To Catch Excellence! Lessons we can learn from the COVID-19 Crisis

Most of my advisory work involves helping outline, reviewing or critiquing project plans, of one sort or another.

I routinely nudge or push the team to go faster, to be quicker, and to “Fail Fast…Learn Fast…Fix Fast…!

Too often people seek Perfection in what they do, and it is NOT attainable. This pursuit delays fixing critical processes that will increase customer loyalty, corporate culture and profits.

Over the past few weeks, with COVID-19, I’ve witnessed; clients, friends and family overcome some of the most significant obstacles experienced in the past 75 to 100 years. Their actions have been swift, accurate and almost surgical. They were NOT seeking perfection! They have been chasing the best case solution with the tools and materials available.

COVID-19 is to Winston Churchill’s as Adolf Hitler and the United State’s, Pearl Harbor; the rallying cry for a nation to unite against a common enemy.

The lesson we can learn is that with a common cause and urgency, we can move mountains and solve any problem.

When returning to our work places, let’s find a common enemy, chase perfection, rally the team, and CATCH Excellence!!

Ideas of common enemies:

• Safety – Loss time accidents and near misses.
• Quality – Customer PPM and internal first pass yield.
• Delivery – One-time delivery, flexibility and responsiveness to customers.
• Cost – Inventory velocity or non-valued added process steps.