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My Brand of Insanity, a blog to change thinking. |
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Dear Systems Thinker,
July was all about reaching out to service organizations. Making more people in the public and private sector aware of the "better way." Additionally, we were featured again by customermanagementIQ.com with the article Three Things to Consider Before Outsourcing. Lots of interesting things upcoming, so please read on as we continue to spread the thinking. |
| My Brand of Insanity |
Each newsletter, I will share some random thoughts on current events, service (good and bad) and other sometimes closely attached and sometimes detached thoughts. Having been a proponent of W. Edwards Deming's thinking for more than two decades it is not hard to imagine why the title for this section. Here are a few announcements, thoughts and observations:
- I will be recording a 3-part series webinar for IQPC's customermanagementIQ.com in late August - early September. This series will be called Call Center Myth-Busters - A Trilogy: Measurement, Analysis and Management. I am very excited to be doing this webinar and believe that the material will be my personal favorite . . . interesting and controversial. I will let you know when IQPC plans to release this series in a separate communication as it may be before the next newsletter.
- Another upcoming webinar will be live with the Contact Center Performance Forum/American Teleservices Association. I have not decided the content yet, but the date is settled on - October 15th and it will be LIVE!
- We will be having our first seminar early this fall to introduce systems thinking in the US to private and public sectors and the service side of manufacturing. This will be a 2-1/2 day seminar: first two days on systems thinking, variation and the thinking behind Deming and Ohno and the third day on systems thinking application (mapping and analysis). I plan to do this seminar in late-October to mid-November timeframe. And my plan is to take this on the road, let me know if you would like to sponsor a workshop in your city.
- A few new blog posts this month. Check them out at blog.newsystemsthinking.com.
For comments or to share your experiences with service (good or bad) contact me at tripp@newsystemsthinking.com. |
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John Seddon's Fight in the United Kingdom |
John Seddon (my Vanguard partner) has been battling in the UK with the Audit Commission. There is a blog post I have on this subject entitled, Public Sector: A War Rages in the UK. I won't bore you with the details contained in the article, but I will say that the United States has the same if not different problem.
In many cases federal, state and local governments are setting compliance targets to get funds or manage in this manner. These activities raise costs and make service worse.
Personally, I have been engaged in conversations here in my state (Indiana) over a $1.1 billion/10-year IBM contract that has done nothing but reduce service and cause more problems for people trying to get food stamps, Medicaid and other social services. It saddens me on many levels to see this happening. Most of my conversations with interested parties surround privatization as being the problem. To be honest, I don't care about whether it is privatized or not. The real issue is whether they can run these programs with systems thinking end-to-end and not function-by-function. Whether government run or private sector run without systems thinking they will ultimately fail. The FSSA secretary has rightfully "called out" the contractor on poor execution. I am afraid that the CAP (Corrective Action Plan) is full of activity and little substance. IBM and its partners have until the end of September to clean it up. Let's hope this isn't just a checklist of activity and that IBM steps up. My fear is that the knowledge to fix is not contained by IBM or its partners. Read more at the blog post, Indiana State Welfare Eligibility: Time to Turn Lemons into Lemonade.
I have accumulated quite a few public sector followers in recent months. I am hopeful that they will take time to read Systems Thinking in the Public Sector by John Seddon and some of my blog posts about outsourcing and shared services. You can read more at http://blog.newsystemsthinking.com/blog/shared-services-strategy.
Please share with anyone you know in US government (federal, state or local). Or send them to www.thesystemsthinkingreview.co.uk for how the changes in the UK and New Zealand are making improvements using systems thinking.
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| Tools vs. Thinking |
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Vanguard released a white paper called Rethinking Lean Service and a podcast. I highly recommend the podcast as it is more than just a regurgitation of the white paper.
With "lean" manufacturing tools making headway in healthcare, there should be a warning label affixed to it. Something like "Warning: Copying can be hazardous to your patients" or "Better results may be closer than they appear . . . through better thinking, not tools" or at least something. I have walked this path before with TQM tools and Deming, Just-in-Time is the answer or Quality Circles are the answer or fill in the blank. We need to get it right this time, it is the thinking not the tools . . . Please Do NOT COPY.
For my service industry friends (almost all of you), the variety of demand is one major component that separates manufacturing from service. This means "standard work" likely will increase your costs and problems with service. Why? The variety can not be absorbed by standard work.
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That's it for this newsletter. Best wishes with improving your system.
Sincerely,
Tripp Babbitt
Bryce Harrison, Inc. |
© 2009. Bryce Harrison, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Phone: (317) 849-8670 Email: info@newsystemsthinking.com
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