Something somebody said to me today reminded me that improving organisations is not always about making money.
Somtimes it is about creating better working environments to raise the morale of people (which may or may not have a financial impact), improve the quality of service delivered to customers (who could be patients in the NHS) and sometimes it is about changing the way that people think about the work they do, the services they deliver or receive or the people they work with.
Even if a project is about money, we need to also remember that the change process will be impacting on a wide range of people issues - which if you forget will mean you will probably fail!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Monday, September 25, 2006
Flexibility in Design
We can argue what 'design' means another time, but successful design teams contain a flexible mix of specialities representing all required disciplines - whereas unsuccessful teams have rigid structures containing one or a few specialisms (but far from all).
Given that over 80% of the final product costs are locked in during the design phase (and around 65% of the productivity/costs for a service) - having a flexible design team is essential to having a successful business.
Of course, we can discuss the strategic issues around design later on but I had to make this point straight away!
Read my article on Concurrent Design here.
Given that over 80% of the final product costs are locked in during the design phase (and around 65% of the productivity/costs for a service) - having a flexible design team is essential to having a successful business.
Of course, we can discuss the strategic issues around design later on but I had to make this point straight away!
Read my article on Concurrent Design here.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Mismatch Culture
Organisational culture is something that affects the success of different types of change programme.
I noticed this a lot with organisations when trying to introduce Lean to organisations where the underlying culture was all about providing evidence and who analysed facts before taking actions. With Lean being a very intuitive change tool it does not 'fit right' with what these types of organisation are looking for, making its implementation very difficult.
Conversely, trying to apply Six Sigma as the driving change tool in an organisation which has a prevailing culture of 'firing from the hip', it is almost painful to apply.
The 'fit' of the right change tools with the organisation's culture is in some ways more important than the application of the tools themselves!
I noticed this a lot with organisations when trying to introduce Lean to organisations where the underlying culture was all about providing evidence and who analysed facts before taking actions. With Lean being a very intuitive change tool it does not 'fit right' with what these types of organisation are looking for, making its implementation very difficult.
Conversely, trying to apply Six Sigma as the driving change tool in an organisation which has a prevailing culture of 'firing from the hip', it is almost painful to apply.
The 'fit' of the right change tools with the organisation's culture is in some ways more important than the application of the tools themselves!
Ready, Fire, Aim!
Although I realise this is my second post on this blog and both of them contains the word 'Fire', I would like to reassure people that I am not a pyromaniac!
I meet lots of people who have done very detailed plans of how they will introduce change - so many plans that sometimes they run out of steam before they even start - and for those that do start they quickly find that the reality of change does not match the 'Mahogany Map' (the plan done in the board room).
Whilst having defined boundaries and targets are very important, it is almost more important to move to action quickly, taking gentle risks to start with and building up experience and competence - as this will both inform the on-going planning work and provide it with much needed energy.
I like to say that you cannot have a 100% accurate plan and that 80% now is better than 100% never.
There are some useful blogs for people interested in flexible change at my other blog HERE.
I meet lots of people who have done very detailed plans of how they will introduce change - so many plans that sometimes they run out of steam before they even start - and for those that do start they quickly find that the reality of change does not match the 'Mahogany Map' (the plan done in the board room).
Whilst having defined boundaries and targets are very important, it is almost more important to move to action quickly, taking gentle risks to start with and building up experience and competence - as this will both inform the on-going planning work and provide it with much needed energy.
I like to say that you cannot have a 100% accurate plan and that 80% now is better than 100% never.
There are some useful blogs for people interested in flexible change at my other blog HERE.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Fire!
Some years ago (in fact probably many years ago) I took part in a quiz to promote fire safety. We were taught by real firemen and also had the opportunity to try working with things such as hoses, breathing apparatus and ladder work.
The bit I remember most was the use of the 'rat run', or underground training area where the firemen practiced working in difficult, dark and sometimes smoky environments. We would work in the tunnels in pairs and would be timed to see who could get through the fastest without breaking the basic safety rules.
What I remember clearly was that the team that had the best communication and also were the most flexible in how they applied the rules would invariably win, and win by some major margin.
Working with companies now brings this memory back to the front of my mind because what I have learnt is that the improvement teams who have the best communication and relationships and who have the best understanding of the principles of improvement and the boundaries of the change required will (and do) have the best success.
This blog will explore the benefit of flexibility in change over rigidly applied improvement and what this means to improvements in a wide range of sectors.
The bit I remember most was the use of the 'rat run', or underground training area where the firemen practiced working in difficult, dark and sometimes smoky environments. We would work in the tunnels in pairs and would be timed to see who could get through the fastest without breaking the basic safety rules.
What I remember clearly was that the team that had the best communication and also were the most flexible in how they applied the rules would invariably win, and win by some major margin.
Working with companies now brings this memory back to the front of my mind because what I have learnt is that the improvement teams who have the best communication and relationships and who have the best understanding of the principles of improvement and the boundaries of the change required will (and do) have the best success.
This blog will explore the benefit of flexibility in change over rigidly applied improvement and what this means to improvements in a wide range of sectors.
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