As we continue to work in a shape-shifting universe, we need some guideposts, some mileage markers that give us a sense of where we are and how far we have yet to go. This may be as good a time as any to put some success and failure factors on the table to help supply chain management professionals grow to become all they can be.
What follows is my current take on the Ten Commandments for success in supply chain management, in business, and in life. There are many, probably more than 10, but the core issues seemed to sort themselves well into a set of 10 Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Nots. Please note that the items below are not carved in stone, either one- or two-sided, and that they are backed up on a flash drive.
1. Thou shalt not slander every idea that did not occur to you first. C'mon, man, are you really the smartest little boy (or girl) in the room, always? How many of your very fine ideas have been rejected because you abused, insulted, or demeaned all of those you would eventually need to get behind necessary change?
2. Thou shalt not dwell in the past. Get over it! Sears is terminally ill, and K-Mart is already dead. Omnichannel fulfillment is not the same as shipping orders from mailed-in forms at the turn of the 20th century. Visibility through information technology is not simply an updated version of walking the warehouse floor until the object of a customer's desire is spotted by the naked eye. And stop railing against the habits and passions of the current generation of working associates.
3. Thou shalt not live entirely in the future. Yes, I know that there is always a better way to do what we're doing. Yes, I know that what we have solved only portions of the greater challenge. I also know that it is somewhere between imbecilic and hopelessly naïve to throw out the investment in what we have before we have leveraged all that it can contribute—even if we can somehow roughly envision what might be better, if only we could define it and force the entire business community to adopt it overnight.
4. Thou shalt not focus on functions and outcomes. There is more to work life than meeting today's objectives in a world we suppose has been defined for all time as what it is now. While we are busy satisfying customers, we must also consider what's next. Not necessarily what is the ultimate unified field theory of everything supply chain, but what next year—and the year after—is likely to bring. And what we must do to be ready if the changes we can reasonably anticipate actually materialize.
5. Thou shalt not impose your style and preferences on everyone. Doing the right things in the right way requires teams of energized, motivated, and educated people. Leaders take many forms and pursue objectives in different ways—and are motivated by different factors. A tough lesson is that what drives you as a leader, how you work, how you communicate, how you reach goals may or may not yield the results you desperately need. You can't pep talk the organization's way to success; you can't intimidate that outcome, either. You can't take care of the people and expect results simply because they have been comforted; worst of all, no system of measures and milestones contains any guarantee that the real result will resemble the plan—in outcome, in timing, or in costs.
You, as a leader, must know what all the management styles are, when to use them, and with whom to use which ones. Further, you've got to know your people so well that you recognize where they fall in the task/relationship spectrum—and use the appropriate style with each of them.
6. Thou shalt carefully assess everything different. Not that we need to accept every notion that comes floating through the open window or hail each new concept as the panacea that will fix all that is wrong or overcome all the limitations and barriers of the past. But we do have a responsibility, for self-preservation if nothing else, to carefully consider those ideas that actually have merit, legs, and a promise of sustainability and scalability.
7. Thou shalt learn from the past. Despite the fate of dinosaurs stuck in the tar of La Brea, there are some universal truths that have validity from generation to generation, values that are, so far as we can see, eternal. Stick to these; adapt them as circumstances shift; and hold them, if currently in disfavor, close against the day when they are newly and more widely recognized for their intrinsic worth.
8. Thou shalt anticipate the future. None of us can afford to ignore the present; we must meet customer expectations and operational objectives. But we must devote time, energy, and resources to what happens—or is likely to happen—next, and after that, and then after that. As leaders, we cannot afford to be taken by surprise when the change that everyone but us knew was coming actually arrives.
We need to be actively thinking about such things as where our customers' markets are going, how we can help them stem the slide or capitalize on the rise, which of our suppliers are financially vulnerable or not scalable to our next level, what supplies and materials are being exhausted on a global basis, what new products and lines are looming in our industry, how order profiles are likely to shift, and on and on.
9. Thou shalt operate under the umbrella and context of the organization. Functional understanding is a given. But the planning and execution of supply chain management (SCM) must be strategically and organizationally relevant. That translates to the entire supply chain's getting the picture—understanding that SCM is not so much about squeezing costs out of suppliers, trimming labor, or cutting inventories as about building enterprise financial performance. That is what makes SCM truly a competitive differentiator, an investment in growth and profitability, and not simply cost to be managed by beady-eyed CPAs.
10. Thou shalt require accountabilities, outcomes, objectives, and plans from all. For all the talk about styles and preferences, and no matter which is used when and with whom, all plans and assignments must conclude with clear mutual understanding of what will be done, when, at what cost, with which milestones, and with what quantified benefits. No matter the appropriate style, no matter the motivations, acceptance of the assignment with its terms and conditions is the only thing that counts—even when the assignment is a creative exercise to find the lost, to imagine the unthinkable, to solve the intractable, or to invent the unknown.
BONUS ROUNDHere are two additional commandments—no extra charge. Feel free to abide by their guidance. There are more; you may add your own to the list as well.
11. Thou shalt not live in the present. Failing to look either through the windshield or in the rear-view mirror is a shortcut to madness. Fixing today does not necessarily fix tomorrow; ignoring yesterday can obscure the solution needed today.
12. Thou shalt live in the present. Don't forget, with all the looking ahead and looking back over one's shoulder, that the customer needs the order shipped today, that a status inquiry deserves an answer today, and that an HR issue that is a flesh-eating cancer must be addressed now.
WAIT! ISN'T THIS ONE GIANT CONTRADICTION?Well, yeah. Welcome to the real world. See, here's the deal. Success is not about finding the golden ticket that gives magical entry to Willy Wonka's factory. It is about finding the balance among the competing, yes, contradictory, forces in our work and personal lives. About being analytical enough to sort through the opposing elements, and about being street-smart enough to make good choices—and tough enough to stick with them.
