| Greetings!
A special time of year for all of us involved in Excellence as both the European and UK Excellence awards have been awarded. Read more below.
We hope you find this edition both informative and useful.
Contact us if you would like to know more. |
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UK Excellence Winners 2007 |
We were delighted to attend the 2007 Award Ceremony at the London Hilton on the 24th of October, and everyone agreed that the evening was a great success.
This year the winners were either long standing applicants for the UK Excellence awards or for the first time ever a second time winner, Springfarm Architectural Mouldings (SAM) again in Northern Ireland.
We are very pleased to have once again been involved with St Mary's school - one of the winners as lead assessors during the award process. Click on the link if you would like to see a full list of the winners.
The photographs of the event are ready for viewing on the internet. The password to the album is 'hilton' and they can be accessed using this link. |
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Charter Mark - Next Steps |
Charter Mark is changing. Charter Mark is being relaunched with a new assessment process and a new name. ley hill solutions is working with some of the key assessment providers to develop early assessor and implementation training for all types of organisations who may be interested in updating their existing Charter Mark recognition or starting this valuable exercise afresh.
As soon as we are able we will let you know about the changes and how we can support you if you wish to use this completely revised tool. If you would like to get advance information on the new Charter Mark just click on the link below and enter your specific requirements or question.
I would like to know more about the changes to Charter Mark.
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| Lean Thinking |
Many claim that using LEAN-Six Sigma can achieve reductions in cost and throughput time of greater then 30% as well as improvements in customer satisfaction by a factor of 20% Indeed many organisations that have bought into the LEAN-Six Sigma tidal wave are already crowing about the benefits they are reaping.
If you're anything like us the first thing that you thought when you heard about LEAN or Six Sigma (let alone LEAN-Six Sigma combined) was "Not another improvement initiative!" and like us when we attended our first "Workshops" on the topic we almost dismissed the concepts with "These things are not for us or many of our clients, they are for high volume manufacturing, they need lots of repetition before they'll yield any benefits, and besides they're so complicated that everyone would need to train Black Belts!"
Well the truth is completely different although those myths are still being perpetuated by some there is a way to demystify the LEAN-Six Sigma phenomenon.
To start with LEAN-Six Sigma is simply a combination of tools that help organisations improve their effectiveness and efficiency. It does this by examining the needs of the customer and past performance of the organisation, to identify change that will maximise "value add" to the customer and minimise wasteful use of resources consumed by your processes.
Although you do need some expertise to help you, the good news is that with a little commitment and willpower, you can build a simple system based upon an "Expert Process" that uses the tools of LEAN-Six Sigma to deliver sustainable process improvements, without the need to train large numbers of in-house specialists.
So why not ask our resident expert about Lean - Six-Sigma - What have you got to loose?
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What do we mean by 'leading' and 'lagging' indicators |
| EFQM users will know that the 4 results criteria tell an organisation how well they are doing, or what they are achieving. The Enablers cover what the organisation does, or how it manages its business. You need to know how well you're doing and you need to know if your managing of the business is effective. Result measures are the levers that managers can pull to move the organization in new and different directions.
EFQM literature states that Lagging Indicators "show the final outcome of an action, usually well after it has been completed", while Leading Indicators "predict, with a degree of confidence, a future outcome".
If we look at just one of the EFQM results criteria - Customer Results we can see how this works in a little more detail. You will have in place a business strategy which is customer-focused (Criterion 2 Policy and Strategy), and be delivering products or services which are based on customer needs and expectations (Criterion 5 Processes).
If you rely solely on lagging indicators, which will typically be from customer surveys or perhaps focus groups, then your data will always be historical - telling you what your customers think about something which has probably long gone - and perhaps too late if the customers disliked the experience enough to have taken their custom elsewhere.
If you rely just on the leading indicators, then OK you should know whether your products are what the customers said they wanted - in terms of quality, timeliness etc. And this should mean that they are happy, but until you have the results of the lagging indicators you won't know for sure. Again this could be too late.
To sum up, you need measures to tell you how well you're doing, and you need a balance of leading and lagging indicators to enable you to fine-tune what you do and ensure you keep you on track and in line with your business strategy. |
Ley hill solutions is one of Europe's most innovative consultancy organisations specialising in the tools and methods to improve the way your business works and performs. We use internationally recognised standards and frameworks such as ISO9001 and the EFQM Excellence Model to develop solutions that are right for your business.
Sincerely,
Graham Hull
ley hill solutions limited |
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| Want to be recognised as the best in Europe? |
See how you could be recognised as one of the most excellent organisations in Europe by following a structured approach to business improvement. See the list of Europe's excellence award winners over the years and then view the European Foundation for Quality Management's - EFQM - pages about this years award winners. | |
| Featured Tool
The Balanced scorecard |
Historically businesses have used a multitude of financial measures to understand how they are performing. More recently it has become apparent that to really succeed in the long term a more balanced set of measures is needed to understand the underlying performance. The Balanced scorecard can do this..... Read more. | |
| Solutioneer profile
Tom McCormick |
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Tom is a key consultant with ley hill solutions and has many years experience working with the Excellence Model and other quality tools in the public sector. To know more about Tom. |
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The information provided on this website and newsletter is as correct and up to date as we can make it. No warranty, express or implied, is given regarding its accuracy. We do not accept any liability for errors or omissions. We shall not be liable for any damages (including, without limitation, damage for loss of business or loss of profits) arising from the use of, or inability to use, this site or any information contained in it, or from any action or decision taken as a result of using this site, or any such information. | | |
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