Moving Experience Provides Insight into Business Challenges
By: T.J. Tedesco
For: The Binding Edge
Published: Winter, 2003

When a business moves into a new office - hopefully because it has been successful -there is predictably an excitement about the newness of the surroundings. There is a feeling of new beginnings and yet to be discovered experiences. In addition to these more euphoric feelings, there are all the annoying realities that accompany moving.

In the past year we have seen a fair amount of growth at Grow Sales, Inc. We have added two new employees, initiated new client services and moved into a new office. While our old office was a cozy place to take care of Grow Sales' business, the addition of new employees made it unpractical, unless we planned to use desks in shifts.

Seeing the move was necessary to ensure the quality of service our clients expect from us, we secured a new office, loaded up our equipment and moved. Though our move was a relatively small one - only a few miles - we discovered the old adage is true, everything that can go wrong will go wrong.

While the physical moving of the office was a cinch, some aspects of getting the new office up and running proved reminiscent of a Marx Brothers' movie. From office furniture to the computer system, there were hitches at every turn. Many of the challenges we faced during the move are similar to the obstacles businesses face each day.

Have the supplies to meet the demands
Putting together office furniture, a seemingly easy task, produced one of the first and longest lasting tribulations. While putting together a desk it was discovered eight screws were missing. Simple enough to solve, call the store and get more sent. Once receiving the new screws, it was discovered two other desk parts were missing.

This complication is similar to a situation businesses can run into, which can end up costing them a customer. You have a big job to produce and your supplier does not bring enough materials to finish or maybe you underestimated what would be needed. Either way this means delays, which means an unhappy customer. In our situation we had an extra desk, so everyone was able to get to work, without being stalled by a lack of supplies. Your company needs to make sure they have the supplies necessary to get a job done. This means getting an order in early so if there are any mistakes it can be corrected in time and make sure to order enough for the job.

No one is an island
Once our office furniture was in place - most of it at least - it was time to set up our computer network and get to work. To get the computer network operational we brought in a former government employee. After all, government employees are so quick and efficient. After a few days of delays, increasingly wacky behavior from the network server and vague answers from the network guy (a.k.a. the former government employee) he stopped coming to the office. We were later relieved to learn it was nothing serious, he had only been arrested.

Without the network guy, we were left with an incredibly slow server and computer cables sprawling across the floor. We turned to the obvious choice to fix the problems, our newest Grow Sales employee, who started work three days earlier as a writer. After four hours on the phone with Microsoft and some trial and error experience with network cable, he solved our network problems. We were also able to return most of the unneeded computer equipment the former network guy bought.

This is another situation that can cause businesses fret. What is an operation supposed to do when that "irreplaceable" employee is no longer there. Irreplaceable not so much in that they cannot be replaced but their leaving causes a sizable complication to company operations. Maybe they were the only one who knew how to use certain software or they possessed some level of seemingly vital institutional knowledge. Regardless of what void the employee leaves, as long as the situation is handled in a competent manner it will not spell failure for the business.

To prevent this situation from occurring make sure multiple employees understand vital information and software. This assures that the company will not endure undue suffering because of one person's absence. And in cases where this situation cannot be prevented you may have another employee there who can act and learn quickly to get you out of the jam. Even if it takes a little time with telephone support and some learn as you go diligence, you should be able to manage.

Success is only a call away
You would think our moving troubles with computers and office furniture would have been enough. But then there were the phones. While there were somewhere in the number of 12 phone jacks left by the previous tenants of the office, there was doubt in whether any of them actually worked. Tangles of phone lines spliced from one telephone jack to the next were stapled along the baseboards. Though it was an initial headache, the phone company soon arrived to rescue us. With a little patience on our part and some work on that of the phone company, the phones are now completely operational.

What this means is some situations should be left to the professionals. Just because an employee knows how to use a piece of equipment does not mean he should be fixing it. That would be like saying since I can operate a light switch I can rewire my house. Do not be afraid to let employees take on new tasks but at the same time know there are limits.

*        *        *

Businesses face challenges every day. Whether it is those unexpected daily nuances or the headaches surrounding a transition like moving, if you use your available resources and keep the goal in mind you will be able to succeed.

T.J. Tedesco is a “hands-on” marketing, sales, coaching and training consultant to the post press industry. He is the author of Binding, Finishing & Mailing: The Final Word, and Win Top-of-Mind Positioning, both published by GATFPress and available at Amazon.com. T.J. can be reached at (301) 294-9900 or tj@growsales.com.