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Thought Challenge 8-16-13
The D&D Daily e-Newsletter for the LP & Safety Industry
 


 

Thought Challenge
 

Relevance

By Bill Nichols
Director, Loss Prevention
Christmas Tree Shops, Bed Bath & Beyond


Reading through the Thought Challenge archives I see a lot of topics that talk about change, embracing change, the need to know your business beyond LP, integrity, risk taking, the future of LP in Retail, the need for self-improvement, the need for more knowledge, the need for more technology and the need to network to be able to sell one’s skills in the market place. All of these are excellent topics, and are important in the discussion of the Loss Prevention industry today. However, the applicable term for all of these topics is “relevance”. How relevant are you to your organization?

We are all proud of the Loss Prevention Industry and the strides it has taken over the last few decades to increase its credibility and value in the business world. However, we all know that when the bottom drops out of the bottom line, Loss Prevention gets the first glance when the cost control wonks start counting the beans. Over the last five years we have seen many organizations freeze programs, downsize programs and eliminate programs in an effort to protect the bottom line. Quite often that effort is misguided and only exacerbates the financial impact by eliminating or weakening controls. So why would intelligent business people make such decisions? It’s because they did not see the relevance of the programs/resources to their current situation. Establishing relevance in the eyes of your Executive Team can mean the difference between expanding your programs and eliminating them.

How do you establish relevance? First, by providing the organization and decision makers with regular empirical and statistical updates on the progress and results of your programs. This establishes and reinforces the business value of you and/or your program. Second, clearly communicate the vision and strategy of the future of your program, along with expected results. This establishes your future business value to the organization, while setting goals for you and your programs. Third, you must know your “internal competition”. Understand what their vision and strategy is in order to ensure your programs are designed for maximum benefit to the organization so that you get your share of the available resources. Remember, Loss Prevention, Operations, IT, Legal and Human Resources are all looking to establish their relevance and get their piece of the pie. The departments least effective in establishing the relevance of their programs will get the least amount of resource, and may eventually be left behind.



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Thought Challenge 8-16-13
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