“Silence is a source of great strength,” said ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu. If you take time to ponder that (in silence), you can see clearly why the thought developed. While it’s great to brainstorm with others and to duke things out (maturely) as needed, employees and management tend to come up with some of their best ideas in silence. Not when they’re jibber-jabbering, not when they’re gossiping, and certainly not when they’re complaining. Silence is, after all, golden.
Why then, do we hear of so many managers in the kitchen and bath and remodeling industries who have trouble directing their team or instilling more efficient ways of doing things – managers who claim their sales team and designers will never change their ways – that all Hell would break loose if new processes were required? We’re betting there’s no silence in those showrooms, and those don’t sound like respectful employees.
Hiring technology – Model T
The reality of the situation? Change is necessary – regardless of how much your employees push back from it. It can be scary, but without risk there can be no reward. Think about beneficial changes throughout time where investing in one more tool or process ironed out the wrinkles and eliminated hours, days, or even months and years of work. Take the automobile for example. In the 1920’s, Henry Ford’s Model T was created in assembly lines with humans at every station – a process that proved to be successful at the time. Over time, robots were invented to work with the humans and the process became much faster and insanely more efficient. Can you imagine if we had assembly lines building vehicles today – supply wouldn’t be able to keep up with demand. Essentially, machines were hired to work with humans – an investment that more than paid for itself quickly.
Any task you find yourself doing over and over again should be improved by investing in the right tools. Hire technology to make it more efficient if it’s available… It just so happens we build the technology for your industry.
The silent employee
Our industry has advanced…there are new tools that kitchen and bath dealers and remodelers can invest in to improve profits and streamline every aspect of their business. Think of this new technology as the “silent” and inexpensive employee. The perfect employee who makes everyone else faster, more informed and more profitable. The employee who saves you time and money on every other employee, but costs a fraction of their salaries. The employee who works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to oversee everything – and never even makes a peep. No complaints, no games, just profits. Equilibrium.
