It is probably human nature, but when asked about a business problem or the reason for a dip in performance results, the responses that I often hear are about something or someone else and the responder forgets to look in their own backyard. If we changed this tendency and did look internally first, we would solve problems and improve organizational results at a much faster pace. Here’s what I mean…. In Sales: I worked in sales organizations for many years and when employees were not meeting their sales quota the most common reasons given were that their sales quota was too high or that theirRead More →

Yesterday, two co-workers and I met with a consultant who specializes in process excellence coaching for senior leaders. The purpose of his visit was to gather baseline information, in preparation for a formal coaching session in November. He came equipped with a list of questions to better understand our business, and there was one that really stood out. He asked, “What percentage of work time are your employees able to leverage their full potential and use all of their skills and talents?” The three of us thought for a moment, and I replied 40%, one coworker said 60% and the third settled in on 50%.Read More →

If you are in an operations role, you likely enjoy problem solving. It can be fun, challenging and satisfying. But, there is a BIG problem with problem solving….it happens too late in the process. At that point, we did not meet our customers’ needs, we missed our performance goals or we spent more than what we budgeted. In addition, when we invest most of our time in problem solving and fighting fires, we no longer have the time for more value added activities like coaching, training, mentoring, strategic planning etc. Problem prevention is where the party is!  By focusing most of our time on problemRead More →