reasons most often cited is that the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing. That was certainly the case at Comstock Dependables of Muncie, Indiana, which saw profits decline by 40 percent over two years.
To turn things around, on July 1 Comstock’s right hand started receiving daily reports about all matters pertaining to the left.
“It’s amazing how things have turned around in just four months,” says Marlene Filbert, Comstock’s CEO.
While there’s nobody around who can recall if the right hand ever did know what the left was doing, Filbert knows it wasn’t the case when she assumed her position in 2014. In fact, she says, she had never even seen the two hands in the same room.
“But that’s behind us now,” she says. “Since the right hand is now in the know, we’re building the bottom line and pleasing our stakeholders like never before.” She cites these improvements:
- It now takes just five days to transform a “lose-lose” situation into a “win-win” one – up from seven months just a year ago.
- The vegetable medley in the company cafeteria, which most considered to be over-salted, is now just right.
- Jerrold Hollman, an accountant who cornered people and made them listen to “knock knock” jokes, has switched to reciting lines from the company mission statement.
- The most recent supplies inventory was a resounding success, with only one item – a multi-pronged T-15(c) unit – mislabeled.
Best of all, says Filbert, the right hand not only knows what the left is doing, but the two have actually been seen having lunch together.
