Where's the Monkey?
Well, I haven't written a post in over a month. I've just been too busy. I know, that's no excuse. But at least it's a good lead-in to this entry.
As everyone knows, depending on how a business is doing, there is typically more pressure on one part of the organization than on other parts (e.g., Sales vs. Operations). If revenues are below plan, the pressure is squarely on the shoulders of the Sales organization. If revenues are above plan, Operations feels the weight of the World on its shoulders. It's just a normal business cycle. And it can change fast. One month Sales feels all of the heat and the next month the pressure is on the Operations team.
A colleague once told me that his former employer used a stuffed monkey to show which organization had "the monkey on its back" at any point in time. When sales were good, the head of Sales placed the stuffed monkey on the head of Operation's desk. When sales were slow, the head of Operations returned the favor. The questions was always, "where's the monkey?"
So what? Well, I think it is important for everyone within a company to know that it is normal to see these organization-based pressure points and that, in most businesses, the pressure is constantly shifting. Also, it is important for everyone to be extremely understanding of the group under pressure - because the pressure is probably shifting to them next! And, it shows how important it is to focus on continually developing forecasting and capacity planning tools to try to anticipate business shifts and alleviate as much pressure as possible.
As everyone knows, depending on how a business is doing, there is typically more pressure on one part of the organization than on other parts (e.g., Sales vs. Operations). If revenues are below plan, the pressure is squarely on the shoulders of the Sales organization. If revenues are above plan, Operations feels the weight of the World on its shoulders. It's just a normal business cycle. And it can change fast. One month Sales feels all of the heat and the next month the pressure is on the Operations team.
A colleague once told me that his former employer used a stuffed monkey to show which organization had "the monkey on its back" at any point in time. When sales were good, the head of Sales placed the stuffed monkey on the head of Operation's desk. When sales were slow, the head of Operations returned the favor. The questions was always, "where's the monkey?"
So what? Well, I think it is important for everyone within a company to know that it is normal to see these organization-based pressure points and that, in most businesses, the pressure is constantly shifting. Also, it is important for everyone to be extremely understanding of the group under pressure - because the pressure is probably shifting to them next! And, it shows how important it is to focus on continually developing forecasting and capacity planning tools to try to anticipate business shifts and alleviate as much pressure as possible.
