THE ISSUE WITH THE TISSUE (PART II): Business Operations & Management

As I settled into my role, more revelations about my new firm’s culture of operations began to take shape. Again, this firm had been around for more than forty years, and its shareholders were highly sought after. Each of them were headed into the sunset of their careers and they were preparing to enjoy the fruits of their illustrious work. I suppose decades of managing people created a bit of fatigue for the Managing Shareholder. Hence, when he elected to hire me, it was clear that I would not only be responsible for processes, but also the people who drove them. Having someone he could entrust with maintaining the firm’s operations while he

focused on revenue generating activities was invaluable. Each time I entered his corner office with operational updates, he listened more intently. One day, as I alerted him about “the issue with the tissue”, he snickered with a bit of laughter, but his smile straightened as I communicated its financial implications.

My first trip to our trusted wholesaler to purchase office supplies required that I use the company credit card that was once communal property. I needed to purchase a wide range of supplies including toilet tissue for the building’s three bathrooms. I selected the highest quality brand and secured roughly 32 rolls that fashioned 231 sheets each. Through my eyes, this was more than enough tissue, and I mindlessly threw it inside of my cart and moved on to other items that had been placed on the company’s newly developed ordering spreadsheet. I was confident that we were charting new waters and I loved every second of it. Once I arrived back to the office, company staff assisted with retrieving my purchases and placing them in their assigned locales. The tissue would live inside of the main closet so that the janitorial vendor would have easy access when cleaning the building in the evenings. One evening, I was working late, and just so happened to be inside of the building when the cleaning crew arrived. As we exchanged pleasantries, they alerted me that they needed more tissue for the bathrooms. After acknowledging their request, I was a bit perplexed. Hadn’t I just purchased tissue? Curious, I checked the receipt file I had created and noticed that it had been roughly fourteen days since my last purchase. How could this be? My mind began to reason. There are three separate bathrooms and about fifteen people who frequent the building, excluding clients. As for me, I almost never used the restroom given the close proximity of my condo to the office. Logically thinking, shouldn’t the omission of one participant extend the inventories usefulness? The “red flag” had been raised and now I needed to be more intentional during my next purchasing iteration. I headed back to the wholesaler and selected the same pack of tissue that I had purchased fourteen days prior. However, this time, it was different. I had defined that there was an “issue with the tissue,” now it was time to measure this problem objectively so that I could analyze, improve and control this expense.

My measuring tool was simple, Microsoft Excel. Additionally, I alerted the cleaning crew that they were no longer responsible for tissue in the restrooms. I would be leading this activity. They confirmed with a smile, and I swiftly moved the tissue from the main closet to the Managing Shareholder’s closet. Why? Because no one would dare enter his closet without permission! As I placed the roll in the restroom, I would notate the date of the refill, how many rolls were placed inside and lastly identified which restroom (1, 2 or 3) was being serviced. Now that my measurements were intact, I was prepared for analysis. Surprisingly, I was back at the wholesaler in roughly fourteen days again! What was I missing? I was convinced that someone was using our firm as their local grocer. Before I could “smoke out” the source of our “small leak,” I had to make more adjustments to extend the duration of tissue purchases.

Early one morning, while executing my new tissue routine, I went into the restroom and received a new revelation. What did I see? A toilet roll fixture equipped to hold merely one roll of tissue while a cabinet positioned in the corner held five additional toilet rolls. I thought to myself, “are six rolls of tissue really required in the restroom?” Six toilet tissue rolls multiplied by three restrooms (6x3) equaled eighteen rolls of tissue. That’s more than half of the entire pack! To make matters worse, the additional rolls were unsecured! My stomach began to churn upon the realization that if an infant were to enter one of our restrooms, they could take a roll of toilet tissue with zero resistance. I immediately removed those additional rolls and purchased a new toilet roll fixture that would hold two rolls and had a lock that prevented theft. Through my lens, one roll, plus an additional, was more than sufficient. My morning refill routine would ensure that two rolls of tissue were inside of the restroom at all times. As I headed to the wholesaler for my next visit, I was confident that this go around would be different. What would the data say? CLICK HERE TO READ PART III

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jason Johnson, MBA, MAcc is an Entrepreneur, Educator and State Contracting Consultant who has decades of business experience. He has worked as an Analyst and Consultant for one of Georgia’s largest government agencies, and during his tenure, provided education, guidance, and support to more than five hundred business owners. He’s also the Author of Clearing the Hurdles: Winning Strategies for Entrepreneurs Interested in Government Contracting. Jason’s efforts have contributed to nearly $100 Million of contracting awards.