1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:19,520 Hi and welcome to Be The Flagship with our podcast host Jeff Parsons. 2 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,280 This is where we tackle the day-to-day talent management challenges you face. 3 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:25,040 And now over to our host. 4 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:26,800 Take it away, Jeff. 5 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:27,800 Hello. 6 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,600 And welcome to my podcast Be The Flagship. 7 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:37,560 I'm your host Jeff Parsons and I'm proud to announce that we have refurbished the podcast 8 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:38,560 if you will. 9 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,800 We have broadened the scope of the topics we're going to cover. 10 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:47,760 I consider this podcast to be about all things operations. 11 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:53,400 So that talks about operations itself and all the other supporting functions, all those 12 00:00:53,400 --> 00:01:00,200 other support that operations needs in order to drive business success. 13 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,440 So thank you for joining us. 14 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:07,520 I'm excited to get started on this broadened scope for Be The Flagship. 15 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:11,240 I have a very special guest today. 16 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:12,700 He's a good friend of mine. 17 00:01:12,700 --> 00:01:20,400 His name is Jeff Smith and our first episode is going to be the beginning of a series where 18 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:27,720 we talk about the importance of finance and financial management and how it truly supports 19 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:31,560 operational excellence and drives business success. 20 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:34,200 Well thank you, Jeff, for joining us today. 21 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:36,240 I look forward to your contributions. 22 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,560 So if you're ready to go, we'll get started. 23 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:43,640 I'm ready and the pleasure is mine. 24 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,840 So Jeff, talk to us about your career. 25 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:52,560 Give us a little synopsis of your background, your career and what you're doing right now. 26 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:53,560 Okay. 27 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:58,480 So as we've talked about on other episodes, I am Canadian. 28 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:00,720 Don't hold it against me. 29 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:08,000 But my background and my accounting training is a Canadian designation. 30 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:14,960 I have a long background in industry and in manufacturing. 31 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:22,820 Basically before I started with along the accounting route, I worked in factories. 32 00:02:22,820 --> 00:02:27,160 My dad was a career proctor and gamble person. 33 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:35,440 And so I worked at Proctor and Gamble in the process. 34 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:42,040 I was processing byproducts and filling trucks and sending them out. 35 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:53,480 So I've worked in everything from forest products to heavy goods manufacturing, high technology, 36 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:54,480 even dirt. 37 00:02:54,480 --> 00:03:06,240 And so I really have a love for the manufacturing process. 38 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:16,280 Throughout my career, I've spent a lot of time in strategy and the outcome of that of 39 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:17,680 acquisitions. 40 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:25,280 And so I have a passion for strategic and operational planning and post-acquisition 41 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,200 integration activities. 42 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:34,960 I've recently started my own consulting practice, which is dynamic business strategies. 43 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:42,400 So in your consulting practice, what types of services do you provide for your clients? 44 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:48,480 So we provide really three different offerings. 45 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:54,760 One is on the strategic and operational planning side. 46 00:03:54,760 --> 00:04:00,120 The other is on the acquisition integration activities. 47 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:03,680 And then the third aspect is that of education. 48 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,200 Education and lifelong learning is a passion for me. 49 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:18,580 And so we offer a series of training and leadership development courses ranging anywhere from 50 00:04:18,580 --> 00:04:22,320 business ethics to business acumen. 51 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:24,440 Thank you, Jeff. 52 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:26,760 You mentioned a passion for education. 53 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:35,120 I can recall earlier in my illustrious career, I facilitated numerous sessions in finance 54 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:42,080 for non-financial managers targeting first line managers within manufacturing. 55 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:49,280 And we used a simulation that literally tracked cash as it flowed through a manufacturing 56 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:50,280 process. 57 00:04:50,280 --> 00:04:56,920 So from incoming materials to finished product going out the door. 58 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:03,280 And the attendees, the participants, were responsible for tracking that cash and completing 59 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:08,760 a basic finance statement, a statement of cash flow balance sheet. 60 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:14,320 And it gave them a basic understanding of how what they do on a daily basis impacts 61 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:20,200 the financial success of their company. 62 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:21,760 And so you mentioned education. 63 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:29,620 I'm just curious how you feel about the role of education and financial education specifically 64 00:05:29,620 --> 00:05:31,480 within operations. 65 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:43,200 So I'm of the firm belief that operational leaders really need to understand the financial 66 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:45,240 impacts of what they do. 67 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:51,040 And so I actually got into accounting not because I wanted to be an accountant, but 68 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:54,200 because I wanted to understand financial statements. 69 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:57,300 It turns out that I'm pretty good at accounting. 70 00:05:57,300 --> 00:06:03,080 So I continued in that field and excelled in it. 71 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:13,800 And long ago and early in my career, I taught finance for first time leaders and helped 72 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:23,440 them to understand the impacts, the financial impacts of their operational activities so 73 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:28,920 that they could understand the budgetary area that they were responsible for. 74 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:34,160 Yeah, so we have similar experiences there and I also found that it was helpful for first 75 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:39,400 line supervisors and maybe the next level up to understand how what they did on a daily 76 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:46,000 basis fed into statement of cash flow and the balance sheet and all in those key financial 77 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,520 statements, income statement, that sort of thing. 78 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:57,140 So again, our focus is on all things operational and which includes support groups and finances, 79 00:06:57,140 --> 00:07:03,020 no exception to that, is a very important support groups as relates to operational success. 80 00:07:03,020 --> 00:07:09,440 So why don't you explain the role of finance and the operational success of a company? 81 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:18,640 Okay, so I view finance as being having three different layers. 82 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:24,800 One is it's a historical scorekeeper role. 83 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:36,280 What did we do last month and organize it and present it as far as did we make money 84 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:38,000 or did we lose money? 85 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:49,360 So that historical perspective allows us to understand what our past operations results 86 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:50,720 were. 87 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:59,520 From a day to day perspective, finance contributes to the operational success because the bills 88 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:08,280 need to be paid, the cash flow needs to be managed, payroll needs to be completed, all 89 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:15,760 those sort of things need to be recorded and accounted for in order for the smooth operation 90 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,560 of the business. 91 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:25,920 Pay the vendors, make sure that you're always getting your goods in because the bills are 92 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:26,920 paid. 93 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:27,920 Paying the employees. 94 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:32,320 Paying the employees, they tend to be happy when they get paid. 95 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:34,640 That's a fact. 96 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:40,000 And then from a forward looking perspective, and this is the part that really intrigues 97 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:47,640 me is that you can use past performance, you can use things that you know about the business 98 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:50,400 to predict the future of the business. 99 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:59,920 And so you can start doing things like what if, what if I did this, what would the outcome 100 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:00,920 be? 101 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:10,800 And so finance can participate in those conversations about what the financial impact is to various 102 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:14,120 activities that the business is investigating. 103 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:15,120 Gotcha. 104 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:23,640 Well, Jeff, we have a lot of topics to cover on this subject and how finance impacts operations 105 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:31,960 both in this podcast and during this series on finance and financial support for operations. 106 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:36,000 So tell you what, you take a break. 107 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,160 Let's take a quick break and then we'll be back. 108 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:44,080 At Flagship Talent, we work with our clients to find and place the right talent. 109 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:45,940 What do we mean by the right talent? 110 00:09:45,940 --> 00:09:50,560 We mean we find talent who will commit to your organizational goals and align with your 111 00:09:50,560 --> 00:09:53,260 values and behavior expectations. 112 00:09:53,260 --> 00:09:55,800 Talent who will perform to your expectations. 113 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:59,340 Talent who will stay and grow with your organization. 114 00:09:59,340 --> 00:10:01,320 How are we different from our competitors? 115 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:04,160 We offer the lowest fee structure in the industry. 116 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:07,000 We offer the best talent guarantee in the industry. 117 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:11,840 We provide selection and interviewing support to our clients at no additional fee. 118 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:16,960 We want to save you money, deliver high quality talent, become an extension of your organization 119 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,780 and be your preferred provider of talent acquisition solutions. 120 00:10:20,780 --> 00:10:26,540 To learn more, contact Jeff Parsons by email at jeff at FlagshipTalent.com or by phone 121 00:10:26,540 --> 00:10:32,240 at 1-800-530-4189, extension 101. 122 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:37,680 Okay, we're back with our guest, Jeff Smear. 123 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:46,160 So let's investigate some of the major topics within finance where finance provides a level 124 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:49,080 or degree of support to operations. 125 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:51,180 One of those is budgeting and forecasting. 126 00:10:51,180 --> 00:10:56,760 So how crucial are budgeting and forecasting for effective operational planning and what 127 00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:59,960 best practices should companies follow? 128 00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:08,800 Okay, so absolutely critical to understand the financial impact of your decisions. 129 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:19,000 And as far as what best practices for budgeting and forecasting is, it's important to involve 130 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:21,200 the people that do the work. 131 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:27,880 There's a concept in lean manufacturing and we're giving, I know you and I both like the 132 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:34,440 lean manufacturing ideas on the set of the Gemba Walk. 133 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:39,760 And the Gemba Walk is going to where the work is done. 134 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:49,000 And the same thing applies to budgeting and forecasting is a lot of companies view budgeting 135 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:55,740 and forecasting as kind of an accounting exercise, but it's not. 136 00:11:55,740 --> 00:11:59,180 It's an operational exercise. 137 00:11:59,180 --> 00:12:05,440 If you can go to where the work is done, go to the people that do the work and understand 138 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:16,440 the resources that are required in order to achieve the objectives of the business. 139 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:24,380 The finances are the downstream impacts of those upstream activities. 140 00:12:24,380 --> 00:12:35,120 And so focusing on activities where how many people do I need to accomplish those goals? 141 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:42,000 How much raw material do I need in order to get this amount of finished goods? 142 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:47,360 Those sort of things are what drives the results of the business. 143 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:56,520 And so as a budgeting and forecasting exercise, starting with the activities and the inputs 144 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:06,040 is really important to one, understand what the results of the business are and two, to 145 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:14,920 gain accountability and gain ownership of the results of the business. 146 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:15,920 Gotcha. 147 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:20,240 Which sort of leads us into the next area, cost management. 148 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:21,520 And you mentioned lean. 149 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:29,200 So talk to me about the strategies that you as a finance professional use to manage and 150 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:34,120 reduce operational costs without compromising quality or efficiencies. 151 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:35,120 Correct. 152 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:36,120 Yes. 153 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:45,240 And as we talked about, I'm a big fan of lean concepts and lean operations. 154 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:56,560 And so a lot of frontline managers have no influence over the hourly rate that you pay 155 00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:58,160 your employees. 156 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:04,880 They have no influence over how much the raw materials cost. 157 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:13,000 What they do have influence over is how efficiently those resources are used. 158 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:28,360 And so my role as a member of the team is to help them to make that connection between 159 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:33,200 efficient use of resources and outcomes. 160 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:34,200 Right? 161 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:40,560 Now hold them accountable for how much you pay an employee per hour or how much you pay 162 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:46,560 per pound of raw materials, because those are beyond their control. 163 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:58,000 But help them to understand if they change the mix, if they change the configuration, 164 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,600 can they get more out of their operation? 165 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:02,600 Interesting. 166 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:06,600 You know, you mentioned lean and you mentioned gimbal walks. 167 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:14,040 I have another past contributor to the podcast and a friend who's a lean expert. 168 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:19,800 It would be a lot of fun, I think, to get he and you both on the same panel discussion 169 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:24,040 as it relates to, you know, the various facets of lean because a lot of people think that's 170 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:29,480 just a manufacturing thing that you, you know, they don't get the value that it brings in 171 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:33,800 the administrative areas such as finance and HR and that sort of thing. 172 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,400 So that would be a lot of fun. 173 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:37,400 Yeah. 174 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:39,440 Talk to me about financial metrics. 175 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:42,200 I know you're very metrics driven. 176 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:47,920 So in your experience, which financial metrics are most important for operations managers 177 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:48,920 to monitor? 178 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,560 You know, just in general, I know it really is situationally depends, but based on your 179 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:57,480 experience, what would you advise and what have you seen in terms of typical metrics? 180 00:15:57,480 --> 00:15:58,480 Yeah. 181 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:06,120 So, yeah, as you mentioned, it's very situationally dependent. 182 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:11,120 If you have a capital intensive business, it's going to be different than if you have 183 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:13,360 a service business. 184 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:21,840 But I like to make sure that I have a balance of different metrics. 185 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:32,960 I want to have activity metrics, things like gross profit or revenue per employee, those 186 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:43,360 sort of activity metrics that help us to look at how efficiently we're operating as a business. 187 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:54,120 And then we have management metrics of how we're managing our resources, right? 188 00:16:54,120 --> 00:17:06,000 So things like cash flow from operations or working capital as a percentage of sales and 189 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:07,640 those sort of things. 190 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:14,120 So those are, how are we doing as a management team at managing operations? 191 00:17:14,120 --> 00:17:15,120 Absolutely. 192 00:17:15,120 --> 00:17:24,240 And then we have investment metrics, which are things like return on capital employed, 193 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:31,640 or how much we're investing in the future as far as R&D spend per revenue dollar. 194 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:36,240 Those sort of things help us to understand how we're preparing for the future of the 195 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:37,240 business. 196 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:46,400 So it sounds like the metrics, the dashboard of metrics is different based on or can be 197 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:49,760 different based on your role within the organization. 198 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:55,680 If you're an operations leader, you're going to have a dashboard of financial metrics. 199 00:17:55,680 --> 00:18:00,280 If you're the CEO of business, they may be different metrics. 200 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:07,020 And the operational metrics would feed into the broader... 201 00:18:07,020 --> 00:18:12,120 And that's the key is that we all have to be going in the same direction. 202 00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:18,360 And so the metrics need to support one another, but the CEO will be looking at a higher level 203 00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:24,040 dashboard that'll have different things. 204 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:30,680 And each level down is going to have more granularity in the metrics, but it'll be all 205 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:34,360 supportive of those high level metrics. 206 00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:35,600 Okay. 207 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:40,040 That's a great discussion regarding metrics, Jeff. 208 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:47,040 And as I think about it, and as I listen to you, I really believe we should devote a podcast 209 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:53,200 episode on just metrics and defining those metrics so that our listeners have a better 210 00:18:53,200 --> 00:19:01,280 understanding of what those metrics are, what they measure, and how they can be of value. 211 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:05,400 But for now, let's talk about capital allocation. 212 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:12,520 So how does effective capital allocation impact operational performance? 213 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:18,440 And what factors would you consider when making these types of decisions? 214 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,960 So I mentioned return on capital employed. 215 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:30,600 And in really high level simple terms is you want to return on your investment. 216 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:36,800 Whether you're buying a business, you're buying stocks in the stock market, whatever it is 217 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:42,000 that you're investing in, you want to have a return. 218 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:50,000 And that return should be at least as much as you could get if you just bought a mutual 219 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:54,800 fund and left it to grow. 220 00:19:54,800 --> 00:20:05,680 And so using capital allocation is really important to the business. 221 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:11,040 And there's some things that you are never going to get a return for. 222 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:21,760 They're just a pay to play sort of spend, like fixing the roof on your factory. 223 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:31,200 And it maintains safety, it maintains the building, and it safeguards your assets that 224 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:33,360 are within that building. 225 00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:39,440 You're getting a return on that investment per se. 226 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:41,840 It's a must have. 227 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:50,680 Whereas if I'm looking at a new piece of equipment in the manufacturing operation, I'm going 228 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:54,480 to start asking questions. 229 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:57,800 And there has to be a business case for it. 230 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:03,280 Am I going to increase the operational efficiency through this investment? 231 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,600 Am I going to increase the quality? 232 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:11,760 Or am I going to increase the throughput? 233 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:20,960 And if I'm improving on those, is the improvement going to pay for that investment? 234 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:24,720 And how long is it going to take to pay for that investment? 235 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:33,840 So we'll look at things like payback period, or we'll look at internal rate of return. 236 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:43,640 And so we'll use financial terminology and calculations to calculate whether that investment 237 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:45,280 is worth it. 238 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:57,120 Yeah, and I've witnessed frustration on the behalf of leaders before on the expected period 239 00:21:57,120 --> 00:21:59,640 for a return on their investment. 240 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:05,280 It really depends on the company and the company structure. 241 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:10,480 Sometimes you have the big companies, the big corporate entities, the Fortune 100 if 242 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:12,840 you will. 243 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:18,240 And they make more R&D focus and they may have more patience in terms of an investment 244 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:21,120 is going to pay off in five to seven years. 245 00:22:21,120 --> 00:22:27,320 Or we may have a PE based firm and their goal is to turn the business around in three years. 246 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:30,240 So they're going to have their expectations will be much tighter. 247 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:37,360 Why should I give you money for this if I'm not going to see a return? 248 00:22:37,360 --> 00:22:44,580 And years ago I worked for a company, a UK based company, and it was run by a small group 249 00:22:44,580 --> 00:22:48,160 of holding company of financial people. 250 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:56,240 And they literally said when there was a request from the US for capital, they said, well, 251 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:01,760 why should we give you X amount of money when I can put that same amount of money in, as 252 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:07,200 you mentioned, mutual fund or something like that and get a better rate of return than 253 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:09,320 I can in giving it to you. 254 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:15,520 And that's a real difficult thing for managers to grasp sometimes that it's an investment. 255 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:20,120 And if I give you $5 and it's going to take me three years to make a dollar and I put 256 00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:25,960 it in this other account, $5 and I can double my or get a better rate. 257 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:28,000 And if I give it to you, why wouldn't I put it over here? 258 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:34,160 Because my job as a senior leader within the company is to get a return on the investment, 259 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:36,000 to make a profit if you will. 260 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:37,000 And that's what it's like. 261 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:45,800 And it goes back to that conversation about financial education in the operational part 262 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:58,720 of the organization is part of my role is to help my operational team understand the 263 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:03,080 why behind the controls that are in place. 264 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:09,360 And so, for example, if you've got a privately held company and you walk down the hallway 265 00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:15,160 and say, hey, we need to buy this piece of equipment, president says, yes, you go out 266 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:16,160 and buy it. 267 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:17,160 Right. 268 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:18,160 That's right. 269 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:24,400 Not a lot of planning that goes into it. 270 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:28,080 You put your argument together as you're walking down the hallway. 271 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,800 You lay it out and the decision is made. 272 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:32,800 Right. 273 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:40,000 Once you start reporting to shareholders or to a PE firm, then you have controls that 274 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:41,520 go into place. 275 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:50,160 And so understanding the needs of the parent company or the parent organization or the 276 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:55,840 investor group is really important. 277 00:24:55,840 --> 00:25:03,360 And then explaining the rationale and the why and helping the operational team work 278 00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:08,720 within the constraints of whatever system is there. 279 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:12,400 Well, yeah, this has been a great discussion. 280 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:13,400 Thank you for your contribution. 281 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:18,160 Tell you what, let's take a quick break and then I'll come back and wrap up this first 282 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,760 episode in finance and operation. 283 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,060 Let's talk flagship talent solutions. 284 00:25:23,060 --> 00:25:26,240 How do we support our clients in operations? 285 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:31,680 We recruit and place talent in operations and operations support areas. 286 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:38,640 Examples include operations from supervisor to the C suite engineers in all disciplines 287 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:45,640 quality professionals, lean and process improvement professionals, operations support such as 288 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:51,900 finance, including entry level accountants, controllers, finance directors and CFO. 289 00:25:51,900 --> 00:25:56,920 As for HR, we recruit professionals at all levels at flagship talent. 290 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:02,000 We are focused on placing talent that will drive your operational excellence and business 291 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:03,000 success. 292 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:08,000 For more information, contact Jeff today at jeff at flagship talent dot com. 293 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:12,960 Okay, we're back and thank you for listening today. 294 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:18,640 I hope you join us for our next episode in finance and operations and we will be covering 295 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:24,200 topics such as risk management, operational efficiency and the importance of cross department 296 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:25,200 collaboration. 297 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:26,200 Again, I'm Jeff Parsons. 298 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,780 The name of this podcast is the flagship. 299 00:26:29,780 --> 00:26:32,480 If you liked it, please subscribe. 300 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:35,820 You won't regret it and you'll learn a lot today. 301 00:26:35,820 --> 00:26:42,360 In my ads, I wanted to focus on just strictly recruitment and how we support operations 302 00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:45,160 in recruiting and spacing great talent. 303 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:49,440 In subsequent episodes, we'll talk about the other services we provide our clients 304 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,160 to help them drive operational excellence. 305 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:54,640 So see you next time. 306 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,840 Thank you for listening to this episode of Be the Flagship with Jeff Parsons. 307 00:26:58,840 --> 00:26:59,840 We hope you enjoyed it. 308 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:03,160 If you did like it, please subscribe and share with others. 309 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:07,120 Until next time, take the step to become the flagship in your marketplace.