Knowledge Fulcrum » Benchmarking

Who Should Lead Your Continuous Improvement Initiative?

johnstepleton — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:02:22 +0000

Having been a CEO implementing a Continuous Improvement initiative within an organization as well as a consultant helping other organizations establish their own CI initiatives – one of the first questions to answer is, “who should be a part of our CI team?” Unfortunately there are no simple ways to answers this question. However the following description by Peter Senge in his newest book – The Necessary Revolution best describes the type of leaders to look look for:

“One thing we have learned from working on organizational and systematic change is that the leaders are hard to identify in advance. Sometimes they are CEO’s or presidents, but often they do not occupy positions of obvious power in a corporate hierarchy. They are not the flag wavers, campaigning vocally for change, but rather passionate individuals working to transform their organizations from the bottom up. They are most often open-minded pragmatists, people who care deeply about the future but who are suspicious of quick fixes, emotional nostrums, and superficial answers to complex problems. They have a hard-earned sense of how their organizations work, tempered by humility concerning what any one person can do alone. They often do not think of themselves as leaders, but time proves them wrong.”

In my own experience – the best champions where the ones who were the slowest to jump on board – but once they did the impact thay had on our overall progress was incredible. Perhaps when you are starting to implement your own CI program you can use this as part of your selection criteria. There’s nothing easy about undertaking CI programs but the feeling of achievement when it works is more than worth it.

Two Examples of Finding Your Passion

johnstepleton — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:00:38 +0000

This week I experienced two examples of what’s possible by living a truly purposeful life. Both examples happened on the same day, at the same place, and for the same reasons – is that any surprise?

Example #1 – Makin’ Bac’n

How do you take something as simple as bacon and turn it into a business? I’d like you to meet Scott Kventon – the biggest fan of bacon I’ve ever met. This week, Scott shared his story of the fast track start to his first business that went from concept to revenue in less than two months. It’s the epitome of what a small group of passionate entrepreneurs can accomplish.

Scott’s the founder and inspiration behind the coolest site about bacon I’ve ever seen… http://bacn.com/. In fact, it’s the first website about bacon I’ve ever seen. Scott’s passion for the pig, coupled with his knowledge and endless energy, have resulted in a sustainable business that started from his garage.

So, what did I learn? First, I learned more than I could have hoped about bacon. He had me at “hello,” as I’ve been a fan of the pig for quite some time now. More importantly, what I learned was that if you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, you’d better watch out because there will be someone who is — and it’s likely they will kick your ass.

The next generation of entrepreneurs is a unique group of individuals. They talk fast, they think fast, and they ACT fast! On top of it all, they’re having fun. If you can’t see this from BACN.COM, then you should unsubscribe from this blog and never come here again. If it’s as clear as the nose on your face, then you get it.

Example #2 – Energizer Bunny

Take an empty office building, add a dose of brilliance — and you have NedSpace. Josh Friedman and his partners are onto something big.

NedSpace is a new concept to me — providing rented desk space for young start-ups on the cheap. The thing makes this such a value is not the $175/month desk but the ENERGY that you feel by being around other driven entrepreneurs. By renting offices and desks to serial entrepreneurs, they provide an atmosphere that can’t be replicated by working from home. NedSpace is a great concept which takes advantage of the glut of office space that’s out there, while creating a great environment for start-ups to work and collaborate. My only question is — why don’t I have my office here? Nicely done, Josh!

Collaboration Example – Recruiting Best Practices

johnstepleton — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:36:47 +0000

I recently posted a blog discussing the difference between team work and collaboration. I thought it would be nice to provide you with a concrete example.

Two of my favorite blogs I read recently had posts about recruiting for your business. Individually, either blog is an excellent resource which will improve your efforts. But if you combine them the results can be even better.

MINDdrift

Re: Focus:

Even Better!

I’ve really started to appreciate the benefit of “blending” ideas together – just another form of collaboration. Thanks Simon and David! If you have other ideas or examples please throw it in the blender for the rest of us!

How Transparent is Your Culture?

johnstepleton — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:22:09 +0000

What is the essence of an organization’s culture? What makes it work? For some time now I’ve had this image in my mind – it’s the purest description of Organizational Culture I’ve been able to think of .

It has been said before that organizations with a strong culture are those in which the staff respond to stimulus because of their alignment to organizational values. Companies like Nike, Southwest Airlines, Apple, Google – they all have what most would describe as a strong culture.

I would argue that culture goes beyond simply aligning the employees around a set of organizational values. I would say that strong cultures have very defined and distinct components around three broad areas:

Purpose – This is a much better word than “values.” Purpose defines a broad sense of one’s aim, intention, role, determination and resolve. Simply aligning people around a set of values will not get you results. Purpose provides people – in this case employees and customers - the ability to link cause and effect to the achievement of a goal in a given system. Purpose is what guides decision-making in choosing appropriate actions within a range of strategies based on varying degrees of abiguityof knowledge that creates a context for action. More simply put – purpose allows people to change the conditions in an environment in order to make it better. This is a complex yet powerful concept.

Alignment - This goes well beyond organizational structure. Alignment is the adjustment of an object or activity in relation to other objects or activities. It goes much deeper than the ”structure” an organization’s decision-making takes. In this context, alignment refers not just to the people but also the activities and the information. When combined with a common purpose - employees will re-orient their position, activities and behaviors in order to achieve the desired results. Too many have confused “command and control” with alignment. Go to any successful restaurant and walk into the kitchen. A well-aligned kitchen means that everyone knows precisely their necessary activity, and everyone has the ”information” to pull all the dishes together in the most efficient manner.

Empowerment - This is the last piece to the puzzle. Empowerment provides people with information and resources to make decisions and take action. This is also where individuals take initiative to improve how they currently do their work in an effort to seek a more effective and more efficient method. It is also where individuals learn that they are a part of the continuous process where change is never ending, and change is self-initiated. Empowerment is also where your employees gain (or enhance) a positive self image. Empowerment is also where your employees identify, deal with and overcome barriers; this increases their ability to use discreet thinking to sort out right from wrong.

Three simple words to describe a complex, dynamic, yet difficult state to achieve. Everything that’s part of your culture exists within these three simple areas. What I do know is that achieving results like the companies mentioned - is not an easy task. It takes never-ending faith, focus and effort – not just by you the CEO, but by everyone in the organization. It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it or not.

Key Areas of Operation in Successful Businesses

johnstepleton — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:36:09 +0000

Over the past 15 years, I’ve been interested in better understanding which business practices are most important to maintain organizational health and which will result in a higher level of success. In late 2007, I conducted a study among US businesses (across all industries) that identified seven key areas of the operation that were most closely tied to success.

Here is what I learned:

1. Setting and Selling Your Vision
Organizations who have effectively developed a clear core vision or purpose, and, who effectively communicate it to employees, customers and partners, are more likely to experience higher levels of success. These organizations also tie their “vision