A Conversation with Christina Quiñones About Using Operations For Growth
In the third and last module of the HBS Online Course, Lee speaks with Christina Quiñones, Senior Vice President of Business Development & Innovation at AMA Consulting Group. In this podcast, Christina talks about her organization's methods of measuring productivity and explains how they plan to further improve productivity.
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Connect with Christina -
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-qui%C3%B1ones-400bb3a
https://amaconsultinggroup.com
00:00:00:02 - 00:00:21:18
Speaker 1
Welcome back to Exploring Growth Podcast. This is a third of three best conversations I've had with experts in my network that I reached out to. And if you watch the other two, you're already kind of on on the lead here. But this is the third of three. That's a Facebook online course I taught I took called business strategy.
00:00:22:04 - 00:00:29:02
Speaker 1
And I hope you enjoy this conversation. All right. Thanks, Christina, for coming on today and joining us.
00:00:29:14 - 00:00:33:00
Speaker 2
Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
00:00:33:00 - 00:00:59:19
Speaker 1
Yeah. So, you know, as I began walking through this course, we got to this section on operations and productivity. And immediately I thought of you because I was like, if there's anyone that understands productivity, it's Christina. So thanks for coming on. And I think this is going to be a really good conversation. I wanted to touch on a couple high level questions that came through the course and and just kind of have a discussion with you about those.
00:01:00:11 - 00:01:33:20
Speaker 1
So let's start like very high level. And you know, as much granularity as you want to get into is fine, but kind of starting things out, how does your organization measure productivity? Right. So this could be a system that you use or it could be, you know, like sort of a methodology of how you operate. And I mean, I'd be interested to to know just to kind of like take one step further is how does this play out in multiple departments, right?
00:01:33:20 - 00:01:38:07
Speaker 1
Because sometimes some departments are a little bit more productive than others. And so. Yeah.
00:01:38:13 - 00:02:03:05
Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. And it really is dependent from in our line of business, from project to project on how we do measure productivity. So there are a variety of systems and tracking tools that we utilize to measure productivity to see, for example, if we have a team that is responsible for, let's say, processing X amount of applications a day, right?
00:02:03:15 - 00:02:40:11
Speaker 2
We, we look at our, our, our tracking tools and we, we identify our our team members hitting the goals. We first have to establish what those goals are. Right? So we can't expect our team to meet productivity requirements if they don't know what those requirements are. Right. So understanding and establishing what are the goals and clearly communicating those and then looking at those various tools, those this tracking tools that we've established, some that we've we've inherited throughout the years, some that we create, we're currently building and establishing just depending on the nature of the project.
00:02:41:01 - 00:03:05:21
Speaker 2
But we use those to track, you know, are they hitting those markers? Are they hitting those expectations as those this KPI is right. So we that is that's how we're currently measuring productivity. We do look at things from a system standpoint. We'll say from a transaction standpoint, are we are we hitting the number of transactions that we need to hit for the day, for the month, for the year?
00:03:05:21 - 00:03:27:23
Speaker 2
Right. We look at it from that perspective. In other departments, it's not so black and white, right? So sometimes there's a series of different types of data, we'll say that we got to collect. You know, sometimes we're looking at customer satisfaction. You know, maybe that's a piece that we're trying to measure, which is not always easy to measure.
00:03:28:07 - 00:03:54:03
Speaker 2
Right. You know, we have to go through a couple of different avenues to gather that information, but we can evaluate productivity, you know, just gathering various different metrics from various different resources. So, again, it depends on the the project that we're we're working. But I would say most of what we leverage is our systems because we built them and then we set them up in a way to capture the data that we need, right?
00:03:54:03 - 00:04:12:06
Speaker 1
Yeah. It's very complex. Like just knowing a little bit about what you guys do. It's a very complex thing to to manage productivity because you have so many different stakeholders that are you're having to manage both on your side and the client side. And the type of work that you do for each client is not always the same, you know?
00:04:12:06 - 00:04:22:01
Speaker 1
So the outcome or measurable is not going to always be the same. So being able to track that across the company is can prove to be very difficult.
00:04:22:01 - 00:04:47:13
Speaker 2
Yes, it can be. The great thing is that we've been able to leverage tools like RBI, where we can take multiple systems and we can bring them all together and create various dashboards and reports that, you know, they may not necessarily say the same thing, you know, from project to project, but they give the information that's necessary for us to determine are we stay on track, are we being productive?
00:04:47:13 - 00:05:00:09
Speaker 2
Are we meeting performance metrics? So so it's it's kind of great that we can leverage those tools also designed to help us from a higher level, a manage and maintain those things. We have full transparency.
00:05:00:09 - 00:05:18:07
Speaker 1
So knowing what you're currently doing to measure productivity, is there is there something that you could see wanting to improve like? So, I mean, there's always ways to improve, right? But I guess the question is, are you is there a measure that you'd want to adopt to what you're currently doing?
00:05:19:05 - 00:05:45:05
Speaker 2
Oh, oh, man. That's a good question, Leigh. The million dollars, then the million dollar question. I would say overall, one thing that I really would love to measure, but I would tell you I don't even know where to start. Here is client perception. You know our business. Yes. And how how that's changed and evolve over time and improved or maybe not improving.
00:05:45:09 - 00:06:03:07
Speaker 2
There's some challenges that we need to work through. Right. So I would say company perception in our our target demographic, how they see us and how how we can bring value to them. So I think that that would be I would love to measure that. I wouldn't even know where to start for sure.
00:06:03:07 - 00:06:32:16
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah, no. And actually, to to that point, it's funny you mention that because that's one of the things that we learned about in this course, was trying to identify maybe like a top 5 to 8 value drivers for your customer to say, what is the one or two things that they very much want? And then you basically start to build your business around those top indicators and everything else that you may have done.
00:06:32:16 - 00:06:53:21
Speaker 1
Well, you know, to a large extent starts to sort of back off of so what it looks like as you're you're really going after these top two drivers and it starts to create a competitive advantage for you in the marketplace because there's a reason why it's very not, you know, noticeable for your customer to choose you over someone else because you align with what they value.
00:06:53:21 - 00:07:20:06
Speaker 1
So, so I think that's definitely something to be to be thinking about and, you know, and looking forward to capturing in the future. Okay. Couple more questions here for you. How has the productivity of your organization changed over the last five years and what would you attribute to that change? And I know, you know, just having work with you guys for a little while that you guys have, it's like you've got I want to.
00:07:20:06 - 00:07:38:05
Speaker 1
EALONS Rockets and like shot up to Mars I mean you guys have just been holding on to the growth right? I mean it's just been incredible. So productivity has changed a lot. But I'm curious to see from your vantage point what that look like.
00:07:38:10 - 00:08:00:10
Speaker 2
Yeah. So I'll tell you and we've been doing this for a long time, but even with the substantial growth that we've been able to to make and to sustain right there, there has to be a high level of accountability among the team and in our in our and our individuals that are working for us. Right. So we like I said, we do leverage the systems to help give us data.
00:08:00:21 - 00:08:27:03
Speaker 2
But at the end of the day, it's we, I would say, holding our team accountable and giving them kind of the autonomy to get the things done that we need them to get done and empower them to do. So I think we have two that we've we've seen significant growth and there's no way we could have done that without making sure that we had the systems in place to to measure, you know, productivity and making sure that we can see those things.
00:08:27:03 - 00:09:00:02
Speaker 2
But also, you know, establishing that accountability mindset has been which is not easy, you know, and it's come with its own set of challenges. And even sometimes we don't have the right people in the right seats. And that's to kind of move things and shift things around to make it work. But I would say, you know, a high level of accountability, but also making sure that your your leveraging your systems to to give you the data that you need so that when it comes time to have those tough conversations, right, we can see, you know, what the next step is.
00:09:00:02 - 00:09:03:21
Speaker 2
How do we move forward in how to resolve and how we can continue to grow and do better? Really?
00:09:05:03 - 00:09:15:00
Speaker 1
For sure. Yeah, for sure. All right. Last question. What opportunities do you see to further improve as you move forward your organization's productivity?
00:09:16:19 - 00:09:32:22
Speaker 2
I would say there's always a data point, and I've learned this. There's always a data point that we don't capture when we're doing things. And so I think for us, it's a matter of really taking a step back and looking at all the various elements that we're looking at and what are the bigger goals that we're trying to accomplish.
00:09:32:22 - 00:09:50:04
Speaker 2
And if there's a data point that we need to capture, are we going to be able to do that from the get go? So I think for us it's making sure that the things that we are tracking, we're very intentional about it and we're not just tracking things just to track it because if it's not going to produce any real value to us, what's the point?
00:09:50:04 - 00:10:14:00
Speaker 2
I don't I don't believe in that. So being very intentional about what it is that we're trying to measure and how we're going to measure it, and then making sure we're setting up the systems appropriately so, you know, and filling in those gaps because we've, you know, we've experienced those gaps. And as we move forward and we realize, oh, shoot, we didn't quite track that piece of information and now we just don't know.
00:10:14:00 - 00:10:27:01
Speaker 2
So now it's just those are lessons learned for us. And I think these are continuous lessons that we're going to be learning is filling in those gaps of what it is that we're looking at, how we're going to measure it, making sure that we are measuring it for sure.
00:10:27:12 - 00:10:55:12
Speaker 1
Yeah. And to the point of this whole course being business strategy, I think what you're saying very much resonates with what I'm learning and my natural tendencies as an advisor is to take these concepts, you know, that you're, you're looking at the broad net of tactics and efforts and teams and bringing them all together to execute on something that is actually measurable.
00:10:55:12 - 00:11:22:13
Speaker 1
So you can track how that strategy was implemented and if you had success. So the systems part of it is key. And I think to your point, like giving transparency up the chain, you know, to business goals and accountability up the chain and down the chain for each of the roles. I think those two things as if they can come together nicely, really give you a good solid path forward.
00:11:22:17 - 00:11:25:22
Speaker 2
100% agree.
00:11:25:22 - 00:11:43:00
Speaker 1
Well, thanks for coming on and answer these questions for me. I'll definitely link all your information below if anybody has any questions about operations, because I would I would definitely say in my world when it comes to, you know, top operators and even probably CMO's to that, I know I put your name in that category.
00:11:43:00 - 00:11:43:07
Speaker 2
So.
00:11:44:02 - 00:11:49:22
Speaker 1
If anybody wants to learn anything when it comes to CEO owing or CMO, I'm going to I'm going to drop your name.
00:11:49:23 - 00:11:50:22
Speaker 2
Thank you so much.