Dear Systems Thinker,I have been deeply embedded in "check" since the Deming conference . . . oh, and a vacation (much needed) so writing has taken a back seat. A lot of unpacking about what I have learned took place on the break. This week will close "check" for my current engagement. A decision on redesign will follow. Working with IT has allowed me to see many of the other interventions that Vanguard is engaged. The outcomes have been dramatic and quick (weeks, not months or years). Many counter-intuitive solutions have been found by not taking a tools-based approach. The secret ingredient is engaging executives in the work. The unwilling soon learn that change is about changing management thinking too. If that does not change improvement is neither sustainable or dramatic. Assumptions will rule the design of the work and perpetuate or reverse poor performance. People that are actively engaged in the work embrace the Vanguard Method quickly. The further away from the work, with support teams and management, the rational conversations based on assumptions can slow things down. The only way for these groups to understand the flaws in their assumptions is to be in the work.
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From Tools (and Fools) to
Systems Thinking
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Here is a list of things you DON'T need to improve service in a dramatic fashion:
- Belts (Green, White, Black or any other color)
- Japanese Terms (your native tongue will suffice)
- Tools ('nough said)
- ITIL, CMM, CMMI
- Technology (great when it can enable, but the design is in question long before the IT)
- Strategic and/or Project Plans
- Outsourcing or Shared Services (with an industrialized mindset)
- Targets
- Incentives, Rewards
- Hierarchy
- Ignorance of the work
- A Cost Focus (which always increases costs)
- With my vacation this month, I had the opportunity to do some reading. My choice of book was from George Friedman called "The Next 100 Years." I wrote a post about it you can link below under "recent postings."
- I am in the process of writing about my experiences with Sprint for IQPC. My phone is now working, but it took a month and a boatload of contacts to Sprint. The disappointing part was the frustration of multiple transfers, the IVR and agents trying to convince me that being nice meant they deserved a good rating. I'd rather have my problem resolved, being nice would be an added bonus.
- Same experience with AT&T while on vacation. The wireless went out and when I called they said that the wireless was out. It worked again and then went out, each time I called they asked me for personal information like email address and personal phone number. After several outages, I told them to not ask these questions as they never had contacted me to update the wireless status. It wasted my time, I'll probably show up on some marketing report to send me junk.
- If organizations were to realize how much customers must go through to actually get help or problems fixed they might change their systems. Or maybe not if the problems are dealt with as a cost issue that we don't want . . . this thinking leads to the poorly designed systems we have that are so expensive and they chase business away.
In my Blog I post in categories. If you have interest in a particular category it will show all posts to that category. A few popular links:
Systems Thinking and Government Systems Thinking and Management Systems Thinking and Contact Centers Systems Thinking and Technology
To learn more about how systems thinking can improve your organization. Contact me at [email protected] or call me at (317) 250 - 8885. |