• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Schlegel Consulting

Evolutionary Team Effectiveness

  • Home
  • Services
  • Success Stories
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • This Book’s For You

How To Reduce Product Returns

July 1, 2020 by Matt Schlegel Leave a Comment

In this video, I share a story about how a client used the problem-solving framework I describe in Chapter 2 in my new book Teamwork 9.0.

In Chapter 8 of the book, I use the tools to analyze this team’s dynamics in the section called “All In The Family.”

Here is a transcript of the video:

It was 2009, in the heart of the Great Recession, Allen had the perfect product for the times.  Online video content was exploding, and Allen’s company had a low-cost video production solution that enabled anyone to produce professional-looking content at a fraction of the price of commercial equipment.

Allen was a caring soul.  Responsible for operations, he wanted to deliver the best possible customer experience and bended over backwards to do that.  And, while customers loved the products and demand was soaring, the organization had reached a limit—the telltale sign? …  Product reliability suffered.  Nearly 1 in 3 products shipped out were being returned for repair.

Allen wanted to solve the problems-causing-returns, but couldn’t get the attention or resources necessary.  Everyone was too busy working on the “next thing” and too willing to blame others for the current problems. That’s when Allen thoughtfully asked for my advice.

I suggested that he form a cross-functional team and use the team-based problem-solving method that I detail in my book Teamwork 9.0. He convened a meeting and encouraged everyone to share their thoughts on the causes of product returns. 

Over the course of an hour, a transformation occurred.  The participants stopped blaming one another and started getting intensely curious about the root causes of the problems.

That spark-of-curiosity ignited a fire—the team was on a quest to identify and solve each of the underlying issues.

After that initial meeting, Allen was able to get the attention of the team members and secure the resources he needed to address all the problems. Under his leadership, return rates plummeted.

Clearly defining a problem, sparks the intense human desire to-solve-that-problem. Step ONE in problem solving is to instill your team with that intensity.

Filed Under: Employee Engagement, Leadership, Problem Solving

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Your Number Makes a Difference™

Make your life even better, personally and professionally, by knowing your Enneagram type.
Reveal Your Number with a Free Enneagram Questionnaire »

Follow Matt

  • rss
  • twitter

Get Posts Direct to Your Inbox!

Solve Your Teamwork Dilemmas
With Matt’s New Book


View Book Reviews

Latest Posts

  • Financial Decision Making with the Enneagram :: A conversation with financial advisor Esther Szabo of Gates Pass Advisors
  • The Roaring 2020s: History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
  • January Virtual Enneagram Workshops
  • Creativity Gift of Enneagram Type 3 :: Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. –Thomas A. Edison
  • Creativity Gift of Enneagram Type 2 :: Create with the heart; build with the mind. —Criss Jami

Categories

Recent Comments

  • Matt on This is Not a Movie—This is Real Life
  • Matt on This is Not a Movie—This is Real Life
  • Matt Schlegel on I am 2% Neanderthal
  • Jill on I am 2% Neanderthal
  • Matt Schlegel on FAQ: Enneagram — Team Effectiveness

Footer

Tweets by EvoTeamMatt

Matt Schlegel

Send Matt a Message »
+1 (650) 924-8923

  • Home
  • Services
  • Success Stories
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • This Book’s For You
Solve Your Teamwork Dilemmas
With Matt’s New Book

© 2021 Schlegel Consulting · Evolutionary Team Effectiveness · +1 (650) 924-8923 · Email Matt
Creative Consulting by JMF · Web Design by Sarah Ruediger · Sitemap

Your Number Makes a Difference.™ Reveal Your Number with a Free Enneagram Questionnaire »