24/7 Software Blog

“Starbucks announced on Monday it plans to eliminate plastic straws from its 28,000 stores worldwide by 2020,” writes Jennifer Liberto in their recent NPR article entitled “Starbucks: Goodbye, Plastic Straws.”

According to Liberto, “The company will broaden the manufacture and use of what some in social media have dubbed the ‘adult sippy cup.’ It's a plastic strawless lid that will come to replace single-use plastic straws that now inundate its coffee shops.”

“The company says the move, when fully implemented, could mean a billion fewer plastic straws across its stores each year. And it's a part of Starbucks' $10 million investment in creating recyclable and compostable cups around the world,” Liberto explains.

"For our partners and customers, this is a significant milestone to achieve our global aspiration of sustainable coffee, served to our customers in more sustainable ways," Kevin Johnson, president and chief executive officer for Starbucks, said in a statement, according to the NPR piece.

While reading Liberto’s article, we quickly recognized how Starbucks’ drive as a sustainable organization offered a lesson for change to be applied to your organization.

Yes, the “adult sippy cup” can educate your team.

And in fact, it’s a two-part lesson we’ve identified.

Did you happen to catch it?

Don’t worry if you didn’t. It doesn’t entirely jump off the page. For a moment, we had to contemplate the nuances ourselves.

But, it is valuable, and we’re going to discuss both parts below.

So, are you ready?

You walk into the Administration office.

“Where are we at,” you ask your team.

Last night’s event was massive.

The size of the event was more than your staff is used to managing.

The number of issues and incidents captured was overwhelming by your operational standards.

Today your team is inundated because of all the files to review.

“Incident #1023 is missing,” one of your operation coordinators shouts as you walk by their cubicle.

You pick up your pace, walk into your office and shut the door.

It’s only 9 AM, and you’re already anxious about today’s call with your General Manager.

After telling yourself that everyone will have to spend today sorting through the files, you run out the door to gather your team and share the game plan.

“Hey team, stop what you’re doing for a moment and let’s get a strategy together for getting through this day,” you yell across the office.

Immediate silence takes over because they’ve been waiting for you to propose a solution.

Everyone in the office turns with a troubled look on their faces.

You find out why quickly.

The phones are ringing off the hook.

“What’s going on?” you ask your operations manager, Brian.

“Customers from last night, especially VIPs are calling to discuss the brawl that ‘ruined their night’ on the suite floor,” he responds.

“Customers want to review and discuss the incidents from last night, but everything is so disorganized we just can’t provide the information they request.”

Now, you’re panicking.

You need a solution, or you’ll lose your customers.

How would you handle this at your property?

Can you effectively communicate information about incidents with your customers when they call to discuss?

Keep reading; we have a simple yet powerful fix for your documentation needs.

You’ll learn about the robust documentation capabilities of a world-leading incident management system, and how to review and discuss incidents with customers efficiently.

Are you ready?

“Yes, certainly. We can take care of that for you,” you respond to Shari over the phone.

Shari has requested a proposal to host an event on your property.

You have a lot going on during event days like today, but always have time to seed another possible sale.

“Of course,” you continue.

While you and Shari continue your conversation, Jason from your Executive team walks up to the counter with a cell phone.

He puts the cell phone behind the counter.

“Chris found this phone near men’s restroom 103-A,” he whispers to avoid interrupting you.

You nod from habit.

Eight minutes later, you finish your sales call with Shari.

As you reach for the stapler, you see the lost cellphone Jason left behind.

You grab the phone. “Shoot, what was this for,” you exclaim.

Because your department oversees the only lost and found location and you cannot recall who dropped this phone off on your counter, it’s your responsibility now.

Since you were focused on your conversation with Shari, you didn’t even see who brought the item over to you.

It is only one item but imagine the effect on your operation as more lost & found items make their way through your lost and found department.

It gets worse when the item doesn’t have details of where it was found or who found it.

How do you manage this?

How do you ensure all employees and departments are held accountable to get items back to customers?

Who could even be accountable in this scenario – besides you?

You have enough responsibility.

You don’t want poorly managed lost and found as a reason to tick off your customers.

Today, you need to employ lost and found software.

“Facility managers define their operation,” you tell the group.

You can’t recall where you initially heard that but know you like it.

Maybe you read it in a blog.

Today, you’re presenting to a group of facility managers.

You’re a 20-year veteran in the industry, so you know the importance of these future leaders.

They create the foundation, the processes.

They develop their team’s talent and bring goals to fruition.

But, what does it take to achieve the level of being an effective facility manager?

You ask the group.

“Poise,” one gentleman says.

“Modern technology,” a lady in the back of the room shouts.

“Now, you’re on to something,” you reply.

You might be thinking that it’s a surface-level concept.

From the way you train your team to how often you achieve a perfect compliance rating.

Yes, that’s worth applause.

But, while all of that is commendable, it is not enough.

You need details.

It requires proven actions – habits.

“What are the specific measures facility managers need to take,” you continue asking.

“How do you ensure you become a highly-effective manager?”

Even if the group is not sure, keep reading, because we’re going to show you.

“Police have always relied on data — whether push pins tracking crimes on a map, mug shot cards, or intelligence files on repeat offenders. The problem with all that information is that it has traditionally been slow and hard to use,” writes Martin Kaste in their recent NPR article entitled “How Data Analysis Is Driving Policing.”

"I would have to log into 19 different databases. I'd log in, print out all the tickets that were written to you, and lay them on my desk. Then I'd go and run your criminal history on another database, and print that out. And then another database to see how many times your name was associated with crime reports," says Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Dennis Kato in Kaste’s article.

Later in the article, Kaste also shares that “At the Olympic Division station, Officer Jennifer Ramirez reviews her daily mission sheet printout. She eyes the areas she'll target, ‘because these are the hot spots, these are where the crimes tend to happen, this day, this time, based on the crime mapping that we do."

Hot Spots, ok, now we’re talking.

That’s right up your alley.

Agree?

And the longer we spent reading this article, the more we realized its alignment with how Proactive Operations are handling ‘incidents’ to maximize performance.

Do you see the similarities here?

If not, we recommend reading Kaste’s article – after this one of course.

It’s an informative read with lots of facts about how policing is evolving, much like 21^st-century operations.

We’d argue that many things are congruent between policing and running a proactive operation.

So, keep reading; we’re going to share the insight we took from Kaste’s article that might help you enhance your incident management initiatives.

Ready?

“You did what?”

You snarl at your marketing manager.

Once again, the marketing team has oversold their sponsorships.

This error attacks your budget.

It forces you to be reactive.

But, what has you upset the most is that they decided to tell you this morning.

The morning of the event.

They’ve done this before, and you are tired of it.

“We need to fix this now,” you assert to Sarah, your marketing manager.

She apologizes for the breakdown in communication.

Her marketing specialist did not inform your team, but Sarah takes full responsibility.

“There has to be a way to improve communication throughout each department,” you say.

The two of you begin formulating concepts.

You must first understand what’s causing communication challenges before you can address how to improve it.

Keep reading; this article will help you identify where there might be a breakdown.

Then, you’ll learn how to fix it.