Mar 10

Six Sigma alignment with organizational goals and objectives

Business Organizational Articles No Comments »

In such a situation, the organization can be very difficult to obtain the necessary skills for the first race, erect.

Six Sigma and business objectives

Every company aspires to a Six Sigma Companies should support efforts to concepts and methods in a way that finds favor of the main aims and objectives of the organization to implement. However, this is easier said than done – because usually the purpose and goals ofa company are totally different from the objectives of a specific implementation of the project. The best way to optimize for a company or to change default implementations of Six Sigma programs, so that the results are consistent with the fundamental objectives.

To achieve this goal, companies need a group of representatives of the upper and middle management and Six Sigma professionals together as Green Belts, Black Belts and Master Black FormBelt. This group may then, with the task of identifying all the different parts of the project, the application can not manage the overall implementation of the project will be optimized to be transferred. Six Sigma professionals who can plaster the finer details of consultations with officials of top management and the plans for all team members to implement, so that the changes were made to understand.

How it works?

Forunderstand better, let the topic with the help of an example. Suppose we want to be one of the fundamental objectives of a society, a society of Six Sigma is customer satisfaction improved by 30% over the next six months. In this case, the team will chalk up to all the finer details of implementation of project activities that will ultimately help the company achieve the stated objectives are described. In this case, the activity canUsing questionnaires and surveys of test users in collecting data on customer needs and requirements are related. This is because the main goal is customer satisfaction, which is possible only if the voice of the customer (VOC) is expected to improve.

Similarly, other 6Sigma concepts and methods for achieving the results that may be used in accordance with the objectives and business goals. The bottom line is that it can be in theory, six sigmadesigned with all types of organizational goals and objectives, but actual results will depend always assigned the innovation and expertise of the team for this task.

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Mar 09

Getting to Win – Win a Dog-Eat-Dog World Business

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There is no malicious activity these days, is not it? Above all, competition has grown higher and higher, and at a time when the economy is booming in under a variety of areas, the fun meter to test low sales for many companies.

It certainly has brand loyalty is a success in recent years. Only four out of ten marks received at least half of their very loyal customers between 2007 and 2008, according to a recent study by CHKHDC.UL Catalina Marketing Corp. 's PointersMedia Network, which brings together the purchase data of 23,000 stores Italians. But the news is worse, has the power shifted from the company's biggest brands. As said George F. Colony, CEO of Forrester Research: "People can no longer own your customer – the customer will be yours." This is in situations of B2B and B2C for many times, the win-win balance is gone, the poor in general , the castle, and, sometimes, the seller must obtain the string – cutting, even in times when it wasthink every penny was worth a lot of nonsense and degradation bear to achieve. The ratio is "net negative".

Many of the millions of workers who lost their positions in recent years, are convinced that their loyalty to the work they have much when times were tough.

Often the situation is exacerbated when companies are subject to businesses, such as courtesy, and the other said Berg. Thinking hungrier and more competitiveTimes. How many price negotiations between managers and their suppliers to do unpleasant? How full of companies large and small ways in the same manner, their process was carried out in all the friendlies overthrown and tromped to see a gorilla demanding customers, can do better? How many days ago everyone in the office, or all on the floor of the plant, or all field sales, go home exhausted and stressed out?

This is the bad news. But there is anotherPerspectives on the economic situation and its impact on relations win-win. Some experts believe that the strong competition to forge closer partnership, as companies rely more and more very solid partners to do the work in a world of scarcity. Richard Lambert, director general of the CBI, the organization of the UK business, said: "In a common, world less transactional Closer relationships with customers, suppliers, employeesAction is always similar to the new standard. "

As a consultant for companies, I suspect that is cut in both directions for a time – scrappy, messy business for many, working together for a few highly qualified and happiness of others. Companies that want to be more important and not, as the youngest child moved into the school yard must identify their real strengths, to strengthen themselves with the offerings that are unique because they can afford and agile … morenecessary.

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Mar 08

Employee Communication: The Secret to Business Success

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Business surveys consistently show us that poor workplace communication is a major source of employee dissatisfaction. The repercussions of this include not just low employee morale. Employee productivity suffers, along with a range of other business performance indicators.

Business Impact of Poor Communication

Have you stopped to think about how much unsatisfactory communication practices are costing your business? Some of these costs include:

increased employee turnover
increased absenteeism
dissatisfied customers from poor customer service
higher product defect rates
lack of focus on business objectives
stifled innovation

How many of these costs can you recognize in your business? You can turn the situation around. Employees will put in that extra “discretionary effort” when they are kept informed openly and honestly on aspects of their job and the business and they feel that they are being listened to with empathy.

Employee Communication Needs

What and how should you communicate with your employees? Communication in your organization should satisfy the three key employee needs before they can be engaged and highly productive. Each and every employee needs to:

1. Know that …

-included here are facts about your organization and their specific job – what business you are in, who your customers are, specific details about your product or service, where forms are located, who to see when there is a problem …

2. Master that …

-included here are the practical skills required to do their job well – repairing a machine, filling out an invoice, designing a building, writing a software program …

3. Feel that …

-included here are the interactions that give them a sense of belonging and self-worth – being listened to, respected, trusted, valued …

Managers predominantly concentrate on the first need – know that – and pay less attention to the second need to master skills. The third need – feel that – is what makes employees distinctly human and what drives them to outstanding achievement in work and outside of work. And yet it is in this dimension that employee communications are most lacking.

Look closely at the communication happening in your business. Is it satisfying what employees need to be fully engaged and working productively? Consider each of the four fundamental levels of communication in your organization for an answer:

1. Organization wide communication – involving all employees

2. Departmental communication – specific to one department or unit

3. Team communication – within one cohesive team or group

4. Individual communication – specific to one employee at any one time

Communications may be working effectively at higher levels, with regular and informative newsletters emanating from Head Office. However, the quality and quantity of communications may fail dismally at the more local level. The interpersonal skills of supervisors, team leaders and local managers are especially critical at levels 3 and 4, as these are the people that frontline workers develop working relationships with most personally and closely. Many exit surveys have shown that employees commonly leave an organization because of a poor working relationship with an immediate supervisor. How are the communication skills of the supervisors in your organization?

Just as important is the communication between and within levels. Gone are the days when departments could stand as silos, isolated from the rest of the organization by impenetrable barriers. Intra-national and international competition is now so fierce that everyone in the organization needs to collaborate closely on solving organizational challenges and on achieving agreed strategic objectives. What are the communication barriers in your organization?

Where is your organization at in its life-cycle? Is it large or growing rapidly? As more people are added to an organization, communication needs and stresses increase exponentially. Joe, who used to do purchasing, inspection and warehousing on his own now needs to talk to three other departments as well as the people in his own growing team. What structures, systems and processes has your organization put in place to encourage and facilitate effective communication flow?

Well-designed organizational culture surveys and employee communication surveys can determine how well your communication systems and practices are contributing to your organization’s performance – or how much they are hindering performance. This information will then help you in devising an effective employee communication strategy. Whatever else you do, communication practices impact every facet of your business. Looking closely at communication in your organization is well worth your while, because even if you do not, your employees are.

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Mar 08

Personal Power – The Only Power Necessary For Business Success That You Control

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One of the fantastic things about Personal Power is that of the three sources of power within an organization — position, expertise and personal —it is the only one that no one else but you controls.

Personal Power: The Only One of the 3 Organizational Powers You Control

As far as expertise power, there will always be new things to learn in an ever-expanding information base. As far as position power, you can be moved up, sideways or down; you can leave the organization; you can be moved to a part of the organization that does not have much power. But if you have Personal Power, you have power always, and you have control over your destiny.

What Happens When You Lack Personal Power?

Let us think about that for a moment. Have you ever met someone who had expertise but they did not have any Personal Power? Sure, we probably all know people like that.

Have you ever met someone who had a position but very little Personal Power?

An example that comes to mind is former president Jimmy Carter. He had tremendous position power, the most powerful position in the world, but his Personal Power was lacking and as a result he was virtually run out of office.

When you meet those people who do not have Personal Power, what do you think of them? How do you deal with them? How do you work with them? How do you work around them? How do you work through them? How did they work for you? How do you work for them?

Working for them can be pretty frustrating. Do they get your respect? Do you see them getting the respect of others? Often times, we find people without Personal Power fairly incapable of making decisions. They tend to flip flop on the issues. They do not stand strongly by their people. And generally, they are just not very much fun to work with. People who work for them and around them tend to find it not one of the more enjoyable opportunities in their life.

Can Someone with Position Power & No Personal Power Be Effective?

Then of course, we all run into those people, who have all the position power in the world, but they have no Personal Power and they simply lord over you with their position power. They operate solely based on their position power. These people tend to be overbearing, obnoxious, abrasive, belittling, demeaning, and not fun to work for or be around. And ultimately, we find that they tend to cause their own demise.

In fact, one of the main reasons that the top officer within a company is fired is because of their inability to get along with people. They have position power and not much else. Often, by the time these individuals have made it to the top, they have angered so many people that they have very little Personal Power with which to get things done.

Personal Power is absolutely crucial regardless of your level within the company, whether you have no one working for you or a lot of people working for you. If you hope to have a successful career or achievement within the organization, you must have Personal Power.

© 2008 Darryl L. Mobley

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Mar 08

How Important Is Business Phone Systems To The Organization?

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How do you communicate your product or services to your market? How do you reach your customers? How will customers reach you?

The most basic among the telecommunications goods and services is the telephone. Although, some would contest that the telephone is no longer the primary service of the industry, the phone system is still a significant tool to get in touch with customers. Sure, the Internet has taken over a large proportion of the telecommunications industry, but for corporations, business phone systems is the easiest way to directly communicate with customers since inquiries are still mostly done by calling.

Business phone systems should be organized because every minute counts for a corporation. There are many fishes in the water so that customers have the luxury to be picky on who to deal with. Customers would like easy access and easy access means being able to call you; not just to call but to talk to someone on the other line. Your accessibility can create first impressions for the caller and the last thing you would like to happen is for your callers to go elsewhere because your business can’t be reached.

The telephone is a common household appliance but business phone systems require more than the ordinary telephone at home. These phones are specifically geared to handle a large volume of calls from customers. Many telecommunications company offer variety of telephones that will fit your business. Sometimes due to many varieties, you might get overwhelmed with these telephone products. The key is to review your phone system needs, after doing so, you now choose what telephone is most fitting for you business.

Remember, bad phone systems can account for lost calls because of insufficient lines and equipment and losing these calls may mean losing potential revenue for the company. Businesses today, use traffic studies to make sure they get to update their phone systems to maximize their availability for their customer. Not only this, traffic studies will also help the company predict future traffic or call volume. Because whether a business is small or medium to big market enterprise, business phone systems are undeniably important.

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Mar 08

Defining Six Sigma For Your Business Or Organization

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For defining the Six Sigma projects, senior management designs a project charter, which clearly defines the specific goals and objectives of the project. The project manager can then allocate the resources needed for the project to be completed in a specific time period.

If you want to define a Six Sigma project for your business, you have three major considerations; customer focus, data and methodology.

Customer Focus

For any organization, customer satisfaction is very important. While defining any project, the focus should be on the customer. The output of any process should be planned to meet customer specifications.

An understanding of customer requirements down to the smallest detail is necessary. It is also important to know the level of deviation that may be acceptable to the customer. If the organization requires a product to reach out to new customers, there should be room for its development.

Data Driven

Six Sigma projects are data driven. They are dependent upon the data collected to understand the defects in the process. The project requires the resources to be assigned to the specific unit, standards set and to data collection to find the shortfall in achieving the target.

A proper analysis of the data is important for the success of the Six Sigma project deployment.

Robust Methodology

To solve customer and business issues you need more than just data. A robust methodology, which defines the defect measurement, analysis, improvement and control, must be utilized. It helps maximize business productivity.

The business processes should be based on the customer’s ideal requirements.

Project Charter

The project charter is an ideal document issued by senior management that contains a detailed description of the business needs to be tackled. It contains a detailed description of problem and mission statements.

It may even contain the new business opportunities and business threats from competitors. The charter is based on the customer feedback and suggestions.

The problem statement in the charter lists out the essentials of the project and helps the manager to identify the scope of the project. It recognizes the complexity of the project, and the need to break it up into smaller projects to be executed by the team members.

The mission statement allows the project team to understand the relationship between the scope of the project and the larger goals and objectives of the project. The objectives to be achieved are quantified and defined in clear terms.

The mission statement quantifies any defect and its relevance to the customer behavior. Mission statements for different projects are separated to avoid confusion due to overlapping statements.

The project charter is very useful in defining the project for your organization. Managers can refer to it and get an idea about what is being done and what needs to be done to achieve the goal of customer satisfaction.

It allows smooth implementation of the project to achieve all aims and objectives of the process.

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Mar 08

Leadership Matters Change – Ready Managers And The Law of Business

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John F. Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

Every day, in hundreds of change situations happening in your workplace, the actions of leaders at all levels are risking the promotion of atrophy. This is simply because many managers are ill-prepared to address the changing landscape of the business. Just as change then is a law of life, so it is with business.

Issues Compounding Change

In and of itself, change is prevalent in your organization. Compounding this are the changing demographics of the workforce on top of issues such as management of strategies for new revenue growth, planned culture shifts and initiatives to contain costs.

Imagine the impact to your organization if your managers ignored these issues?

Typically, your environment begins to look like this: rumors, backbiting, lack of focus, conflict, employee anxiety, lack of energy in service to internal and external customers and a breakdown of trust between managers and employees.

Can your organization sustain a competitive advantage under this scenario? Probably not.

Building Change Managers

It is not enough today that people are promoted from the floor or enter management without understanding the impact of change. Change-ready managers are respected and effective, are able to motive others to be receptive to change and build collaborative environments.

The fact is that people don’t leave companies; they leave bad bosses who are ineffective and not respected. They can’t retain employees and they certainly can’t motivate the ones who stay. A company can espouse family-friendly benefits and have great pay and benefits, but also have managers who are poisoning the well because they simply don’t know how to manage the change.

Supporting and Motivating Change

One of the main conditions for the support of change is the degree of motivation among individuals. During the quality movement by W. Edwards Deming, a lot was discovered about how individuals either hold on to the status quo or embrace taking the road to change.

Managers who understand the distractions and emotions of their team members in association with change will be better prepared to support and lead them through it. The right training for managers gives them the tools to first understand the change, interpret it and then facilitate the acceptance of the new way vs. the old.

Change-ready managers will communicate more effectively with their employees, encourage participation and empower them to be able to accept change.

Training Managers to Become Change-Ready

As in life, the law of change for business is constant. That’s never been truer than it is today. Implementing a training program to make your managers change-ready will not only make them great bosses, but it will also build teams of greatly- empowered employees who are ready for change. Vital Learning’s Supporting Change program will empower your leaders and first-line managers to:

Understand why change happens, how people react to it and how they need to be supported through the struggle. Involve team members in change initiatives by promoting their understanding and ownership of change and its benefits. Plan for individuals or work group sessions to support the change process and reinforce personal and organizational goals. See your local training professional today to get you started building for today and tomorrow.

Quote for the Week

“Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable”. – William Pollard

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Mar 08

Home Office Design and Organization

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Home office design depends largely on your circumstances – most of us can only dream of having an entire room to use as our ‘home office’.

However, wherever you find yourself working – even if it’s your kitchen table – you should try to get as comfortable, organized and child-protected as can be. Have things within easy reach – use a portable filing system or storage drawers – and do as much as you can on your computer…the paperless home office is a tidy home office! The idea is to adapt whatever you have – if you have a whole room, fine. If you have a little computer desk in the corner of your living room, adapt it and get yourself ’set up’ so you can work. If you ‘feel’ organized you will often be more productive.

Home Office Design and Your Health

Although your home office design needs to work around what you have, one thing that is often overlooked is your health.

You may leave the dreaded ‘office bugs’ behind, but if you do not take care of your posture and eyestrain, these may be replaced by back problems and headaches. Many ‘work at home’ pictures show you someone laid on their couch working on their laptop…ok…great, but this is no good ‘all’ the time! Try to work at a desk/table so that your eyes are level with the top of the monitor and ideally, your arms should be at about 90 degrees to the surface you are working on.

If you have space and can afford to, get a computer chair or ergonomic ‘kneeling chair’. For desktops, a wrist rest, monitor riser and decent lighting are also good ideas – in fact you may find that a ‘daylight lamp’ is particularly good. eBay is a good place to find items like this. If you find you are getting pain, stiffness or tingling in your lower back or shoulder area, this could be a sign that your home office space is causing you problems. These days there are many online videos which demonstrate the correct posture or set up of computers and home office furniture, for the best benefit to your health.

Working from home in your pajamas laid out on your couch might be the ideal, but may end up making you ill…get dressed and sit up at least SOME of the time!

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Mar 08

Changing Organizational Culture – Six Tips For Effective Leaders

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Changing a corporate culture that employees value is a major management task. It’s something that leaders have to wrestle with everyday. It’s not a quick process because the existing values and beliefs are deeply ingrained in every one. Here are some things adapted from the work of Edgar Schein, though that can get a leader started down the right path towards shaping the organization’s culture.

What does the leader pay attention to? Workers pay attention to what the leader measures and controls on a regular basis. It’s not enough to create a slogan, you have to follow through by inspecting and then taking action that makes a difference on the results. You must lead by example in this area.
How do leaders react to crises? When everything is going smooth it’s easy to be the leader. Your values and decisions are not brought into question. But when the chips are down, people look to see what you do and it is in these moments that you have some of your most powerful opportunities for making long-lasting cultural changes.
How does the leader allocate scarce resources? This reveals everything about your true priorities and is one of the most important ways of demonstrating commitment to cultural change.
Leadership through role modeling, teaching and coaching. One of the most important things a leader can do is leading by example and demonstrating a commitment to learning and growing. The most effective role the leader can play here is as one of teacher, who shows the way and underwrites honest mistakes in the learning process.  
How does the leader reward and punish? Does the leader follow-through with a carrot and stick in line with the stated values he is trying to promote? Your workers are looking for evidence of consistency in all areas of the workplace. Here is direct personal evidence that the leader means what he says.
How does the leader recruit, select, promote and fire? In these areas of personnel management and human resource management, the leader is able to demonstrate by actions that matter what values he’s trying to promote. Personnel management is one of the most powerful tools for shaping the organizational culture available to the leader. This is far too important to leave simply to the HR department. The leader must become personally involved in this area.

These are some of the most important considerations and areas open to the leader to shape his organizational culture. Effective leaders will develop plans for consistently implementing their vision in all six of these areas.

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Mar 08

Home Office Design and Organization

Business Organizational Articles No Comments »

Home office design depends largely on your circumstances – most of us can only dream of having an entire room to use as our ‘home office’.

However, wherever you find yourself working – even if it’s your kitchen table – you should try to get as comfortable, organized and child-protected as can be. Have things within easy reach – use a portable filing system or storage drawers – and do as much as you can on your computer…the paperless home office is a tidy home office! The idea is to adapt whatever you have – if you have a whole room, fine. If you have a little computer desk in the corner of your living room, adapt it and get yourself ’set up’ so you can work. If you ‘feel’ organized you will often be more productive.

Home Office Design and Your Health

Although your home office design needs to work around what you have, one thing that is often overlooked is your health.

You may leave the dreaded ‘office bugs’ behind, but if you do not take care of your posture and eyestrain, these may be replaced by back problems and headaches. Many ‘work at home’ pictures show you someone laid on their couch working on their laptop…ok…great, but this is no good ‘all’ the time! Try to work at a desk/table so that your eyes are level with the top of the monitor and ideally, your arms should be at about 90 degrees to the surface you are working on.

If you have space and can afford to, get a computer chair or ergonomic ‘kneeling chair’. For desktops, a wrist rest, monitor riser and decent lighting are also good ideas – in fact you may find that a ‘daylight lamp’ is particularly good. eBay is a good place to find items like this. If you find you are getting pain, stiffness or tingling in your lower back or shoulder area, this could be a sign that your home office space is causing you problems. These days there are many online videos which demonstrate the correct posture or set up of computers and home office furniture, for the best benefit to your health.

Working from home in your pajamas laid out on your couch might be the ideal, but may end up making you ill…get dressed and sit up at least SOME of the time!

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