Running improvement projects in a wide variety of service organisations over the last couple of years, I had to relearn what I thought I had a good grasp of already. I had to restudy the basic drivers of productivity and process efficiency. Yes, it is certainly possible to drive productivity by process changes.

Coaching is about believing in someone and then taking action to help that person to be his or her very best. Some months ago, the managing director of an MNC approached me to develop a team of four operations managers with some people and management skills. Three of them were promoted recently but have not […]

To be a good coach is hard work. Coaching requires a set of skills that need to be built. The journey as a coach is a long but rewarding one. How will we know when we have arrived? “With the best of leaders, when the work is done, the project is completed, the people all say, ‘We did it ourselves.’” Lao Tzu

Your staff members complain about having too much work, the proportion of people on short-term sick-leave is consistently above average and the turnover rate is disturbingly high. However, comparing takt time and processing time does not show to any obvious issue. So, what is the problem?

HR professionals with knowledge of Lean Six Sigma tools and HR Data Analytics can deliver better service to their customers – their leaders and colleagues. Identifying requirements and gaps, analysing, improving and innovating processes as well as ensuring the performance long-term are valuable business partners.

Given today’s need for HR professionals to be Strategic Business Partners, to be a ‘Voice of Conscience’ to the CEOs as well as Champion for the Employees, those with background in proven management methodologies and tools such as Lean, Six Sigma or Kaizen have a great advantage. An HR Professional who can present his business case for HR strategies and interventions with a compelling return on investment will be respected and regarded. Having the knowledge and exposure in cost and time estimates, in analytical thinking processes as well as fact-based strategies and decision making will open doors.

The Quality of a Relationship relies on the Quality of the Conversation. At some point in a mentoring relationship, the need for a difficult conversation will arise. Whereas every conflict is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all advice, there tend to be patterns to what goes wrong, and what helps. Every difficult conversation has three […]

When Odysseus gave the task of protecting, guiding and educating his son Telemachus to his old friend Mentor, he did this knowing that Mentor would be the best person possible to care for his only son during his absence from Greece. Since then, Mentor is synonymous for someone who is willing and able to provide guidance and support to bring out his Mentee’s very best – without any other personal agenda.

When you agree to mentor another person, you offer to help someone in his/her development in the organisation. By mentoring, you have no agenda of your own and thus you are able to create a safe arena within which to develop a trusting relationship. Mentoring is not always easy and as natural as we expect. […]

Annual culture surveys are not good enough to connect managers and their staff. They are too formal and deliver only lagging information in a very stringent way. They cannot measure the daily pulse of the organisation. Other ways are needed to help sensing the heartbeat of the firm. Try Management by Walking About.