In order to run a production process well, you’ll need a set of indicators that help you monitor and improve the efficiency of the production line. For these indicators to be useful, you have to focus each indicator on a specific operational goal. 

Leading indicators like the sales forecast...

Leverage is the output generated by a specific type of work activity. An activity with high leverage will generate a high level of output; an activity with low leverage, a low level of output. This raises the question about what qualifies as managerial leverage and output.

To maximise the leverage of his or her activities, a manager must keep timeliness firmly in mind. Equally, managers micromanaging or ‘meddling’ are examples of negative leverage activities. A big part of a manager’s work is to supply information and know-how, and to share a sense of the preferred...

• When many people are affected by one manager.
• When a person’s activity or behaviour over a long period of time is affected by a manager’s, well-focused set of words or actions.
• When a large group’s work is affected by an individual su...

A lot of managerial tasks are best suited for face-to-face interactions, and more often than not, for meetings. There are two kinds of meetings:

Process-oriented meetings: Knowledge is shared and information is exchanged during process-oriented meetings, which take place on...

Three steps your planning process should consist of:

• Step 1 – Establish projected need or demand: What will the environment demand from you, your business, or your organisation?
• Step 2 – Establish your present status: What are you producing now? What will you be producing as yo...

• Judgments and opinions
• Direction
• Allocation of resources
• Mistakes detected
• Personnel trained and subordinates developed
• Courses taught
• Products planned
• Commitments negotiated

The “limiting step” is the step in the overall shape of the production flow that will determine the overall shape of a company’s operations. 

For example, the time required to boil an egg is the critical component or the ‘limiting step’ in the production flow of serving breakfast. 

Th...

A manager’s output is the output of all of the people and the teams that report into her. For example, if someone manages a design team, then his output consists of completed designs that are ready to be implemented. That output can take many different forms depending on the type of role and ind...

If there’s a problem with your product, you want to find out about it as early on in the production process as possible so that you can minimise the risk. 

In the production world, I witnessed the lowest-value stage thinking first hand at the assembly line of a Toyota factory. Here, employe...