Amid uncertainty, companies need agility, flexibility, and speed. With supply chain disruptions becoming the new normal, decision-making should be dispersed to the points in the organization where it makes sense for them to be made.
This is why we need a new model of operations management to replace the old command and control model. Making this model work requires four vital enablers: trust, talent, transparency, and technology.
Delegate decision-making and trust that your decision-makers will do what’s best for the company. At the same time, operators must understand which issues to escalate and how. Mutual trust should be the bedrock of your operations management model.
Train your operators to make sure they are comfortable taking on decision-making. The skills and capabilities needed today include analytical thinking, contemporary market intelligence, digital and data expertise, logic and reasoning, and soft skills such as interpersonal communications.
Offer access to the information needed. For both leaders and operators, it’s critical to have clarity on the relevant data to understand the impact of decisions and actions.
Look to technology to provide transparency and enable training. The right tools allow a company to gather and disseminate information leaders and operators need. Additionally, AI can help guide decision-makers at all levels and, in some cases, make certain decisions with oversight from humans. At the same time, technology enables quality training for your talent.
Successful companies like Nestlé have employed operator-centric models to help them not only react to disruptions but also anticipate what’s next. With four pillars in place – trust, talent, transparency, and technology – you can empower operators to make more effective decisions for the good of the company.
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