Lynda Nance Archives | H&S Companies

What’s the difference between a vision statement and mission statement?

June 11, 2012/in Articles, Locations & Services/by revel

Take time to sit down with your team to define your vision and mission statements.

The strategic planning process starts with knowing and defining your vision and mission statements. Together these two statements make a powerful impression regarding what’s important to your company, but people frequently think they’re the same thing. So, what is a vision statement and mission statement?

A vision statement defines what your organization wants to accomplish. What is your vision of the future?

A mission statement defines what your organization sets out to do each day. What makes you unique right now?

Remember, the mission should drive the vision – what you do each day, should push towards achieving what you want to see for the future. Once these two statements are defined, you can work towards developing a strategic plan that helps accomplish your stated goals.

For more information about strategic planning, contact Lynda Nance.

Lynda Nance
Business Development Strategist
616.884.7952
lyndan@hscompanies.com

Improve Your Workflow, Increase Your Productivity

June 6, 2012/in Articles, Locations & Services/by revel

Flow Chart, Lean Process Improvement, Improve Work Flow

By writing down your process, you are able to identify and remove inefficiencies.

There are a variety of strategies businesses can use to improve their workflow and increase their overall productivity. Perhaps you’ve considered Enterprise Resource Planning to align your computer systems and databases, or you’ve looked into strategic planning to get your company on a path to success. Lean Process Improvement is another tool businesses can employ to make their operation run as smoothly as possible.

What is Lean Process Improvement?
Essentially, to ‘Lean your process’ means to look at what is currently being done to bring a product or service to market and remove any inefficiencies in that process. Things like duplicating work, excessive wait times, or even extra, unnecessary packaging all slow down your ability to sell your product. Which also slows down your ability to earn profits.

It’s important to understand that Lean Process Improvement can help any business; it’s not just for manufacturing. For example, perhaps there is a duplication of work in gathering information from new clients. By eliminating those extra steps, you could deliver your service faster and perhaps bring on more clients.

How Does Lean Process Improvement Work?

Meet with key stakeholders to map out the current state of business. How do things run currently?
Identify wastes in the process such as excessive wait times or over production.
The last step is to determine how the process will run, and then implement the new plan.

Of course, product quality is key, and it’s important to ensure that quality isn’t compromised. A professional, trained in Lean Process Improvement, can help work key stakeholders through the mapping process, and ensure proper implementation and follow-up occur.

If you’re interested in learning more about Lean read, Save Time & Money with Lean Manufacturing. Or learn more about Lynda Nance in our December newsletter.

Lynda Nance
Business Development Strategist
616.884.7952
lyndan@hscompanies.com

Strategically Planning for Success

May 14, 2012/in Articles, Locations & Services/by revel

A great plan requires input from the whole team. (Photo Credit: office.microsoft.com)

Strategy is defined as a plan of action designed to achieve a vision. Strategic planning is the process used by organizations of all shapes and sizes to define their long-term strategy or direction to help them “win”. When utilized correctly, a strategic plan will enable an organization to make decisions, and allocate resources appropriately so that the long-term strategy is achieved.

A comprehensive plan involves the following components: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, vision/mission, long-term objectives, mid-term goals, short-term tactics, and metrics.

As with all processes, success requires the knowledge of the tools available and the ability to implement. The most successful planning sessions utilize a series of brainstorming exercises followed by clarifying questions, and a vote of the members to determine the most important ideas generated. During the brainstorming sessions, all ideas are recorded and nothing is dismissed. This is where the best “outside of the box” ideas are created. The brainstorming process is followed to create all of the components of the plan, with the exception of the short-term tactics and metrics.

Successful implementation occurs only when SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-framed) goals and tactics are set and metrics are in place. It is important when setting these goals to ensure that the achievement of the goals will lead to the stated long-term objectives and mission of the organization.

Strategic planning is like a GPS. Used correctly, it will guide an organization to the destination in the most efficient manner.

Want to learn more about strategically planning for your success? Contact Lynda Nance, Business Development Strategist.

616.884.7952
lyndan@hscompanies.com

Welcome, Lynda Nance!

January 3, 2012/in Press Releases/by revel

H&S Companies is proud to announce the addition of Lynda Nance, of Nance Business Solutions in Rockford, to the H&S Team. Her areas of focus will be business consulting, LEAN manufacturing and strategic planning.

To read the full press release, please click here: Welcome, Lynda Nance!

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