is an unfussy example of the power of putting a process in place, with easy-to-understand roles, and affording stakeholders to trust it.
Trust that the outcome will be as intended.
Brown said it.
She didn’t even see the chain for about 20 minutes, but it was working.
Yes, your operation may be involved and have many more moving parts.
But, that’s not the lesson here.
It’s about identifying a methodology for running and evolving the operation that’s proven to give you the result you want and need.
You need to trust it, so you can have the peace of mind to keep focused on your customers and know that your staff is taking care of business.
Agree?
Let’s evolve your operation pillar by pillar with Proactive Operations.
Are. You. Ready?
Evolve Your Operation Pillar by Pillar
Are you aware of the power of employing Proactive Operations?
Using this methodology can help you build and evolve an operation that works naturally to advance according to your needs.
It’s one you can trust.
It’s also a way to program your ability to manage everything 24/7 365 – proactively.
This disciplined framework will help you streamline:
- Processes
- Resources
- Personnel
- Information
- Communication
Whatever your needs or obstacles, you can achieve maximum performance with Proactive Operations…
Pillar by pillar!
In this article, we’ll share the three pillars high-performing operations use to enhance their operation and get better every day.
But, don’t stop here.
The Three Pillars of the Proactive Operations Methodology
We encourage you to take your education further.
So, head over to the resource we link to in the section above when you finish reading this article.
These are the three pillars of Proactive Operations you need to understand through and through:
- Strategy: the first pillar for building Proactive Operations. Examine and scrutinize all areas of your operation to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for advancement. Use the ACDA Principle™ to understand, apply, and continuously improve your Awareness, Communication, Documentation, and Analysis.
- Infrastructure: the second pillar. Yours is based on your operational needs. But, you must have one. It should include representatives from any functional area where issues or incidents could affect performance and the customer experience. By investing in the design and development of an infrastructure, you create the opportunity to manage agile operations and organized personnel while maintaining a streamlined flow of information.
- Technology: pillar three and where operations management software is critical. Strengthen this final component by implementing software solutions that optimize all three pillars. It will help skyrocket your performance. Get the real-time communication and information you deserve, create memorable customer experiences, and reduce your risk.
Over to You
We get it; October Books isn’t running a high-performing operation like you. But, the straightforward lesson recognized by their process is critical, relevant, and valuable.
You want to evolve your operation, but you need a way to advance your efforts. You also need to trust your process and how it supports your team’s ability to get things accomplished.
Proactive Operations can help you achieve the outcome you’re looking for, pillar by pillar.
Trust us.
