How do you crete a documented ‘Flow’ in your processes?

How do you crete a documented ‘Flow’ in your processes?

Aug 5, 2019 | Management, Operations

 

‘Flow’ evolves as a completed task is handed over to the next stage, or person, automatically, with no error, in an entirely predictable manner.

When seeking to build flow into a system, there needs to  be a lot of detailed and logical thought put into the individual actions that need to take place in order to complete the activity, stage, and whole job.

There needs to be a list of the individual actions that are required, that are checked off.

Nothing too adventurous here.

If you boarded a plane and saw that the pilot was running through his preflight checks from memory, rather than a clipboard held by the copilot, you would be justified to feel nervous. In the case of a light plane, the pilot will use a clipboard himself, and physically check items off the list.  This post will have been edited several times, but it is only the use of the ‘speak’ tool that will root out the small inevitable errors of grammar, syntax, and spelling that I make. Even then, some sneak through.

We all miss things, our mind sees what it wants to see because it makes assumptions about what should be there, and just ‘sees’ it.

The easiest way to write out a sequence of actions in sufficient detail for it to be a contributor to the creation of ‘Flow’,  is to assume you are writing them for  your grandmother who has advancing Alzheimer’s, and for whom  every action has to be articulated in detail and in sequence. This should deliver a simple, logical flow, that is easily communicated and used.

A caution: Never assume because a process has been articulated in this way, and seems to work well, that there is no room for further revision and improvement.

Improvement can only occur in a stable environment, and documenting the flow is a key step in the ongoing challenge of improvement. 

Processes are not goals, but goals are daydreams without processes.

Processes are not goals, but goals are daydreams without processes.

Aug 2, 2019 | Change, Strategy

 

Life is so very complicated.

We are always being told that to be successful requires that we set goals, and stick to them, work for them, focus, focus.

However, in my observation, a goal without a process to achieve that goal is useless, nothing more than a fantasy.

On the other hand, all the work I do with those who run  factories are about continuous improvement. Finding often tiny ways to deliver incremental productivity by removing the items, actions, and complications that hinder the ‘flow’ through a system delivers sustainable improvement.

Over time, the compounding impact is huge.

This has nothing to do with goals, but everything to do with mindset.

Can you achieve a goal without a systemic way of delivery that requires change?

Yes, but that goal will not be sustaining.

I observe those around me in this obese community setting out regularly to lose weight. Often they do, by a combination of exercise and ‘starving’ themselves, but immediately the goal weight has been reached, they relax, and the weight goes back on. They achieved the goal, but failed to have a process in place that made the weight loss sustainable.

If those same people just did some regular exercise, cut out sugar and fast foods, and ate less more often, then, over time, they would lose weight. In effect, they have adopted a process without necessarily having a goal.

My kids were all elite athletes, and they had goals, the big long term ones, but way more important, the ‘micro goals,’ the things they were working on every day to improve an element just a fraction, and a fraction a day, over time makes a huge difference. They were given an improvement process by their coaches, and while the long term goal was always there, it was never the focus, the day by day process was the focus.

Do the work, stick to the process, and the results will come.

Header cartoon is more visual advice from Dilbert via Scott Adms.

 

 

 

6 characteristics to look for when assembling an advisory board

6 characteristics to look for when assembling an advisory board

Jul 31, 2019 | Governance, Leadership

Small and medium businesses need outside assistance in order to build the depth of capability that is required to compete effectively on the big stage that we now have.

I often advocate they have some sort of ‘Advisory board’ that delivers the guidance and experience to make a difference.

So, what sort of people should you look for to go onto that board? It is easy to suggest it be set up, but very hard to find the right people, particularly for SME’s with limited networks and resources to go and find these people.

Here are some of the characteristics that it seems to me are needed on such a board. It will be rare to find them all in one individual, and two brains are always better than one anyway, so look for some diversity at the same time. Of course, these are the personality traits you should look for, and are on top of the technical ones you may need, finance, engineering, marketing, and so on.

  • They spend a lot of time ensuring that the right questions are asked, rather than jumping to the answers.
  • They work from the challenge backwards to the current, rather than from the current forward. I call it hindsight planning when developing strategy, but it is also a mindset that ensures the problem being considered is adequately defined.
  • They are looking to learn themselves, from the competitive and  strategic problems they see, the people they encounter, and the differing options that emerge from considering a problem. The last thing you want is someone who already knows all the answers!.
  • They are biased towards action, rather than riding the status quo. Being prepared to take action, and sometimes be wrong, able to concede the mistake and move on again is a vital personal capability to seek.
  • They treat your resources, as if they were their own.
  • Underlying everything they do is the recognition that only by creating value for someone else can you move forward: Personally and commercially.

An alternative to an advisory board, is membership of one of the emerging ‘executive roundtable’ services, of which there are several. These ‘tables’ assemble the executives of non competing businesses into groups of 7 to 11, chaired by an experienced advisor and chair, and they act as each others advisory board. This model has the added advantage of addressing the hidden cost of the CEO of a medium sized business, loneliness. It is often a very lonely place, and such a table has a powerful social aspect as well as delivering great commercial value.

Everybody needs informed, and neutral advice and a sounding board to make better decisions. 

 

 

The ‘Marketing Alchemy’ that reversed the value of gold and iron.

The ‘Marketing Alchemy’ that reversed the value of gold and iron.

Jul 29, 2019 | Marketing, Strategy

1813, in Prussia, princess Marianne convinced people to turn in their gold jewelry to fund the war against France, and be given an iron replica in return. The replica jewelry was stamped with the words ‘Gold gab ich fur Eisen’ which means ‘I gave gold for iron’. Substitute iron jewelry produced by the Royal Berlin Foundry became the symbol of not just wealth and status, but of patriotism, .

Gold has an intrinsic value, it can be used, and reused, but its real value is in the belief we share that it has value in other ways, beauty, a symbol of wealth, luxury, status, and all the rest of the stuff we value.

The status of iron replica  jewelry was conjured to become higher than that of the gold originals.

Possession of gold signals things, but those signals can be reversed, because they are all about perception. It just takes a  bit of psychology, mixed in with the change of context and perception, achieved by marketing.

Marketing Alchemy.

The Prussians must have a skill for this stuff, despite their dour characterisation.

Frederick the Great achieved the opposite effect with his bit of alchemy with spuds. Frederick, who ruled Prussia from 1740 to 1786, was concerned that his people had only one source of carbohydrate, wheat. In a conflict, which he was pretty good at inciting, wheat fields could be devastated, and take a long time to be replaced, meanwhile his people would starve. The antidote was potatoes, which would provide a quick growing and reliable alternative  source, but Prussians would not eat potatoes, under any circumstances. After all, dogs would  not eat them, why should people?

Fred tried every form of coercion that he, as an absolute monarch, could dream up, but nothing worked. Then he found some magic marketing alchemy somewhere, and had his gardeners plant a potato garden which he decreed as Royal potatoes, reserved exclusively for the tables of royalty. He put a guard around his garden, but quietly he instructed the guards to be slack, and not enforce the security. This meant that the locals could nick in and knock off some royal potatoes pretty much without any real risk, while defying the king.

The net result was that potatoes quickly became a staple in the German diet.

Marketing alchemy at work!

Devising this sort of marketing alchemy is not easy, and is not always sensible at first glance. It is always different, counterintuitive, and will have more than its fair share of knockers. ‘It will never work’ they chorus, usually because they cannot see out of their status quo box. When you need some alchemy in your business, call an alchemist.

Header photo: iron jewelry in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

 

 

The challenges of tension in the evolution of business Strategy

The challenges of tension in the evolution of business Strategy

Jul 24, 2019 | Strategy

 

I want to talk about tension.

The tension present in every commercial and private decision we make, and action we take.

If you focus exclusively on the short term, you will make mistakes, go out of business.

If you focus exclusively on the long term, you will do too little, and go out of business.

You must find a midpoint, one that ensures the bills are paid today, while ensuring that the business has the foundations to prosper into the future.

Current vs Future. The Quantitative with the Qualitative.

Tactics, the short term stuff is powered by data.

Strategy, the long term stuff is powered by insight.

Insight is informed by data, but does  not come exclusively from it. Insight comes from a wide range of sources, many not easily or readily available without a lot of work, time and experience, but nevertheless, absolutely necessary.

In effect, insight is identifying the ‘Why’ stuff happens, while working on the ‘what’ you are doing.

I am going to take this opportunity to ‘come out’ in this safe environment, and reveal a secret I have been hiding for all my adult life.

I am a …. Commercial schizophrenic. 

On one hand, I love the numbers, the investigation, analysis, KPI’s, analytics, the opportunity to dig down and see connections, trends, and find the hidden gems that can be leveraged to deliver value. On the other, I am a frustrated creative.  I cannot draw a line with a ruler, play a note, or hold a tune, and am in envious awe of those who can.

Numbers tend to numb the sense of curiosity, scepticism, and uncertainty, they imply something that is quantitative, and therefore black and white, no room for debate, misunderstanding, or discussion. The absence of numbers, without a credible story as to why, implies not enough work has been done,  and we are therefore wary.

The challenge of measurement in life and commerce is a major one. What to measure, how to measure it, and how to ensure that the measurements lead to some sort of action, without which, the exercise is useless. 

However, the core of the paradox of measurement is that some really fundamental things evade measurement. We are able to measure the past, and get results, biased, context driven, and short of understanding of the behaviours that gave us the measures. However, we have no idea how to measure the future, quantify what had not yet happened. All we know for sure is that it will be different to the past, so extrapolation is at best misleading, at worst totally and terminally wrong.

There is a great tension between the attraction of the seeming objectivity, safety and rationality of numbers, representing a continuation of the past, and the range of assumptions, beliefs, and projections that represent any vision of what the future might look like, and how it will impact on you.

Our brains are always seeking the easy and quick way out, jump to a conclusion to save cogitative energy, and when they see numbers, they automatically give them credibility they often do not deserve. Being creative  by contrast is the exact opposite. There are no rules, the idea matters, creative energy, unquantifiable and harder to generate a quick conclusion, just gets in the way. 

Strategy development is about developing a model of what the future might look like, then assembling and deploying appropriate resources in preparation for its arrival. 

Data is a representation of the past, a quantification of what has happened. It is always easier to assume that the future will look like the past, so we tend to just extrapolate. We also need to be able to react instantaneously, instinctively, to danger and opportunity. This is a function of evolution, where to survive we had to rely on our instincts, instant reactions, typified by ‘flight or fight’ which we are all familiar with. Our ‘fast’ brain drives us, and it takes an effort to override that instant response with something considered. 

I do not like snakes, at all. Nasty slithery things. However, I watched my youngest son when he was much younger play with a carpet snake at one of those touist trap reptile parks, knowing, rationally it was absolutely harmless, but would I touch it…NO. Irrational, emotional, and my rational brain gave up trying to get me to touch the bloody thing despite knowing it was so safe that I would let my son play with it.

Schitzo in the head!

My go-to marketing guru is Albert Einstein, also a reasonable physicist. Among his musings is this: Not everything that matters can be measured, and not everything that can be measured matters’ 

When you need a schitzo with insight born of tough and long experience to help you play with your snakes, let me know.

 

Header photo courtesy of Geoff Ridenour www.ridenourphoto.com