In the business world, we are always trying to hit a moving target. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, "The only thing that is constant is change." In a plugged-in, connected age, change comes rapidly. The change can be from macro sources like economic recession, or from micro sources like reorganization within your supply chain. Learning how to adapt to change is a necessary ingredient for success, both in business and in your career.
Some change begins so gradually you do not see it creeping up on you. Other change comes as a shock—a jolt out of nowhere. Either way, when change is occurring the first question you need to ask is, "How does this change alter my organization's current mission and goals?" For instance, if you are a film maker and digital cameras are gaining widespread acceptance, then your organization's goals—indeed, its entire strategy—will be affected. If you are changing from a centralized to a decentralized supply chain model, the goal remains the same but the tactics for achieving it will be different. During periods of change, we are called on to manage not just what is changing—be it a matter of policy, process, or personnel—but also to manage how the change is made and implemented. Here are some thoughts on how you can not just survive but also thrive in such times of transition.
Steps to success
Change management starts with a call to action—pointing out the problem or opportunity that you believe is creating a pressing need for change. A call to action emanates not only from perceptions about the changing environment, but also from supporting facts from credible sources. External and unbiased third-party sources help support the change initiative's credibility.
To get things moving, it's necessary to establish a forum for people and organizations that will be most impacted by the change. This is an arena for people to exchange ideas, discuss merits and pitfalls, and solicit feedback and support. Brainstorming and playing "devil's advocate" are useful for bringing creative ideas to the surface and arriving at the best way to implement the needed change.
Get help by asking internal experts for their assistance. Transitions often affect many functions of the company, such as finance, accounting, human resources, and others. Functional specialists can be useful advocates for the change; they can even become change champions by actively promoting the benefits of moving in a new direction.
Supply chain professionals understand the adage "plan the work, and work the plan." So it won't surprise you that any significant change initiative needs a plan of action. This is a step-by-step guide to implementing your change initiative. Among other things, it should ensure role clarity for all the key players as well as lay out the actions that need to be executed. As you develop this plan, be on the lookout for smaller, digestible actions that accelerate change and demonstrate that the plan is working. John Kotter, a professor at Harvard Business School and an authority on leadership and change, calls these "short-term wins," and they really help validate the value of the effort. Also, don't forget to celebrate success as each milestone is achieved. This helps your team to maintain positive energy and demonstrates just how much you value them.
Of course, you need to be a believer. You must believe at a deep, gut level that rejecting change is not an option. Your followers will be looking at you constantly to gauge whether you still believe in the mission. This is especially true when the going gets rough, which it almost certainly will. You can't fake belief. If you don't believe in your mission with your full heart and mind, don't move forward.
Within the change forum, dissent is normal and can be highly valuable. People who are skeptical of the mission can play a contrarian role within the group. A skeptic can give voice to what others may be thinking but are not secure enough to say. Skeptics help the group see different perspectives and consider other trains of thought. The result can be a more thoughtful—and ultimately more successful—response to the challenges the change presents.
The opposite of the official dissenter is an official proponent. To gain greater acceptance for the transition plan, it's invaluable to have someone who can spread the good word about it. This plan ambassador ideally will be a high-profile person, someone who commands respect and consideration. Gauging a potential ambassador's affinity for your change initiative can be delicate. The group leader should initially approach high-profile people privately to get a sense of their perspective. If this "behind the curtain" meeting is a success, then a meeting with the group is warranted. The group's ability to increase an advocate's enthusiasm for the plan directly affects the advocate's show of enthusiasm about the group and its initiative elsewhere.
There can and should be more than one official proponent. Your immediate boss should be your first-line proponent, and he or she should advocate for outreach to the rest of the firm. The boss's public support is crucial for acceptance and ultimate success.
When you have advocates, especially one from outside the inner circle, be sure to keep them informed. When you stay in touch, you refresh their enthusiasm for your mission. Their interest is sustained and your cause remains front of mind. Tailor the messages you send them to hit their key priorities. See the issue through their eyes and show them the value that will accrue to their area's benefit.
Other advocates can be recruited around the water cooler, in the hallway, and on the elevator. You can turn a casual meeting into a quick promotion for your change initiative. Prepare a brief description of your plan for general dissemination, and use it. This "quick pitch" will spread the word and help you keep your finger on the pulse of co-workers' attitudes. Their thoughts may provide unique and useful insights.
Just as positive messages can run through an organization, so can negative ones. Be sure to address disinformation immediately. Logically and thoroughly meet any negative "press" head on. For instance, if you hear someone say that the transition will cause another group to miss budget, show how your plan will ultimately be better for the company than the status quo. Help the organization see the bigger picture. This is influencing as a high art.
Be responsive to change
Change is not easy. As mentioned earlier (it can't be mentioned too often) be sure to show appreciation when someone endorses your plan. Anyone who helps or advances a plan for change deserves to be thanked, ideally in a public way. Positive energy breeds more positive energy.
Last, when the transition is complete, consider making permanent adjustments to job descriptions, evaluations, and benchmarks. The game has changed and it should be documented for the future.
Charles Darwin, the father of evolution theory, said, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." We all need to take those wise words to heart.
Ron Marotta of Yusen Logistics listens to Rick DiMaio of Ace Hardware talk about the steps Ace is taking to keep its store stocked after Hurricane Helene and during the East and Gulf Coast Port Strike.
The East and Gulf Coast port strike was the top discussion point during a panel discussion of shippers and logistics providers at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) annual EDGE Conference this morning. The session, which was supposed to be focused on providing an update to CSCMP’s “2024 State of Logistics Report,” quickly shifted to addressing the effect that the strike by nearly 50,000 dockworker at 36 ports in the Eastern half of the U.S. could have on supply chains.
“The seriousness of this action cannot to be taken lightly,” said Ron Marotta, vice president of the freight forwarder and supply chain service provider Yusen Logistics (America). “It has not happened since 1977. Our lives depend on sustaining a smooth global supply chain.”
Marotta warned that for every day that the ports were not open, it would take four to five days to recover from the impact. One added concern is how the port closures would affect recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene. “There’s a huge amount of item that would normally be replenished by importers and retailers,” Marotta said.
Rick DiMaio, executive vice president and chief supply chain officer, for Ace Hardware Corp., commented that the hardware retail cooperative was doing okay for now keeping stores in stock, although he did expect the company would be “chasing generators for awhile.” “But in this recovery phase [from the hurricane], we certainly don’t need a strike right now,” he said.
The port closure will also have a knock-on effect on other transportation modes. For example, Andy Moses, senior vice president of sales and solutions for logistics services provider Penske Logistics, expects to see some companies turn to air freight as a result of the strike. This will, in turn, cause air freight capacity to tighten up and rates to rise. Furthermore, the longer the ports are closed, the more likely inflation is to rise again, according to Moses.
Nor will the effects of the strike stop at the U.S. border, according to Marotta. Many Caribbean Island nations depend on food import from the U.S. that move through East Coast ports. Additionally, some medical supplies typically are exported through the ports to Europe.
On a positive note, however, many companies took actions earlier in the year to prepare themselves for a potential strike. Ammie McAsey, senior vice president of customer distribution experience for the pharmaceutical distributor McKesson, said the pharmaceutical industry has brought in enough extra inventory that there will not be a short-term impact on the U.S. health care system due to the strike.
Government intervention?
Marotta hopes that the U.S. government takes the step of invoking the Taft-Hartley Act to stop the strike and send the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the port management group, United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) back to the negotiation table. In 2002, for example, President George W. Bush used the Taft-Hartley Act to end an 11-day lockout of union workers at West Coast ports. President Joe Biden, however, told reporters on Sunday that he would not do this.
“I hope that cooler heads prevail and that the executive branch realizes that it’s not just a labor issue, it’s also a humanitarian issue,” Marotta said.
Confronted with the closed ports, most companies can either route their imports to standard East Coast destinations and wait for the strike to clear, or else re-route those containers to West Coast sites, incurring a three week delay for extra sailing time plus another week required to truck those goods back east, Ron said in an interview at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)’s EDGE Conference in Nashville.
However, Uber Freight says its latest platform updates offer a series of mitigation options, including alternative routings, pre-booked allocation and volume during peak season, and providing daily visibility reports on shipments impacted by routings via U.S. east and gulf coast ports. And Ron said the company can also leverage its pool of some 2.3 million truck drivers who have downloaded its smartphone app, targeting them with freight hauling opportunities in the affected regions by pricing those loads “appropriately” through its surge-pricing model.
“If this [strike] continues a month, we will see severe disruptions,” Ron said. “So we can offer them alternatives. We say, if one door is closed, we can open another door? But even with that, there are no magic solutions.”
Turning around a failing warehouse operation demands a similar methodology to how emergency room doctors triage troubled patients at the hospital, a speaker said today in a session at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)’s EDGE Conference in Nashville.
There are many reasons that a warehouse might start to miss its targets, such as a sudden volume increase or a new IT system implementation gone wrong, said Adri McCaskill, general manager for iPlan’s Warehouse Management business unit. But whatever the cause, the basic rescue strategy is the same: “Just like medicine, you do triage,” she said. “The most life-threatening problem we try to solve first. And only then, once we’ve stopped the bleeding, we can move on.”
In McCaskill’s comparison, just as a doctor might have to break some ribs through energetic CPR to get a patient’s heart beating again, a failing warehouse might need to recover by “breaking some ribs” in a business sense, such as making management changes or stock write-downs.
Once the business has made some stopgap solutions to “stop the bleeding,” it can proceed to a disciplined recovery, she said. And to reach their final goal, managers can use the classic tools of people, process, and technology to improve what she called the three most important key performance indicators (KPIs): on time in full (OTIF), inventory accuracy, and staff turnover.
CSCMP EDGE attendees gathered Tuesday afternoon for an update and outlook on the truckload (TL) market, which is on the upswing following the longest down cycle in recorded history. Kevin Adamik of RXO (formerly Coyote Logistics), offered an overview of truckload market cycles, highlighting major trends from the recent freight recession and providing an update on where the TL cycle is now.
EDGE 2024, sponsored by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), is taking place this week in Nashville.
Citing data from the Coyote Curve index (which measures year-over-year changes in spot market rates) and other sources, Adamik outlined the dynamics of the TL market. He explained that the last cycle—which lasted from about 2019 to 2024—was longer than the typical three to four-year market cycle, marked by volatile conditions spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic. That cycle is behind us now, he said, adding that the market has reached equilibrium and is headed toward an inflationary environment.
Adamik also told attendees that he expects the new TL cycle to be marked by far less volatility, with a return to more typical conditions. And he offered a slate of supply and demand trends to note as the industry moves into the new cycle.
Supply trends include:
Carrier operating authorities are declining;
Employment in the trucking industry is declining;
Private fleets have expanded, but the expansion has stopped;
Truckload orders are falling.
Demand trends include:
Consumer spending is stable, but is still more service-centric and less goods-intensive;
After a steep decline, imports are on the rise;
Freight volumes have been sluggish but are showing signs of life.
CSCMP EDGE runs through Wednesday, October 2, at Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Resort.
The relationship between shippers and third-party logistics services providers (3PLs) is at the core of successful supply chain management—so getting that relationship right is vital. A panel of industry experts from both sides of the aisle weighed in on what it takes to create strong 3PL/shipper partnerships on day two of the CSCMP EDGE conference, being held this week in Nashville.
Trust, empathy, and transparency ranked high on the list of key elements required for success in all aspects of the partnership, but there are some specifics for each step of the journey. The panel recommended a handful of actions that should take place early on, including:
Establish relationships.
For 3PLs, understand and get to the heart of the shipper’s data.
Also for 3PLs: Understand the shipper’s reason for outsourcing to a 3PL, along with the shipper’s ultimate goals.
Understand company cultures and be sure they align.
Nurture long-term relationships with good communication.
For shippers, be transparent so that the 3PL fully understands your business.
And there are also some “non-negotiables” when it comes to managing the relationship:
3PLs must demonstrate their commitment to engaging with the shipper’s personnel.
3PLs must also demonstrate their commitment to process discipline, continuous improvement, and innovation.
Shippers should ensure that they understand the 3PL’s demonstrated implementation capabilities—ask to visit established clients.
Trust—which takes longer to establish than both sides may expect.
EDGE 2024 is sponsored by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and runs through Wednesday, October 2, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville.