|
Dear A.J.,
The current "no frills" business environment has left many
organizations short on full-time, in-house expertise in disciplines
critical to the recognition and definition of problems, their solutions
and business plan implementations that will ultimately separate the
victors from the vanquished.
Perhaps the most cost-effective way to fill those voids is through the
judicious use of appropriate, certified consulting services. The proper
consultant not only provides the needed expertise with limited financial
exposure, but also allows a third party to identify and analyze areas that
even your most capable people may tend to overlook because they are too
close to a problem.
Take a few moments to dig into this issue, as well as past editions of
The Value Manager. Perhaps we should talk. If you have any questions
please call me. Enjoy!
-aj-
Re-Discover Your Business
An organization, be it a business, a school, a government agency, is a
collection of processes. These processes are the natural activities you
perform that produce value, serve customers and generate income. Managing
these processes is the key to the success of your organization.
Unfortunately, most organizations are not set up to manage processes.
Instead they manage tasks. Think about it. Isn't your company organized
around functions. . .the accounting department, the engineering
department, the sales department, the customer service department?
As a result, people tend to focus on "local" concerns instead of the
"global" needs of process customers. Sub-processes evolve within
departments without consideration of other functional areas. Layers of
communication and management are created to ensure desired outcomes,
thereby adding to costs and lengthening cycle and customer response times.
Inefficiency and waste become part of the system. They rob your
organization of profits, productivity and its competitive advantage. But,
there is a way out.
Process mapping is a simple yet powerful method of looking beyond
functional activities and rediscovering your core processes. Process maps
enable you to peel away the complexity of your organizational structure
(and internal politics) and focus on the processes that are truly the
heart of your business. Armed with a thorough understanding of the inputs,
outputs and interrelationships of each process, you and your organization
can:
- Understand how processes interact in a system
- Locate process flaws that are creating systemic problems
- Evaluate which activities add value for the customer
- Mobilize teams to streamline and improve processes
- Identify processes that need to be reengineered
Properly
used, process maps can change your entire approach to process improvement
and business management. . .and greatly reduce the cost of your operations
by eliminating as much as 50% of the steps in most processes as well as
the root causes of systemic quality problems.
Let Value Management Partners arm you with the knowledge you need to
analyze the way your organization really operates, to identify
opportunities for dramatic improvement and to implement process changes
that will have immediate impact on quality, customer service, productivity
and financial performance.
Find
out more....
|
|
Thought Starters |
 |
 Asking the right questions
As a manager, owner or business executive, you always need to
have the answer to any problem. But a good answer always propogates
from a good question, or ideally, many good questions. You
must begin systematically asking yourself questions about a
particular problem, and then answering them. Your answers will bring
your subject (X) into focus and provide you with the material to
develop your solutions, or answers. Here are twenty questions or
"thought starters" that present ways of observing or thinking about
your issues. Each question generates the type of analysis listed in
parentheses after the question.
1. What does X mean? (Definition)
2. What
are the various features of X? (Description)
3. What are the component parts of X? (Simple
Analysis)
4. How is X made or done? (Process
Analysis)
5. How should X be made or done?
(Directional Analysis)
6. What is the essential function of X?
(Functional Analysis)
7. What are the causes
of X? (Causal Analysis)
8. What are the
consequences of X? (Causal Analysis)
9. What
are the types of X? (Classification)
10. How
is X like or unlike Y? (Comparison)
11. What
is the present status of X? (Comparison)
12.
What is the significance of X?
(Interpretation)
13. What are the facts about X?
(Reportage)
14. How did X happen?
(Narration)
15. What kind of person is X?
(Characterization/Profile)
16. What is my
personal response to X? (Reflection)
17. What
is my memory of X? (Reminiscence)
18. What is
the value of X? (Evaluation)
19. What are the
essential major points or features of X?
(Summary)
20. What case can be made for or against X?
(Persuasion)
Use
a Business Assessment as your springboard to change... »
|
|
|
Book Report |
|
 Optimal Thinking
How to
be your best self.
by Rosalene Glickman Ph.D
For decades, productive people have followed the slogan, "Think
positive!" While positive thinking is better than negative thinking,
it is not enough. Optimal Thinking is the next step beyond positive
thinking. It empowers you to be your best and stops you from
settling for second best.
If you run a business, you can maximize its success by using
Optimal Thinking. You will need to define your business in terms of
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, values, objectives,
and plans by answering key questions such as:
- What are the greatest strengths of this company?
- Who are our most valuable employees?
- Who are our best customers?
- What are their most important needs?
- What are our most profitable products and services?
- How can we make the most of their strengths?
- What are our greatest weaknesses?
- What's the best way to minimize those weaknesses?
With Optimal Thinking, you focus on the best or most constructive
thought at all times. You choose your best option in any given
moment. When thinking Optimally, you are not concerned with other
people's concepts of "the best." You are not in competition with
anyone. You are concerned with what "the best" means to you, and you
attach your own value to it.
We are all Optimal Thinkers. Some of us use Optimal Thinking from
time to time, others use it more frequently, but most of us don't
use it consistently. One of the most exciting aspects of Optimal
Thinking is that at this very moment, and at any time in the future,
you can optimize your thinking. Once you read this book, you can't
settle for good or great because you have the mental resource to
achieve the best outcome in every circumstance.
Get
it at Amazon »
|
|
|
Pricing, Packaging and Positioning |
|
 How many times have you heard
marketing hype such as, "we provide the total solution," "one-stop
shopping," "we work out of the box," or "you'll be saving money on
your next project"? Often, it becomes difficult to separate the hype
from reality.
One of the most common failures is the product or service can
measure up, but is packaged in Trojan- Horse fashion.
Read
the article »
|
|
|
You can quote me on that. . . . |
|
"What lies behind us and what lies before us
are small matters compared to what lies within us."
--Ralph Waldo
Emerson
"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold,
everything is softer and more beautiful."
--Norman Vincent Peale
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds
you plant."
--Robert Louis Stevenson
"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a
conspiracy of love."
--Hamilton Wright Mabi
|
|
|
Don't You Just Hate. . . |
|
| ...People who ask "Can I ask you a question?"
Didn't really give you a choice there, did they?
...When people say "life is short". Compared to what? Life is the
longest thing anyone ever does! What can you do that's longer?
...People who point at their wrist while asking for the time. I
know where my watch is pal, where is yours? Do you point at your
crotch when you ask where the bathroom is?
...When people say "it's always the last place you look". Of
course it is. Why would you keep looking after you've found it?
|
|
|
Happy Holidays! |
|
 Best Wishes for a Happy
Holiday!
The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each
others' burdens, easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts
and lives with generous gifts becomes for me the magic of Christmas.
With Thanksgiving just past and the Christmas season upon us, I
want to wish everyone much joy and a great holiday season!
And if I don't see you before, Happy New Year!! -aj-
|
| Quick Links... |
|
|
