blog.
Almighty Surveys
If you’re like most executives (more than 80 percent), you rely on surveys to collect data about and from your customers. And there is a good chance that you use at least three to five data sources (including surveys) to get this information.
Establishing the Need for Improvement: Benchmarking
One of the key requirements of implementing a continuous improvement program is to first establish a need for improvement. You may think this is quite easy, since you already “know” what needs improving. But establishing a need for improving services or products may be harder than you think. If you can’t show the need for improvement in a clear and meaningful way, it will be extremely difficult to get support for making change.
Planning Makes Perfect
When was the last time you developed a plan? Did you implement your plan? And here’s the million dollar question: Did you implement your plan successfully? If implementation was successful, then it is very likely that you spent at least half your time in the planning process before you started with implementation.
The importance of planning cannot be overemphasized, but in western cultures, the tendency is to follow a cycle of “plan,do, re-plan, re-do, re-plan, re-do,” until the plan and implementation are completed.
This is the wrong way to plan and implement, since the end result can take twice as long and cost twice as much as necessary.
Secret to Enabling a Paradigm Shift
Do you have a paradigm? Yes, of course; we all do. Paradigms are what we use as a frame of reference for whatever we do. Paradigms are our boundaries that tell us what to do in order to be successful within those boundaries.
What are the Top Ways to Improve Team Dynamics on a Project?
If you’re working on a project, you’re most likely working with a team and you know that sometimes there can be conflict within teams. Team dynamics are influenced by both the differences and the similarities that people bring to the team. So how do you improve team dynamics to maximize high performance?
35 Ways to Kill Ideas
I do not know the author of this list, but I found it to be a concise expose on how leaders (or anyone) can stifle innovation. It bears heeding that all ideas are valid ideas and some, if percolated sufficiently, may even lead to ingenious breakthroughs.
Using Internal Resources to Implement Projects
An organization can use its internal resources to implement new projects even if its internal resources are not subject matter experts (or SMEs). Here’s how: have your staff work alongside SMEs to learn how to implement projects in one or more pilot sites. By working alongside SMEs, staff is exposed to detailed implementation procedures which procedures they can apply to other sites as implementation progresses.
Managing Overnight Success
I recently worked with a client organization that became successful, seemingly overnight. Their dilemma was about how to manage their instant success and continue down a road of high efficiency and productivity.
While instant success is a dilemma that many organizations would love to experience, one of the things that struck me about my client was that they recognized very early the need for effective systems for continuous improvement. This recognition alone speaks volumes about how they will continue to be successful.
From Great to Remarkable
Are you a remarkable leader? If you said “yes,” you’re in the minority. If you said "no," take heart: remarkable leaders are made, not born. Through experience, good and great leaders acquire leadership competencies that propel them to the ranks of remarkable ones. So how do you become a remarkable leader? One word: coaching.
Did You Find Everything You Were Looking For?
Is there such a thing as too much customer service? The more I ponder this question, the more I believe this to be true. Sometimes organizations may go “over the top” to please the customer, but in doing so, they create the opposite effect. Here’s an example.
The OHIO Method
The “OHIO” method is an easy way to be more efficient and productive in the way one handles records and information resources. In fact, it can help anyone to achieve more efficient workflow.
OHIO stands for: Only Handle It Once. The premise of this method is that when paperwork lands on your desk, you only handle it once by immediately assigning it to its correct place instead of re-shuffling the paper back to your inbox. Here’s how to do this.
Putting People Back into the Quality Process
When we focus on business improvement, the easy part is fixing holes in systems and processes to gain quality and efficiency. But the key to making those fixes stick is the people. Enter: positive psychology. Positive psychology is a psychological theory that looks at the positive side of human behaviour. Where psychopathology categorizes undesirable behaviour, positive psychology builds on character strengths to help optimize organizational productivity. Positive psychology is especially well suited for use within culturally diverse workforces.
WII-FM
Ever try to get someone to volunteer to help you out with a project? Or what about getting employees to work collaboratively on a new organization-wide project?
Were you successful in recruiting your volunteers or employees? If you were, then you most likely tuned into their “WII-FM” (“what’s in it for me”) station.
Communicating for Results
Here’s a true story. It happened via e-mail (e-mail contents modified to protect the innocent).