Fantastic news from the UK as John Seddon has been recruited to become a member of ResPublica by David Cameron of the conservative (Torie) party.  I believe this is important, but as I have said many times systems thinking needs to transcend politics.  It needs to be the way government is run.  Are you listening Democrats and Republicans? . . . or any other party bent on real improvement in government.  Read more at the LGC.

 

 

Some articles were posted by IQPC this past month.  A drew large crowds to the websites.  The comments are always interesting to me.

 

 

 

I wrote another Ezine Article and this one called Charles Dickens and a Management Carol. 

 

 

For comments or to share your experiences contact me at tripp@newsystemsthinking.com.

 

Many readers have read my posts where I talk about the paradox of managing costs.  When we manage costs, costs increase.  One reason is that budgets become the defacto purpose of the organization.  Anyone ever working in a publicly traded organization and government understands what it means to "make the numbers."  Bonuses are at stake and many even jobs.

 

The reaction is predictable as more and more oversight with project plans, milestones, strategic plans, inspections, performance appraisals, etc. all in an attempt to control.  In the end, all it does is create more waste.  All in the name of command and control.

 

John Seddon's Law of Cost is a revelation.  The simplest things can sometimes be brilliant.  He first separated service as different from manufacturing because of the variety of demand service receives (plus some others).  In another epiphany he found that an organization's cost rise in proportion to the variety of customer demands.

 

The standard belief that freedom needs to take a back seat to efficiency is debunked.  More freedom is equal greater efficiency.  A British subject teaching Americans about freedom . . . the irony. 

 

With the variety of demand of service, only the worker can absorb variety by deciding how best to handle it.  That's right, not technology, standardization, best practice, scripts, etc.  A real thinking human is needed to absorb variety.

 

Real improvement comes when measures do not put the worker in chains.  Instead the worker needs measures to enable their control of the work.  This allows experimentation with method and innovation is the result.

 

To learn more about how systems thinking can improve your organization.  Contact me at tripp@newsystemsthinking.com or call me at (317) 250 - 8885.

 

 

 

I received some emails this week about the fact that my posts have turned to a government improvement flavor.  For those in the private sector these posts ring true for you folks too.  Different problems, but my posts are about the thinking issue that is for all readers.

 

The Ash Institute (Harvard University) continues to get it wrong.  They are proponents of top-down decision making, competition, pay-for-performance, focus on costs, etc. and their thinking is opposite systems thinking.  They are making government worse and costing taxpayers billions of dollars by promoting wrong thinking.  At best they are doing the wrong thing, righter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I began working with a very forward-thinking auto dealership in Canada.  They already were paying salespeople salaries so that they could focus on the customer . . . can you imagine this in the US?  I am sure there are some, but as a car customer I love the concept.  As a systems thinker it fits our thinking and I look forward to revolutionizing the way cars are bought, sold and serviced.  We will be designing a system to please customers.