1. Prioritize problems.  Use the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) to separate the trivial many from the vital few.  Sure 100 things are going wrong, but if you can concentrate on the most important problems first, some of the rest will just go away in the process.
2. Focus on problems you have control over.  Sort your issues based on how much control you have, for example: full control, partial control or no control.  Focus first on those problems you have full control over and ignore those you have no control over.  You have to fix your department problems first. Don’t try to solve problems in other areas before you have made sure your area is totally under control.
3. Utilize Root Cause Analysis.  Using a structure problem solving methodology like root cause analysis (RCA) ensures you are solving the right problem right.
4. Make decisions with Facts.  Opinions can lead you astray.  Be sure to collect data and make decision by hard facts.
5. Break the problem down.  Big problems are harder to solve.  Break the problem into manageable parts that can more easily be solved.
6. Use your team.  You are smarter as a group than as any one individual so empower your employees to involve your whole team to solve problems.
7. Break out of your paradigm.  Any problem can be solved using the right paradigm.  If you are up against an impossible problem then change your paradigm to find the solution.
8. Obtain objective input.  Sometimes a fresh new look at the problem from someone outside of your area can provide the insight missing to solve your problem.
9. Consider all possibilities.  Solutions that may not have worked in the past may work today.  Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking – if it was tried before it can’t work.  It might just work this time.
10. Hire a consultant. If all else fails, then maybe its time to hire a consultant.  Consultants bring an objective viewpoint free of your internal politics.  Consultants have a wider range of tools to use like value stream mapping.  And consultants have experience solving problems encountered at other companies.

Top 10 Ways Management Solves Problems

Value Stream Mapping

1. Prioritize problems.
2. Focus on problems you have control over.
3. Utilize Root Cause Analysis.
4. Make decisions with Facts.
5. Break the problem down.
6. Use your team.
7. Break out of your paradigm.
8. Obtain objective input.
9. Consider all possibilities.
10. Hire a consultant.

If you are having trouble improving your processes, certifying to ISO standards, or implementing lean, then contact Bizmanualz.  We will be happy to bring an objective viewpoint, improvement tools and experience gained from solving problems encountered at other companies.

First on the list is…

1. Improve your accounting data. Cash is the lifeblood of any business.  Start improving your business by understanding your cash flows.  What products generate most of your profits and therefore your cash?  Develop daily, monthly and yearly accounting forecasts.  Ensure your data is timely and available in real time so you can respond to changes quickly.  Charting your data is one of the seven quality tools.  Consider charting your data to look for trends and then take action on those trends.
2. Price your products and services more appropriately. Pricing is not easy.  Whole books are produced on pricing products.  But there are some simple rules of thumb.  Raise prices on your high quality items and lower prices on your low quality items.  The idea is to focus on customer value not your cost of production.  If your items are high quality then say it with your price.  Don’t be afraid to raise your prices on those items that your customers really like and lower prices on the items they don’t like.  If you are not sure what your customers value, then ask them and they will tell you.
3. Hire the “right” people. Focus your employee hiring process on hiring great attitudes not personalities.  Great people are performers that demonstrate results.  Look past skills on a resume and look for great accomplishments.  Remember, good is the enemy of great so hire great people not people that are good enough.
4. Fire the “wrong” people.  If you have made a mistake then don’t be afraid to fire someone that is not working out.  If it’s not working out you will know it in the first 90 days, so end it now.  Don’t wait for improvement in your finances or their attitude.  Firing should be done sooner rather than later.  Nobody likes to do fire others, but your business health is more important.
5. Develop standards. Products have requirements and so does your business.  Define what “great” is for every job or process that is critical to your business.  Start with a process map and then create policies and procedures for each job or process and use them.  Benchmark your competition and set a higher standard for yourself.
6. Implement controls. Controls start with clearly defined objectives for every job or process that link back to your accounting system and the forecast.  Take time to understand what can go wrong and work to prevent it from happening.  Develop warning flags to indicate when things are going wrong.
7. Focus. A working management strategy requires focus.  Focus on the one thing that will make you great.  Budget your resources to grow your star opportunities and starve your problem poor performers.  Basically, get everything out of the way of your star opportunities.
8. Improve your sales process. Sales is a contact sport so make sure you are getting out in front of your customers often.  Build relationships with customers so they buy again, and again.  If your revenues are not growing then you are not selling. 
9. Understand your marketplace better. The marketplace is not static so expect it to change.  Understand what’s changing in your marketplace and either change with it or be changed by it.  Pay attention to what your marketplace needs and give it to them before your competition does. 
10. Build a strong brand. Your brand leads the business.  A filing brand leads to a failing business Marketing, vision and strategy are key elements of building a strong brand.  Once your brand is built, maintain your brand and what it means by following the other nine points above.  Don’t let your brand suffer or else your business will suffer too.

There you have it.  10 ways to improve your business for the new year.  Don’t delay.  Get started today by ordering policies and procedures in MS-Word templates.

Top Ten Ways to Improve Your Business

1. Improve your accounting data.
2. Pricing your products and services more appropriately.
3. Hiring the “right” people.
4. Fire the “wrong” people.
5. Develop standards.
6. Implement controls.
7. Focus.
8. Improve your sales process
9. Build a strong brand.
10. Understand your marketplace better.

1. Work harder— find ways to increase your task focus.

Work when you are working.  Spend less time socializing and focus on what you need to get done today.  Focus on the tasks at hand and don’t wander into new tasks, multi-task, or get distracted.  The key is to focus and not waste your precious time at work.

2. Work Faster—find ways to pick up your work pace.

Develop a work rhythm and maintain your tempo (in lean we call it your takt time).  Find ways to increase your tempo and get on with the job at hand.  If you are tired or slowing down, then stop, and get a cup of coffee.  Keep your tempo up, up, up.

3. Work on Higher Value Activities—find ways to prioritize your tasks.

It’s important to understand what tasks will bring you more results.  Think quality over quantity.  Less is more.  Doing fewer higher value tasks will increase your productivity more than performing a greater quantity of low value tasks.  Using a visual management system can help focus your company on what is adding value.

4. Do The Things You Are Better At—find ways to focus on results.

You probably are better at the things you like doing.  As a result you get better at those things and do more of them more often.  So focus on what you are good at and you will be more productive.

5. Group Your Tasks—find ways to focus on related tasks.

Focus.  Don’t multi-task!  Group related task together and do them at the same time.  Answer your email, make phone calls, or write letters together at a designated time.  By constantly switching between tasks or stopping to read email, you will lose small amounts of time that make up the “switching costs”.  You will lose time because you have to wrap you mind around a new task and understand where you left off.  This learning curve time is waste and can be eliminated by grouping related tasks.

6. Work Smarter—find ways to simplify Your Work.

AS the number of steps to a task increases, so does the complexity and therefore, the time required to complete the task.  This is called the Law of Complexity.  Find ways to remove steps and reduce task complexity.  This simple process improvement plan will greatly increase your productive work.

7. Work Longer Hours—find more minutes in the day.

Arrive 16 minutes earlier, leave 16 minutes later, and spend 16 minutes less time at lunch and breaks created 48 minutes a day or 4 hours a week, which increase your available time by 10%.  Use this time to get organized for work and plan or review your day.

Every day you should review your day’s results to learn how to focus your time on the higher value tasks you are better at.  Use your extra time to plan, review and focus.  This is all part of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) that drives continuous improvement in a learning organization.

Seven Ways to Increase Your Productivity at Work

1. Work harder— find ways to increase your task focus.
2. Work Faster—find ways to pick up your work pace.
3. Work on Higher Value Activities—find ways to prioritize your work.
4. Do the Things You Are Better At—find ways to focus on results.
5. Group Your Tasks—find ways to focus on related tasks.
6. Work Smarter—find ways to simplify Your Work.
7. Work Longer Hours—find more minutes in the day.

Implementing a system of policies and procedures will help any organization get organized, focus on the work at hand, group tasks, and as a result, work harder and smarter.  Download free sample procedures to see how its done.

1. Quality Standards.  Documents and records are used all throughout the company.  Nobody should know more about quality, compliance and processes than the Quality Manager.  Your experience with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), ISO standards (i.e. ISO 9001), Sarbanes Oxley, or 21 CFR 820 within a regulated industry are important to managing and controlling documents and records.
2. Quality Project Management.  A Quality Manager is also a project manager managing corrective action, process improvement, and auditing projects.  One must have strong self-motivation, the ability to work independently, and within a team environment with strong follow up, organization and prioritization skills and excellent attention to detail helps too.  Perhaps most important of all is understanding the financial – risk-reward – trade-offs in good project management.
3. Business Process Documentation.  A Quality Manager must be able to understand, comply, and improve established company policies and procedures.  Developing standard work, policies, procedures, job aids, and business process communications are a part of the job.  A Quality Manager is also a technical writer.  Familiarity with policy and procedure writing will help you to succeed.  Technical writing conveys technical information using active voice construction, instructional design, and desktop publishing methods to transfer information into understandable and useful information.
4. Document Control.  As the Quality Manager, your Knowledge of the Quality documentation process, Document Control practices, and managing documents, records, forms, and work instructions is vital to maintaining your company’s compliance program.  A Quality Manager may be the Document Control Manager responsible for organizing documents into an easy to use and fast retrieval system.  Users need their policies and procedures to conform to requirements.  If they cannot find them, then they cannot follow them… Document control is an important priority.
5. Quality Communications.  It might go without saying but explaining business process compliance to others is what a Quality Manager has to do.  Being able to understand a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form helps others to follow and conform to the established best practice.  Communicating compliance and conformance is done using software such as Microsoft Word and Excel, training using PowerPoint, process mapping using Visio, Statistical Process Control (SPC) using statistics, as well as document revision control software for policies and procedures management.
6. People Management.  A Quality Manager should not be afraid of asking questions, collecting business process information, and working with others in a positive and collaborative manner.  Business processes include sensitive accounting and financial processes too.  So, you must be comfortable speaking effectively and communicating directly with all levels of personnel.
7. Quality Auditing.  A Quality Manager performs some of the quality audits.  Supply chain audits, process audits, and may even lead ISO audits an act as a Lead Auditor managing teams of auditors.  Clearly understanding the compliance requirements, collecting objective evidence, and writing up audit reports ensure the quality management system is operating effectively.
8. Problem Solving.  The Quality Manager solves problems, typically in situations where general standardization should exist, but may not be operating effectively.  Using process mapping techniques, lean, or Six Sigma process improvement methodology is essential to reducing waste and being effective in the Quality role.   A delicate balance exists between resolving problems yourself and identifying those situations that require management intervention for a solution.  Good political judgment is required where quality and compliance are concerned.
9. Team Player.  The Quality Manager is involved in teams and meetings at every level of the organization.  Management reviews, material reviews, supplier reviews, corrective action reviews, process improvement teams, audits, customer visits and strategy discussions.  A good Quality Manager is involved with many areas of the company.
10. Quality “Go To” Guy.  The Quality Manager is the person that everybody goes to to get answers about quality.  Product specifications, supplier requirements, testing, inspections, part verification, equipment calibration, corrective actions, non-conformances, workers compensation, benchmarking, voice of the customer, and on and on.  The buck stops here at Quality.

The Top Ten Quality Manager Job Description Responsibilities

1. Quality Standards.
2. Quality Project Management.
3. Business Process Documentation
4. Document Control.
5. Quality Communications.
6. People Management.
7. Quality Auditing.
8. Problem Solving.
9. Team Player.
10. Quality “Go To” Guy.

As the Quality Manager you are responsible for Quality Management System (QMS) and all of its related compliance.  You manage quality policies, procedures, processes, programs, and practices, to assure the company of continuous improvement, conformance and effectiveness.  In a smaller company you may also be the document control manager, quality auditor, and process improvement specialist.  But you are always a team player that has input on anything to do with quality.

The aftermath was much more painful than I thought it’d be. According to the oral surgeon, the tooth had taken root really well. Wisdom teeth I had out years before didn’t have the chance to firmly root themselves like this one. Because this tooth had been around a whole lot longer, the surgeon didn’t expect I’d heal quickly. “It should take about six weeks”, he said.

Six weeks? There goes my exercise regimen, I thought. Now, I’m not one of those who runs a marathon every other week. I do feel guilty, though, if I slack off for just a week. You take off for just a little while and it’s that much harder to get back on track.

Taking Preventive Action

The need for preventive action isn’t always that obvious in business. But whether it’s motivated by guilt or something else (standards or regulations), preventive maintenance makes good sense.

You get into good habits early, keep them up, and they pay off for you in the long run. Monitor and measure to (a) make sure you know what optimum process performance is and (b) improve.

(Also, don’t rush things along. I tried returning to action not quite two weeks after the surgery. Very big mistake! 15 minutes in, the pain was incredible. Another week later, I began easing back into my routine, with much better results.)

Learning and Adapting

So, what does an extracted wisdom tooth and an exercise routine have to do with your business? Well, if you noticed, there were a couple of preventive actions going on:

• Removing the wisdom tooth (to prevent an impaction or infection); and
• Exercising (to forestall the effects of aging).

As well, there was a corrective action (exercise being ”neglected”, then resumed) in the mix. In our everyday business, we continually encounter situations that call for corrective action. We all know about “putting out fires”, don’t we?

We know that corrective actions are a significant improvement over fighting fires. There’s an enormous difference between “fixing something that’s broken” and “taking action to ensure that what caused the breakage doesn’t happen again”.

Preventive action is another step — a leap, in some cases — above that. Preventive action makes good situations even better. Preventive actions aren’t the strong suit of most businesses, however.

Preparing for The Future

Why is that? In my estimation, it’s because preventive actions are forward looking and many companies struggle mightily with the here-and-now. The future is…well, something that always gets put off for the future.

We have to look at our organizations more like they’re living, breathing, sentient beings, in a perpetual state of evolution. Sure, you could put off having that “wisdom tooth” in your business removed but at what future cost? What makes sense for the short and the long term? Examine the situation in its totality. Understand and weigh present and future risks, then proceed.

What about your business? Do you have “wisdom teeth” — things or situations that don’t seem to pose a problem now, but could under the right conditions? Might there be a better way?

Your processes aren’t “one and done”, are they? Of course not. Those are events, not processes. We need to document events, but not for the sake of repeatability.

Processes are events or tasks we want to repeat an unknown number of times; we’d like some processes repeated indefinitely. If we want our business processes to be consistent — to yield predictable, consistently good results — we need to document them.

We document processes (i.e., write procedures) to ensure consistency and quality of the results. We also document processes so we can train (and retrain) employees. No matter who is performing or supervising the process, no matter when or where they’re taking part, we want quality and consistency.

To develop what we call a “well-defined process”, we use a couple of simple, effective process modeling tools: the SIPOC Diagram (or process map) and the Process Model.

The SIPOC Diagram

This tool gets its name from its five components:

• Supplier;
• Input;
• Process;
• Output; and
• Customer.

Figure 1 - SIPOC Diagram

This tool needs little explanation: because it’s visually oriented, the SIPOC diagram is very effective at breaking down language and other barriers. It helps people understand the purpose for the process and, when linked with similar diagrams of other processes, explains its relationship to other business activities.

The Process Model

Like we said, a one-time event is not a process, just like a one-time repair is not a corrective action. A true process is a cycle — the Deming Cycle, or PDCA, to be exact.

Figure 2 - the Process Model

This ISO process model does an excellent job of illustrating a typical process:

• You PLAN the process, establish process objectives (what the result should be), state the various requirements (customer, regulatory, standards-based, internal, etc.), and describe how you will get from point A to point B and back again;
• You DO, performing the process and collecting process data;
• You CHECK on the process, reviewing the data you’ve collected and analyzing process performance (not just according to stated objectives, but also for variability, consistency, and trends); and
• You ACT on your review findings, either continuing with the process unchanged or modifying the process to make it work better and implementing the process with those revisions.

The PDCA Cycle is the ideal framework for developing business procedures. That’s why at Bizmanualz, we use the process model as the basis for our procedure templates. The process model works for any procedure, whether it’s in Accounting, Human Resources, Sales/Marketing, or any of your other departments.

You’ll find that when you use these simple and effective tools to guide your procedure development, your processes will be well-defined processes and you’ll reach more of your objectives.

Thanks once again for your time and your comments.

* * * * * * *

What about you? Have you used these tools recently? Did you find that they were extremely helpful, or not at all? What tools do you use to develop your procedures?

Have you used Bizmanualz policy and procedure templates? What did you think of them?

Procedures describe a process, while a work instruction describes how to perform the conversion itself.  Process descriptions include details about the inputs, what conversion takes place (of inputs into outputs), the outputs, and the feedback necessary to ensure consistent results. The PDCA process approach (Plan, Do, Check, Act) is used to capture the relevant information.

Questions that need to be answered in a procedure include:

• Where do the inputs come from (suppliers)?
• Where do the outputs go (customers)?
• Who performs what action when (responsibilities)?
• How do you know when you have done it right (effectiveness criteria)?
• What feedback should be captured (metrics)?
• How do we communicate results (charts, graphs and reports)?
• What laws (regulations) or standards apply (e.g., ISO 9001, 8th EU Directive, IFRS, Sarbanes-Oxley)?

We can look at documentation as a pyramid comprised of four levels (or types of documents):

Policies Procedures Pyramid

Level 1 – Policies and Objectives
Level 2 – Procedures
Level 3 – Work Instructions
Level 4 – Forms and other Documents

Level 1 and Level 2 represent your policies and procedures.  What is the difference between policies and procedures? Your policies are at the top of the pyramid, like a beacon from a lighthouse.  They direct the procedure in the proper direction and provide a foundation for the procedure’s description of the process being documented.

1. Policies

A policy is used as a course of action to guide and influence decisions.  In an ISO 9001 system this may be found in the “Quality Manual“. The purpose of this level of documentation is to state concisely the policies and objectives of the company, organization, or division.  Policies are similar in some ways to mission statements.

2. Procedures

Your procedures are the second level of documentation, which should be more detailed and describe who does what and when (in sequence or order).  Activities for a department or function might be listed along with the functional titles or positions responsible for the procedure. These procedures can be text based but many use a process map to communicate the information.

3. Work Instructions

A work instruction describes how to accomplish a specific job.  Visual aids, various forms of job aids, or specific assembly instructions are examples of work instructions.  Work instructions are specific.

4. Forms and other Documents

The last level of documentation includes forms used to create records, checklists, surveys, or other documents used in the creation of a product or service.  Records are a critical output of any procedure or work instruction.  They form the basis of your process communications, audit material, and process improvement initiatives.

So, What Is the Difference between a Procedure and a Work Instruction?

• Procedures describe the process: who does what, when they do it, and under what criteria.
• Work Instructions describe how to accomplish the process conversion of inputs into outputs.

Learning how to write policies and procedures is easy once you understand the four levels of documentation and the difference between policies, procedures, and work instructions. Sample policies and procedures from Bizmanualz make it even easier!

We regularly send out e-mails, to continually keep our name in front of potential (and existing) customers. Some of us even have LinkedIn^TM and Facebook^TM pages (Figures 2, 3) where we invite not just commentary, but participation and engagement.

We have a plan for strategically managing our web presence. In that plan, we:

1. Establish SMART objectives;
2. Develop and implement the various aspects of our web presence (web pages, newsletters, social media, etc.);
3. Monitor, measure, and analyze to see if we’re meeting planned objectives;
4. Make changes to the plan, as needed, and implement them; and
5. Continue to monitor, analyze, change, ad infinitum.

Why does that 5-step plan look familiar? It’s the “Plan-Do-Check-Act” (PDCA) cycle! It’s how companies ensure product quality, continual improvement, and customers who are more than satisfied — they’re actually advocates!

Figure 1

Ask yourself, “Are we doing that?” Do we have a plan, or did we just throw something out there so we could say, “We have a web presence”?

Figure 2

Without a clear, comprehensive plan, your web presence can do you more harm than good. If you’re lucky, prospects and customers contact you about broken links, inconsistencies, and the occasional link to a product you discontinued months or years ago. In reality, most of your target market just “walks away” and never comes back.

Figure 3

The best advice I can give you is to establish a process of developing, implementing, and maintaining your company’s web presence before you build a single page online or send out a single e-mail. To do that, you need to understand:

• What your company stands for (its vision and mission);
• What you want to accomplish in the short and long term (i.e., what objectives you have for your web presence, specifically, and how – and if – those objectives tie into your company’s overall objectives);
• How extensive your web presence could (or should) be; and
• Why it’s important to establish a system of internal controls early and not let your efforts, accidentally or otherwise, go off target.

If you haven’t had a program for managing your web presence up to now — not a problem! There’s no reason to believe that because you’ve been working without one, you can’t implement one at any time. It may seem difficult at first, but the reward is unquestionably well worth the effort.

Take a few steps back and reevaluate your situation from a user’s perspective. If you have a particularly trustworthy customer, one you can count on to give you an unvarnished (but not a brutal) opinion, ask for their input. Find out whether they’re getting what they want from your web page and your social media. Find out if their objectives align with yours, and vice versa.

Refresh – reinvigorate – your web presence a little bit at a time. You don’t need to get everything done in a day or even a month or two. Work on the “low-hanging fruit” first, then move on to areas where your weaknesses aren’t so problematic.

And remember — stick with the plan! Keep reminding yourself — you only get one chance to make a first impression!

* * * * * * *

If you see an inconsistency or error on another company’s web site, do you say anything or do you let it go? Does it make a difference if they’re a vendor/customer of yours or not?

The economy is said to be improving. Though they’ve had their ups and downs, the Dow, NASDAQ, and other market indexes are up from a year ago. The housing market may have also hit bottom.

One indicator that doesn’t bode well, however, is the unemployment rate. Firms still aren’t hiring. They’re getting by with what — or whom — they have. What does this mean for the currently employed? It means we’re expected to be more efficient…more productive. “We’ve go to do more with less!”, we so often hear it. This is frustrating for both sides. Employees are trying their hardest, in virtually all cases. And, employers want to keep growing.

As a manager or owner, simply telling your employees “we have to be more efficient” won’t motivate them. Saying, like wishing, doesn’t make it so. You have to be a mentor and coach to get the most out of your employees — all of them.

You say you “don’t have time for that”? Well, do you have time for inadequate performance? Do you have time to replace and train a replacement? Time to acclimate them to the “company way”? Time to recoup the investment you’ve already made or the experience? The wisdom?

How do your employees stack up to expectations? Are they performing at a satisfactory level? If not, could that be due to:

• Poor training?
• Inadequate equipment?
• Time pressure?
• Lack of priorities and/or organization?
• Poor communication?
• Lack of motivation?

Home in on the reason(s) for employees’ underperformance to determine if better coaching will address them.

What, When, and Why — Does the employee know what to do, when to do it, and why? If not, you need to tell (maybe even show) them.

What Is and What Should Be — What is the standard of performance and how does the employee measure up to it? Does the employee know what the standard is? You have to let them know clearly what’s reasonably expected of them.

Communicate — Does the employee know his/her performance isn’t meeting the standard? You need to let them know.

Train — Does the employee have the skills needed to do the tasks required of them? If not, you need to invest time in training to get higher performance in return.

Realistic Expectations — That standard of performance: is it reasonable? What’s it based on? Is your standard current? Stretch goals are fine…as long as they’re fact-based.

The Butterfly Effect — What impact does substandard performance have on the rest of the organization? The employee may need to be reminded of his/her place in the firm, their relationship — direct and indirect — to everyone else, and how inadequate performance affects other people and processes. The organization is, after all, only as strong as its weakest links.

Ample Resources — Does the employee have enough (time, money, materials, etc.) to get the job done? You have to see that they do.

Performance Hurdles — Is something beyond the employee’s control affecting his/her performance? Is there something you, the employer or manager, can do to help?

Positive Feedback — Is the employee getting the occasional, well-placed “attaboy”/”attagirl” for a job that exceeded expectations? Or, are they being “rewarded” by having more responsibilities heaped upon them? “You did this so well, we’re going to give you more” can be as damaging as “You stink!”

Motivation — Is the employee’s heart in the job? If not, more training, better equipment, and more resources (like time) aren’t going to solve the problem of poor performance.

Now, let’s say you’ve analyzed the situation and have come to the conclusion that coaching will help turn the employee’s performance around. Here’s how you might go about it:

1. HOLD THE COACHING SESSION IN PRIVATE

Nobody but the two of you need be involved.  Be warm and courteous. Remain calm and keep a positive attitude.

2. CLEARLY STATE UP FRONT THE REASON FOR THE SESSION

Don’t be blunt, though. Say “I’d like to discuss (XYZ)”, rather than “I need to talk to you about your recent performance problems.” You want to engage them, not talk at them.

3. SHOW YOUR CONCERN FOR THE PERFORMANCE ISSUE

Example: “It looks like we’re not following up with customers as quickly or as thoroughly as we should. We used to get back to 80% of our customers within 10 days of their purchase. Now it’s more like 10%.” Focus on the problem, not the person.

4. DESCRIBE THE WAYS IN WHICH THE PERFORMANCE ISSUE AFFECTS OTHERS (INCLUDING YOU)

Example: “When we don’t follow up with customers in a timely manner, they probably feel like we don’t care about anything but their money.” Emphasize “we” and “the team”. Putting the focus entirely on them only deepens the sense of isolation they already feel.

5. ACKNOWLEDGE THE EMPLOYEE’S SIDE OF THE ISSUE…AND LISTEN

Regardless of whether the employee apologizes, rationalizes, promises to do better, etc., hear them out. They may have a valid explanation (like that they’re overworked — you might do more with less but you can’t do more with nothing).

Remember: there are always at least two sides to every story.

6. GET THE EMPLOYEE’S INPUT ON HOW TO IMPROVE THEIR PERFORMANCE

Ask, “What can be done to improve our follow-through with customers?” There may be some beautiful gems hidden among their thought nuggets – help them find those gems. After all, they’re on the front line every day, so they’ll have insights you won’t.

7. DISCUSS POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Work with the employee to develop a number of potential solutions to the performance issue. Make use of the employee’s ideas and offer guidance, but don’t take over the project. You’re a coach, not a critic.

8. AGREE ON A SOLUTION AND ACTIONS TO TAKE

Identify what you both think is the best solution. Agree on how to arrive at the solution and on reasonable deadlines. Be clear of your intent – that you want status updates so you can help them, not because you get any joy out of “riding” them.

Be sure to put the action plan in writing and make sure you both have a copy.

9. CHECK ON THE EMPLOYEE’S PROGRESS AND CONTINUE TO GET THEIR FEEDBACK

Give them additional guidance and reinforcement. Don’t hover around them constantly. Just make sure that they’re not stuck on something. If they have ideas on how to improve the process or the result, listen and evaluate. If they have a good idea, let them run with it.

10. GIVE POSITIVE FEEDBACK FOR POSITIVE RESULTS

Every time the employee meets a deadline or hands in a “deliverable”, give them a sincere “Good job!” Don’t say, “That’s more like it”, or “You should’ve been doing this all along.”

Remember — even star employees who are strongly self-motivated (and there are probably more of them out there than you think) can use a sincere pat on the back…or a handshake…or a shout-out. So, you can imagine how an employee who’s been struggling will benefit from quality feedback.

You’ve been there. You know how good it feels when someone takes you under their wings. Give back what you got.

Now it’s time for your feedback. Tell me what you think.

* * * * * * *

References

Toastmasters International Advanced Communication and Leadership Program, “Interpersonal Communication” — Project #4, “The Coach”.

]]> http://www.bizmanualz.com/information/2010/06/28/ten-keys-to-improving-employee-performance.html/feed 3 http://www.bizmanualz.com/information/2010/04/19/7-reasons-why-qms-projects-fail-part-2.html http://www.bizmanualz.com/information/2010/04/19/7-reasons-why-qms-projects-fail-part-2.html#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:47:07 +0000 Steve Flick http://www.bizmanualz.com/information/?p=1666 In part 1 of this two-part series, we discussed three important reasons why quality management systems (QMS) projects fail. Here are four other reasons:

Lack of Management Support

Top management must be absolutely, unequivocally committed to the idea that implementing a quality management system will improve the business. If management isn’t sold on the premise, the rank-and-file isn’t going to buy it. ISO 9001 puts it this way:

Top management shall provide evidence of its commitment to:

• Developing and implementing the quality management system; and
• Continually improving the effectiveness of the QMS.

What do you suppose the developers of ISO 9001 meant by “providing evidence of commitment”? A quick e-mail to a select group of individuals, saying “good old Wutsizzname” has been assigned the task? Or, does it go much further than that?

Insufficient Resources

Management has to ensure the availability of resources needed to develop, implement, and maintain the company’s QMS. By resources, ISO 9001 means people, training, equipment, tools, funds, and time. To ensure that there are adequate resources for your QMS, you need SMART objectives and you need a development, implementation, and maintenance plan.

These aren’t separate plans, either. They’re all part of a larger plan. The development, implementation, and maintenance phases of your QMS each have to be planned with the others in mind. Are you familiar with the saying, “The whole is more than the sum of its parts”? Well, nowhere is it truer than your QMS.

So, set your objectives, make your plans, and provide appropriate and sufficient resources. Monitor the progress of the project and adjust as needed.

Or, take a wild guess as to how much and how long it’ll take to develop your QMS. (You might get lucky.)

Poor Communication

For your QMS to conform to ISO 9001, top management has to communicate to the entire organization how important it is to meet customer and regulatory requirements. You didn’t need ISO 9001 to tell you that, did you?

The quality standard also says that “top management shall ensure that responsibilities and authorities are defined and communicated within the organization.” If Wutsizzname is the lead developer of the QMS, he has to be a developer in more than name only. Top management has to be clear about what his responsibilities are and how far his authority extends and should make it clear Wutsizzname is backed by management.

Poor communication isn’t simply a matter of what you say — it’s mostly what you do (or don’t do).

Lack of Customer Involvement

Customers and their satisfaction are the heart and soul of every successful business. And it’s not just external customers that deserve the company’s attention — there are internal customers for every project and process, as well. The ISO process model doesn’t make a distinction — a customer is a customer.

Customers of the QMS include procedure users. Their satisfaction may be measured by how well a procedure is executed, time after time. The best way to ensure customer satisfaction (i.e., consistently outstanding execution) is to involve the users in developing the procedure.

Who would know better than they whether the procedure accurately depicts the process in question? Why wouldn’t you have the users — the process owners and stakeholders — test and validate the procedure before its implementation?

In other words, if you tell Mr. Wutsizzname, “Don’t bother the people in XYZ department with silly questions – just write the procedure“, is the result of that procedure likely to come anywhere near what you expect?

Recapping the seven ways you can make your QMS project a success:

• Have a positive attitude;
• Carefully craft a comprehensive development plan;
• Manage your expectations;
• Ensure the unqualified support of top management;
• Provide sufficient resources to get the project done right;
• Keep the lines of communication open at all times; and
• Involve users/customers in the development process.

Is there anything that I missed? Anything you’d like to add to the list? If your QMS project — or any other major project of yours – didn’t turn out like it was supposed to, what would your experiences tell you to do differently?

I appreciate all your comments. Thanks for your time, and best of luck.