Day in the Life of a VP of Service Excellence: A Day in the Life

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Have you ever want to know what it would be like to work in a different job or industry within process improvement? PEX Network's twice monthly "A Day in the Life"

Four Risk Areas That are Holding Your Change Hostage: Street Smarts for Change Management

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Managing any project involves risk, but projects requiring human behavioral change involve large amounts of risk. This month, columnist Jeff Cole focuses on four key risk areas and how to better your odds for success. Pretend you just made a process improvement.

10 reasons the COO hates Christmas: Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Last year I wrote a suitably dour article on why the CIO hates Christmas – Bah humbug. Sadly my concerns came true. So much so that the term that CIO

End of the Road for Business Process Analysis?: Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Is this the last time Business Process Analysis will be considered a stand alone category? asks columnist Ian Gotts, as research firm Gartner releases its latest BPA Magic Qu

Common VOC Mistakes & How to Avoid Them: Tales of a Master Black Belt

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Voice of the Customer (VOC) is a critical component of Six Sigma, helping us establish measures that serve as a foundation for each of the DMAIC phases, says contributor Craig James. But beware the common mistakes of VOC. Here are 4 of them and what

Forget "Recommended By"...Is Building Trust a More Important Metric?: Process Improvement for Services

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Building trust is more fundamental than the "recommended" metric used in Net Promoter Score, says columnist Robin Barnwell. Afterall, w ould you continue to do business with a company you did not trust? I read a lot of our customer’s

How to Make Meetings Productive: "The Drucker Perspective"

From the Editorial Staff at e-BIM — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Excessive meetings are a symptom of a major organizational problem. Are you a sufferer? Few things characterize modern management so much as the escalating tendency to have meetings — online and offline. Remarkably, many meetings are time-wasters. Con

A Day In The Life of a Customer Experience Manager: A Day in the Life

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Have you ever want to know what it would be like to work in a different job or industry within process improvement? PEX Network's twice monthly "A Day in the Life" series continues this week with Desiree Murphy-Palmer, customer experience manager for Cox Commu

What? You Want Me To Go First?: Forrester BPM Perspectives

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

There's a lot of reasons that you might want to avoid being the first company or department to change, says contributor Connie Moore. Afterall, “pioneers get an arrow in their backs.” But here's why you should consider going first. Over the Thanksgiving

Keeping Pace With the Ever-changing Voice of the Customer: Street Smarts for Change Management

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Customers are great. In fact, it’s kind of hard to stay in business without them. You have to love them, but at the same time they can be quite annoying. Have you ever noticed how their requirements change over time? Just when you think you had them figured

Beyond Management by Objective: A Look at Hoshin Kanri (Part I): The Deming Files

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Dr. W. Edwards Deming said MBO as practiced was a deadly disease, writes contributor Ken Craddock. But what's the alternative? Hoshin kanri, argues Craddock. Here is why. Editor’s note: Kelly Allan and Ken Craddock wrote a co

A Copernican Shift in Creating Business Success: Thinking Business, Thinking Process

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

The shift from production mindset (producing goods) to customer centred business (delivering services) has disrupted global business in fundamental ways, writes columnist Steve Towers. Here's how. During the steady economic expansion of the late 20th ce

What to do About Unexpected Results: "The Drucker Perspective"

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Drucker defined innovation as “the design and development of something new, as yet unknown and not in existence, which will establish a new economic configuration of the old, know existing elements,” writes columnist William Cohen. But sometimes businesses simply

Day in the Life of a Process Manager and LSS MBB: A Day in the Life

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Have you ever want to know what it would be like to work in a different job or industry? PEX Network's twice monthly "A Day in the Life" series continues this week as Erica Farmer, a process manager and Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt for a large service firm base

Instructions Manuals Are For Wimps - Why BPM Needs A Standard Approach: BPM Straight Up - Separating Fact from Fiction

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:00:00 GMT

How can you improve your chances of BPMS project success? asks columnist Dan Morris. The answer: formalize your approach. The trouble is, what approach do you adopt?

Where Are the Celebrity Chief Operating Officers?: Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:00:00 GMT

What does it take to transform a dysfunctional, globally dispersed, highly regulated and reactive organisation into a model of operational excellence? Forget the CEO - it's time businesses recognized that BPM and the Chief Operating Officer hold the keys to com

Seven Reasons Competitive Tendering Fails (And What You Can Do About It): The Deming Files

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Competitive tendering (bidding) is a widely used procurement method within government agencies and private sector organisations. The idea behind competitive tendering is that it forces sup

Day in the Life of a Master Black Belt and CI Leader: A Day in the Life

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Have you ever want to know what it would be like to work in a different job or industry? PEX Network's twice monthly "A Day in the Life" series continues this week as Beau Groover, a Master Black Belt and Continuous Improvement Leader within the Folding Carton division

Performance, Excellence and the Trouble with Tools: The Deming Files

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Business is a complicated endeavor, write contributors Dave Nave and Steve Dightman. Analytical tools (from Six Sigma, Lean, etc.) provide a perspective, highly dependent on selected parameters. But no single tool provides a complete picture of the reality. Here's what y

The Secret of Demand Side Innovation: "The Drucker Perspective"

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Would you like to come up with innovations that mark you as an extraordinary performer? In this month's column, Dr. William Cohen, explains how. Frederick Smith thought up the idea behind FedEx while still in college and Albert Einstein developed the Theory of Relativi

What Monty Python and Business Performance Have in Common: Street Smarts for Change Management

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 05:00:00 GMT

What do Monty Python and guided missiles have to do with business performance improvement? asks columnist Jeff Cole. More than you might think. Do you know John Cleese, the tall guy in the British comedy troupe? Did you know that since

A Day In The Life of the Vice President of Business Process Improvement at Office Depot: A Day in the Life

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Have you ever want to know what it would be like to work in a different job or industry? PEX Network's twice monthly "A Day in the Life" series continues this week as Vince Pierce, Vice President of Business Process Improvement for retail giant Office Depot, describ

5 Tips for Delivering Killer Business Presentations: Thinking Business, Thinking Process

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Invited to speak at a business conference but worried about delivering a “death by powerpoint” presentation? Or maybe you've got to make a big presentation to the board? Here are five tips from Steve Towers, a regular contributor at PEX Network conferences,&n

Banish the Silos - How I.T. Can Lead Competitive Advantage: The Deming Files

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT

The DNA strands of business are most often embedded in processes related to the bits and bytes contained in our information systems. But IT - the department that often has one of the widest fields of view relative to efforts, budgets, changes, and focus - is not strategically le

Day in the Life of a Director of Process Improvement: A Day in the Life

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Have you ever want to know what it would be like to work in a different job or industry? PEX Network's twice monthly "A Day in the Life" series continues this week as Mark Steward, Director of Process Improvement at Poudre Valley Health System, describes his daily r

5 Global “Certainties” You Can’t Afford to Ignore: "The Drucker Perspective"

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Drucker wrote that the purpose of strategy is to enable an organization to achieve its desired results in an unpredictable environment. So contrary to what many believe, strategy is not about achieving results in a known and foreseeable environment, but an environment that is unknown and

Business Strategy: Creating Effective Objectives: "The Drucker Perspective"

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

The basic definition of the business must be translated into objectives, said Peter F. Drucker, otherwise they remain insights, and good intentions that never become achievement. Here's how to create effective objectives. This article is Part Two of your management tea

What Agile Software Development Learned From Deming: The Deming Files

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

In the last few years software development teams have begun using a philosophy called “Agile”, achieving better results by reducing reliance on documents, having more effective meetings, and thinking about development in a new way, says contributor Daryl Kulak. Interestingly, m

Can You Do BPM Without A BPMS?: BPM Straight Up - Separating Fact from Fiction

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Business can do a lot of improvement without software tools, says Dan Morris in this month’s BPM column. So d o you really need to invest in a Business Process Management Suite to do BPM?, he asks. History is full of examples of lost opportunities.

Making Change Management Work: Three Practitioners Offer Some Guidance: Forrester BPM Perspectives

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Change management from the people perspective is too often a forgotten component of business process transformation. Organizations focus on getting the new processes right and putting technology components in place — but helping people who will implement the new processes

Want Lasting Business Change? Leave the Tools on the Shelf: Process Improvement for Services

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Why do so many businesses fail to achieve long-term and lasting change?, asks contributor Robin Barnwell. Because they fail to take account of the most important variable in any messy, uncontrollable and complex environment - the people.

Business Strategy: The Three Questions You Must Be Able to Answer: "The Drucker Perspective"

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Strategic thinking, according to Drucker, is knowing the right questions to ask. In this week's Drucker Files, Dr. Robert Swaim looks at the three critical questions you and your management team need to ask yourselves to make sure you're on the right track.

Technology Is One Big Dog - Here's How To Cope: Street Smarts for Change Management

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Ever feel like the tail that’s being wagged by the dog? Technology is one big dog and if you don’t hold on you’ll get flung off hard and fast. On a daily basis, technology upgrades storm through the corporate landscape sending out tsunamis of change in their w

Tribute: Process Excellence and the Genius of Steve Jobs: Thinking Business, Thinking Process

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

After the news today Apple’s founder and visionary Steve Jobs had passed away aged 56, so much is being said rightly about the technical genius of the man. His profound impact on lives is clear from the global tributes from world leaders, industry luminaries and oft times

A Day In The Life of an Enterprise Master Black Belt: A Day in the Life

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Have you ever want to know what it would be like to work in a different job or industry? This week we launch the twice monthly "A Day in the Life" series. Find out what life is like on the other side of the fence as professionals just like you describe their d

Perspective on Russia: Using Deming to Counter “Soviet Legacy” Management Practices: The Deming Files

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Twenty years of Russian market reforms have shown that one of the most serious obstacles to creating an innovative economy is the totalitarian style of thinking, says Tatiana Medvedeva. Repressive management cannot lead to the development of a modern, innovative economy no matter how much

Indian Takeaways - Lessons on Process from an Emerging Market: Thinking Business, Thinking Process

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

From a sundeck on top of one of Delhi’s tallest building, overlooking the city’s sprawling skyline, it is hard to believe that Part Two of the Global meltdown is really underway.

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Are the huge salaries and short tenures of those at the tops of our organizations evidence of misguided devotion to the management “profession”? William Cohen explores why professionalism isn't always a good thing. More than fifty ye

Four Factors for Getting the Right Project Under Your "Belt": Tales of a Master Black Belt

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Too often new Black Belts go after huge organizational issues/problems and have at best mediocre success, writes Robert Lopez in this month's Tales from a Master Black Belt. Here are the four essential factors to make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew. <

How Do We Know What We Know? - Deming’s SoPK Part IV: The Deming Files

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Understanding how you think - and act - based on what you believe you know to be true, is critical to improving your own decisions as a manager, says contributor John Hunter, in the final of a 4-part series on Deming's system of management, SoPK. And understanding the way your mind wor

Buying Beans – What is Pull in a Services Business?: Process Improvement for Services

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Pull processes do work in a services business and they do deliver real improvements in communications. But don’t think they will solve all your problems, says columnist Robin Barnwell. When you open that tin of beans you may be surprised at what you find i

The Secret to Achieving More with Less - The Pareto Principle in Action: "The Drucker Perspective"

From the editorial staff at e-BIM — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Improving productivity requires abandoning things that do not work... never worked... or have outlived their usefulness and capacity to contribute. As both governments and businesses look out at a tough new operating environment that doesn't look set to change anytime soon, here's

“Big Process Thinking” Will Power The Next Generation Of Business Transformation: Forrester BPM Perspectives

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Business process pros need to embrace “big process thinking,” writes Forrester analyst Clay Richardson. Four predictions on what this would look like. Earlier this year, I was invited to participate in an internal debate across the Forrester team servi

The Secret Formula for Managing Change: Street Smarts for Change Management

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

You can have the best process in the world but if the humans who need to follow that process don’t do so, you’ve wasted your time, says columnist Jeff Cole. For those readers that may just be starting out on their Lean Six Sigma journeys, here are a few tips when it comes to ma

13 Essentials of Coaching for Process Improvement: Lean for Services

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

As organizations embark on their process improvement journey, one of the things that they seem to forget is to focus on coaching skills that creates change agents, says Debashis Sarkar , author and Asia's pioneer in Lean for services . And that’s a mistake, becau

Seven In Ten Change Management Initiatives Fail - Four Ways To Not Be One Of Them: Forrester BPM Perspectives

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Organizations often fail to realize the impact of change on the employees it will affect, and do not plan and execute carefully enough to address the people issues through all phases of business process change management, says Forrester Anayst Claire Schooley. Four ways to make your c

Variation, So Meaningful Yet So Misunderstood - Deming's SoPK Part III: The Deming Files

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

When businesses use the wrong data or don't recognize the different types of variation, the resulting decisions and actions tend to increase costs, reduce quality, reduce productivity, and foster frustration throughout the organization, says contributor Lynda

Feel Like You're Running In Circles? You Are!: BPM Straight Up - Separating Fact from Fiction

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Feel like you're constantly battling different forms of the same problems? You probably are, argues Dan Morris in this month's column. Changes that are good for individual managers and departments might be bad for the business as a whole, he write

Running Government Like a Business: Allocating Resources to the Right Results: "The Drucker Perspective"

From the editorial staff at e-BIM — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

There are limits to what a government can tax and spend, as many governments are learning to their cost. Undisciplined spending, many economists warn, will lead to high interest rates, inflation, increasing unemployment and higher taxes. What should be done? For starters,

The Trouble With Motivation - Deming's SoPK Part II: The Deming Files

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

What makes the difference between ordinary people achieving extraordinary results on one hand, and extraordinary people achieving ordinary results on the other? Management insight makes the difference, says contributor Jussi Kyllonen in the second of a four part series on Deming's syst

Four Steps to Managing the “Change Equation”: "The Drucker Perspective"

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

What's the best way of managing the "Change Equation"? In the final of this special four-part series on change management, Dr. Robert Swaim, looks at a "diagnostic tool" that can be used to systematically analyze and plan change efforts. Rea

How to Avoid Business Destroying Failure: "The Drucker Perspective"

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

You can’t avoid failure completely because sometimes you’re going to make mistakes, and if not you, someone will make them for you, says contributor Willian Cohen. Some failures are in fact very valuable to help you avoid similar future situations. However, ther

Adapting Lean Six Sigma at Xerox: Tales of a Master Black Belt

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

When you know where you are going and that it is a place you want to be, change is exciting, says Gregory North, Vice President of Corporate Lean Six Sigma at Xerox. Here's how Xerox is evolving the who, the how and the what of Lean Six Sigma.&nb

Eight Reasons Change Efforts Fail: "The Drucker Perspective"

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

There are several common mistakes that companies often make when implementing change, says Dr. Robert Swaim in the third of this 4 part change management series. Here's what they are. Read Part

Responding to Change: Will You Be a Victim or Architect of the Future?: Street Smarts for Change Management

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Have you reacted to changes you’ve encountered in life or have you responded to them? Do you drive change on a daily basis or are you driven by change? Who is in charge of all this change anyway? This month, columnist Jeff Cole explores an interesting perspective on

BPM: If You’re Going to Drive a Race Car – Prepare to Get on the Track: BPM Straight Up - Separating Fact from Fiction

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Many companies are using BPM and its related software tools (BPMS) to solve small operational problems, says Dan Morris in a new column launched this month. This is like using a race car to go to the corner store – it may get you there quickly, but are you using it to its potential?&

Systems Thinking and the Three Musketeers - Deming's SoPK Part I: The Deming Files

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Conceptually, it is often easy to grasp the concept of Systems Thinking, writes contributor Eric Christiansen, in the first of a four-part series looking at Dr. W. Edward Deming's system of management - the System of Profound Knowledge (SoPK). What is more difficult is figuring ou

Government Debt Crisis: The Perils of Amputation Without Diagnosis: "The Drucker Perspective"

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

If the recent agony over raising the deficit ceiling in the US and the financial turmoil over euro-zone debt is anything to go by, reducing government deficits and cutting back on the programs that fuel them is more important than ever. But where do you start? Peter Drucker’s theorie

Why People Aren’t As Afraid of Change As You Think: "The Drucker Perspective"

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Are people really afraid of change? Not in the way that many people think, says Dr. Robert Swaim in the second of a 4-part article series looking at managing change in an organization. Here's why. Read Part I:

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Overcoming resistance to changes is often one of the biggest challenges for continuous improvement practitioners. In the first of a 4-part series on managing change in the enterprise, Dr. Robert Swaim looks at the reasons organizations change and breaks c

Don’t Let Culture Hold You Hostage - Creating a Deming-based Culture of Continual Improvement: The Deming Files

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Mental models provide the context for our lives that help us make sense of our reality. The downside of them is that many people feel comfortable only within their mental model, writes Dr. Sheila Ronis in this week’s Deming Files. And that’s why it is so diffi

Seven Signs Your Process Improvement Initiative Is Failing: Lean for Services

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Many companies start the process excellence journey with a bang, says Debashis Sarkar, but fail to sustain the gains. In this PEX Network interview, Sarkar, author and Asia's pioneer in Lean for services, looks at the causes of failure, details the seven signs that your proce

Guts, Imagination & the Five Essential Elements of Continuous Improvement: Tales of a Master Black Belt

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 04:00:00 GMT

You need people with guts to challenge the status quo - but beware turning everything upside down, writes Mark Fendley, Continuous Improvement Manager at BMW in this month’s Tales from a Master Black Belt. There are some things better left alone and you need to foster a culture that

The Eight Laws of Leadership (And Why It’s A Marketing Job): "The Drucker Perspective"

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Leadership is essentially a marketing job, argues Dr. William Cohen in this week's Lessons from Peter Drucker. Here are the eight universal laws of sucessful leadership and why they're all about marketing. Drucker was fond of pointing out that the greatest advances

Culture Eats Process for Lunch: Street Smarts for Change Management

Jeff Cole — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Culture devours massive amounts of well-intended process change throughout corporate America leaving unaware teams scratching their heads as they stare in amazement at the smoking wreckage of what was anticipated to be a simple process improvement. Want to avoid chargrilled process c

Organizational Sabotage - The Malpractice of Management By Objective: The Deming Files

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Innovation, quality and productivity suffer from t he abuse of MBOs Objectives are essential to a business.

"But I Don't Have Time To Change" - Frontline Service Improvements In US Healthcare: The Data Driven Doctor

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Urgent tasks are the enemy of process improvement, says columnist Rob Davis, but there are many opportunities at the frontline of healthcare to find improvements if we are only willing to take the time. I spent last week with physicians from across the United States.&

Why "Conforming to Spec" Isn't Enough: The Deming Files

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 04:00:00 GMT

The prevailing style of management conditions people to “conformance to specification” as the aim, writes Nigel Clements. This is a waste of human intellect and simply not good enough. Here's why. Dr. W. Edwards Deming is often li

The Four Secrets of Success in Business: "The Drucker Perspective"

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Want to be successful? Try following Drucker’s four approaches to entrepreneurial success, writes Dr. William Cohen. They’ll work whether you consider yourself an entrepreneur or not. Drucker was an entrepreneur, and in many ways he promoted entrepreneurial

The Perils of Self Service: Select 1 for Confusion. Press 4 for Frustration.: Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Self service “kiosks“ are now appearing in airports, supermarkets and banks, and we've had automated call answering services for decades. G ood ideas in principle, but to

Entrepreneurship as a Function of Quality – Deming and the Development of the Global Emerging Market: The Deming Files

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Quality as a category is a key factor of competitiveness, determining the success of entrepreneurship in any given society writes Dr. Vladimir Kvint, President of the International Academy of Emerging Markets and a member of the Bretton Woods Committee. In this week’s Deming Files, D

Drucker and Executive Compensation – Are CEOs Paid Too Much?: "The Drucker Perspective"

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 04:00:00 GMT

The gap between the CEOs and front line workers has increased by over 1000% since 1965. In this week’s Drucker Files, Dr. Robert W. Swaim asks whether CEO’s are really worth what they’re paid.

Tue, 31 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Nearly all sustainable performance is due to the system and not the individual, writes Emma Langman in this week’s Deming Files. So what role does leadership play? Experts talk about many different kinds of leadership - Situational Leadership, Adaptive Leadership, Le

Why Ruin a Perfectly Good Strategy by Trying to Execute it?: Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground

Wed, 25 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Execution is all about getting the entire organisation focused on delivering against the strategy. So why is it so difficult? Columnist Ian Gotts, looks at the challenge of translating top level vision into reality.

Mon, 23 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Quality is a very necessary and important part of the product or service that you offer, whether the product is an automobile or an airplane, potential candidates for a job, or due diligence accomplished by a consultant, attorney, or accountant prior to an acquisition. Yet too many

Lean Six Sigma Top to Bottom and Everywhere In Between: Tales of a Master Black Belt

Wed, 18 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Getting the buy-in of senior leadership to a Lean Six Sigma deployment goes further than just getting them to embrace DMAIC, says Jeffrey Koff, director of Lean Six Sigma Initiatives at Xerox Corporation. As PEX Network launches Tales from a Master Black Belt column this month, Koff gives&

Deming and the Abdication of Leadership: The Deming Files

Mon, 16 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

To use only Deming-based ‘quality methods’ and not his ‘leadership methods’ puts organizations at a distinct disadvantage, writes Kenneth Craddock in this week’s The Deming Files. Indeed, Deming would have considered many common management practice

Frankenstein and the Ghost of Processes Past: Street Smarts for Change Management

Mon, 16 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

There is no shortage of broken processes in organizations crying out to be improved, says columnist Jeff Cole. But when it comes to changing them there are two types of errors leaders make. Here’s how to avoid them. Why do we change processes in any organization?

Charisma, the Undoing of Leaders?: "The Drucker Perspective"

Thu, 05 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

“The definition of a leader is someone who has followers. Without followers, there can be no leaders,” management theorist Peter Drucker once rather simplistically said. In the latest Drucker Files, Dr. Robert Swaim looks at Drucker's reflection on leadership.

Where the Best Innovations Come From: "The Drucker Perspective"

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Bright ideas are the riskiest and least successful sources of innovation, said management theorist Peter Drucker. Here's where you should look for inspiration instead. Investigating the best sources of innovations, Drucker found that there was considerable da

Under Pressure: Deepwater Horizon and Why Systems Fail (Part II): The Deming Files

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

The reality of too many businesses is that pressure to get results can override good judgment. Part II of this week’s Deming Files examines the Deepwater Horizon disaster and argues that commonly-accepted but faulty management practices can lead to disaster.

Under Pressure: Deepwater Horizon and Why Systems Fail (Part I): The Deming Files

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

When disaster hits your business, do you know where to start to make sure it doesn’t happen again? Part I of this week’s Deming Files introduces the value of combining Deming and Goldratt –with special attention on applying Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints - to

Going Green and Going Bananas: Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

To go "Green" requires changes to how people work, interact and use technology. Columnist Ian Gotts, CEO and founder of Nimbus, argues there are both business and environmental benefits to BPM and cloud computing. Having just moved to San Francisco to the Nimbus U

Which Way Success? Navigating Through Uncharted Changes: Street Smarts for Change Management

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

There are many ways to roll out a change. Which way works best for you? This month, columnist Jeff Cole takes us on a quick tour down several paths to faster change. What is the best strategy for actually rolling out a process change? Trick question &ndash

Greed is Good? Think again, says Drucker: "The Drucker Perspective"

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

While “profit” is essential, writes Dr. William Cohen in this week's "Lessons from Peter Drucker", profit maximization is not the only purpose of a business. Indeed, it can even be bad for society and hazardous to our organization’s health. He

Sustainable Development the Deming Way: The Deming Files

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Deming said that systems must be designed and led so everyone can win, says Paul Beshah, once a refugee from Ethiopia and now a professional in the United States. In this week's The Deming Files, Beshah argues that emerging economies would do well to apply Deming principles to dev

Getting Down to Busy-ness: Knowledge Workers Are Less Productive than Ever: "The Drucker Perspective"

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Knowledge is now the main product of advanced economies and the livelihood of the largest group of the population in developed countries. But how do you measure and improve the productivity of knowledge workers, asks columnist Dr. Robert Swaim, when you cannot readily observe what the

Building an Effective Voice of the Customer System: Delivering Customer Value through Six Sigma

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

I recently delivered a webinar for the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) explaining how to design Value-Driven Process Improvements in order to achieve superior business performance. Such initiatives are highly dependent upon an effective Voice of the Customer system&m

Generation Y and Deming's Constancy of Purpose: The Deming Files

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Much of what has been written about Generation Y is either meaningless or wrong, says Poorani Jeyasekar, who has been researching the topic for over 3-years. In this week’s The Deming Files, Jeyasekar, a Gen Y herself, personally deconstructs the characteristics of the demographic an

Beethoven's Wig was Very Big: Why Marketing and Innovation Matter: "The Drucker Perspective"

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Focus too much on making a profit from your existing product or service and you risk going the way of Beethoven's wig, argues William Cohen in his latest Lessons from Peter Drucker. Why marketing and innovation are the only functions that matter. Years ago Pete

I'm At Work - What Does That Mean?: Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Technology is blurring the distinction between work and non-work, says Nimbus CEO Ian Gotts. It used to be that work-life balance was about leaving the office earlier. Now there is no office to leave. In his latest column, Gotts l

VOC: Invent Something Cool and 'They' Will Come?: The Chain Reaction

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Customer intimacy goes beyond just data extraction and the subsequent pontification of what it means, says Douglas Kent. In the launch of his new column, "The Chain Reaction", Kent argues that businesses that continue to rely mostly on technology and product innovation for t

Prepare for Change: Don't Inhale Underwater!: Street Smarts for Change Management

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 05:00:00 GMT

How ready is your organization for change? How ready are you personally? This month, columnist Jeff Cole dives in - quite literally - to the topic of change readiness and how it can impact the success of your next project. Recently I harkened back to a poolside

Would Deming's Phone Still Ring Today?: The Deming Files

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 05:00:00 GMT

On June 24th 1980 the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) broadcast a white paper documentary in the United States entitled, “If Japan Can, Why Can’t We?” The Japanese quality revolution had been seriously upsetting the economy of the United States for almost a

Lessons on Process from 10 Downing Street: Lean for Services

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Kate Middleton and Prince William may be grabbing headlines around the world over their pending nuptials, there’s another Briton that has been sharing the limelight lately: Larry the Cat. The

De-motivation index - take the test!: "The Drucker Perspective"

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 05:00:00 GMT

What kind of environment does your workplace foster? Take the De-Motivation Index test - based on Dr. Peter Drucker's theories on motivation - to find out. Organizational De-Motivation Index Ins

The Demotivation Trap and What You Can Do About It: "The Drucker Perspective"

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Understand Drucker’s approach to motivation, and you can forget the countless other books on employee motivation. In this month's Drucker Files, Dr. Robert Swaim - student, colleague and friend of Peter Drucker for thirty years - summarizes Druck

A Dose of Data a Day Keeps Physicans Au Fait: The Data Driven Doctor

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:00:00 GMT

In a new column launched this week, Rob Davis, Executive Director of the US-based Outpatient Quality Improvement Network, looks at how medical benchmarking and dashbo

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4 Lessons from the Kodak “Moment of Truth”: Thinking Business, Thinking Process

Beyond Management by Objective: A Look at Hoshin Kanri (Part 2): The Deming Files