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Slot Management 101: How 2 define your slots of problems! You run around all day putting out fires while your customers become increasingly disappointed with the anemic guest experience that you created. Your boss demands results but time is against you. So, what do you do, run for the hills?
By Andy Cosgrove
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ome people like to be busy but being busy doesn’t mean you’re being productive. I personally don’t know anybody, or any business, that doesn’t have problems but what separates the best operators from the amateurs is how they manage those problems. You may think that putting out fires is heroic but it’s not necessarily an efficient use of your time. Fixing slot machines might seem the right thing to do, but not if fixing one results in six others breaking down. Giving your staff a pay rise as a motivational exercise may seem like a good investment but not if you treat your employees so badly that they continue to leave because
INFINITY GAMING
no amount of money compensates for having a bad boss. The point is that fixing a problem with a short term solution without first understanding what needs to be improved won’t provide you with the necessary stability to sustain your business in the long term. So if you want to be part of a successful team working for a highly efficient company now might be a good time to think long term, think sustainability, think consistency, think finding and understanding where sustainable improvements can be made to fix your operational challenges, think Lean Six Sigma, think the ‘define’ phase of the DMAIC methodology. Think big, think seeing the forest and not just a few
trees. So, what is the define phase of the Lean Six Sigma methodology?–Before I go into the definition of the define phase, it’s important to revisit the meaning of all five letters in the Lean Six Sigma methodology because defining a problem / opportunity for improvement without first being armed with the tools and right approach to eliminate waste and improve your processes in the long term, will only take you back to putting out fires, and when you play with fire you increase the risk of being burned.
