“Kevin Butt's job is to find cleaner ways to power Toyota. One of the hardest places to do that is at the automaker's sprawling plant in central Kentucky, a state where nearly 90 percent of electricity still comes from coal,” writes Jennifer Ludden in her recent NPR article entitled “Big Business Pushes Coal-Friendly Kentucky To Embrace Renewables.”
According to Ludden’s piece, “Butt points out a new engine assembly line, where a conveyor belt moves in a slow circle. He says it was specially designed with a more efficient motor. There are also enormous fans overhead and LED lights, all changes that save millions.”
"I mean, what company doesn't want to reduce their energy bill," he says in the article.
We couldn’t agree more.
It’s critical for an organization to streamline costs and “reduce their energy bill.”
But, we’re focused on the principle of improvement at a higher level. We’re looking at the Meta problem, which is being a reactive operation.
Ludden’s article and the efforts of Kevin Butt offer great insight into the need for a different way of doing that helps not only your business – but the customers you serve.
Do you agree?
Even in a state where 90% of the electricity comes from coal, trailblazers like Butt are challenging the current situation (or status quo) to improve their business.
They’re also helping to “clear the air” for future generations.
“It's part of a larger business shift. In Kentucky, General Motors, Ford, Walmart, L'Oreal and others also have big goals to reduce emissions. Even the state's beloved bourbon makers are starting to look at renewables,” notes Ludden.
Now, whether you believe in climate change or a zero-carbon initiative – great lessons surface.
We want to share why and how you need to make the push in your organization for Proactive Operations.
Let’s start with a few things you can start thinking about as the proactive leader driving this change.
Lessons for Reactive-Friendly Operations
Is your property stuck in the “coal era” of operations? Do you find yourself having an old-fashioned way of thinking?
Either way, we want to share the insight we gained from Ludden’s article.
There are three practical lessons to be learned:
- An old, reactive approach to operations can cost you more money in the long run. Looking for ways to improve your bottom line can lead you to groundbreaking changes. Financial loss can also certainly be the ‘fire under your feet’ to get the creative juices flowing.
- Using Proactive Operations to achieve success for your property can help others in your field. Can you imagine the positive effect of other properties catching on to this movement of proactive over reactive operations?
- Proactive changes to your operation create efficiencies that lead to a significantly enhanced environment for your customers. Through a strict methodology, you can reduce risk and increase customer satisfaction – and have the ability to tweak processes every day.
These are powerful lessons that can alter the way your operations perform and how your customers perceive your ability to offer a safe and fun place to go.
But, now you’re probably thinking, “How do I get my team on board with significant changes like this?”
Show Your Team Proactive Operations
We get it; you’re taking your operation from a reactive to proactive. You’re taking your business from 90% coal-driven to zero-carbon.
Well, our answer is simple: just show them what Proactive Operations is!
Break it down for them, and there’s no question they’ll help move the needle.
Now, there’s no sense in us taking you through in-depth coverage of Proactive Operations in this article. But, we insist that you read about it here.
Give us a call if you have any questions.
But, we will hit some important points to get your push started.
Here’s what you need to embrace about Proactive Operations before your team does:
- Defined Framework
- An All or Nothing Gradient
- Start With the Strategy
- Follow With Your Infrastructure
- Amplify Using Technology
Defined Framework
As a methodology, it offers a defined structure for approaching operations in order to achieve maximum performance.
Staying disciplined and sticking to the methodology helps to ensure you never regress towards a reactive operation again.
Proactive Operations keeps your operation focused and on target.
An All or Nothing Gradient
You must execute it with all three aspects covered, and in the specific order of Strategy, Infrastructure, and then Technology.
If you do not, your system will eventually fail, and you’ll be back to square one.
But, the beauty of Proactive Operations is that if you follow this gradient, it’ll be easy to maintain the habit of executing with maximum performance.
Start With the Strategy
By starting with Strategy, you can look at your strengths and weaknesses and what critical processes are missing.
It’s important to ask specific and sometimes tough questions about the current state of your operation.
If you catch that your operation is missing something, always come back and evaluate your strategy.
Follow With Your Infrastructure
Your infrastructure must come next because you’ll organize command centers based on the needs established during your strategy exercises.
- Will you have a front-of-house and back-of-house command center?
- Which teams need to reside in your command centers?
- Who will be the go-to person for communicating with the other control center? (This rule is essential so that miscommunication occurs. Limit the chatter between departments.)
Your team can get excited about a smooth flow of information!
Amplify Using Technology
We believe this will be the final push for your team to embrace Proactive Operations.
Trust us; your team will more than adopt this methodology once they learn it requires technology.
Introducing a unified solution that consists of everything from text communication to lost and found software will make your team’s job easier and more enjoyable.
Then, everyone can work smarter – not harder – to give your customers the best service they deserve.
Over to You
It couldn’t be any clearer to us: it’s time for reactive operations to make the shift and embrace Proactive Operations – especially if big companies are dropping coal and making way for renewable energy.
Did you catch the lessons from today’s article? If so, don’t hesitate to show your team how this methodology is the future of your property.
