EP52: When Operational Excellence Meets a 9-Foot Wall

Operational excellence is achieved when every member of an organization can see the flow of value to the customer and fix that flow before it breaks down. But as a manager of people, you know that this isn’t an easy goal to achieve — especially if your team members are now working from home instead of working together in one building. As Chris explains in a story about his experience mountain climbing and running up against a 9-foot tall stretch of wall, “We make a great plan — and then we run into that blank wall. The COVID pandemic is an example of that wall.”

In this podcast, Chris and Corey have a conversation with Valerie Schlitt, founder and CEO of VSA, about what to do with the problems this wall has created for her team members and those of her clients. Valerie holds a Wharton MBA and has 19 years of experience directing a great team of her own who use their skills to help VSA’s customers develop their businesses. “Collaborating with people is one of the biggest sources of ways to solve problems,” Valerie explains. But with the work-from-home movement, how can you maintain that same group problem-solving?

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In talking with Valerie, Chris and Corey ask for her expertise and share their own experiences in managing these challenges:

• How do you motivate your team to rally around a radical decision?
• How do you get everyone on your team to recognize the value of the expertise and talent of the other team members?
• How do you help your team members see where they themselves are deficient and then learn to bolster that with other people’s talents?
• How do you encourage everyone on your team to respect other team members when people are so different?
• How does self-importance get in the way of operational excellence?

As usual, Chris and Corey create an atmosphere of camaraderie with their podcast guests. You’ll enjoy the flow of conversation and the information these three experts share.

About Our Guest Valerie Schlitt is the founder, owner, and CEO of VSA, a B2B call center that helps clients generate leads and produce new business. Valerie also heads up the Philadelphia chapter of AA-ISP.

 

The complete transcript of this episode is below:

 

Corey Frank (00:34):

So today, we have Valerie Schlitt from VSA Prospecting. Valerie, it was great to lasso you or corral you into this. As Chris and I say, we don't have guests often, but when we do, it's truly a hostage situation. So, you will develop the Stockholm syndrome probably within 15, 20 minutes of talking with us. And so your hours to glean all this nectar of wisdom here, especially the topic today, which is operational excellence, which you're the perfect person. We have a Wharton MBA, right, Valerie?

Valerie Schlitt (00:34):

Yep.

Corey Frank (01:05):

You went in Wharton. So, I'm the lowest IQ person on this phone call by a great factor and...

Valerie Schlitt (01:11):

Not really sure about that but...

Corey Frank (01:13):

...And then before that you were at KPMG.

Valerie Schlitt (01:15):

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Corey Frank (01:15):

So, impressive. How do you manage these type of wicked smart kind of guests here where we're talking about operational excellence. Valerie falls from the sky from VSA, one of the top of funnel firms in the country, been around for about 19 years right, Valerie?

Valerie Schlitt (01:30):

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yup.

Corey Frank (01:31):

And the perfect person to talk and to be Chris's foil here as we talk about operational excellence and with that, welcome Valerie. Great to have you at the moment.

Valerie Schlitt (01:41):

Oh, it's lovely to be here. It's great. Thank you both. So I'll tell you exactly how I got started.

Corey Frank (01:46):

No. That's the origin story [inaudible 00:01:47]

Valerie Schlitt (01:48):

So I have this Wharton MBA, as you know, and I really thought I was going to be a corporate person my whole life. I was climbing the ladder. Here I was, several different companies, marketing management, and consulting. And then I found myself laid off in 2001 during that downturn. And I decided to venture off and do my own thing. But unlike everything I learned at Wharton or at consulting or in marketing, I had no business plan, no Rolodex, no funding, no nothing. I sat in my family room. I met some people. They asked me if I could do something and honestly, I discovered this is my modus operandi in everything I do, I'm responding to what I say the market needs. And that's how I started to VSA, just responding to one request after another and building up our client base that way. And we've done a lot of twists and turns along the way and now we're in a group.

Corey Frank (02:41):

That's fantastic. F