Ron Bedwell from KMS Systems spoke with me last week about his opinion on the key drivers for achieving success.  KMS Systems is a leading provider of industrial material handling equipment solutions and Ron has been there for more than 15 years.

“There’s a lot of things you have to do to be successful in any given situation, “ Ron said.  “But there are a couple of things that you should always do no matter what you’re working on. One of them comes from my time in the Marine Corps: Knowledge is Power. You will never get very far if you don’t try to educate yourself. You not only need to know what you’re doing, but also understand how your actions will affect other people, projects, and processes.  Too many people are too task oriented. They jump into tasks without full understanding of the potentially far-reaching effects of their actions.”

The second piece of advice Ron offers is developing an internal clock for every project. According to Ron, the purpose of the clock is to keep you out in front of the work by triggering communication with stakeholders. He said, “Don’t be the guy who waits for your customers or supervisors to call you asking where something is or when it’s going to be done.  It doesn’t matter if your customers are internal or external. Use your internal clock to managing the schedule, making sure you are the one initiating communication, following up, and keeping everyone updated. If they end up calling you for the update, that means you have failed.”

Stay tuned for next month’s monthly payback feature. In the meantime, send us a direct message on Twitter @iasta or comment below if you would like to share your business advice on eSourcing Forum.