RDC Articles

Agile and Poised for Rapid Change...
 Craig B. Toedtman, Resource Careers, Inc.
Member, The International Relocation Associates (TIRA)

If you're not...you better quickly figure out how to be....

Today's pace requires the utmost in flexibility and agility. As corporate clients race to improve their bottom lines, employees have to make choices, causing extreme pressure on relocating employees facing new cultural and personal challenges. TIRA members - in our quest for achieving extremely high standards for quality service - are constantly geared to ensure that those challenges are met head-on.

The Baldrige National Quality Program recently distributed the Criteria for Excellence for 2003. The criteria of the program are an excellent reminder how performance goals are key to improving overall organizational effectiveness.

  • The Baldrige core values and concepts are:
  • Visionary Leadership Customer-driven excellence
  • Organizational and personal learning
  • Valuing employees and partners
  • Agility
  • Focus on the future
  • Managing for Innovation
  • Management by fact
  • Social responsibility
  • Focus on results and creating value
  • Systems perspective

A full description of the criteria can be obtained by visiting the home page of Baldrige National Quality Program , located at www.quality.inist.gov.

In the world of relocation, one of the criteria instantly jumps out: agility - our ability to respond to client needs at a moment's notice; switching directions to accommodate a particular need; moving quickly to close a potential housing agreement. TIRA members are all about agility, responding to issues around the globe, regardless of time zones or languages. The problem arises when we - as providers - are flexible and are in a situation where the corporate client appears to be inflexible. The picture of the beach ball careening off the brick wall comes to mind.

Knowing the audience - viewing the issue through their eyes - is key. Our ability to adjust to the ever-changing demands and locations to ensure a smooth transition is tested on a constant basis. From the onset, when information is incomplete or inaccurate, we are faced with challenges. And why? New and inexperienced account managers, volume and time crunches, and lack of information are just a few of the reasons one hears. This means that throughout the process, our front-line providers are receiving additional or revised information, which either helps to solve a problem or creates others.

Technology consistently improves the speed of communications - but it also complicates it. When the system is down...when the tone of the e-mail is misunderstood...when the attachment is missing....we are tested constantly. While the system makes it easier to enter data, it still takes an experienced relocation specialist to understand the program and ensure that information in the system is correct. If it isn't, we all suffer. Having complete and accurate information at the point of referral is the key to successful launching and is a leading indicator of how the relocation will proceed.

There is a specialty company - SwingOut, Inc. - that manufactures residential swings. A customer ordered a swing, which was intended to be hung under a huge oak tree in his background. The SwingOut engineer pulled the blueprint from company files and made a few up-dates before releasing it to the shop. Mistakenly, the up-dates did not include any information regarding how the swing would be mounted or hung from the tree. Manufacturing received the order and began to build it. Suddenly, they realized the information was complete. Machines were stopped, pending the revised drawings.

The engineer hurriedly released the revise order. Manufacturing hurriedly produced the swing. SwingOut employees smiled as the truck pulled the swing in its trademark packaging to another satisfied customer. Their agility had helped them respond to the changes and carry through with the correct swing. And the package arrived in excellent shape. The customer was elated when the swing arrived and immediately went to work to assemble his new swing.

However, when following the assembly instructions, it was quickly determined that the swing was engineered and manufactured to swing into the oak tree...not under it.

How does that relate to us? Our agility carries us to the solution. We are known as service providers...but our real title is problem solver! Our agility produces new providers in new areas. Our agility provides the opportunity to face the challenges head-on. Our agility requires that we check...and recheck...and check again - to make certain we have the correct information. And when we don't, our agility swings into action and we get it.

Our agility prepares us to work with a variety of people, including relocating clients, corporate clients, or third party providers. Working through TIRA members creates an excellent communications network that covers the globe. This provides us the opportunity to spend the time where it is really required: working with our relocating clients, corporate clients, and third party providers - making certain that we know the audience, the culture, and the needs of those with whom we are dealing, where our agility is constantly tested.

Paying attention to the order - making certain it is complete and accurate - and monitoring the service through the twists and turns to ensure that our relocating clients, their employers, and our TIRA members are working towards successful completion of a relocation. Win/win/win....