Providing the greatest possible value to customers ensures that paychecks keep coming

If someone asked you what the most important process in your organization is, what would you say?

If you’re in a manufacturing organization, you might try to identify your most critical, valuable or hard-to-replicate processes. Depending on what you make, that could be a lot of work. Don’t spend a lot of time on it because from that perspective, they’re all important.

You might also want to look at the R&D and engineering processes. Just because your products are selling well today doesn’t mean they always will, especially if you don’t keep on improving them to keep up with or beat the competition.

The sales folks are likely to argue that their processes are most important, as you’re wasting your time building something if nobody buys it. The financial people would contend their processes are most important as keeping track of the dollars is essential if you want to stay in business.

We could go on and on, but it readily becomes apparent that, except for some unnecessary processes, which should be eliminated, they’re all important.

In a recent conversation with one of the most brilliant people I know, I learned some things. There’s one process which is really the king of the hill: the payroll process! Just think about it. If those paychecks stopped coming, how many people would continue working? From the janitor to the CEO and everyone in between, it’s hard to find anyone who would work for nothing. Therefore, it’s hard to disagree with the notion that payroll is king.

It’s kind of like the breathing process for people. Once we stop breathing, nothing else works and nothing else matters.

So the all-important question becomes, how do we ensure the checks keep coming? If we’re serious, we have to make our bosses, our functions and departments successful while keeping the big picture, the company as a whole, in mind. Sub-optimizing our department to the detriment of the company is never a plus.

Many people will articulate this as their modus operandi, but when they get into the day-to-day operations, emotions get in the way. Self-preservation is the strongest instinct, but instead of trying to make ourselves look good at the detriment of someone else or another department, we need to make the company look good.

Think of it as sailing on a ship with no lifeboats. If the ship goes down, we’re all going with it. If we work together to keep the ship afloat, even if some of our crew are offensive, we can survive together.

You see, there’s no perfect company or organization where all the people are likable. The most successful people have learned to get along with just about everyone, no matter how difficult they are.

Those who have learned to make the company successful instead of just themselves tend to rise to the top.

Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? But there’s an important caveat. As the Good Book says, “For the love of money is the root of all evils ... ”

Some people do grandstanding at salary review time, making themselves and their performances look much better than they really are. Reward them at your peril. Whether you promote them or give them a big raise, you’ll be sorry.

On an organizational level, the stock price is all that matters to some people. Cheapening the product and/or service is all too common. It’s also tempting to simultaneously raise the price, adding insult to injury. Yes, there may be a substantial increase in profits, but it hardly ever lasts. In fact, it’s often followed by dramatic decreases as once-loyal customers go shopping for a better deal.

The only way we can really ensure those paychecks keep coming is to provide the greatest possible value to our customers. Our advertising may say that, but it must be true. Very few customers complain; they just quietly go elsewhere.

The better we are at this, the better the paychecks and other rewards will be.

Ronald J. Bourque, a consultant and speaker from Salem, has had engagements throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. He can be reached at 603-898-1871 or RonBourque3@gmail.com.