This cartoon strip depicts my recent experience of trying to resolve some simple problems with a broadband and phone service provider. The organisation has been applying Lean Six Sigma (an approach that originated in manufacturing) to their services operations for over a decade and more recently agile. I haven't named the company. My purpose for calling I have had … [Read more...] about One customer’s experience in telecoms – a cartoon
Articles
Mind the strategy-operations gap
If you don’t understand your business operations from the customer’s point of view, you may as well throw your strategy in the bin. And if you think that this is a harsh assessment then consider the number of corporate strategy failures and company survival rates. The truth of it is, that whenever leaders and planners learn to profoundly reconnect with operations they are … [Read more...] about Mind the strategy-operations gap
This picture could transform your business
There is a class of pictures whose primary function is to make theory visible. In the business world such pictures are becoming more common as new learning theories take hold. This particular image (1974) illustrates some important theory that is central in creating effective services organisations. Can you guess what the theory is? There are many practical real world … [Read more...] about This picture could transform your business
Motivation intrinsic, engagement free
For centuries we have been devising new tools to coerce and cajole workers to work harder or work the way we want them to. Douglas McGregor’s work in the 1960s categorised these attempts into two contrasting categories: ‘Theory X’ and ‘Theory Y’. Following the work of FW Taylor and scientific management, Theory X takes a more negative view of humans where they require external … [Read more...] about Motivation intrinsic, engagement free
Ten signs improvement workshops may be harming your business and what to do about it
Long considered an organisational panacea, improvement workshops are a common feature in most services organisations. Managers view workshops as important ingredients to combat resistance to change by involving staff, reduce costs and improve services. What if the resulting wall of post-it notes is actually a hallucination, packed full of assumptions and none of them reflective … [Read more...] about Ten signs improvement workshops may be harming your business and what to do about it