Creating AdjacenciesDiscover your organization’s areas for disruptive change
Fri, 07/20/2012 - 10:36
Starting from scratch, Gil had slowly built a small business and was running it quite successfully. He was a professional at heart: He gained the confidence of customers and prospects, met their expectations, negotiated better prices, and provided… Is the Glass Half-Full?Be sure everyone is talking about the same glass before answering
Wed, 06/13/2012 - 12:41
An optimist would say a glass is half-full, while a pessimist would say it’s half-empty. Someone with a mind for physics would say, “The volume of this cylinder is equally composed of a colorless, odorless liquid and a colorless, odorless gas. Thus… Data First or Workflow First?Without understanding how things go wrong, detailed data analysis is a waste of effort
Tue, 05/22/2012 - 11:49
The IT department of a school district supported itself by providing application development, database maintenance, training, and other services to its internal clients, although no money exchanged hands. The school’s outreach unit, which provided… Reducing Time to ValueA new system runs at peak efficiency only after it’s been launched and used awhile
Wed, 04/18/2012 - 11:08
Given the current dynamic business environment, there is a tremendous need for operational agility and the ability to quickly respond to changing market forces. Time to value (TtV) is an important metric that can be used to manage such environmental… Service Industries Just Don’t Get It!There is always a need to understand the customer’s desires
Tue, 04/03/2012 - 13:12
You check into a high-end hotel for an exorbitant fee. You are tired, thirsty, and you want a drink of water. Either you find no water or the bottled water costs an additional $5.50. You see a coffee pot and complimentary coffee or tea, but you don’… Using Hoshin Kanri and Balanced ScorecardsAre you focusing your organization’s energies in the wrong direction?
Mon, 02/27/2012 - 12:36
The city of Austin, Texas, wanted to be listed as one of the top five places to live in the United States. Explaining that vision to the various municipal departments wasn’t difficult. Managers set about benchmarking from previous years, looking at… January 2012: The Cameras Are RollingLet’s start the year with a simple framework
Fri, 01/06/2012 - 15:26
Lights, camera, action! Sound familiar? Given the continuous release of movies, we are all familiar with this phrase. But what does this have to do with the quality profession or strategy?
“Lights” make more visible the area to be captured on film… Playing with Someone Better Than YouNever underestimate the value of benchmarking
Mon, 11/14/2011 - 13:11
When you try to improve your athletic abilities (e.g., playing tennis, swimming), how do you go about it? There are quite a few options, including observing how those who are best-in-class perform. When we learn from others, we gain from their… Locked in Solution Thinking, Part 2Values and vision form the boundaries within which a solution can be found
Tue, 10/25/2011 - 11:44
In part one of this article, I described a rapid strategic planning session for fire-service response time, and included a comment from one of the planners that he’d like to “see a fire station on every corner.” This was a terrific starting point… Locked in Solution Thinking, Part 1Revisit the what and how of your achievements
Tue, 10/04/2011 - 14:28
During a recent strategic planning session with a county’s leadership council, the participants were asked about their vision for their departments as they worked on a template for the strategic plan. Although there were many responses, one that…
