If you Google the term “Strategic Thinking” you get 455 million results in about .64 seconds! There is certainly no shortage of information about “Strategic Thinking. However, leaders often get stuck where to start so I will focus on what you can do to get a “Strategic Thinking” dialogue going inside your organization. First, let’s…
My Boss: “You need to start trusting your employees!” Me: “What for? They’re continually letting me down!” My Boss: “Unless you figure out how to begin trusting your employees, you will never become the leader you are meant to be!” Perhaps you buy this, perhaps you don’t. In either case, I can tell you from…
Change them and make employee engagement the norm During a recent Operational GAP Assessment I discovered that our client, like so many other companies, is experiencing the pain associated with two very disruptive management patterns: The failure to communicate The failure to properly assess internal talent ie. having the right people in the right seats,…
As a Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, I have been applying lean operation methods to support companies by helping them identify process improvements, implement quality management practices, and align staff with senior management initiatives. Recently I was called in to consult with a 50-year-old company that hadn’t kept up with the times FOR DECADES….
As business coaches we are often asked by companies to help assess the process breakdowns in operations (GAP assessment) and help them implement the improvement suggestions. This was the case with a client who has had problems manufacturing their product and delivering it to their customers on-time and within quality specifications. I want to set…
When I first joined Assured Strategy, as a new coach I had the opportunity to observe a client retreat. This was a two-day executive team leadership & strategy engagement, led by David Chavez, CEO. On the morning of the first day, this exec team showed signs of uncertainty. They were tentative and certainly not on…
If you were to map-out processes for your company, you may recognize what is referred to as a “systemic flaw”, the application of a single corrective measure can reduce or remove multiple process deficiencies. Dig a little deeper to solve the root cause A systemic problem is one that is inherent in the overall system,…
Although your customer service approach might be in place, all businesses experience failure points. All of them, manufacturing or service, large or small, it’s the nature of operating an organization. Are you aware of weaknesses in your business? And service industries, you don’t get off so easily, you experience just as many internal and external…
Quality systems are one of the most important aspects of delivering a company’s brand promise to customers, but often it is thought of in a dismissive or minimized way. When faced with a change brought about by a newly revised Quality Standard, a CEO of a large aerospace company said, “you-quality-people are just overhead”. Do…
At the last blog, How to #5 Implement Change, I covered the execution of the Change Management Plan. Now we can look at monitoring, which includes: recording and assessing data to validate the successes and stumbling blocks or failures of the project. Identifying both positive and negative effects throughout the change process will provide leadership…