share to gain » Continuous Improvement – Lean / Six Sigma

Design Thinking, an Interview with Roger Martin

craigdcrook — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:42:21 +0000

What a fantastic mind, Roger is leading thought on how to reinvent education (from within).

Also, I’ve become friends with the interviewer (Chris Taylor) through Twitter and then in NYC at a Linchpin workshop — his company (Goose Educational Media) is doing a great job of making business books actionable — sign up for his “In-Flight” book reviews today!

From the Horse’s Mouth, vol 3: Mastery & Innovation from Goose Educational Media inc. on Vimeo.

Social Media in the Corporate Environment

craigdcrook — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:24:56 +0000

Great session today by @HSchoegler, @BeTheLink & @craigdcrook

Here are the slides for you to share with others, as well of a list of tools that people have been tweeting in to us…

Corporate Social Media

View more presentations from sharetogain.

Thanks to the speakers and others (@KMullet, @ScLoHo) for the resource list:

mashable.com
oneforty.com
namechk.com
social media today.com
co tweet.com
tweet funnel.com
hoot suite.com
kazle.com
dandydid.org
hellotxt.com
hi.im
twiping.com

tweet about this #TQMSM

Revolution or Evolution?

craigdcrook — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:30:36 +0000

(Design as an iterative process)

Our culture loves the idea of revolutionary movements — perhaps because it was the foundation of our country? Revolutions are powerful and from time to time necessary… but it is disruptive to everyday life as it shakes foundations. Consider an alternative – “fast evolution”, “rapid proto-typing” or “iterative design” for designing new products, services and processes. Listen to David Kelley of IDEO talk about this concept.

Organic Lean

craigdcrook — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:57:37 +0000

by craig henderson of SysteMental

It’s no secret – companies often struggle to implement Lean. In fact, according to an Industry Week article, By The Numbers: Of all firms responding to the IW/MPI Census of U.S. Manufacturers less than 20% of companies report a major increase in performance generated from improvement initiatives like Lean.

A typical transition to Lean starts out just fine. Once the executive vision for Lean as a business strategy has been communicated, introductory training then follows. The training is usually effective – bringing exciting Lean ideas and concepts into view. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm often quickly fades when the first Lean activities begin. What’s the problem? Organizations frequently see standard implementation practices as potentially harmful. This perception of danger leads to a fast build-up employee resistance. Overcoming this “resistance to change” increases costs, weakens results, and decreases return on investment.

Organic Lean™ corrects standard implementation practices to fully deliver the benefits of Lean.

To learn more, read the full article An Introduction to Organic Lean , or see the presentation below.

Vist the Systemental website for information about Organic Lean™ Services

Organic Lean™ corrects standard implementation practices to fully deliver the benefits of Lean.

Intro to Organic Lean

View more presentations from Craig Henderson.

Vist the Systemental website for information about Organic Lean™ Services

Come on, have a little fun!

craigdcrook — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:50:02 +0000

How can you bring a little fun into your workplace?

I don’t suggest work has to be a playground, but engaged employees are more productive. Try a little, try a lot — and see if you can’t see a difference. Here are some great videos to fuel the fires of creativity.

Found something that’s worked? Share your ideas with others in the comments – or send them to craig [at] tqmnet.com

The Evolution for Spread Sheets?!

craigdcrook — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:52:47 +0000

Very interesting look into how collaboration and work gets done in the era of rapidly changing expectations. Just as Facebook changes overnight — so does the user interface expectation for millions of users in days vs. years.

SOCIALTEXT ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE BRINGS MORE COLLABORATION TO THE WORKSPACE

Socialtext is creating new ways for business staffs to collaborate online through enterprise social software. The Palo Alto, Calif., group was founded in 2002…

Let us know how this is impacting you. Are you using this – Google Wave – Google Docs – SharePoint — something else??

Lean & Six Sigma: Better Together

jamie — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:04:42 +0000

Which is better? Lean or Six Sigma? The question itself is absurd, yet often debated among continuous improvement professionals.

Click here for details about this session or to join us.

CEO’s are ready for change… that works!

craigdcrook — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:40:34 +0000

by craig henderson

A service business CEO, leading an organization with 650 employees, wants to launch a strategic initiative but isn’t ready. Something is missing from the picture. What is it?

The CEO’s idea is strong – boost financial results by putting a “pay for performance” model in place for employees. Her plan ties pay to productivity, quality, and other important measures. The financial argument is solid. The design looks great –

it’s been skillfully crafted by an industry expert
it’s based on a model with a proven track record
and it’s been tailored specifically for her business

Yet, even under the pressure of a struggling economy and shrinking profits, the CEO is reluctant to pull the trigger on the plan. Why? Well, as good as the plan is, she’s just not sure it will work.

What if the employees don’t like the change and resentment leaks through to customers?

What if the project runs into difficulty after launch, who will see it through?

What if the definition of service quality that was used to construct the model is slightly off?

Will an early performance boost be followed by a downward slide in results as customers realize things “aren’t what they used to be”?

What can be done to assure the CEO her plan will be a success?

Hoshin Kanri strategy deployment, also known as Policy Deployment, is a process designed to give the CEO the confidence she needs to pull the trigger on her plan. The process framework will not only communicate and deploy her idea, but it will launch her idea on the best possible footing, then protect and safeguard her investment by testing and proving her idea will work, under controlled conditions, before she’s in too deep.

Hoshin Kanri ensures CEO’s leading their businesses into the future will arrive safely and reap well deserved rewards. Hoshin Kanri makes sailing into uncharted waters safer and less stressful. When it comes to implementing strategies for boosting business performance, it’s as close as you can get to buying piece of mind.

Nobody Likes Bad Change

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:48:34 +0000

Research has shown 8 out of 10 executives who launch major change initiatives are dissatisfied with the results delivered by their efforts. In larger organizations, “resistance to change” and “lack of implementation know-how” are two of the top obstacles consistently identified as blocking or weakening success. Not approaching change in the right way can be like walking up a sand dune … mostly you are sliding backwards!

To learn how to speed up change come to this event on September 3. Click here for more information or to register now.

Defects – “Aw Crap!”

jamie — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:27:58 +0000

Just a few defects to help you feel better about the mistakes you have made this week…