Our friends at Anglo American are very successfully implementing their brand of the Business Process Framework. Anglo’s Operating Model is proving extremely effective in reducing costs, reducing variation, and ultimately reducing the bottom line. Great little video that outlines their approach. Watch the video here!

One of the biggest opportunities and greatest risks to implementing improvements into the business are people. Have you considered how to effectively engage your people so that; – There is an accountability for the success of the improvement plan at all levels of the organization. – The improvement process is not viewed as an order,[…]

It seems the norm that meetings occupy a tremendous amount of valuable work time. Understanding the difference between a meeting and discussion requirement are paramount to removing the “clutter” that occupies your team’s time. – A discussion can be had quickly, and at someone’s desk or over the phone where clarity between a few is[…]

A user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it’s not good. The information that you rely on for creating metrics from your applied business process will only be as good as your interface allows it to be. If people are discouraged from using your elected systems because the interface is[…]

“All change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end.” – Robin Sharma While it is sometimes difficult to keep our eyes on the prize, we must constantly work through the “mess” towards the end result of aligned behaviors, systems and an embedded, sustainable process. We are never guaranteed success.[…]

An example of variation are those times when we have output well above or well below our means. A well-defined process (and it’s coordinated metrics) will accomplish two things for us in times of variation; Illustrate the variations as they occur above and below the means in our process. Illustrate for us when variances accumulate[…]

“Why would we hire a consultant?” 1. To supplement staff time – Short-term projects shouldn’t be burdened with long term employment agreements 2. To supplement staff expertise – You hired your staff for specific work, leave their focus where it counts and NOT exploring unchartered territory 3. To ensure objectivity – A consultant might just[…]

We regularly see attempts at what we refer to as “System enforced behavior” via modifications to an ERP package. While this might seem the best approach technically, more often than not, we see tons of communication and coaching opportunity lost as a result of a “computer says no” mentality. Rather leave your systems “vanilla”, and[…]

An effective schedule is one that enables your resourcing and planning to align resources and efforts to that schedule prior to the required date of a specific task, while at the same time allowing for maximum flexibility in execution of said task.

Ralph Waldo Emerson has been attributed the quote, “Your actions are speaking so loudly, I can’t hear what you’re saying”. People tend to follow those who know where they are going better than they do a set of directions handed down by leadership that might not appear to be on the same path. When your[…]

We’ve all done it… failed to learn from our experience (good or bad) and use that education to our benefit in the future. One example of this would be the application of Work Packages or Task Lists to recurring, planned work. All too often, we “reinvent the wheel” each and every time a known (think[…]

It’s a simple concept to grasp. If your schedule is in a constant state of flux, then so is your ability to execute according to that schedule. Time and again, we see the problem of a fluctuating schedule, and while the solution is painfully simple, rarely do we see it effectively applied. Without an accountable[…]

If yours is similar to most large organizations, the biggest hurdles preventing the execution of your schedule are actually nothing more than work that should have been on the schedule in the first place. It’s a paradigm that seems to elude the majority, but if we take the time to request, review, and approve work[…]

Searching for a tool this afternoon that I had loaned to one of my sons reminded me of the important role that resourcing plays in the execution of our schedule. At work, my Resource Coordinator, following simple BPF principles, would have ensured that my tools were right where I needed them, when I needed them.[…]