This article is great. We spent lots of time writing and editing it. You should read it. -Or- We strive to educate and inform our partners and clients. We select the best medium to achieve that goal, personalized for you. This article is a result of that process. Which is the more effective pitch? Last week, we spoke about the need for companies to be intentional in their processes. Businesses must consider not only what they are doing but also why they are doing it. Starting with why, they are able to better identify critical processes and make optimal decisions. This is similar to what Simon Sinek talks about in his best-selling book, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. While his ideas are inspirational and useful for leaders the world over, this is not exactly the same as what we mean when we suggest you start […]

You’ve evaluated your business, you’ve identified where your major issues are, and you have created a few processes using the IPO model designed to make things more efficient. But, you know you’re not done. The work is never finished! This is an infinite game and you’ve just started. This is where the PDCA Method comes in. Designed by W. Edwards Deming in the 1950’s at a statistical quality control seminar in Japan, the wheel you are used to seeing in fact has its roots in the Shewhart cycle. Shewhart was an American physicist and sometimes acclaimed “father of statistical quality control”. In 1939 he changed the core concept of his cycle from a linear process to one that is circular, with no end. Deming took this already good idea and added a fourth step. To Shewart’s initial three step process of specification – production – inspection he added redesign. Therein the structure […]

Have you ever had an argument with someone close to you (of course the answer is yes!) Did you resolve the issue effectively the first time? The answer is probably no. Typically, these sorts of important, highly emotional problems are very thorny to untangle. Unless these conversations are approached in a rational, formulaic way, the results are often not good! The same is all too often true in business as well. While most issues in business do not appear to us to be extremely emotional, there is often something more than a profit motive underlying our disagreements. A coworker does not feel respected, someone has an attachment to a project, or perhaps personal issues are crossing the work threshold. Regardless, you work with people and nothing will change that until the robots take all our jobs. In their book Difficult Conversations, How to Discuss What Matters Most authors Bruce Patton, Douglas Stone, […]