The external customer in varying degrees is usually the driver of either a transformational or an incremental process change. A radical transformation may ensue if the customer is very unhappy with a product and may litigate because of health, safety, or environmental concerns. Or, the customer is simply unhappy with performance or product quality. Or, …
Your elevator pitch is a concise description of your value offering or proposition. The joke about the elevator is that you can pitch it to an executive you meet in an elevator. Each of us needs a compelling ‘elevator pitch’ for time of transformation. Our ‘hard money’ business is Critical Infrastructure Protection: Forensics, Assurance, Analytics. …
I’ve been searching for the meaning of management and specifically middle management. Some consultant gurus believe that management, specifically functional middle management, must fundamentally change. They’re not talking about around the edges change. They mean dramatic, breakthrough change, not incremental change. Managerial jobs will require three skills, which don’t have much to do with traditional …
Quality + Engineering – our company – is a virtual organization. What do I mean? We pull professionals together to do different jobs. We pull engineers to together to work on a project with a firm beginning and hard ending. We’re seeing more virtual organizations and you’ll be working for one soon. What is a …
Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School professor, coined the term ‘value chain’ in the 1980’s. The concept and term took off. The value chain is one of the must-know business concepts for everyone. Every organization performs a sequence of activities to produce a product or offer a service. These activities add value to customers who continue …
When I started working, I thought that most work rules are defined in policies, procedures, and work instructions. They are often found in a manual are more often than not are used as a doorstop. So, how do work place develop rules for work. Implicit rules are important as the rules that are written down. …
We are looking for the right organizational metaphor in this terribly competitive climate. What’s the best structure and process for getting work done? It may be an orchestra. An orchestra is used as a metaphor for organizational and project process excellence. The orchestra is a group of individuals, each of whom is gifted, has a unique …
I find the ‘rule of three’ is used a lot in business and life. For example, if I’m proposing options to a client, I’ve learn the hard way to just propose 3 alternatives. The person really just can’t handle more and has retained us to make the front end smart eliminations. The rule of three …
Many large companies are following the ‘top three’ rule of business. There have been lots of mergers in the last year in telecommunications, auto, banking, and healthcare industries. What are the signals for a merger or a rapid change? Well there is the ‘top three’ rule. In competitive, mature markets, the rule says there is …
I’ve introduced the Handy Work Model to thousands of people in workshops and seminars. The common refrain I hear is: “it’s so bleak and negative.” Good point. It is what it is. This is what’s happening in the competitive market and the competitive workplace. And, it’s getting more ferocious as the economy implodes. When Handy …