How to become a better controller
During my career, I have had the opportunity of working in different controlling positions: Industrial, logistics, finance, commercial, etc. Every controlling role is different, even within the same company, but I think I have come across a pattern that fits most of them. This is a personal strategy shaped over the years and one that could be helpful for many controllers, and possibly any kind of professional.
1. Let your computer work for you.
To make a difference, you will have to work it out, and it requires time. You can save a huge amount of time by programming repetitive tasks such as daily reports, repetitive complex operations like formatting, or even something as innocent as writing today’s date. Pay attention to what you do at any moment. Does this particular task add value? How time-consuming is it? Always remember that a report and its analysis adds value, but the process of building it does not. Every time you spot a repetitive time-consuming task automate it immediately if you can, or put it in your “to automate” list and do it whenever you have the time.
One monster of automation is vba programming (visual basic for applications), if you don’t have good vba skills then I recommend you start today with Essential VBA coding every Excel user should know. But programming vba scripts is not the only way to save time, you can for example, rearrange the buttons on your excel ribbon, learn commonly used keyboard shortcuts or start using AutoHotKey to write small bits of text and create customized shortcuts to your folders and programs.
Identify what’s necessary but doesn’t add value and find a way for the systems to do it automatically.
There are a lot of tactics and tools, too many for a single post, but the idea is identify what’s necessary, but doesn’t add value, and find a way for the systems to do it automatically.
2. Build relationships.
Now that you have some extra time, you might be able to study your company. I think that a company is mainly a group of people, so if you know them well you will achieve a deep understanding of the company. But every person is different, each one of us has a different set of motivations, priorities, values, mood, etc. In order to understand them well it won’t be enough to treat them within their strictly professional area, rather engage with them, find out what moves them, what is their life philosophy, what are their concerns. If you have the change to help someone, don’t miss the opportunity and do it, even if it means working a little extra time, it will surely pay off.
Take the time and effort to build miningful relationships throughout the organization.
Building a good bond with as many and different persons of the company as you can will give you different perspectives, and a lot of informal feedback that later on can be contrasted with data and become an important source of improvement.
3. Master the wiring of the organization.
And I’m not talking about cables, of course. After building enough relationships, you might start to get a glimpse of the other organization chart. There is obviously the hierarchical organization chart, we can represent it as a flow diagram of hierarchical power, but there are some other powers among a company. There is experience power, referent power, expert power, etc. This other powers add unofficial connections between different people and can be as important as the hierarchical relationships, sometimes even more important.
Among this complex multidimensional web of relationships there are two key types of people. The ones who need something to be done, and the ones who have the power to get it done. Some “Doers” are easy to spot, as the CEO, but some others might be a bit more difficult to find. E.g. some regular operator with enough personal power to motivate a large group of people in the organization, in other words, a charismatic leader.
If you can see these vectors of power between “Doers” and “Needers”, then you would be able to find out which connections are missing and how to wire them up.
Your main goal as a controller is not only to deliver the reports you are asked for, but to make sure that what needs attention receives proper attention.
4. Always keep making improvements.
Sometimes you find small details you could change to improve stuff. May be adding a new feature to your ERP, or developing a way to skip a part of an industrial process that adds no value by itself. Whenever you find them, don’t hesitate to implement. This small changes are like drops of water that slowly carve a stone and smooth it. This is called incremental improvement.
However, every once in a while you will find that this beloved “smooth stone” you have been taking care of is now obsolete, that the game has changed and you need to throw it away and start all over from scratch. This is disruptive improvement, and can be painful if it takes you by surprise.
Continous improvement is a cycle of creation and destruction. Insted of resisting it become a change ambassador.
Welcome to the improvement paradox. You strive to improve a system, but now and then you need to destroy it and start all over again. But this is what continuous improvement is about.
5. Do it all simultaneously
I explained it as a process, but this is not a to-do list. These four points are part of a whole, part of your mission. It’s not about excel in one of them and then move to the next one, but to do your best in all of them. The type of person you are and your motivations will define how balanced you are. It’s all right if you are better in one aspect or another, but you’ll need to do them all together.
What do you think about this? Would you like to share your own experience? Perhaps adding something to the list? Please let me know, I’ll be very happy to have your feedback! Thank you for reading and see you soon.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
