Managers sometimes neglect the talent development part of their job because coaching can be awkward and challenging. But in an era of teamwork and collaboration, it's vital to success.
Art van Bodegraven was, among other roles, chief design officer for the DES Leadership Academy. He passed away on June 18, 2017. He will be greatly missed.
Time was, and not so long ago, that organizational leaders began to recognize that a significant part of their role involved coaching. The exemplars were often taken from collegiate and professional sports, and several revered practitioners from the fields of play were truly frightening: My way or the highway. There are three ways to do this: my way, my way, or my way. Winning is the only thing!
Gradually, a recognition grew that one coaching style might not be enough, that changing circumstances demanded changing—and different—leadership and coaching styles. More on this later. For the moment, those who aspire to be supply chain achievers need to face front and concentrate on the road ahead, instead of driving blind while yearning for the receding image of life in the rear-view mirror.
Over the past half century, working relationships among peers and with colleagues have transformed mightily. The old order of Jump/How High command leadership has sunk beneath the waves of change. And techniques of public discipline, criticism (even of the so-called "constructive" type), humiliation, and solitary confinement to menial tasks have disappeared, except in outposts of limited vision.
For a brief time, notably in the Great Recession but also in periods in which talent was plentiful, managers could get away with consciously not developing the talent, with avoiding the awkward, challenging, and vital task of coaching associates for elevated performance. Those days are gone, and in any event, they were only a temporary respite from the responsibilities of contemporary leadership.
Yet many supply chain organizations fell victim to such short-sighted thinking. Our world is, perhaps, over-focused on commoditized pricing whether buying or selling supply chain and logistics services. We live and metaphorically die based on the pennies differential that wins or loses a deal. Costs must be cut, prices must be slashed, staff can't be paid much, and we can't afford the time and cost to develop employees' skills and abilities.
THE NEW WORK WORLD ORDER
We have resided in another universe, one built on collaboration, trust, team performance, and investment in talent and its tools and techniques, for the better part of a half century. The changes demanded by enlightened leadership and management cannot be brushed aside to permit a return to work models that prevailed in the age of sweatshops, mills, and indentured servitude.
We, irrespective of formal organizational structures, work in teams these days, an effective technique likely to last a long, long time—and get continuously better. Team dynamics through their various stages (from facing initial challenges to delivering solutions) are now well accepted.
What we may not be as comfortable and fluent in are the leadership responsibilities that go along with creating effective teams that ultimately produce the goods. And a big part of those involve unboss-like behaviors: recognizing, praising, helping, explaining, and, yes, coaching.
For those who think that all this us soft-headed nonsense, that people should show up, figure things out, do the job, keep their heads down, and silently soldier on, here's a tip. Get out of the way! Move over to the slow lane, because the new leaders, their teams, and their organizations are taking over the fast lane to supply chain success.
LEADERSHIP: TOO MANY BOOKS AND NOT ENOUGH LESSONS
The never-ending stream of leadership books ghost-written for notable personages are often interesting, and sometimes touch on the coaching aspect of the role. From them, we summarize what we think to be essential characteristics of leaders that we should emulate. Cool! But those notions are dangerously fixed, like images encased in amber—not part of an adaptable toolkit of behaviors appropriate to evolving circumstances and the developmental stages of working teams.
This situational leadership thing is not the slippery slope of situational ethics; it is about being antenna-up at all times to sense when to use which leadership style to accomplish a specific goal or objective.
In summary, new-century leaders can choose and use one of four behaviors:
Directing (Telling): "If you want a friend, get a dog!"
Coaching (Selling): "I'm in charge, and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to help you win!" (There's that pesky coaching thing again.)
Supporting (Participating): "What else do you need; what else can I do to give you what you need to do what you know you can do?"
Delegating (Sharing): "What do you think? Could it work if we went at it another way?"
At the risk of repeating an annoying theme, this is not newly hatched New Age touchy-feely fad-of-the-month stuff. The U.S. military, notably the Army, is teaching and using situational leadership. Other entities are integrating it into their leadership development programs.
The absolute master of the core techniques involved was the late Herb Brooks, who coached (that word again) the U.S. Olympic hockey team to its first win over the USSR in 20 years. In case you've been napping, that was 35 years ago at Lake Placid.
IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MILLENNIALS
For a testy Old Guard, who have a hard time with changes in roles, relationships, styles, and structures, it's tempting to point fingers at the latest indignity, the arrival of the now-notorious millennial generation in the workplace. A vocal contingent does not hesitate to criticize this age group with a broad brush loaded with anecdotal misperceptions. Not least is its need for, expectation of, and appreciation for developmental coaching.
Those who resent the worst of the new wave often protest that they are not there to act in loco parentis or to hold hands. But no one actually expects that. What we all, in 2015, expect is active coaching, recognition, respect, understanding and compassion, inclusion, and work that means something.
It's not a generational thing; it's a human thing—and has been for much longer than martinets, straw bosses, sadists, and bullies would like to believe.
States across the Southeast woke up today to find that the immediate weather impacts from Hurricane Helene are done, but the impacts to people, businesses, and the supply chain continue to be a major headache, according to Everstream Analytics.
The primary problem is the collection of massive power outages caused by the storm’s punishing winds and rainfall, now affecting some 2 million customers across the Southeast region of the U.S.
One organization working to rush help to affected regions since the storm hit Florida’s western coast on Thursday night is the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). As it does after most serious storms, the group continues to marshal donated resources from supply chain service providers in order to store, stage, and deliver help where it’s needed.
Support for recovery efforts is coming from a massive injection of federal aid, since the White House declared states of emergency last week for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Affected states are also supporting the rush of materials to needed zones by suspending transportation requirement such as certain licensing agreements, fuel taxes, weight restrictions, and hours of service caps, ALAN said.
E-commerce activity remains robust, but a growing number of consumers are reintegrating physical stores into their shopping journeys in 2024, emphasizing the need for retailers to focus on omnichannel business strategies. That’s according to an e-commerce study from Ryder System, Inc., released this week.
Ryder surveyed more than 1,300 consumers for its 2024 E-Commerce Consumer Study and found that 61% of consumers shop in-store “because they enjoy the experience,” a 21% increase compared to results from Ryder’s 2023 survey on the same subject. The current survey also found that 35% shop in-store because they don’t want to wait for online orders in the mail (up 4% from last year), and 15% say they shop in-store to avoid package theft (up 8% from last year).
“Retail and e-commerce continue to evolve,” Jeff Wolpov, Ryder’s senior vice president of e-commerce, said in a statement announcing the survey’s findings. “The emergence of e-commerce and growth of omnichannel fulfillment, particularly over the past four years, has altered consumer expectations and behavior dramatically and will continue to do so as time and technology allow.
“This latest study demonstrates that, while consumers maintain a robust
appetite for e-commerce, they are simultaneously embracing in-person shopping, presenting an impetus for merchants to refine their omnichannel strategies.”
Other findings include:
• Apparel and cosmetics shoppers show growing attraction to buying in-store. When purchasing apparel and cosmetics, shoppers are more inclined to make purchases in a physical location than they were last year, according to Ryder. Forty-one percent of shoppers who buy cosmetics said they prefer to do so either in a brand’s physical retail location or a department/convenience store (+9%). As for apparel shoppers, 54% said they prefer to buy clothing in those same brick-and-mortar locations (+9%).
• More customers prefer returning online purchases in physical stores. Fifty-five percent of shoppers (+15%) now say they would rather return online purchases in-store–the first time since early 2020 the preference to Buy Online Return In-Store (BORIS) has outweighed returning via mail, according to the survey. Forty percent of shoppers said they often make additional purchases when picking up or returning online purchases in-store (+2%).
• Consumers are extremely reliant on mobile devices when shopping in-store. This year’s survey reveals that 77% of consumers search for items on their mobile devices while in a store, Ryder said. Sixty-nine percent said they compare prices with items in nearby stores, 58% check availability at other stores, 31% want to learn more about a product, and 17% want to see other items frequently purchased with a product they’re considering.
Ryder said the findings also underscore the importance of investing in technology solutions that allow companies to provide customers with flexible purchasing options.
“Omnichannel strength is not a fad; it is a strategic necessity for e-commerce and retail businesses to stay competitive and achieve sustainable success in 2024 and beyond,” Wolpov also said. “The findings from this year’s study underscore what we know our customers are experiencing, which is the positive impact of integrating supply chain technology solutions across their sales channels, enabling them to provide their customers with flexible, convenient options to personalize their experience and heighten customer satisfaction.”
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Two European companies are among the most recent firms to put autonomous last-mile delivery to the test with a project in Bern, Switzerland, that debuted this month.
Swiss transportation and logistics company Planzer has teamed up with fellow Swiss firm Loxo, which develops autonomous driving software solutions, for a two-year pilot project in which a Loxo-equipped, Planzer parcel delivery van will handle last-mile logistics in Bern’s city center.
The project coincides with Swiss regulations on autonomous driving that are expected to take effect next spring.
Referred to as “Planzer–Dynamic Micro-Hub w LOXO,” the project aims to address both sustainability issues and traffic congestion in urban areas.
The delivery vehicle, a Volkswagen ID. Buzz battery-electric minivan, will feature Loxo’s Level 4 Digital Driver navigation software, a highly automated solution that allows driverless operation. The van was retrofitted to include space for two swap boxes for parcel storage.
During the two-year pilot phase, Loxo’s Digital Driver will navigate a commercial vehicle several times a day from Planzer’s railway center to various logistics points in Bern's city center. There, the parcels will be reloaded onto small electric vehicles and delivered to end customers by Planzer’s parcel delivery staff.
Following the completion of the pilot phase, Planzer and Loxo will build on the program for rollout in other Swiss cities, the companies said.
The partners said the project addresses the increasing requirements of urban supply chains and aims to ensure the “scalability of their disruptive solution.” With largely emission-free delivery, it contributes to greater levels of sustainability for the city as a living space, they also said.
“The uniqueness of this project lies in the fact that it will have a direct impact on society,” Planzer’s CEO and Chairman Nils Planzer said in a statement announcing the project. “We didn't just want to integrate automated technology into existing systems, we wanted to develop a completely new concept and a new business model.”
As the hours tick down toward a “seemingly imminent” strike by East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers, experts are warning that the impacts of that move would mushroom well-beyond the actual strike locations, causing prevalent shipping delays, container ship congestion, port congestion on West coast ports, and stranded freight.
However, a strike now seems “nearly unavoidable,” as no bargaining sessions are scheduled prior to the September 30 contract expiration between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) in their negotiations over wages and automation, according to the transportation law firm Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary.
The facilities affected would include some 45,000 port workers at 36 locations, including high-volume U.S. ports from Boston, New York / New Jersey, and Norfolk, to Savannah and Charleston, and down to New Orleans and Houston. With such widespread geography, a strike would likely lead to congestion from diverted traffic, as well as knock-on effects include the potential risk of increased freight rates and costly charges such as demurrage, detention, per diem, and dwell time fees on containers that may be slowed due to the congestion, according to an analysis by another transportation and logistics sector law firm, Benesch.
The weight of those combined blows means that many companies are already planning ways to minimize damage and recover quickly from the event. According to Scopelitis’ advice, mitigation measures could include: preparing for congestion on West coast ports, taking advantage of intermodal ground transportation where possible, looking for alternatives including air transport when necessary for urgent delivery, delaying shipping from East and Gulf coast ports until after the strike, and budgeting for increased freight and container fees.
Additional advice on softening the blow of a potential coastwide strike came from John Donigian, senior director of supply chain strategy at Moody’s. In a statement, he named six supply chain strategies for companies to consider: expedite certain shipments, reallocate existing inventory strategically, lock in alternative capacity with trucking and rail providers , communicate transparently with stakeholders to set realistic expectations for delivery timelines, shift sourcing to regional suppliers if possible, and utilize drop shipping to maintain sales.