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Your Salmon Story: Plan for Continuous Process Improvement

August 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Costco's story of Process Improvement

Salmon and Costco can serve up a good reminder of how good organizations can become great: By planning for and executing on continuous quality improvement. This morning I had the pleasure to hear Mr. John Matthews, Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Risk Management for Costco, speak to the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club.  John's message featured the Costco Salmon Story. Quite simply, in the 15 years since 1995, Costco has improved the quality of the salmon sold in its stores no less than five times … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fix Your Processes, Right Processes Tagged With: ,

How to Position for Preference Through Events

June 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Aim for Preference and clients will flock to YOU.

Picture yourself standing at the top of a large pyramid.  This pyramid represents your business.  Maybe it has your logo on it, maybe you’ve decorated it, or maybe you’re a minimalist and it looks like a line drawing – it’s up to you.  The important part is there you are, at the top, directing and overseeing that which you have created: your own enterprise.  But it can get lonely at the top so let’s add some people. Now picture people milling around the base of the pyramid, as well … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Action Planning, Fix Your Processes, Right Processes Tagged With: , , ,

Mastering Delegation, The Fire Hose of Productivity

April 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Master delegation and get ready for your productivity to take off.

Sadly, I did not coin the phrase “drinking from the fire hose” – that is, experiencing a pace of productivity so exhilarating and empowering yet potentially overwhelming unless you know how to control it.  Not surprisingly, though, I have a story about delegation that was both exhilarating and involved a fire hose. One of the more colorful jobs I recall from working myself through school was with a Fortune 100 manufacturer of construction equipment.  There, I was assigned to Cecille, the head of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fix Your Processes, Right People, Right Processes Tagged With: , , , ,

Laser Focus and The Perfect Client

March 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Extreme focus means extreme clarity - in marketing, sales, and profit.

If law enforcement officers were business people, they would never struggle with questions like, “Who is my Perfect Client?” or, “Will I run out of customers if I focus on a select niche?” They would just know with confidence who they’re after. Take this extreme example from my past. It was early January of 1993 when Officer Harlan Graham of the Iowa State Patrol pulled me over north of Decorah, Ia.  Having wrecked my car the week before and now traveling seven miles over the limit, I was an easy … [Read more...]

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A Micromanager’s Guide to Trust, Teamwork, and Communication

October 7, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Trust, teamwork, and communication are key to making accountability happen.

The unavoidable truth is micromanagement makes us feel better and that’s why we do it.  Like the nicotine in a cigarette, it calms the nervous manager, providing information and visibility into situations where it would otherwise be lacking.  We gain our “hit” of easy information, our twitching eases, and we can move on to something else for a while. The problem is that just like the nicotine in cigarettes comes laden with a cadre of things that will kill you, micromanagement too carries a host of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Accountability, Fix Your Processes, Restore High Performance, Right People, Right Processes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Finding and Managing Contract Staff

July 8, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Having a defined process to find, select, and on-board contract staff increases your chance of success.

I remember looking up from my desk as the door to my office opened unexpectedly.  The consultant crucial to one of my anchor client projects entered – pale and slightly jaundiced – and announced as calmly as he could, “I’m going to the hospital.”  That evening he underwent emergency surgery.  Thankfully, he went on to fully recover and return to work… weeks later. Refocusing on my business situation at that moment, my boat was a critical person down and sinking fast.  How would you handle it?  … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fix Your Processes, Right People, Right Processes Tagged With: , , ,

Keys to Selecting an Indian Outsourcing Partner

February 25, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Indian outsourcing isn't for everyone. Is it for you?

Finding someone with an India offshore horror story is a little like trying to find fireworks on the 4th of July (or Diwali, for my Indian friends…).  They’re everywhere. That’s odd, frankly. To believe the mantra of “Brand India,” offshoring buyers get superior East Indian technical training coupled with the best available processes, resulting in far superior results than you can achieve on your own.  “We’re better than you” – that’s supposed to be the value. Something is going … [Read more...]

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Three Steps to Better Business Pitches

November 9, 2007 By Leave a Comment
View a presentation as a conversation and watch your success grow.

If you’re human and in business, some of the skeletons in your closet belong to the bones of initiatives and projects you fought for but which died a bloody and mysterious death.  In my writer’s eye, you’re half reading this, half zoned out, flashing back to a truly brilliant job done by yourself, a colleague, or a team pitching a rock-solid project that never got off the starting blocks. My vision is to reach out to the leader, manager, or other individual seeking to effectively advocate for something … [Read more...]

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