Spare Parts Proxy Metric
I experienced a troubling trip 'round an Ikea the other day.
For so long a paragon of service and operational smoothness.
The first alarm was the state of the gentlemen's ablutions as you enter, including long-malfunctioned facilities unattended.
Then the state of some of the shelves, for once untidy like a jumble-riddled fast-fashion store mid-Saturday afternoon.
Well, at least you can pop in the canteen for a breather. Only to see less than half the choice of hot meals available.
Expecting a swift checkout as used to? Think again. Under-staffed tills and barely any self-use ones open causing lengthy delay.
In need of a famed hot dog and bottomless cool-drink combo as you leave, disappointment also follows. Unable to offer the caramelised onions. And drinks machine broken. Been waiting for the mechanic some time too, apparently.
Any one hiccup alone would not have dampened the day.
Yet taken together, scathing.
Something's up. Wheels fallen off. Worryingly, these issues are not confined to staffing levels either.
Which though, was the 'canary-in-the-coalmine'?
This all reminded me of a shocking story, suppressed naturally, about the UK's mega £3½bn aircraft carrier becoming a laughing stock.
The list of issues with 'Big Lizzie' giving her the label of '1,000ft giant design flaw'. We've gone through farce, beyond outright fiasco to now surely, gross dereliction. Yet it's a supposedly minor gripe that grabbed my attention.
No hot showers on board for six months, and counting.
Clearly the spin from retired generals and current politicians suggested this was no biggie. Back in the day you were lucky to see a wet flannel once a week, sailor!
This mock so misses the mark it is scary.
The snag explained away as 'spare parts' sourcing.
Even on its own, this should trigger rapid response. When combined with all the other issues - most notably faulty propeller shafts precipitating failure to head up NATO's largest post-Cold War naval exercise - urgent intervention feels warranted.
If you can't get your supply chain right for this (and inside 26 weeks to boot), then what on earth else is going haywire behind the scenes?
It is a sorry tale.
One that many a salesperson can run into. Both in the team we represent, and in inside our beleaguered prospects.
To cite proxy metrics is a useful measure.
There's two classic everyday examples, both related to cleanliness; of a restaurant's bathrooms and a factory's storeroom.
They portray the place's attitude to everything.
The British military have long had their eyes off-the-ball. Ikea appears a recent faller. Getting back up takes strong action.
It's the little things that betray where you're headed.
I still remember one of Rory Sutherland's early forays into public discourse. A Ted Talk imploring, "sweat the small stuff".
See it, address it, and fix the underlying causes. So that what you saw no-one else ever can.
I bet you're replaying in your mind those proxy giveaways you've noted lately, right now... And I also suggest that there is someone you can corral who's desperate to sort them out.