Top Team Understanding and Commitment

If you examine all the companies who have successfully implemented any initiative of any kind into an organisation you discover one simple truth; they all have a common understanding and commitment to the initiative which has been chosen at the very top of the organisation. Think of Jack Welsh at GE or Bill Smith at Motorola, they and their board agreed that they would use Six Sigma as their improvement initiative and everyone agreed; the rest is history.

This is why you always hear the phrase 'Top Down commitment is essential for successful deployment'. The problem is that you don't always have all your managers with common understanding and therefore commitment to an initiative. Top managers also constantly change their ideas and launch a new initiative which gives the organisation all kinds of problems.

The fact is that most senior managers don't understand the methodology they have selected to implement, don't understand their own business and its culture and certainly don't understand the work required to make it a success. They then get frustrated as they don't get the results they expect, so they pick another idea and run with that. The result is that when we go into organisations to help them you hear things like - we tried that before and it didn't work; don't mention xxx around hear as it was a disaster; we are different, that kind of thing never works for us.

Why do senior managers not understand the initiatives they are trying to implement?

When we start to spend time with an organisation which is looking to change, they ask us what we can do to solve their problems. They want a quick fix and rapid changes to the organisation as they are in trouble, which is why they have asked us to come and see them in the first place. As a result they don't have in their view point the time to spend understanding where they are, then working out how to turn things around and lastly understanding themselves how to change things.

If you ask a senior manager what they do with their time you get some interesting answers. Ask them to split their time in the last few weeks as an average into the following categories:

• Strategy, Leadership and Motivation for the workforce
• Tactical day to day chasing of orders, checking things have been done and answering issues
• Financial elements of the business

The answer is normally staggering. Most senior managers spend 80% of there time doing tactical day to day issues and virtually no time doing strategy and motivation. Guess what successful senior managers spend more time on strategy and motivation than anything else. This explains why when we say lets get the senior managers together even for 1 day so few can make the time to start to understand what Lean Six Sigma is and how to deploy it. How then do you think that they can get enough of an understanding to motivate and drive the methodology through the organisation? The answer is they can't?

Toyota took 30 - 40 years to change the culture of their organisation with Ohno and Sengo providing the thoughts and drive for lean to be implemented. It took GE and Motorola decades to implement Six Sigma fully into their organisations. Yet today's senior managers expect instant results. I think a good analogy would be football teams in the UK who switch and change managers looking for instant success where as successful team - Manchester United and Arsenal have giving there managers time to get it right.

To ensure success, it is vital that the senior management team take some time to understand the following essential elements of any Lean Six Sigma deployment.

• What is Lean Six Sigma
• How can Lean Six Sigma help your business
• How to deploy a successful program
• How to structure your organisation to ensure success
• What is the role of Lean Six Sigma Champion and sponsor
• How to select projects
• How to support and motivate your people

If a top team can spend the time understanding and planning the above then they can start to implement Lean Six Sigma and there might be success.

• It means that when they stand up to talk about the subject they know what it is about enabling them to talk with credibility.
• They understand how much time each Green or Black Belt needs in order to be successful and can be given the right kind of support.
• When they run gate reviews they ask the right questions and ask for the right behaviours from Green and Black Belts. Meaning a greater chance of projects being a success.
• They know how to structure the organisation and to choose the right people and projects.
• They know how to link the strategy of the company to the Lean Six Sigma deployment.

How to obtain top management buy in?

If you are in the situation where you know that Lean Six Sigma is the best thing for your organisation and you need to convince your management, you must consider a few things to convince them. You must also have the skills to influence people throughout the organisation that Lean Six Sigma is the best thing for the benefit of the organisation. Influencing skills are being recognised as essential in business if you wish to be successful.

The items below will help you influence and convince senior managers.

Show benefits
If you can demonstrate how the approach will help the organisation and the kind of benefits you can obtain, then you will catch the attention of your Senior Managers. To do this, Deployment Champions run a few improvement projects under no name in particular. They can then calculate the benefits using the finance community to validate them. Some benchmarking can also be done, showing what has been achieved in other similar organisations. Lastly you can highlight where your current problems are and then explain how Lean Six Sigma will help to address these issues.

Explain the concept and how to ensure success
If you understand the concepts, then you have the knowledge to explain how Lean Six Sigma can benefit a company and how to set up for success. If you don't, then you could ask an expert to come and talk to your Senior Management group. 100% Effective Training have enjoyed the challenge of talking to management groups in many different industries and answering the questions of the Senior Management group.

Understand where it can help
Identifying where to run your projects is vital in any deployment and even more so in the early stages. You must pick projects which are not so easy that any attention would have solved them, or projects which are so big it would be like solving world hunger. If you pick a meaningful project which brings great results both monitory and other wise then you can usually gain the attention of Senior Management and then move to a full deployment in your organisation. Another problem we have been encountering is that businesses don't really know where there real problems are. They work on solving symptoms and putting out fires, they don't actually know where the root causes are. In this instance then, we would suggest obtaining a diagnostic of your business which would then tell you where to start in your program deployment.

Understand what motivates your Managers
If you understand the motivations of your management team then you will know what buttons to press to get the concepts accepted. This might require some work and research and would include things like how they are measured, how their bonuses are made up, where they wish to take the company, what they believe the current issues are, what they know about the concepts and what they have tried in the past. If you work on these areas, your pitch to your Managers will be considered, have the right detail and will have a chance of working.

Can you deploy without top management buy in?

The simple answer is yes you can. It is however a lot harder; you must ensure that you get quick wins to demonstrate the benefits of the approach. You must also start to use the skills of influencing with Senior Management to convince them that Lean Six Sigma is the way forward.

entrep

Ten Guidelines For Managers Who Want to Create Culture Change

A common perception is that cultural change has to start at the very top of an organization. But studies and field experience have shown that culture change can begin with the sub-culture of a work-group where a manager who is one or two levels down from senior management decides to become an Island of Excellence® in a sea of mediocrity. As objective evidence of believable performance improvement becomes known to other managers, change often goes horizontal across the organization through other work-groups, then up through the line organization to top managers. The Breckenridge Institute® has developed ten guidelines that managers should follow when under-taking this kind of culture change.

Make sure that the changes you propose are in the best interest of the overall organization, not the self-interest of your work-group. Build sustainable capability and infrastructure that benefits the entire organization rather than optimizing your own position and sub-optimizing the organization's overall performance.
Solve your own work-group's problems first and become an example of the change you're trying to achieve. Operate from a "no-blame" philosophy that doesn't point the finger at others, but takes personal responsibility for your work-group's performance within the organizational context it is embedded. As Jim Collins describes, when there are issues and problems to be solved, look in the mirror of personal responsibility. When there is praise and recognition to be apportioned, look out the window and ascribe credit to those who have made the change possible.
Create your own organizational "space" and obtain additional resources based on the value you add. Don't move in on other managers' areas or "cherry pick" the most visible high-leverage projects. Find a new area to develop or one that has been traditionally neglected by the organization and turn it into a high-performing enterprise. Strive to build new organizational capability that can be transformed into revenue or an enhanced ability to achieve the organization's purpose and goals.
Align your work-group's vision with other work-groups, departments, and functional units by focusing on the things you hold in common. While each work-group may have a different function in the overall organization, its activities should be aligned to achieve a common purpose and the goals of the overall organization. Alignment of purpose and goals and focusing on what an organization has in common are the core differences between being a "group" of people and being a "team."
Communicate the trade-offs of actually accomplishing change to work-group members. For example, if your goal is to increase productivity, then this will require more time and energy from group members and increased resources may not always be immediately available until the work-group demonstrates its increased productivity to top managers. But positive change often brings increased visibility with senior managers that can result in professional advancement for those involved in the change.
Manage "meaning" for people both in and out of your work-group so changes are interpreted through the lens of your work-group's vision. The purpose of culture (any culture) is to teach people how to "see" the world, so make sure that the actions and interactions of your work-group are properly explained and interpreted to top managers and peers so it's clear how your vision links to the overall organization's purpose and goals. Remember that people tend to see exactly what they expect to see, so help to shape those expectations for people both in and out of your work-group.
Only engage in constructive conflict with other work-groups or managers, and only do this when you have to for the best interest of the overall organization. While constructive conflict can create synergy, creativity, innovation, and improvement, the destructive conflict that comes from criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling that is displayed in meetings, e-mails, and other human interactions frustrates and undermines an organization's ability to achieve its purpose and goals.
Cultivate allies who will support the change and form open coalitions to ensure that change is sustainable. Focus on winning the support of those who are skeptical about the change by involving them in the process or showing them how they make similar improvements in their work-groups. If the change agent follows the first seven guidelines described above, then other managers at all organizational levels will begin to line up to support the change and voluntarily put their shoulders to the wheel of increasing its momentum and ensuring its sustainability.
Create a concrete, tangible path-forward with credible next steps and a well-defined picture of the value-added that the change will bring to the overall organization. Having established the long-term vision of the change and achieved some initial results that show change is possible, it is important to define what constitutes a "win" or how we will we know when we've arrived. It's also important to map out the behaviors, skills, and process changes that will be necessary to carry the change initiative all the way to the finish line.
Find and use measurements to reinforce the fact that change is actually happening and also to accelerate change. Use existing measures (or create new ones) to disconfirm the old ways of seeing the work-group's level of performance and to build quantitative evidence that the change has happened and that it will be sustainable. Identify exemplars (examples) that convincingly demonstrate the value that the change is adding to your work-group and the overall organization.

The common perception that cultural change has to start at the very top of an organization has been shown to be incorrect in many organizations. Culture change can begin with the sub-culture of a work-group where a manager who is one or two levels down from senior management decides to become an Island of Excellence® in a sea of mediocrity. As objective of performance improvement and increased capability become known to other managers, change often goes horizontal across the organization through other work-groups, then up through the line organization to top managers. While the specific application of the ten guidelines will change from organization to organization, the Breckenridge Institute® has found that properly implemented the principles will hold true in for-profit, non-profit, and government organizations.

Bottom Line: Culture change can begin at any level because organizations are collective-cultural entities that are led, managed, and changed one person at a time.

accounting blog news

Deal Flow - Conflict of Interest - SPAC Challenge

Deals must be done quietly, as secretively as possible and avoid, particularly with a SPAC transaction, any questions that raise conflict of interest issues.

According to CFO Magazine's June 3, 2008 issue in an article titled, Loose Lips Sink Deals, Too, if deals are not done quietly and secretively they are less likely to happen. Not only do less deals get to closed transaction status when information is prematurely leaked to the marketplace (49% as opposed to 72%) but also the average time to close increases by 70 percent from 62 days to 105. These figures are the product of research done by the Cass Business School.

Professor Scott Moeller of the Cass Business School in London and a former managing director and senior investment banker at Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley managed the research.

The results of this study may help SPAC managers in their quest to find appropriate acquisitions. While SPACs and PEGs use an old model of slightly proactive and mostly reactive deal flow generation, the process, reliant on relationships and word of mouth advertising, creates a counter productive process for getting deals done. The Cass research supports the argument that new models for deal flow creation must be created.

In the case of a SPAC, where most of the associates and partners come out of the PEG world, two issues stand as obstacles to being successful and in compliance.

First, SPAC partners are forbidden by regulation to have any prior relationship with those companies they choose to acquire. Yet they use the aforementioned relationship based system of communication to foster deal flow. This is a dangerous practice and raises the question of conflict of interest.

Second, SPAC's have a short time window in which to find and close on an appropriate acquisition. The old model, rife with conflict of interest possibilities, has as its foundation an antiquated system for deal flow generation. In the process of spreading the word on a deal with established relationships, necessary secrecy is dissolved. The very model used by SPAC's and PEG's to garner deal flow that will lead to an appropriate acquisition is self defeating. The old model creates a conundrum that both kills deals and those that do move forward take 70% longer to close.

In order to maintain secrecy as well as eliminate the conflict of interest question, the solution is to outsource the deal flow creation process. The old model does not serve either the SPAC's or the PEG's.

The means by which to advance expeditiously and in compliance is to contract intermediaries to find appropriate acquisition targets. While the SPAC's and PEG's are always open to fielding deals (reactive), a smart intermediary, who is also profit motivated, will not deliver choice targets. The good companies, once in the trusted embrace of an M & A intermediary, will lock them up in a sell side representation contract. Hence, the auction block is the only place a SPAC or PEG buyer will see these firms.

An intermediary who is contracted on the buy side of the transaction is the perfect means for satisfying both the SPAC and PEG need for: privacy, secrecy, no conflict of interest and an expeditious and efficient close.

Competition for the acquisition of profitable companies, thanks to globalization, is at a fevered pitch. Blank check companies and PEG's must change their deal flow creation model and the sooner the better. Missed opportunity costs are quantifiable.

customer services

'Not in My Back Yard'

"10p tax rate cut disaster: Government forced into u-turn over 10p tax rate debacle."

It's interesting that regardless of politics, most commentators seem to agree that the way the government handled the 10p tax rate difficulty gave them more of a headache than anything to celebrate. Interview after interview and article after article focused on the shortfalls in taking care of the several million people who would be adversely affected by the abolition of the 10p tax rate.

It also meant that Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown made various statements over the weeks. First they said they would do nothing, then they said they may do something, followed by if they did anything it would be later in the year, concluding with the £2.7b solution in the final announcement.

In all of the debate and commentary, I only heard a few people mention the fact that the abolition of the 10p tax rate was part of an overhaul of the general taxation system and specifically I heard only one mention of the fact that the starting rate of tax had been reduced from 22p to 20p.

Now I'm presenting this observation from a viewpoint of trying to be apolitical, and yet by anyone's standards it seems that the government missed a huge opportunity in not establishing their agenda and restating it at every opportunity, i.e. that the purpose of last year's budget was to simplify the taxation system and in doing so 22p to 20p was a massive gain for most people. In the event, they allowed themselves to be pushed onto the negative agenda of the detrimental effect of the 10p abolition as part of the overall clarification.

This is a great example of poorly managing change. In the cold light of day most of us will think that any kind of disruptive change, needs to be explained in advance. For changes to 'stick', the people who you are expecting to accept the changes, need to be engaged with; they need to 'buy in' to the change. All too often, the benefits of change are undersold and the pitfalls not honestly thought through or communicated. These failings result in a feeling of imposition, resentment and resistance.

Now in the tax row case there is a good argument for asking "how come the government missed the implications of the 10p cut bit of an overall tax package, that all parties agreed to in principle, yet no party wants to reinstate?" I suggest that in this case they lost touch with the people it would affect, and the dialogue needed to bring about change ceased to happen with those the change would affect.

Governments often talk about a period of consultation or creating a dialogue or debate; not always easy to do but omit it at your peril, as the government found out! The bigger the organisation (and they don't get much bigger than a government's relationship to its people) the more difficult the engagement, but it doesn't get round the basic human psychological need of people wanting to feel talked to and listened to regarding change so that they feel part of identifying the problem, rather than just being sold a solution to something they may not have realised was broken! 'Not in my back yard', is a truth that you only overcome if the context and benefits are sold and accepted, rather than 'forced' upon un-listening ears.

continuity disaster recovery

Do You Need a Kick in the Pants?

How to Revitalize your Business Even in a Sluggish Economy:

Have you lost that "lovin" feeling for your work and maybe even your personal life too? Your passion, your ambition, your zest for your business has taken a nose dive? You look at your desk and it's piled high with stacks of files, your emails are multiplying like bunnies in springtime and you're just plain tired, even though you've been fueling up with Starbucks Venti Lattes to get you in gear.

When you turn on the radio, or watch the news or skim the news in paper or on your computer, you are bombarded with reports of the downturn in the economy. Whew! Put all this together and no wonder your energy has left the building! What you may need is a dose of revitalization. Here's the kick in the pants you are looking for:

Top 3 Ways to Re-Energize Your Work, Your Bank Account and your Personal Life

1. Take Time OFF - It's so easy for us to let our work consume our lives. 24-7 we are living, breathing and thinking about our businesses! Time Out! Even though it seems counter-intuitive, it's critical that you take time off so that you can clear your mind and re-energize your body, mind and spirit. As soon as I detect "burnout" in myself or my personal coaching clients, I immediately whip out my prescription pad, Take Time Off! You may fear that taking time off will compromise your business. The bigger truth may be that your business and your bank account will suffer if you don't! Be smart and be strategic about taking a break. Don't think that you can take off an entire week this month? That's ok. Take a 1, 2 or 3 day mini-break and do what moves your spirit. The only hard-fast rule? Do absolutely NO work related activities during your break.

2. Have an "Opposite Day" - Remember this from grade school? Try this tomorrow. Mix up your day and change up your routines. For example; return calls late in the day, if you normally make your calls in the am, drive a different route to an appointment, pay attention to what you see, have your next client meeting at a brand new restaurant, or take a walk in the woods and bring your brown bag lunch. Shaking up the routine of life will give you more energy AND improve your mood which in turn will give you a new perspective. All very positive things!

3. Try a New Strategy - Review your business plan and your strategies. Is there something on your list that you aren't doing that you'd actually like to do more of? Maybe you've got an idea for some brand new way to offer your service. Notice your energy. What gets your creative juices flowing? I've had clients try their hand at offering tele-seminars, writing an e-book, and giving their first workshop, all with great success because the project was fueled by their passion. Passion can be quite profitable!

Business online blog

The Changing Role of Managers and Executives

In the interview called Death of Command and Control the former COO of Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Rod Collins explained why the old system of hierarchical management and controls just doesn't work in today's age... it's too slow. Getting to market is a whole lot faster when the entire team is clear about what needs to be done to achieve the goal and the systems are in place to support collaborative leadership. The prevailing notion once was that consultation takes too long. This is probably the one reason why there is such an attachment to managerial control. Old habits die hard.

It is not the manager's fault. Once upon a time the orders came from on high. Middle managers made sense out of the edict and then everyone kicked into high gear to make it all happen. The flow was up and down ... or so it seemed. Now we know that it doesn't work like that. Thirty years of social action research tells us that getting things done involves letting go vertically so things can do what they do so well horizontally. The achievement of goals always involves members of the employee's network who are outside the company. Try controlling that.

What about engaging employees? Social action research tells us that collaboration and innovation is natural. Yet most company culture's are focused on rewards and incentives missing the whole point. The systems and processes fail to tap into what matters for the manager and focus on what they think 'should' matter. This gap gets even more accelerated between CEO's and the executive management team who ignore the cues of the existing culture and impose assumptions about what 'should' work.

All this means that the role for manager's and executives has changed from barking orders to setting direction and creating clear goals. Then it is about getting out of the way. This is where it gets tricky and there are two parts to the scenario.

1) IF the role of a manager has been to control and the need to be in charge is key to feeding one's ego, getting out of the way is either not going to happen or be intermittent. This is really true of Boomers who have learned to 'suck it up' so they feel one way and act another. When feeling and action have been reconciled so what manager's feel inspired to do and actually do will things start to rock and roll. Horses do a masterful job of pointing out where things aren't in alignment. Self-awareness is the other enlightened leader's ally.

2) Managers prefer to contribute in an inspired way but are treated mechanically by outmoded notions that the employee needs to be motivated. Not any more. Now employees need to be inspired to contribute. When they are all revved up and ready to go, and then run smack into cultural barriers, it deflates the tires pretty quickly.

The elements of self-actualized leadership that this triggers are self-identity (who are you without your roles and clothes to define you) and self-security (what value do you feel you have without the title, position, yada yada). This is a time when leaders need to go deep into themselves to uncover any unresolved personal issues. Without the know-how to spot the place to stop, reflect before acting, managers and executives will be too tempted to put their fingers in the pie trying to add flavour when it is better left alone. Everyone is a leader. Drucker said "Leaders are grown not made."

careersemp loyment

What Value is an External Consultant?

Most companies holding a certification to ISO9001 have done so for many years and although the standard call for 'Continual Improvement' this is often product or service based and often reflects the normal organic growth. While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this approach, Directors are not always taking advantage of the latest techniques and processes.

Many companies certified over five or six years may have a fairly large quality manual and processes to match; some of these will have been expanded as a result of auditors' comments and some by customers complaints or observations, but not all will add any value to the company's operation.

What is a good idea is to have someone have a look with fresh eyes at what you are doing; get a real heads-up on the latest techniques and ways to reduce the administrative burden of Systems Management.

This not only applies to ISO9001 but to all the other standards, Environmental, Information Security, Health & Safety, individual Product standards and others.

Professional consultants have verifiable qualifications and accreditations plus Professional Indemnity Insurance. Also any consultant will be able to furnish you with a list of satisfied clients with whom you can obtain references.

A good consultant is worth his/or her weight in gold; not only can an MOT actually save money it can result in greater efficiency. Remember an experienced consultant will have been involved with a number of organisations and will be able to use that experience to help you. Cherry picking the best practices and techniques while retaining strict confidentiality will add real value to your business.

There are other advantages, such as no holidays to pay for, no sickness or other absence to factor in and the best bit is you only pay for actual work performed.

Franchising

Prioritization Matrices

This tool can help you decide what to do after key actions, criteria or Critical To Quality (CTQ) characteristics have been identified, but their relative importance (priority) is not known with certainty. Prioritization matrices are especially useful if problem-solving resources, such as people, time or money, are limited, or if the identified problem-solving actions or CTQs are strongly interrelated.

To create a matrix, you must judge the relative ability of each possible action to effectively deliver the results you want compared to every other identified action. The product of your work is a weighted ranking of all the possible actions you are considering. The finished matrix can help a team make an overall decision or determine the sequence in which to attack a problem or work toward an objective.

Prioritization matrices are especially useful in the project bounding and analyze phases of Lean Six Sigma quality.

What can it do for you?

You should consider creating a prioritization matrix if:
You cannot do everything at once,You are uncertain about the best use of your resources or energy orYou are looking toward specific improvement goals.

This tool can also help you make a decision in situations where the criteria for a good solution are known or accepted, but their relative importance is either unknown or disputed. For example, a prioritization matrix might be used to help decide the purchase of a major piece of equipment or the selection of a single-source supplier. Depending on how much time you have and how complex your problem is, there are a number of options for constructing a prioritization matrix.

How do you do it?
The first step in applying the Full Analytical Criteria Method is to ensure that the people working on the matrix agree on the ultimate goal they are trying to achieve. Next, create a list of criteria or characteristics needed to achieve the goal or meet the objective. (The idea is simply to list the criteria without considering their relative importance. That happens later.) The team can do this by discussion or brainstorming. The purpose is to list all of the criteria that might be applied to all of the options. For example, if the team is considering which improvement step to attack first, some of their criteria might be:Low investment costMaximum use of existing technologyHigh potential dollar savingsHigh improvement potential for process speedHigh improvement potential for defect reductionHigh customer satisfaction potentialMinimum impact on other processesEase of implementationHigh probability of quick results Note the way the criteria are worded. They should clearly convey the desired outcome. Low investment cost is a much clearer criterion than cost would be.

Once the total list is developed, the next step is to judge the relative importance of each criterion compared to every other criterion. To do that, make an L-shaped matrix with all the criteria listed on both the horizontal and the vertical legs of the L.

Compare the importance of each criterion on the vertical side of the matrix to each criterion listed along the horizontal side using these numeric weightings:

1.0 = The criterion being considered is equally important or equally preferred when judged against the criterion you are comparing it to.

5.0 = The criterion being considered is significantly more important or more preferred.

10.0 = The criterion is extremely more important or more preferred.

0.2 = It is significantly less important or preferred.

0.1 = It is extremely less important or preferred.

Although these specific numeric ratings are to some extent arbitrary, by applying them consistently in a prioritization matrix, you will generate a valid understanding of relative importance. When completing or interpreting the matrix, read across the rows (not down the columns). For example, if criterion a was significantly more important than criterion b, where row a intersects column b write 5. Remember that, if criterion a is significantly more important that criterion b, criterion b must be significantly less important than criterion a. Where row b intersects column a write 0.2.

Continuing in a similar manner, compare each criterion to every other criterion, reach a decision about relative importance, and enter the appropriate values. Do this until the matrix is full. Remember that, whenever you compare two criteria, you should mark the rating where the row of the criterion being compared intersects the column of the criterion you are comparing it to. The inverse of this value should be entered where the column of the criterion being compared intersects the row of the criterion you are comparing it to. That is, you should enter 1 and 1, 5 and 0.2, or 10 and 0.1 for each comparison.

Add the values recorded in each column, then add the column totals to get the grand total.

Add the values recorded in each row, then add the row totals to get the grand total. The grand total across the columns should agree with the grand total down the rows. If it does not, check your work. Divide each row total by the grand total. This percentage is the weighting that shows the relative importance of each criterion.

Now that you know the relative importance of each criterion, the next step is to evaluate how well each of your possible choices meet each of the weighted criteria. Those possible choices could be such things as which improvement steps to take first, which piece of equipment to buy or which supplier to use.

To complete this step, make a new L-shaped matrix with all your possible choices on both the horizontal and the vertical legs. If you are considering which improvement steps to take, your possible choices might look something like this:

A. Error prevention training

B. Purchase new equipment A

C. Purchase new equipment B

D. Refurbish existing equipment C

E. Refurbish existing equipment D

F. Rewrite procedures for clarity

G. Implement barcoding

H. Cellularize operation 1

I. Cellularize operation 2

Pick the first criterion you wish to consider and compare each possible choice with every other possible choice by asking how well it will deliver that criterion or characteristic. For example, if the first criterion you were considering was high potential dollar savings, you would compare each option with every other option, in terms of its potential to deliver high monetary savings. Build the matrix as you did when initially evaluating the relative importance of the criteria by putting numeric values in the matrix intersections:

1.0 = The choice being considered is equally able to deliver the desired criterion or equally preferred when judged against the choice you are comparing it to.

5.0 = The choice being considered is significantly more important or more preferred.

10.0 = The choice is extremely more important or more preferred.

0.2 = It is significantly less important or preferred.

0.1 = It is extremely less important or preferred. Complete the matrix; add the rows and columns and calculate the percentages as you did with the criteria matrix.

The example above is what a matrix comparing the possible choices for high potential for dollar savings might look like.
In the same way; complete a matrix comparing each of the possible choices for each of the remaining criteria. If we did that for all our criteria, we would have to create a total of nine matrices comparing every combination of possible choices for its relative ability to deliver on each of the identified criteria.

You may choose to simplify this process by eliminating some criteria that had a very low percentage weighting. (In our example, we limited ourselves to the five highest-ranking criteria. Besides the matrix for high potential dollar savings, we would create additional matrices for high improvement potential for process speed, high improvement potential for defect reduction, high customer satisfaction potential and high probability of quick results. These additional matrices are not shown here.)

The final step in the Full Analytical Criteria Method is to merge the relative ability of a possible choice to deliver a desired criterion with the relative weighting of that criterion. To do this, make a new L-shaped matrix with all the options or possible choices on the vertical leg and all the criteria considered on the horizontal leg. Make the columns fairly wide to allow some calculation.
Again, in our example, we eliminated some of the criteria to make things simpler.
Under each criterion, in the weight row, note the percentage weighting you got from your first matrix, the one that compared each criterion with every other criterion.In each criterion column, enter the percentage numbers you got when you compared each option with every other option for that criterion. (The actual matrices for criteria d, e, f and i are not shown.) Enter these numbers as the first numbers in each column of the completed prioritization matrix.Multiply each option percentage by the criterion percentage weight for that criterion. (The results are the second numbers, the ones after the equal signs in our example.)Add the results of your multiplication down each column. The result for each column should be approximately the same as that criterion's percentage weight (the number in the weight row).Add the column total row to come up with a grand total.Now, add the results of your multiplication across each row, and add the row total column. The result should be the same as the grand total you got by adding the column total row.Divide each row total by the grand total to get the percentage for each option. (Add the percentage scores as a check. The sum should be approximately 100 %.) This is the answer to your question.These numbers show the relative value of a number of options or possible choices when considered against a collection of independent criteria or critical to quality (CTQ) characteristics.

Now what?

Any time a choice must be made, some form of prioritization occurs. Those responsible for making the choice may play a hunch, take a vote or analyze for some specific impact they think is important, but they will decide what they think is best, most important or should be done first. If the prioritization process is incomplete or arbitrary, chances of success are lessened.

The discipline of a prioritization matrix allows you to avoid setting arbitrary priorities that have less likelihood of helping you reach your desired objectives. The Full Analytical Method does take considerable time and effort, however, and should be used only if the risks or potential benefits make it worthwhile.

customer services

Fostering a Positive Climate For Change

Innovation, consistently high standards and speed are necessities in the competitive environment of today's business world. In this fast-paced business world, there is little room for error or experiment. In both small and large organizations the pressure for success is huge.

Management has changed in the Information Age. Managers today are expected to move forward with their own agendas and make their mark within as little as 18 months. However, is it often forgotten that these agendas need the support of key people, and as a manager, you will have to gain and retain this support in order to achieve success.

What do employees look for in a manager today? If you ask employees what they expect of their manager, you will hear vastly different answers. They look for information that will enable them to size up the kind of human being their manager is and what personal interests he or she brings to the position. They want to know whether it will be worth adapting to the person.

Even if the company and the department is doing great work, one of the first questions that employees put to their manager is whether he or she has a plan and where their ideas will fit into it. If any changes divest the employees of authority or tasks of which they are especially proud, immediate and substantial resistance is likely.

On the other hand, employees also want, and need ambitious goals. For a goals program to be successful it must address four important points:

1. It must make clear that the manager does not intend to impose some preconceived plan on the employees without recognizing the special features of their situation.

2. It must show the employees that it takes into account both their manager's legitimate interest in success and their own long-term interests.

3. It must be characterized by a balance between stability and change and demonstrate respect for significant achievements of the team.

4. It must be easy to communicate tangibly and inspiringly within the company and to the outside world.

Successful managers are able not only to look at the multitude of issues facing them but to choose the right ones as well. Now, that certainly doesn't mean they do what the employees want, but they should examine desired goals for their effects on employees. Experience shows that managers should always be sure to formulate at least one stability-related goal for every three goals related to change. It is the only way to generate a positive climate.

An important factor for managers to foster a positive climate for change is to ask questions differently. Question by question, with great respect for what was done in the past they systematically piece together a picture of the current situation. These are called "reflective questions" because they get people to think.

Successful managers use a second group of questions as well. These are called "resourceful questions," meaning that they are questions intended to help systematically identify strengths. Therefore, ask your employees about the departmental projects they are proud of, how they managed to get through last year despite the tight personnel situation, what strengths they have honed in the last two years, what strengths they used to have and what would be needed to regain them.

What you should not do under any circumstances if you want to establish a positive climate for change is ask about the cause of problems. It is considerably more helpful to assume that your employees have so far undertaken everything they could to solve the problems at hand.

Every experienced manager knows that the solid arguments for changes that are awaiting decisions will be of little use if the requisite climate does not exist among the employees. The image of the heroic new manager who acts quickly and assertively still exists in many companies, but these strategies seldom work without the trust and support of the employees.

Therefore, you need to ask yourself these four questions:

1. How much trust do the employees have in my abilities?

2. What do I know about their strings?

3. What strengths urgently have to be developed?

4. What projects can develop the strengths?

These answers to these questions will go along way in helping you foster a positive climate for change in your organization.

Copyright©2008 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

customer services

A Transformational Business Is Like "The Beatles"

A thriving company should create a vision of "MAGIC". Magic means to be a legend in their field by spreading joy, harmony and love. "Love?" you say. Your people must love what they do, and the customer must love what your company is offering.

To describe best the attributes of a legendary company, let's go back more than 40 years to the birth of the Beatles. John Lennon said to Paul McCartney "Do you want to join me band?" Both John and Paul were school kids who loved music and wanted to perform, yet neither one could possibly comprehend at the time their colossal future.

Like many companies, the Beatles did not begin with instant success. They played small British pubs and clubs in Hamburg, Germany. It was common to get bottles thrown at them while performing or get jumped by "roughs" after the show. They also had personnel issues, like many beginning operations who can't seam to get the all players to mesh and be in harmony. It wasn't until the FAB FOUR joined forces; John, Paul, George and Ringo that the magic began to take hold. In an identical way, companies that want to create magic must have the players be in harmony with a common vision.

They grinded out many a nights at the Cavern Club in Liverpool and worked to create a first album, then the word spread like wild fire. They created what the world famous authors and management experts Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles, call Raving Fans. Raving fans means that the people will buy anything that is associated with you, because they believe in you because they know your purpose is to make them feel good and they eventually will love you. "All you need is love." By the time the Beatles were ready to break into other markets, i.e. the United States, the word had already spread across the Atlantic and millions awaited their arrival to the U.S. with breathless anticipation. Screaming women fainted as they performed live on the Ed Sullivan show and they sold so many records on their first tour, that even Elvis was jealous of their success. In a similar way like IBM became jealous of the rising APPLE COMPUTER.

Every where they performed to sold out concert halls. They released new subsequent albums and would beat their own sales records. At the beginning The Beatles were infallible and the public would buy anything they produced. Like all fast growing companies, the Beatles soon had their share of controversy and problems. When a company or band grows too fast, there are a line of critics ready to pounce on every wrong move.

The leaders of a fast growing company or band tend to get exploding egos and believe their own press. Infallibility is never true of any person, any band or any company. Mistakes will always be made and sometimes devastating mistakes that can nearly take a company under. John Lennon made an off handed comment about being more popular than Jesus, and those "raving fans" were burning the Beatle's records in the streets. Many DJ's refused to play their albums and record sales dropped. Exxon suffered tremendous losses when deciding that the extra cost of putting reinforced hulling in the oil tanker Valdez was not worth it. The consequent oil spill created billions of dollars of damage to the Alaskan wilderness. Exxon received years of bad press coverage which effected income. The effects of this tragic ecological event are still evident in the Prince William Sound 19 years later.

The Beatles like leaders of an organization, also had their share of tension between each other. Most in the band were upset about John's girlfriend, Yoko Ono getting involved in their music, and the effect she had on John. The others in the band felt like Paul was becoming bossy and egocentric. George and Ringo often felt that they did not get as many writing credits as they should have and did not feel that they were equally compensated for their contributions. Each time a new album appeared, the magic emerged again. Each album carried with it, groundbreaking sounds and lyrics that influenced an entire culture. They were able to set aside their differences enough time to be in the studio and compose masterpieces. The Beatles ignored the controversy and hard feelings in order to maintain true to their vision of changing the world with their music.

The Beatles finally disbanded in 1970, but their music has been eternal. The magic they created has transcended generations, countries, and cultures. In 2008 there are Las Vegas shows built around their music, world class impersonators playing their covers, and world wide cinematic production that incorporates their songs into the entire musical storyline. The Beatles created magic, much like Disney or Microsoft creates magic. The magic was created by the forging of four talented individuals into one collective force. A company must strive to forge their individual talents into one force. Like the Beatles, they must always be changing and improving. They must always be looking for ways to reach their audience and express themselves through their work. Like the Beatles, "you gotta get by with a little help" from your fans.

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Are You Too Busy NOT to Measure?

"We think performance measures are important, yes, but we just don't have the time for it!"

You'll never hear these words uttered in a business or organisation that is truly successful. And that's because success depends on being able to make measurable progress toward your goals. It's not an accident.

Just look at Google, Marriott, 3M or even Fremantle Ports (winner of the Australian Business Excellence Medal in 2007). They have time to measure not because they're successful. They are successful because they made time to measure!

Beware the downward spiral of being too busy to measure...

If you don't measure what matters, you won't be managing and improving what matters. You'll be chasing what's urgent. And there's a big difference between what matters and what's urgent.

The more you delay getting meaningful measures that focus you on what matters, the more you're wasting time and wasting effort on things that don't matter most. The more time you give to what's urgent, the more you have to delay getting meaningful measures that help you focus on what's important. That's the downward spiral.

How do you make time to measure, when you don't have any time left?

When you're too busy to measure performance, you're actually too busy NOT to measure performance. You need to improve performance, or you'll stay too busy (and performance will just keep sliding).

So finding the time to measure performance is not about finding some spare time hiding somewhere. It's about deciding what you're going to *stop doing* to free up some time!

Aim to liberate a couple of hours a week that you can devote to selecting just a few meaningful measures and implementing them so they can highlight what matters most and help you improve what matters most.

Where can you find a couple of hours a week? Here are some ideas:

Get very clear about the results that you simply must achieve - the essence of your role or team or department. You can't prioritise anything unless you know what the results are that truly matter. Curb distractions by planning your week and each day so that you've scheduled first the tasks that will make real progress toward your priority results. Schedule your 2 hours on performance measurement and performance improvement before you schedule anything less important. Delegate or delete administrative tasks that don't directly help you make real progress toward your priority results. Who else could do your data entry, preliminary research or meeting organisation? Stop reading emails that don't help you make real progress toward your priority results. It will feel wrong, but it's not wrong. Give it a try. You could easily find an hour a week with this tip alone. Cancel or defer projects or initiatives (however exciting they may be) which threaten the time you can give to making real progress toward your priority results. If you're running several races at once, you can't win any of them. Build a small buffer into each week, to handle those unexpected but essential tasks that pop up, or to handle the overrun of planned tasks that took longer than you expected. That way, they won't affect other important tasks you've planned (like performance measurement!).

The bottom line is that performance won't ever get better unless you make the time to measure and improve performance. And to make the time, you have to stop doing things that are less important.

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The Only Thing Constant is Change

Who said that? We did. Someone else said it first, but that's not important. What is important is your recognition that change is an integral part of life and if you don't incorporate it into your business, sooner or later you will be left behind.

Now for those conservative minded readers who still wear bow ties and Brooks Brothers suits, we will gladly acknowledge that exceptions abound. Unfortunately, however, most of us do not have the luxury of waiting to see if the public will stick with our products. He who waits and makes a mistake gets left behind. Don't believe me? Ask IBM, Sears, or the entire U.S. automobile industry. Change left them all in the dust.

To compound matters, change is rapidly becoming a trend force. By this expression, I mean that change is becoming an expected mode of operation for your customers. Want some examples? Ok, let's take the fast food industry. Does the name itself tell you anything? Think about the successful ones-McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's. What do they have going that their copy-cat failure competition can't latch on to? Change. Almost every week the big three have something new going on. You will see new products, new offers, new games. McDonald's is totally changing the interior of every store in Europe to change its face overseas and create a more upscale environment. In addition, kid's meal offerings change constantly along with local endorsements and sponsorships.

You have only to listen to the quote of Ray Kroc, the McDonald's founder, in order to know their position. "We can invent it faster than others can copy it."

Change is certainly not limited to fast foods either. I think one of the best examples of change can be seen at Apple. Now that Steve Jobs is back he is cranking out one winning product after another. He embraces change and makes it a part of the corporate culture.

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN TO YOU?

It means that you should adopt change as part of your business. Not as an accident which happens, but actually part of your ongoing operation. Use change to let your customers know that you are a viable company constantly aware of the latest trends. How do you do it? Let's look at some ideas.

1. New product or service. Borrowing from the fast-food industry, always be on the look out for anything new which can be added to your product line or service offering. Now note, and this is important, don't worry whether or not this product will make money by itself. Sometimes you will do things simply to draw attention to your entire line of products and your business in general.

2. Be on the look out for a different way to serve your customer. Home delivery is an example. More and more companies are turning to this strategy and shopping online is so successful because the products come to you. No traffic and less stress. Can you think of another way?

3. Center promotions on holidays, local news events and fads. These events don't have to relate to your product except that you tie it in that way. The more you can use these events, the more your company and product seem current.

Change is a powerful business force. It can wipe you out or it can make you an overnight success. This coming year, put the word change on every day of your calendar. Constantly be on the look out for the next promotion. If you do this, you will energize yourself, your employees, and most importantly, your customers.

Business Rule: Incorporate change as a part of your business philosophy, but don't change what works.

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