People in medicine are trained to treat the cause, not the symptoms. Prescribing drugs for abdominal pain in lieu of removing an inflamed appendix is not how a good doctor should treat a patient. Yes, they’re hurting, but why are they hurting?
The same is true throughout business.
Why did ‘x’ not happen?
Accepting a service failure “just because” only dooms a company for it to happen again. Here at Flex Logistics, we are constantly digging to answer the question “why” if the outcome isn’t what we or our customers saw when the project began.
- Were the expectations unrealistic before it started?
- Was there a reliance on a vendor that someone knew could not deliver?
- Were there additional cost components that were not included in the forecast but should have been?
- Did everyone who had a stake in the project have the proper scope and training to complete their task successfully?
Getting to the bottom of “why” may not be pretty during the course of the review, but it is one that a responsible company committed to a successful relationship does for their valued customers. Even better, the lessons learned can and should be immediately applied throughout the organization, preventing one or all of the factors from ever leading to a similar ending.
We realize the expectation for a category-leading logistics company is to handle cargo as perfectly as possible on time, on budget and with zero damage. What goes into making that happen is what we feel makes Flex Logistics stand out. From our efforts at creating a culture of lean to ownership and management taking an interest at every level, a persistent culture of curiosity is what unites a company on the road to success.
Why? Three letters, one punctuation mark.
A simple interrogative. Ask your logistics partner if they ask themselves that question, too.