Every single situation - no matter how intractable it may seem - can be improved dramatically.
The key is to realise that apparent intractability is a consequence of dynamic complexity - which guarantees dramatic improvement opportunity.
Every situation can be improved dramatically.
Solution Examples
The opportunity for improvement in challenging situations is significantly higher than in unchallenging situations, because we can use the very interactions that make challenging situations challenging to transform them dramatically.
There's a trick to using the system to transform itself, but the resulting solution requires significantly less time, cost and effort - because the energy within the situation does all the work.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Note
Notes.
Notes.
End-To-End Performance is a function of the complex interactions between the organisation's component parts. In almost every sense, improving end-to-end performance is simpler and easier than improving all of those parts.
The trick is to treat the organisation and its situation as a complex adaptive system - and make use the of the interactions that constrain it to enhance and accelerate it.
Example Solutions
The opportunity for dramatic improvement in end-to-end performance is huge, because there is no requirement to improve every facet, every link and every constraint independently.
Instead we can focus on the critical facets, the weakest link(s) and the end-to-end constraint(s).
This enables us to secure disproportionately big impact on very small interventions at these locations.
The order of magnitude of the impact possible in end-to-end performance improvement:
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Note
Notes.
Notes.
◢ ImageShow JSN UniForm JSN EasySlider Module Article Image Page Break Read More K2 v2.7.1 | Copyright © 2006-2016 JoomlaWorks Ltd. Joomla! 3.6.4 — © 2016 Prodsol View Site0Visitors1Administrator0MessagesLog out
We assume, because culture is an emergent property of a complex adaptaive system, that shaping culture is more of an art than a science. It's actually the opposite!
The trick is to use the very interactions that make culture seem so resilient and intractable to shape it to be the way we all want it to be.
Example Solutions
Deliberately and systematically using the interactions that drive behaviour within the complex adaptive system from which culture emerges, enables one to effect significant beneficial change in culture way more quickly, reliably and effortlessly.
Targeting the deeper systemic drivers of culture enables one to establish a self-correcting,
-adapting and -evolving culture that not only keep pace with a changin world, but interacts directly with it.
The superiority of a systemic approach to cultural change are most evident inthe follwoing ways:
This solution is for you if:
This the best place for you to to start if:
This solution is not for you if:
This solution is the best place to start, for you if:
Notes.
Note
Notes.
Notes.
Change Management is crucial to dramatic improvement.
It's hard enough to implement conventional solutions - dramatic improvement solutions are even harder to implement, because they are - of necessity - counter-intuitive at first.
The trick is to use simple frameworks to make the transition easier, less risky and more appealing.
Solution Example
We all find change hard. Even if we don't actively resist it, doing what we've always done on automatic pilot is so much easier and less risky than adopting a new approach that requires concentration and energy.
The opportunity for improvement in migrating - individually and collectively - from the old way to the new way is consequently huge, because their are natural, physiological and social, evolution-induced resistance to change to overcome.
The impact of a dramatic improvement solution to change can be seen in:
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Note
Notes.
Notes.
The challenge managers and other leaders face is to keep the many elements working together harmoniously. It requires different roles, skills and approaches at different times.
This arena combines all the others.
Solution Examples
The coordination/orchestration role (in it's various forms) that management plays, is crucial to organisational performance and people's sense of fulfilment.
Having a simple framework of dramatic improvement solutions that cover the primary elements and dimensions and the most common scenarios, conveys virtual mastery immediately, which turns into innate mastery, over time.
Implementing the solutionsin this section will secure:
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Note
Notes.
Notes.
Most people find finacial reporting difificult to make sense of - and consequently unhelpful.
The primary reason for this is a disconnect between the data > information > implications and response options. Solve that and things get a lot more interesting and valuable.
Solution Examples
Without meaningful reporting, most executives and managers are flying blind - and don't even realise it. Here are some basic checks:
Meaningful reporting that highlights heartening or concenring trends and provides a set of impact-modeled response options provides people with the guidance they need to make decisions that have the most positive impact on performance.
It also equips execs and managers to provide meaningful support and direction - and helps them convey their superior insight and experience in an accessible way.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Note
Notes.
Notes.
Dramatically more ingenuous ideas and innovative products and services are - of necessity - counter-intuitive. And counter-intuitive ideas don't look like counter-intuitive ideas, at first: they just look plain stupid!
Solution Examples
Ingenuity and Innovation is limited by the physiology of the human brain: we're perpetually locked inside the the box of our current thinking.
Once we're able to create the crucible conditions for outside-the-box thinking - and deliberately and systematically escape the bounds of our physiology - anything becomes possible, because we then have the transcendent ability to improve any situation or thing dramatically - even the elusive creative ability of our species.
It's difficult to measure the value of a succession of dramatically better ideas, insights, products and services - but here are some simple metrics:
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Note
Notes.
Notes.
Project performance is a function of the (un)predictability of task duration, scope evolution and resource availability and focus.
Solution Examples
Unpredictability has a way bigger impact on project performance than we realise.
Task duration unpredictability results in contingency being added to each task - which moves the goal-posts out, with little incentive to finish early or ability to recover contingency.
The same applies to the other project resources. Even small gains in predictability translate to significant gains in project performance.
In most situations the following gains are eminently achievable:
The opportunity for improvement is way larger in complex situations than simple ones.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Notes.
Note
Notes.
Notes.
Nearly everyone is doing the best they can - and some very smart people are totally committed and putting in huge effort.
Is dramatic improvement really possible?
The opportunity for dramatic improvement is huge in Operations. Here are some estimates to give you a feel for what's possible in most organisations:
There are ways of making the transition fun, engaging and pain-free.
The primary prerequisites are:
<image>
Every organisation, situation and relationship is a flow-system: so knowing how to optimise flow is essential to - well: everything.
The trick to accelerating and streamlining flow is to improve the flow-rate at the bottleneck.
This is so obvious that we all think we're already doing it - but we seldom are.
Is there universal agreement on where the bottleneck is - and is everyone focused on getting more though it?
We have not yet come across a situation in which there isn't at least 25% capacity being wasted unnecessarily, as a result of focusing elsewhere.
Multitasking wastes time, energy and opportunity and destroys ingenuity, capability, relationships and fulfilment.
We're largely unaware of the impact of multitasking - and assume that because our world demands it, it's a good thing to do.
It takes the human brain 10 - 25 minutes to - and a huge dose of neurochemicals to achieve deep concentration on a challenging task. We incur those setup costs every time we return to an interrupted task.
The Solution
Set time aside to work uninterrupted and manage interruptions in a way that improves customer satisfaction.
Engagement is crucial to impact and satisfaction and the primary constraint on improvment and change.
The real problem isn't an irrational and obstructive resistance to change - it's mastery in the old way and total lack of capabiltiy - individually and collectivel - in the new one.
The key to boosting engagement and motivation is to use simple response and engagement frameworks that guide people and help them voice their legitimate and valid concerns and contributions.
Our go-to excuse for lack of impact and fulfilment is lack of time and resources.
The reality is that we're have a huge penchant for burning time and energy unproductively and unsatisfyingly. The problem is that the human brain wasn't evolved for productivity, but for survival, so the opportunity for improvement is massive.
There are .
Ingenuity and innovation is as hard, time-consuming and unpredictable as it is because true ingenuity is, of necessity, counter-intuitive.
And counter-intuitive doesn't look counter-intuively brilliant ahead of time - it just seems, well: stupid.
Provisionals, alternative generation and integration, forced innovation postponed/ reserved judgement.
Deliberate Evolution. Innovation hothouse.
We suck at collaboration and are appallingly hopeless at synergy.
We're drowning in opportunity for both collaboration and synergy - and yet wasting it needlessly.
The problem is that we suck at it and that's not as easy to fox as we might think.
Notes.
<image>
Individual and collective mastery is the key to all human endeavour.
The trick to mastery is intervening at the ideal time (mostly early) in the most effective way.
The problem is that if we're haven't mastered the domain yet, it's impossible to know how and when to intervene - or is it?
The secret is to work out what the most common failure modes (things that can go wrong) are - and what each of their earliest symptoms are.
Then practice diagnosing and intervening in increasingly demanding simulated and real-world situations.
Register (it's free) for more detail on a selection of dramatic improvement solutions.
Registration will also give you access to a general discussion forum on all of the solutions accessible to registered members.
We'll be launching a paid membership option in due course. It will give you access to even more detail on a more comprehensive set of solutions - pricing will be adjusted as content is published.
Anonymous Access
1 Impact & Fulfilment Solution Summary
Registered Access
3 Impact and Fulfilment Solution Summaries
Access to the Registered level Discussion Forum
Paid Access
7 Impact and Fulfillment Solution Summaries
eGuide, Audio and Videos and dedicated discussions on each solution.
We hold webinars on various solutions and techniques for boosting individual and collective Impact and Fulfilment.
Our webinars are more interactive than conventional webinars and come in two forms:
1. One-hour sessions to convey the core idea and help them apply and implement it within their world.
2. A series of one-hour sessions addressind each of a series of key facets of each solution.
We are currently offering 1. FlowGenius and 2. Defrag Your Brain webinars.
Lnks on each page of this site - or click here.
We plan to release a new webinar series at least every two months. The current programme is:
3. Deliberate Genius
4. ChangeGenius
5. DemandGeneration
6. Sales Acceleration
We hold a series of half-day and full-day Public Workshops in Auckland, New Zealand.
These workshops are for individuals from SMEs and from larger organisations who attend to experience our workshops firsthand with a view to rolling them out within their organisation if the fit is good.
Public workshops are more affordable per person, because of the inability to discuss potentially sensitive confidential information.
FlowGenius Half-Day Workshop
Friday, 10 December 2016
Friday, 21 January 2017
FlowGenius Full Day Workshop
Tuesday, 13 December 2016
Friday, 28 January 2017
Some time in February 2017
We have a large library of on-site seminars and workshops that we can provide in an ad hoc way or as part of a mini-project.
Detail 1
Mini-Project
Detail 2
This is the best place to start if:
1. You need better engagement or collaboration or more capacity, or shorter lead-times, higher quality, consistency or predictability or lower costs or effort across the whole organisation.
2. Your people are keen - or at least open - to lifting their game, if you approached it right.
2. No single department or function is the bottleneck - they all could do with a boost.
If all of these indicators resonate with you, targeting Individual and Collective Impact and Fulfilment could be the best place to start.
As people get more engaged, productive, innovative and collaborative, end-to-end performance will increase dramatically - and the functional area-specific opportunities will become more obvious and unequivocal.
It's probably still worth starting where the appetite and aptitude is highest, though!
This is not the best place to start if:
1. The constraint is elsewhere
Your end-to-end constraint is clearly in a specific functional area or department and your people are fully engaged, productive, and collaborative but need a breakthrough in that specific area.
2. Your people aren't keen to lift their game
Whether the lack of apptitude is justified or not..
In either case, it may be better to lead with the functional area or stuational solution and introduce only the relevant Impact and Fulfilment solutions within the context of that specific intervention.
This is not so say that there is nothing gain from investing in the impact and fulfilment of your people - merely that the context of a situation-focused initiative will be a more direct way of securing immedaite gains and momentum.
The opportunity for improvement in productivity and satisfaction lies in the reduction of wasted time and energy - and the refocusing of a portion of the savings made where it will make the most difference. The more productive people are - individually and collectively - the more valuable and meaningful their contribution, the greater their satisfaction. And the greater their satisfaction, the greater their engagement, collaboration and performance.
We want our people to be fully engaged, vocational and collaborative in their role within our organisation - and we want them to feel valued and respected for the contribution they make.
The problem is unpredictability of demand and invisibiity of opportunity, compounded by the human brain's need for clarity and predictability and the time needed to gain mastery.
Our train of thought is constantly being interrupted - if we're not by others, by ourselves - which kill thinking and consequently mastery development. Add to that, unconscous incognizance - we can't take advantage of what we don't know we don't know - and it's no wonder we under-achieve and are unmotivated.
The Counter-Intuitive Breakthough Solution
Our dramatic improvement solution for productivity targets both in concert, by freeing up time and energy needlessly wasted in avoidable multitasking, while deliberately providing the opportunities for growth and development within a respecting environment.
Design batching and streamlining to meet demand ratios. Use handover-ready templates for all handovers.
The best place to start is to free up thinking and processing capacity. It takes a lot longer than we think to reach deep concentration on demanding tasks – and we incur this setup cost every time we return to uncompleted tasks.
Although we will never eliminate multitasking and interruptions completely, we can reduce their incidence and impact way more than we realise – and the indirect benefits are quite amazing!
It's easy to prove gains in capacity of 25% - and we have many case studies of significantly bigger gains than that.
We hold public and private (onsite and offsite) workshops to help people to understand the hidden impact of multitasking onthe human brain and apply and implement simple techniques for curbing unnecessary context swtiching.
Over time, reality conspires to shift our focus from the important and challenging to the urgent and solvable. We end up adopting a a 20:80 focus instead of an 80:20 one. It's a trend that is very diffcult to resist - and not easy to rectify without a careful and focused effort. The trick is to do a quick audit of where we're currently allocating our time and energy and compare it with where would ideally like to be allocating time and energy. From there, it's a simple matter of developing strategies for migrating from the former to the latter.
We hold public and private (onsite and offsite) workshops to help people through the process and adapt our set of solutions to their reality - or build tailor-made solutions, if need be.
It's crucial to distinguish between process (the steps each work-item goes through) and practice (the steps we go through in dealing with many work-items).
This makes it a lot easier to increase the flow-rate and reduce the flow-time of work-items and acclerate and enhance the co-ordination, batching, processing, decision-making and creative problem-solving elements of the practice.
Flow-rate (or flow-capacity is determined by bottleneck flow-capacity. Flow-time is the sum of waiting and processing time in the process. And they're the consequence of the practice we use. The following solution elements contribute various parts of the solution.
Productivity is producing more, better, faster and more enjoyably on lower effort, time and dollar costs.
Key success factors
Our approach to departmental or organisational productivity improvement is to run a Defragmenting Time & Focus Workshop (Defrag Workshop) and create a pull-system for the introduction of subsequent productivity solutions as part of the implementation support service. Our Pull-System for Change solution replaces the conventional, coercive push-system for change (which people can't help but resist) with an appealing pull-system, which people can't help but embrace with enthusiasm.
The Defrag Workshop helps people understand the huge cognitive cost of multitasking (it's way bigger than peopel realise) and provides them with tools and techniques for reducing it dramatically, both individually and collectively.
The productivity solutions that participants choose to "pull" into their practice include:
Defrag Workshops are affordably priced (currently NZ$999) and include a month's implementation support and a 3 month implementation and impact review. We have delivered Defrag Workshops of different types to over a thousand people and the responses have been highly enthusiastic and the impact significant - sometimes within days.
Click here for a Defrag Workshop Service Sheet
Advice
start
Notes.
Notes.
end
start
Notes.
Notes.
end
start
Notes.
Note.
end
start
Notes.
Notes.
end