newsletter archive.
(Previously published under the title Extreme Profits
under ISSN 1925-8941)
Essential skills, technology’s curse
In 1959, Peter Drucker said that the knowledge worker will be "the most valuable asset of a 21st Century institution, whether business or non-business."
Drucker was correct. The vast majority of work in the 21st Century is knowledge work. In fact, over 88 percent of employees are in this type of work. However, Drucker had no way of knowing that today's knowledge worker would be lacking in fundamental proficiency.
Adding value, when value wavers
In operations management, we are taught that "value" or "value added" is the difference between the cost of inputs and the price of outputs. While this sounds simple, measuring value is not always so straightforward, especially when measuring intangibles.
Just in time, continuing the improvement
We have all experienced the "just in case" syndrome: “Let's purchase a few extra file folders, just in case we need them next month. Let's order an extra toner cartridge, just in case the one we now have runs out of ink too soon. Let's buy an extra steak, just in case George decides to come for dinner.”
While it is so wrong and so wasteful, many businesses still run on the "just in case" model. Instead, they should be running in the opposite direction - using "just-in-time" (JIT).
Developing competitive advantage, strengthening core competencies
What are your firm's core competencies? What does your company do better than any other company?
Many organizations will readily answer this question with statements such as: "We make the best cars." "We provide the best financial advice." "We're the number one supplier of luxury homes." "We have the largest selection of furniture in the city." But many of these same companies may fail to capitalize on their core competencies. Let me explain.
For goodness sake, useful quality standards and tools
How good is your business? While we can get into regression analysis and other measures of goodness and goodness of fit to answer this question, a stable indicator of how well a business is performing is your customer. Loyal and satisfied customers generally provide evidence of a company's quality.
Lessons learned, successful solutions
After your organization implements a project, does the project owner engage the team in a project debrief? If not, then your organization can be losing out on valuable lessons. Learning from project debriefs results in improvements in future projects.
Focus for growth, taking business to the next level
What do successful businesses have in common? They dominate (or are really good in) their niche. Their focus is in only one or a few areas of specialization.
A business or organization without focus goes down a path that leads to nowhere very quickly. We can never be everything to everyone. That is why the world is dotted with vendors of specialty products and services.
Shifting culture, how consultants can help
The word "culture" first appeared in early Romans (Cicero) as "cultura animi" or "cultivation of the soul." In today's business, we use the term to describe the "intangibles" of how people act. It incorporates a group's or an organization's views, experiences and ways of engagement in all it does.
Opportunity doesn’t knock, being bold
Who said "opportunity knocks?" I don't know, either, but there's a good chance that they're wrong. Opportunity never knocks - opportunities are created.
And creating opportunities means creating and taking advantage of great ideas.
Finding the balance, building your scorecard
Efficient organizations are more than just well-tuned processes. They also focus on how and what value they deliver to their customers, shareholders and employees. In fact, organizational efficiency is a balanced performance in four areas: finances, customers, processes, and learning and growth.
Mentoring for organizational success, a joint venture
Retaining hard-earned experience and wisdom within the organization means that the management of information and interpersonal knowledge is more crucial than ever.
Forward-thinking organizations use mentoring to nurture and grow their employees' skills, preparing both the employees and organization for the future. This is especially important for leadership skills.
Powerhouses of motivation, no place for dead ideas
The best tool for motivating teams to complete projects is the project charter. In fact, when all else fails, this simple tool helps teams get over project plateaus.
At its heart, the project charter is an essential ingredient in the "define" phase of any Lean project. It sets the stage for how the project and its outcomes will be measured, analyzed, improved and controlled.
Customers, over-communication
Do you know your customers? Or, perhaps, a better question is: Who are your customers?
Organizations that provide goods and services (usually for money) to those external to their organization know their customer demographic. However, employees that do not deal with people outside their organization sometimes have difficulty defining their "customer."
Rooting out the problem, reclaiming value
When fixing problems, many people typically fix only the symptoms, rather than the actual problem. The outcome is that the problem reoccurs, each time usurping valuable organizational resources.
To fix the problem, you need to identify and eliminate the root cause.
Team dynamics, balancing the team
While poor team dynamics can occur in any organization, Lean organizations want to avoid this occurrence at all costs. Why? Poor team dynamics can kill projects even before they start!
When working with a team, be it a focus group, Kaizen team, project team, or any type of group in between, prevention of maladaptive behaviour needs to start right at the beginning of the first meeting. Set the stage for effective teamwork with ground rules.
Quality as a factor of excellence, acceptance of change
Because it is subjective, quality is not easy to define. This is a problem for business because while the organization thinks it is producing quality goods and services, its customers may think differently.
Take internal business processes, for example. Quality processes have short lead and cycle times and zero defects/errors. They are near perfect. However, just because the organization thinks it has turned out perfection does not make it so.
What’s the risk, overcoming barriers to implementation
With new projects comes an expectation of improvement. But what does not always come with new projects is a risk assessment. And without a risk assessment, successful implementation of the project is in jeopardy right out of the gate.
Determining what matters most, work-life balance
January of every year sees a multitude of resolutions to start new habits or shed old ones. The aim is always the same: To achieve new goals or re-try past failed attempts.
But we all know that resolute actions in January typically disappear by December's close.
Why is that?
Agent of change, dangers of kaizen blitzes
Even when the thing to be changed is an easy fix, change is a difficult process. This is because change interrupts the normal flow of work. It also takes time to see the benefits of change. Most people don't have the patience to wait for results.
But there is a way to realize rapid change: Engage staff in a Lean Kaizen event.
Out of chaos, learning from failure
In his 1907 book The Education of Henry Adams, Adams sharply criticizes 19th Century educational theory and practice. Writing that "chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit," his views on formal education as an inert collection of facts suggest that learning must extend beyond the classroom. If education is to be worthwhile, it must "breed life" rather than habit.