The Deming Cycle
October 21, 2009 at 10:25 pm | In Business, Change, Improvement, Lean Process, Performance, Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: Improvement, Performance
Following the Second World War, Japan was struggling to regenerate its manufacturing base and a key feature in this struggle was the need to generate a culture of quality.
Their economic saviour in many ways was Dr W. Edwards Deming, an American statistician who was so influential in creating a culture of quality that Japan still has an annual quality award that bears his name. He is a venerable hero of the Quality movement.
A tool that Deming employed frequently for quality and process improvement was the Plan, Do, Check, Act process.
This later became known as the Deming Cycle.
The key principle of this cycle is iteration and feedback.
The key stages are:
PLAN - Design or change a business process with the aim of improving results
DO - Implement the change and measure the change in results
CHECK - Compare the measurements with the original performance to assess improvements
ACT - Decide on the changes that are needed to improve the process
Repeated time and again the PDCA drives any process towards a peak of improved performance. In many ways, this approach now underpins many of the process improvement approaches used in business today.
The Kaizen approach of the Lean process is an iterative improvement process
Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC) of the Six Sigma school is also an iterative approach.
Rummler and Brache (1991) also suggested an approach that repeated a pattern of Identify, Analyse and Improve.
And there are many more.
There are 2 key things to remember about any such iterative approaches:
1. What you measure is critical. You must get your Key Performance Indicators (KPI) correct. Measure the wrong parameter and you improve the wrong thing.
2. If you your process isn’t the correct one in the first instance then you can improve but you are only moving towards a ‘suboptimal’ peak of performance.
The graph below shows what can happen if you focus on only improving the current process.
If you start on the left hand peak, you will optimise, but you will optimse the wrong process.
You should take away from this the need to not only consider improvement as an approach but ensure you are improving the correct process. Suboptimal is exactly that!
Dare to Aspire
Six Thinking Hats
October 20, 2009 at 10:11 pm | In Business, Improvement, Models, Performance, Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: Thinking
When faced with a problem, it can be beneficial to consider a number of different perspectives on that problem.
Different perspectives can often reveal different factors and features and can potentially reveal a variety of innovative solutions.
Using a structured approach to selecting these different perspectives is a sign of disciplined and logical thinking and an approach typified in Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats.
The approach is extremely simple but can be very effective in problem solving.
Each thinker metaphorically adopts a ‘thinking hat’ and then constrains their thinking to just that perspective. Swapping hats allows you to focus on alternative viewpoints until options are exhausted.
Edward De Bono recommends these 6 different ‘hats’ to guide you into thinking from these 6 different perspectives.
Blue Hat: Wear this hat to define the problem and scope of the issue.
White Hat: Wear this hat and focus on the facts of the situation. Look at the features, factors, functions, gaps in process and knowledge. Look for trends, patterns and developments.
Red Hat: Wear this hat to explore the emotions surrounding the problem. Note what you feel instinctively, what your gut tells you.
Yellow Hat: Wear this hat to explore the positive aspects of the issue. What about this is constructive and what can you benefit or learn from? Look for value and benefit.
Green Hat: Wear this hat to develop creative and innovation options. Imaginative solutions that break the mental mould are developed with this hat.
Black Hat: Look for things that are broken or won’t work. What is weak about the issue or solution?
Although this approach can be used by an individual, it has equal if not more effect when it is used by a group. The blue hat would direct the group, and different members of the team would wear ‘hats’ that explored the various perspectives.
The results from this approach should be interesting and useful and may even be quite dramatic. At the very least you and your team will begin to break out of your normal thinking habits.
Dare to Aspire
10 Tips for Successful of Entrepreneurship
October 11, 2009 at 1:38 pm | In Business, Improvement, Leadership, Performance | 2 CommentsTags: Braincram, Entrepreneurship, Success
Starting your own business can be an exciting and exhilarating challenge. It can also be an overwhelming and somewhat daunting experience for anyone. Here are 10 tips that will help you think about the more strategic level things you need to think about. Don’t forget that you will also need to look after the more detailed part of the business too, delivery, marketing, accounting, cashflow management etc.
Have Goals
If you don’t know what you are going, how will you know if you are moving the right direction and how will you know when you get there? Goals need to be clear and compelling; a vision so appealing that it pulls you out of bed in the morning and keeps you driving on into the small hours of the morning.
Work Hard
Building a business is hard work…Busy, busy, busy, hard work, hard work, hard work. You will need your compelling vision to keep you motivated and ensuring that you persist even when you are struggling to find the energy to keep going. Persistence is critical. Make just one more call, write one more email, do just 10 more minutes work and you will be that much closer to your goal.
Know your Market
Whatever you are doing, you need to make sure that someone is interested in paying you for it. You need to know what you target market wants and how they want it. You will also need to know how to approach them and how to sell the benefits of your service or product to that market.
Be Innovative and Differentiate
If you don’t differentiate, then you are only doing the same as many others and you can only compete on price. All you are offering your customers is another choice in a market of businesses saying ‘Me too!’
If you are doing something different, then you have another way to compete and can offer your customers something that stands out from the crowd. Mercedes Benz cars don’t cry ‘me too!’ to their customers. So should you?
Believe in What you are Doing
People only buy what they know will meet their needs. They will also only buy when they have a level of confidence that a product of service will meet that need. So the sales process is a way to ensure that your customer develops confidence in what you are offering and then commits to buying it.
How will you persuade them that what you are offering will meet their need if you don’t have at least the same level of confidence in what you are offering? The sales process then becomes a conversation aimed at building and sharing your confidence level with your customer so that they are convinced and buy.
Stay Focused
You will achieve more if you are focused on doing one thing at a time. One task, one goal, one business idea. I recommend reading Jurgen Wolff’s book ‘Focus’ to give you some ideas and techniques to help you focus more effectively.
Develop Relationships
All businesses are people businesses. People take the actions, people make the sales, people buy the product, and people promote you business with endorsements and recommendations. The more time you spend developing relationships, the more effectively you will be able to manage and build your business.
Surround Yourself with Great People
As an entrepreneur, you will very soon recognise that won’t be able to do everything yourself. Indeed the very characteristics of being an entrepreneur means that you are better at building a business than achieving the individual delivery tasks within that business.
So ensure you hire or work with great people, especially people who are better at doing key tasks than you are.
If you hire people that are not as good as you, then you will build a company where you are continually checking on people and being disappointed with their output.
Hire great people and then set them free to achieve.
Lead Your Team
Part of being an entrepreneur is giving your team the guidance they need to fulfil the vision. Sharing your vision is not enough. You also need to ensure that the team is continually supported in the delivering that vision and are rewarded when they make significant progress towards achieving it. There are many models of leadership and leading, but the simplest form is to’ know the way, to show the way and to go the way!’
Cheesy perhaps, but it captures the sentiment of leadership in very simple terms.
Never Stop Selling
Never forget that you are running a business and that you need revenue to survive. Let your mantra be ‘Customer and Cash’.
You must, at a bare minimum, satisfy your customers. I would suggest that your best approach is to make them raving fans. But you must always be thinking of how to make the sale. Sometimes you can sell at the first opportunity. Other times you will need to make a continual investment in the relationship in order to establish credibility and have your prospect believe enough to become a customer. Always be building the relationship and the selling will take care of itself.
These are just 10 of many tips that you will read about and learn from myriad sources. Although not exhaustive, they are useful to have in mind when you are building your business.
Dare to Aspire
9 Tips for Effective Networking
June 29, 2009 at 7:25 pm | In Business, career | 5 CommentsTags: Networking
One of the most useful things you can do for personal and professional success is to network effectively. And as with most activities, there is a right way to network and a wrong way to network.
If you have the time, I recommend reading ‘Never Eat Alone’, which is the seminal work on networking and Ferrazzi has a talent for describing the most effective techniques of Networking in an easily understood and accessible way.
If you don’t have the time or the inclination for the big volume then here are some tips for networking:
1. Talk to anyone about anything. Participate in other peoples thinking as much as possible as no one is as smart as all of us are together and you never know who has the innovative solution to your problem.
2. Develop a high tolerance for ambiguity as opening yourself up to other ideas will often result in your challenging your own ideas, beliefs and sometimes even your values.
3. Don’t enter a discussion with an attitude of getting something out of it. By going into a discussion with a viewpoint of giving more than you hope to receive will make you appear truly sincere and helpful and not just out to use the relationship for your own ends.
4. Have a fearless attitude because starting a conversation with people who you don’t know can often be intimidating. Get comfortable with this feeling and you will look at networking as a delight rather than something to fear.
5. Always think about the connections that you could help each person make. One of the most beneficial influences that good networkers develop is being a social node, a person who people will contact just to get to another person in the network. If you add value to relationships you nurture, everyone profits over time.
6. Go on gut instinct. If you think the connection won’t endure, move on. You have to be happy with the person you are networking with in order connect them with others that know and trust you with their details.
7. Expand your conversational topics and your sense of humour. Being confidence when you discuss topics or being able to break the ice with a humorous comment will make you a person that is happy with networking and someone that people will want to network with, making the problem of making the first approach disappear!
8. Have a way of keeping track of the people you meet and what they talk about. It is the chance to think about how they fit into your network and who would benefit from knowing and how they could benefit from others in your network.
9. Maintain the integrity to yourself and your network. People are trusting you with their personal information. Live up to that trust.
If you look at the most successful people, they are generally those people that have the largest network, touch each element of it regularly and add value to all those with whom they connect.
Dare to Aspire
Common Mistakes in Proposal Writing
September 6, 2008 at 12:17 pm | In Business, Improvement, Performance, career | Leave a Comment
Proposal writing is key to the survival of most service providers and consultants, particularly those that operate in the Public or Government domain. To support businesses that are writing proposals for government work, there are often standards that can be followed, including the guidance provided by Herman Holtz and also the Shipley approach.
The writing of proposals is a skill in itself and requires that the writer have knowledge of Marketing and sales, Business analysis, expertise on the subject itself and a good grounding in writing, particularly persuasive writing. Even with this knowledge, skill and experience of other proposals, there are still some things to avoid:
The common mistakes that proposal writers make:
Aggressive / Defensive Proposals – don’t make bold claims with caveats or have escape clauses if you fail to complete the task successfully.
Loud Claims Proposal – Avoid a sales pitch rather than a substantive address of the problem particularly if you do not offer a viable solution.
Me too Proposal – There is no point in arguing that ‘we can do it too!’ if you don’t offer another compelling reason to choose you.
Unsure of the Requirement Proposal – it is a poor consultancy that suggests ‘we can do some really good work, perhaps it fits your needs’ when a key role of consultants is to help identify the needs.
Whatever it is we can do it Proposal –an approach that offers a ‘whatever you want, we can do it and provide a great performance’ solution is rarely credible.
Canned solution Proposal – One size rarely fits all, so make sure you tailor you proposal and your solution to the problem you have identified.
The client will have both ‘Needs’ and ‘Wants’ that have to be addressed (although not necessarily delivered), so focus on meeting those. Whatever the proposal relates to however, the writing needs to be accurate, brief, clear and relevant and be about how the solution meets the clients ‘Wants’ and ‘Needs’.
The proposal you offer is only better than the others if the customer decides it is better, therefore it is also a matter of selling your solution to the client rather than just meeting the ‘Wants’ and Needs’.
In reality, you only really learn about writing proposals from writing them and getting feedback, so whenever you get the opportunity, gain the feedback and learn from the experience by looking at what the customer really thought.
Dare to Aspire
Are you being lied to? Focus on the truth of what you see and hear!
August 15, 2008 at 9:55 am | In Business, Improvement, Leadership, Performance | Leave a Comment
When a magnifying glass focuses light into a single beam, the point of focus for that light can become hot. The energy is focused onto a single point and extremes of heat can be generated. Your mind can also be directed onto a single task and it is most capable of maximum achievement when you concentrate entirely on that task.
Modern society, however, values the act of concentration very little. Advertisements bombard us with information in 30 second blocks. Our news casts are reduced to just a few moments of information, before moving quickly on and even our politicians reduce their ideas into short and pithy sound bites.
The pace at which information is presented to us means that by the time we have grasped one idea, the next is upon us, like train carriages passing through a station at high speed. This often pays into the hands of those presenting information to us. By not allowing us to think about an idea or concept, we naturally accept it as truth and move on. Our values and beliefs are the result of experience and evidence that we see repeatedly and so, politicians and the media, in repeating their message and not allowing people to analyse and assess that information, ingrain in us their beliefs and values unimpeded. This reduction in our skill and ability to question what we see has been a slow and relentless process. The result is that as a society and a species we have significantly reduced our overall mental horsepower. We need to regain that skill.
By simply slowing down the rate at which information is presented to you and be spending time to assess that information you can more readily identify the value of that information. It is important to have an independent view on the information and events in the world around us. Accurately assessing this information will allow us to
- Identify when information is being misrepresented
- Make more considered decisions
- Take advantage of the opportunities available, that others do not see
If we are more aware of the true impact and value of information than the majority of people, then we have a significant advantage.
What allows us to gain these insights is the ability to focus on a particular issue and concentrate on its value, meaning and impact.
- Value – the truth value of information. For example, consider the phrases ‘Global Warming’ and ‘Climate change’. Both are phrases that reflect the impact that modern society is having on the environment. ‘Climate change’ is a neutral phrase that gives the impression that the climate is only changing. ‘Global warming’ however has darker overtones that reflect the increased likelihood of drought and famine. Which phrase more readily reflects the truth!
- Meaning – the significance of the information. Knowing the value of information will allow you to understand its relevance in the bigger picture. If an organisation wants to distract attention from an uncomfortable issue, then they may re-frame that issue into a positive light or present it as the lesser of 2 evils.
- Impact – the true effect that this has on the people and world around us. For example, taxing the very rich may seem like a good way for Governments to gain income for the treasury but only if the very rich stay in the country. If those rich people leave the country then the overall income for the country drops and the true impact of the policy is to reduce treasury wealth rather than increase it.
Don’t take the information that you are presented with for granted. Ask questions that will allow you to gain a true understanding of any information you are given. Only by questioning this information will be able to make a true assessment of the value and impact of that information and allow us to benefit from that advantage.
Dare to Aspire
9 Steps to Developing an Organisation That Thrives on Change and Continuous Improvement
June 2, 2008 at 8:15 pm | In Business, Change, Improvement, Performance | 1 Comment
Change is one of the most difficult management tasks to achieve. People don’t like change and will resist it. However, the world is changing at a pretty rapid rate. It is difficult for a business to survive under these conditions unless it embraces change.
History has, however, shown that those organisms and organisations that have changed and adapted to a changing environment have normally both survived and then thrived under reduced competition.
The best way to adapt to the changes in the environment is to make everyone aware of such changes and then create an environment that supports and rewards Continuous Improvement.
Here then are 9 steps to developing an organisation that support Continuous Improvement:
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Develop a business plan and then ensure that everyone in the organisation knows and understands it. If your team know where they are aiming, they are more likely to be able to make decisions that align with that target.
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Identify the areas of your business that are most influenced by change and encourage an understand of the problems facing that part of your business. Explain the need to consider this as a business threat and create a sense of urgency in acting to address this threat.
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Identify a person to head up the Continuous Improvement Initiative. This person will lead the initiative, act as a focal point for questions and reinforce the commitment that senior management has to the initiative.
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Have this leader develop a communication plan so that everyone is exposed to the aims and the mechanisms for the Continuous Improvement Initiative.
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Implement policies and programmes that support continuous Improvement. These could be focused at individual areas of a current process (six sigma orientated approach) or focused at the entire value stream (lean process approach) for a business.
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Fund any training that is going to improve your team’s performance potential. Capability is found at the point where knowledge, skill and attitude combine, so create the opportunity for people to develop their knowledge and skills.
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Provide the facilities and opportunities for people to think and talk about how to improve. Improvement is not just about gaining knowledge and skills. It is essentially about acting, getting the team to develop a plan of change and then acting to apply it.
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Ensure that good ideas are recognised, implemented and the team rewarded, It is a truism that ‘What is measured is achieved’ so ensure you are measuring any improvement. Another truism is that ‘What is rewarded is sustained’, so make sure you reward what you want to sustain..
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Employ the KISS principle. Keep It Simple Stupid! Don’t try too many initiatives at once as you are dividing your effort. Don’t follow one change immediately with another as this can lead to change fatigue. Pick an area where change will provide significant benefit, implement a change and then allow it to become embedded before moving on to another initiative.
An excellent book to read on instigating change and continuous improvement is Leading Change by John Kotter
Dare to Aspire
The Attributes of Leadership (3)
May 5, 2008 at 7:43 pm | In Business, Improvement, Leadership, Performance | 2 CommentsVision
Vision is determining the direction of your organisation in the short and long term.
A leader with vision articulates their vision in a clear and concise manner, engendering emotional support in a positive and up-beat manner. They know the purpose of their task in the wider context and are able to take a long-term view.
They achieve this by:
- Establishing and communicating a common purpose
- Setting and explaining key outcomes
- Setting objectives and the required level of performance
- Managing results and resources
- Understanding the wider context; being able to think strategically
- Solving problems and taking decisions
A leader with vision sets the vision or idea in the context of the organisation, ensuring it is firmly rooted in practicality. Without some grounding in reality and the resources to back it, a vision will be little more than a dream.
Visionary leaders clarify the goals to be achieved and the benefits that will result. They use intuition, imagination and innovation in developing their vision or idea with a clear and articulated reason for that vision. There must also be a degree of robust analysis supporting that vision.
Leadership is fundamentally a change process and establishing shared ownership is important in building support and ironing out the more improbable elements for any vision. Flexibility will be needed as the vision may go through various changes as the environment changes. It is the outcome that matters less than the exact path taken to achieve it.
A leader with vision will need the ability to communicate their idea clearly ans display the confidence and passion to support and defend their ideas and to drive the vision forward.
As the vision moves from idea to action, the team can work to achieve the tasks or objectives. This requires that the leader established a shared idea of success, delegate tasks and clarify boundaries for the team and project.
Dare to Aspire
Becoming a Better Facilitator (Part 2)
April 16, 2008 at 8:35 pm | In Business, Improvement, Performance | Leave a CommentApplying the basic skills of facilitation will allow you to manage a group and bring about a successful outcome for your group. But to really perform well, it is useful to have a few tricks and techniques to call upon.
Even though our voice is our primary tool in facilitation, studies have demonstrated that only 7% of what we communicate is in the words that are spoken. 33% is how the words are said and 55% of meaning is in facial expression and body language.
Try applying these verbal and non-verbal techniques to enhance your facilitation style.
Verbal Techniques
- Alter the tone and volume for the effect you want. Fast, loud and energetic to create enthusiasm, clear and direct to take control again.
- Use open questions to encourage answers that have more content than Yes or No. ‘What happened?’, ‘How can we fix that?’, ‘What have we learned’ all demand more than a one word answer.
- Use encouragement. Often a sound or the word ‘and’ can bring out more information and they are less disruptive to the thought process than saying ‘Great point!’
- Parrot phrase for clarity, repeating the exact words back slowly to the group so that you demonstrate you are listening and that you want to clarify the point being made.
- Imply questions and commands with the tone of your voice. Make a statement and raise the tone of the last syllable so that it implies a question. Ask a question and lower the last syllable so that it implies a command.
- Refer to a point and ask what the rest of the group think. ‘ Frank has an excellent point, can anyone see how we can apply that?’
Non-Verbal Techniques
- Attentiveness - Be attentive and focus on the individual speaking. This allows you to demonstrate to the group that you are listening and makes both you and the speaker the centre of attention.
- Location - Move around the room so that you can identify those that are not engaging in the process or are checking their blackberry! Standing near someone can often be intimidating enough to make them rejoin the group.
- Use Silence – Silence is useful to encourage more from the speaker. They will often become increasingly uncomfortable with the silence and feel the need to fill the gap. Don’t leave it too long though as you may lose momentum with the group.
- Body Language -Use open gestures and stances to demonstrate approachability. If you find someone who is a little reluctant to speak, close the distance and lower yourself to their level so that they feel more confident.
Common Pitfalls
These are some easy traps to fall into. You will probably commit more than one in the early days…I still do!
- Finding the solution for the group – You may see the solution so clearly and want to guide the discussion, but it is essential that the group find their own solution as their Involvement generates their commitment!
- Don’t play the expert – you may be the expert, but no-one iS as smart as everyone in the room together, so draw the answer out of the group. You may be too close to the problem as an expert and not see and alternative approach!
- Don’t manipulate the words you hear so that they fit into your pre conceived solution – Parrot phrase not paraphrase or you are in danger of stamping your opinion on the groups outcome.
- Don’t let one person dominate the floor – Be good humoured and say ‘ thanks for that Bill I think you have made you point’ then move on quickly by asking someone for their viewpoint.
- Disappearing down rabbit holes – keep the outcome in view and make sure that the conversation is moving in that direction. It is all too easy to become side tracked rather than focus on the point at hand.
With practise and repetition, these points should help you become a better facilitator. All that is required is a little confidence and practise.
Dare to Aspire
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