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Operational Performance

By Madison Hanscom, PhD We are currently experiencing more remote work and telework than ever before, and Human Resource professionals are being asked to adapt quickly to this flex work model. Because those in HR are connected with employees from when they enter the company to the day they leave, they have a major impact on the people – and as a result, in shaping the company culture. HR also plays an important role in helping the company make a successful transition to a flex work model. Considerations for HR when taking on a new flex workforce: • Help people see the strengths

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By Madison Hanscom, PhD Working from home can be a positive opportunity for many individuals. It might come with a shorter commute, less interruptions, more productive work time, and less stress. Despite the huge number of employees who are enjoying working from home, a dark side to flex work for some can be the aspect of loneliness. What exactly is loneliness? It doesn’t necessarily mean that the individual is “alone”. You might meet someone who is lonely while working on a floor of 100 people. Conversely, you might meet someone else who doesn’t feel lonely at all, but they work alone remotely all

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By Madison Hanscom, PhD Learning organizations are those that acquire information, share it, process it, and use it for continual improvement. All teams must develop mechanisms and buy-in for supporting this knowledge-sharing cycle, though it is particularly important that companies utilizing a flex work model do this well in order to succeed. Without a strong collective knowledge bank, it is likely your company will spend a lot of time taking one step forward and two steps back. When working in a virtual or remote team, knowledge will be dispersed. It is no longer an option to stop by someone’s office to ask

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By Eric Johnson As we think through cost analysis opportunities, whether during times of crisis or during routine analysis, a key focal point is reducing extraneous costs to the business while maintaining the tools, processes, and skill sets that provide the value proposition to the customer. After hearing rumors in the marketplace that a new market entrant was poised to potentially steal market share in its home market, the COO of a concrete manufacturer decided to embark on a cost-cutting initiative in anticipation of two potential scenarios; the first being a preemptive strike in lowering prices to give the new entrants difficulty

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By Eric Johnson Supply chain is an area where substantial savings can be captured due to the many impacts on production and operations. However, some management teams tend to shy away from large-scale projects, only employing them when something breaks or sometimes when it's too late. A key approach here is to be proactive, and start when the first issues appear, which will allow a longer time frame to enact change. A large manufacturer of agriculture, construction, and forestry equipment had a large and diversified product field, consisting of heavy machinery for the consumer market and industrial equipment, which is made to

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By Dale LawrenceReady for a busy day? Your first day back to the office. Got your Americano? Check. Look at your phone and see that you still have 15 minutes before your meeting. Just enough time to catch the elevator to the twelfth-floor office, check email and then review some documents for your client meeting. However, as you approach the lobby, you see a line of people. Upon inspection, they are queuing with socially distanced spacing for the elevators. This is not good! Looking at the time again, you know the ability to get ready for the meeting is doomed. Due

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