Integration in business, or lack thereof, is a significant problem in today’s fast-paced business world. We see it all the time.
Good companies end up having departments operating in silos and occasionally compete against themselves for the same business. I recently saw this when a major defense contractor had two specific business units competing for the same piece of work – neither aware of the other. Needless to say, the EVP was not too happy when she realized how much time and energy they had burned.
CEOs, COOs, and other business leaders need to make it a priority to coordinate, synchronize, and integrate business operations throughout the company. Establishing a normal meeting rhythm can help with this.
For example, at one of my manufacturing companies, we had a daily 15min standup where we talked about the major lessons learned from the previous 24 hours what was coming up each day. We held this “standup” on the plant floor and all of our key leaders were present. It went a long way to ensure that we never let things get too far out of sync.
Ensuring your business is integrated will go a long way towards improving your bottom line and improving senior leader communications.
Dan