It is the time to set next year’s goals and expectations. You should not wait until the first of the year arrives and attempt to set the plan and goals for new year. We all have completed our pro forma for next year and estimated our EBITs, but have we created our strategic plans that will yield double digit growth? Estimating the financials for the upcoming year will not suffice and allow success. Below is a short list of initiatives that we should look at for the upcoming year.

1. Plan Ahead and Succeed
It is the time to set next year’s goals and expectations. You should not wait until the first of the year
arrives and attempt to set the plan and goals for new year. We all have completed our pro forma for
next year and estimated our EBITs, but have we created our strategic plans that will yield double digit
growth? Estimatingthe financials for the upcoming year will not suffice and allow success. Below is a
short list of initiatives that we should look at for the upcoming year.
1. Setyour goals for cost of poor quality. Understand how you are going to measure it. Are you going
to include the rework, the loss of productivity due to poor quality, customer returns and investigation
costs,and repaircosts? Whateveryoumeasure inthe upcomingyear,assure thatyou show a reduction
and have projectswithmilestones established to begin in January. Do not set yourself up for the next
yearby havinga bad firstquarterand chasing the year’s goals to recover those costs. Make your goal a
reflection of projects you will manage and not a wish list. Spell out the plan’s expectations month by
monthwithstart dates,cost realizationdates,projectcompletiondates,and determine who the leader
is for each project. Set your report out dates for the next year and schedule the team’s calendars to
assure that teams know when they are going to review projects with the executive team.
2. Create a processimprovement team and set expectations. You should know where your efficiency
losses are and establish which ones you are going to tackle and the order and timeframe for those
projects. Seta reasonable amountof tasks. Many businesses will create a wish list that is too large for
the staffing. Scheduling too many tasks for your workforce can only lead to frustration, fractured
efforts, and a disengaged workforce. Strategically assign those tasks, determine reasonable
expectations, and set a detailed review schedule for the plan’s events on a regular basis. Become
involvedasaleaderbecause yourworkforce willprioritizetheireffortsbythe attentionand involvement
your leadership displays in the upcoming year.
3. Assure that you have an active environmental health and safety plan to improve the safety and
ergonomicsof youroperation. Remember,peoplewanttobe treatedfairlyandtheywill engage more if
youare concerned fortheirwell-being. Strive toimprovethe ergonomicsinthe workplace. Recordable
and lost time injuries are bad for a business’s reputation and finances, but they also can disengage a
workforce quickly. Care aboutyouremployeesandmake ita passiontoevolve the workplace to a safer
environment. Embrace theirconcernsasyouwouldyourfamily members. They are your livelihood. If
you do not have a methodology to collect the employee’s risks, hold a “stand-down” for four hours to
collectideasfromemployees. Take those ideas, Paretothemby risktoemployeesandaggressivelyburn
themdown. Assure the plan attacks these on a monthly basis. Form subcommittees to address these
ideas. Everyone in the organization can take ownership of a task as safety is everyone’s job.
4. Trainyour employeesearlyandona repetitive regular schedule. You should have already met with
your employeesanddeterminedtheirtrainingneeds. Now youmustscheduleaplanto deliveronthose
internal andexternal needs. Donot leave thisasa humanresource task. It isa leadershipresponsibility
that our reportsare enriching themselves each year. You may want to look at your most unproductive

2. weeks in the previous years and declare them training weeks. This allows you to write off the week
from deliveries and profit based on poor historical performance. Typically, the first week of the year,
the weekof July4th and
Labor Day weekare poor performers as the previous quarter has just ended and
people includeadditionalvacation days to long weekends. Put training into this week and declare the
week as a non-production week. Planning this activity allows customer commits to be maintained by
overproductioninpriorweeksand planned deliverycommitspushedoutof these weekswherepossible.
5. Create productionstartplansthat are visual andobservable to all employees. Plan on Gemba walks
dailyandreviewthese startplans. These plansare critical tosuccess. If you start on time,youwill finish
on time. Don’t leave the plan’s execution to the planners and materials department to manage. All
directlyinvolvedemployeesmustunderstandthe plan, discuss it daily at Gemba walks, and assure that
procurement, operations, quality, and the materials department understands when the production
starts foreveryjob. This is critical formixedmodel production. Thisplanis should notbe in a notebook
but must be displayed on some visual system that all employees can monitor. The more visuals you
have in your company, the more self-managed it becomes.
Remember that strategic planning will assure 2016 will be better than 2015. Don’t wait until the year
beginstoinvoke the planasyou will have anoverlyburdenthe lasttwoquartersof the year. If youhave
not already shared your vision and plan with the entire organization, do it early in the year.