Problems surfaced when a customer complained
Dessy reviewed things with the production manager every month or two, mostly when something had already gone wrong. Deliveries, complaints, orders and sales lived in one large Google Sheet that someone kept up to date.
We never had a system where we’re constantly tracking things with or without a complaint. It was only when there’s an alarm raised, then we address it, and it was usually very informal.
The goal came first
Setting goals in Beam made the team decide what to track. One goal was to keep customer complaints at zero, and to reach it the team wrote a quality control handbook that now sits in the office. Twentysix still uses Google Sheets, alongside Beam.
So it is not the check-ins. I mean, those are important, but those are the things that come after. It’s knowing that we have this goal.
Using Beam has made us dig deeper into what we need to be monitoring and tracking. We never had a very deep tracking policy. Now, with Beam, we have a deep system to track.
Dessy is clear that the tool is only part of it.
It isn’t just the software responsible for these outcomes. It’s the actions and effort you can invest because you are using the software.
How people are coping, not just what they did
The mood pulse in each check-in let people say how they were feeling privately, rather than on a group call. It showed Dessy that one team member was worn out, and she adjusted how she assigned that person’s work.
I like the mood feature. I think it’s a very subtle way to give insights into how your staff may be feeling and how they are coping with their role.
With goals out in the open, everyone could see their part in them, and Dessy stopped being the only one chasing.
