Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Continuous Improvement: Part 1

Halden Zimmermann's Latest Blog Post

Halden Zimmermann’s latest blog post


This Reference Guide explains the common language of Continuous Improvement


(CI), a tool for creating standard work, achieving operational excellence, serving our


customers better and becoming more competitive.


Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement



CI creates a system for operational excellence because it:


• Focuses on our customers


• Empowers our employees


• Provides tools and resources


• Helps prioritize opportunities


• Finds solutions based on root causes


• Builds sustainable results


• Uses a structured and disciplined process


• Offers the ability to leverage success across the organization and accelerate


improvement


This CI Reference Guide details the vision companies that want to be successful. It


defines key CI terms and explains tools that speed the improvement process and


help measure needs as well as progress.


Use it to focus department resources in ways that elate customers, streamline


processes and improve performance. If you can make CI a way of life and help those


who work with you do the same, you can unleash the power of the process. The


rewards are a delighted customer, reduced waste, fewer variations in our processes


and a sense of pride in a job well done.


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Friday, January 17, 2014

Sense of Urgency: Part 1

Halden Zimmermann's Latest Blog Post

Halden Zimmermann’s latest blog post


A Sense of Urgency: Part 1


When we think about continuous development of highly innovative technology,


changing political environments, globalization and steep growth, tough competition,


mergers and acquisitions, it’s a whirlwind of rapid change that fosters urgency.


Urgency means a sense of pressing importance. To live out success factors, its


crucial to be able to distinguish between a “true sense of urgency” and a “false sense


of urgency.” In fact, distinguishing between them during the very first step of any


kind of change can mean the difference between success and failure.


A good change model is one whose leadership adopts and promotes a culture of


the “right” sense of urgency throughout the company. The thought leader on this


phenomenon is Harvard MIT Change Expert Dr. John Kotter, who says that 50%


of all change efforts fail during the first step of change. Why do they fail? Mainly


because of lack of vision, communication of the vision, empowering others to act on


the vision, and more, the lack of which creates a false sense of urgency.


In many cases, the opposite of a right sense of urgency is compliancy. We all


unconsciously experience complacency to a certain degree in certain situations. And


it is possible to see problems and be complacent because you do not feel tat they


require change from YOU.


On the other hand, people having a true sense of urgency think that action on


important issues is needed now and not eventually when it fits into their schedules.


“Now” means making progress every day. “Critically important” means that acting


upon it is central to success and winning. To illustrate something we all face every


day, a sense of urgency is not an attitude that I must have the team meeting today,


but rather, a positive, focused attitude that the team meeting must accomplish


something important today.


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